Black Roses
You don't need a description, you just need to read and bring tissues
by Camila
A funeral
Gale stood up and put on his old suit.
Bad news showed up this morning: someone died.
Hazelle called him early that day, telling him he was invited to a funeral. Her voice sounded normal as usual, so he thought maybe it was Greasy Sae's grandaughter (who was older than him).
He didn't want to go but his mother requested him to join her because she didn't want to go alone: Rory was going with his own family, Vick was living in District 8... and Posy, of course, was hanging out with that man from District 4 and left her mother six months ago.
Gale took the first train to District 12 that midday and noticed many people dressing black.
The 50-year-old Gale didn't care about them and started walking to the Market Square after the train landed. A few people followed him.
He looked around and felt darkness everywhere, in every building and tree. Not the kind of darkness from the time he was a child and the Coal Mine was open, it was a depressing darkness.
He saw a huge crowd, many people, all looking as blue as the district, and he thought the one who died was someone important: maybe it was... Peeta.
Everyone loved Peeta Mellark and maybe he got some kind of sickness that his old friend couldn't heal and just... passed away. Who knows...
He did feel sorry. He imagined the woman's suffering after he left her with two children... She was his old friend, Katniss, and maybe that's why his mother wanted him to go there and maybe make her feel better. But that was impossible because he hadn't talked to her for decades.
Someone took pulled his right arm and he turned. It was his mother.
"Hi"
"Mother..." he whispered and she rubbed his face.
"I'm sorry we have to meet at this circumstances," he nodded. "Anyway, how's your wife?"
"Non-existent."
"I thought... Doesn't matter. We should listen to the priest."
Gale looked at his mother as she turned to the man who was standing right in the middle of the square. He still remembered how her grey eyes used to shine, now she looked tired of life. Her hair was shorter than 20 years ago, but she still looked beautiful as usual.
He turned to hear what the bald man had to say and, when he finished, the man looked at the coffin and walked away. Everyone stayed in silence, heads down. A few people raised their left hands, showing their three middle fingers after pressing them against their lips.
Gale knews something wrong was going on when he looked among the crowd spotted a grown up man: dirty grey hair and grown beard, blue eyes filled of tears but still a strong face. It was Haymitch... The man walked to him and Hazelle.
Haymitch shook hands with him, but kissed his mother on the cheeck.
Gale frowned and walked away, letting the old people talking alone. He stopped a man who was selling flowers and took some black roses (because those were the only flowers he could afford, and the only ones the man had). Then, he walked to the coffin when people started going back to their homes. Gale looked around and thought in leaving the flowers closer... until he spotted another man: dirty blonde hair, red eyes and... and two children taking his hands, side by side.
No, he thought. No, no, no, no, no, no.
Gale climbed up the stairs and saw a golden mockingjay shinning on the dead body that was wearing a white dress. He didn't want to see its face... he didn't want to but he did.
No, please no...
He kneeled next to the coffin and brushed the woman's dark hair among his calloused fingers. "Catnip..." was the only thing he could murmur. He took her pale left hand and pressed it against forehead, "Please, come back... Please..."
But she never did. A tear ran down Gale's cheeck. He took the roses and put them on her hands, so it looked like she was holding them. He leaned over her, kissed her forehead and stroked her face one last time.
"I'm so sorry..."
He swallowed and stood up again. Climbed down the stairs and spotted Hazelle. He walked to her, feeling lost. The sensation was weird, like if he wasn't in that place... he felt everything was a huge lie.
This is not real.
"How did she... die?" Haymitch looked at Gale right when he asked him that. "Illness, sadness...?"
"She had been sick for months, but of course you didn't know that because...", started the man, but another person interrumpted.
"Because you never answered the damn phone." Peeta's eyes were focused on Gale's. He took a deep breathe and looked away. "How many years has it been since the last time we saw each other? Oh, yes. I know... Thirty-two, perhaps?"
"Are they yours?" Gale asked, trying to avoid that question, pointing at the little girl and boy Peeta's hands were holding tight.
"Ours. And yes."
"They look..."
"Like us, I know. Everyone has already told me that. Of course, everyone except for you... She was broken."
Peeta seemed stronger than before, stronger in the way he confronted Gale. Hazelle took his son's hand and pushed him closer to her, because she knew he could totally hit the other man.
Gale felt guilty for all those times he could have answer: Peeta was right, he was a coward. But he also felt jealous because the blonde boy, now man, had the life Gale always dreamt of: children, a pretty house... the woman he loved.
Anyway, Peeta's last word was "broken", and the man knew his wife still loved his ex-best friend at the same time they got married and had children... and he knew the reason his wife died was Gale.
The little (well, 12-year-old) brunette girl looked at her father. "Who's he?"
She looked just like her mother, except for the blue eyes. Gale looked away.
"No one, and it better stay that way." Peeta answered, grabbing their children hands and walking away from there. Haymitch followed them.
"I hope see you later, Hazelle," he said, "And good jurney back home," he shook Gale's hand before leaving.
…
Gale put his hands in his pockets and crossed to the meadow. The electric fence was gone and everything looked brighter than the last time he remembered. Of course, that was more than thirty years ago when everything was on fire and he cared more about people's safety than how the place looked like.
He walked to the rock they used to rest in... it was gone.
After that, he searched for the lake. Maybe he could find the old lake house, maybe it wasn't gone like their rock... Gladly, it was there. He walked in and found it clean, which meant somebody visited the ruined building.
"I don't want your fiancée's gloves"
"They are Cinna's"
"Give me them back"
Gale laughed, but at the same time felt some kind of hurt in his chest. Something that didn't let him breathe.
Pain.
He was about to fell when he sat on a chair. Gale gasped and bit his lips, trying to contain himself from breaking down, but he couldn't. He pulled his hair back and let the tears run.
Miserable. He felt miserable.
Peeta was right: he should had call her, he should had answer at least... but he didn't. He didn't because he felt guilty because of Prim's death, and also because he thought she'd never forgave him.
Gale thought in all those days Katniss and her family spent in that house, all those afternoons fishing in the lake... He bet they were happy, while he was in District 2, trying to solve everyone else's problems and never thought in getting married.
Once he said he'd have children if he didn't live in District 12 and he didn't live there, but he still didn't because it wasn't the woman he loved.
And she was dead.
And he was alive.
And all of that was wrong.
And soon Gale'd be gone too.
…
…THE END?