Eyes Open

Gale’s POV

Katniss and I were walking back to Victor Village from the Hob, when we saw a huge crowd in the square.

“What do you think is happening?” Katniss asked.

“I don’t know,” I said walking over to it, “Let’s go check.”

As we got closer to the crowd, I saw people crying and I was hearing a crack of a whip being hit against flesh. Katniss and I looked at each other confused but we couldn’t get much further because Joel, a friend of my father’s and miner, stopped us.

“I think you two need to get home Gale,” Joel said.

“Why?” I asked and then I heard Katniss gasp next to me.

I snapped my head to see her looking at the ground and saw tears start to run down her face. I then looked over to see what she was looking at and there passed out on the ground was Adyrn. Her back was whipped to a bloody plup and she was pale as could be.

“Stop!” I exclaimed running through everyone, “You’re going to kill her!”

The man with the whip didn’t even look up as he continued to lash at Adyrn. As he was going to lash her again, I quickly picked her up off the ground and when his whip came down it hit nothing but dirt. Before he could whip me, Haymitch stepped in front of us.

“What are you trying to do?” he snapped with anger in his voice, “Are you trying to kill a victor before the victory tour? What the hell am I supposed to tell her stylist and the people of the Capitol? Didn’t the President tell you that? Just you wait I’m going to give your boss an ear full when I get home.”

The guy then stopped and a woman in a peacekeeper outfit stepped up and got him to stop.

“I believe that is a big enough punishment for a first time offender,” she said looking at the man and then looked at Haymitch and me, “Make sure you tell her to stop poaching animals or she will die the next time.”

Everyone then dispersed except a few of the miners and Peeta who took her from my arms and carried her to her house. Katniss had run all the way to her house to inform her mother of what happened and I was trying to figure out what happened. As we were making our way back to Victor Village I caught bits and pieces.

“So what exactly happened?” Haymitch asked, “I got there as Darius stepped up.”

“She must have went into the woods today and killed something,” Peeta said, “Must have killed a wolf because she was caught by Thread himself. She knew Cray liked wolf so she thought she would bring it to him and when he didn’t answer the door she was caught. She said the wolf got through the gate and she killed it so it wouldn’t kill anyone else though.”

“What happened to Darius?” Haymitch asked.

“He stepped up after fifteen lashes,” one miner said, “She was slipping in and out of consciousness when he stepped in.”

“Then she passed out at about twenty-one,” Peeta said, “She’s tough though. Refused to scream and she kept her mouth shut. I didn’t think she’d make it passed fifteen but she passed out at twenty-one and Thread gave her about forty-five if I counted correctly.”

Before anything else was said, the front door of the Everdeen house opened and the men walked in.

“Set her on the dining room table,” I heard Mrs. Everdeen’s voice.

I then watched as Prim and her went to work on to fix Adyrn’s wounds.

“How bad was it?” she asked.

“Forty-five lashes,” the man said.

“When did she pass out?” was her next question.

“Twenty-one,” another replied.

“Now explain what happened,” she said as she looked at Prim and nodded her head.

Peeta then explained what happened to Adyrn again and soon the men left except Peeta after Mrs. Everdeen thanked them with food and then looked at me.

“Did you see what happened?” she asked.

“No,” I replied as I heard her start to stir and moan in pain, “I was with Katniss.”

“Looks like the Dark Days are starting to come again,” she said as she set to work.

Prim and Mrs. Everdeen had some spread on Adyrn’s back and had put some snow on the back but it wasn’t helping much and Adyrn’s moans became louder and even more painful to hear.

“Get the pain medication out Mom,” Katniss said and her mother hesitated for a second.

“I don’t think that’s the best idea Katniss,” she said and my mouth dropped along with everyone else’s in the room.

“Mom she’s your daughter,” Katniss said.

“There might be someone who is worse off than her,” Mrs. Everdeen said.

“She’s dying!” Katniss and I both exclaimed at the top of our lungs.

Before Mrs. Everdeen could say anything the doorbell rang and we all went to go check on it. When we opened the door Madge Undersee, the mayor’s daughter was at the door with some shots that her mother took for her really bad headaches.

“My mother heard and said to take them to you,” Madge said quickly, “Don’t let her die. She gives more hope than she knows.”

She then quickly disappeared and Mrs. Everdeen went back to tend to Adyrn. She quickly gave her a shot and Adyrn stopped screaming in pain and Mrs. Everdeen added another layer of her snow spread on her back and then looked up at me.

“Go home Gale,” she said, “She’ll be here tomorrow. Peeta can you have first watch? I’ll call your mother and let her know where you are.”

“Sure,” he said.

“I’m fine,” I said, “I’m not going home.”

“Gale go home,” Mrs. Everdeen said in a snappy voice, “She will be fine. You can come over tomorrow.”

I was about to protest when Katniss grabbed my hand and dragged me to the front door.

“If you love her Gale you’ll go home,” Katniss said quickly, “And you and I both know you would protect her first before you could protect me.”

“Katniss,” I started and she shook her head which reminded me of Adyrn when she didn’t want me to continue because her mind was made up.

“You love her Gale,” Katniss said, “And I realized I like someone a lot more too.”

She then kissed my cheek.

“Night Gale,” she said, “Everything is going to work out you watch.”

She then shut the front door and I walked over to Haymitch’s house because I didn’t want to go home just yet. I knocked on the door and Haymitch opened it immediately.

“How is she doing?” he asked.

“Moaning from the pain,” I said as I walked in, “I hate myself for not being there.”

“Well kid,” he said, “You kind of made that happen all on your own.”

“I know,” I sighed rubbing my face tiredly, “I pushed her away and now she doesn’t trust me at all.”

“Now that’s where you’re wrong kid,” he said sitting next to me, “She trusts you a lot more than she lets on. She still loves and she’ll always love you. She’s just hurt. Back in the games she was serious about you when you were talking about her interview. The game wasn’t some strategy to survive and get out of there alive. She was dead serious. She’s loved you for a while Gale everyone but you saw that and you still don’t see that.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked looking up at Haymitch.

“No matter how indifferent she treats you, she still loves you,” Haymitch said, “You just have to convince her you really do love her.”

“Well that won’t be hard,” I said bitterly.

“And again you’re wrong kid,” he said, “You know her better than any other person. You know what makes her happy and sad and you piss her off more than anyone I know.”

“No you piss her off more actually Haymitch,” I smirked and Haymitch chuckled.

“Oh I forgot to tell you the great news,” Haymitch said.

“Which is what?” I asked.

“Since it’s been snowing so much, the Victory Tour is postponed until they can get the train through,” Haymitch said, “So that will give Adyrn time to heal.”

“But the tour isn’t for like another four months,” I said.

“You know those Capitol people,” he said, “They don’t want to touch the stuff until its melted some.”

“Well that won’t be happening for a while,” I said, “but maybe Adyrn’s back can heal fully then.”

“Well go get some sleep kid,” Haymitch said, “I think you’re going to need it if you’re going to be spending all of your time over at the Everdeen’s tomorrow.”

“Night Haymitch,” I said standing up, “Thanks for the pep talk.”

“No problem kid,” he said and then I headed home.

When I crossed the street to my house, I saw that all the lights were on. That meant no one was asleep and waiting for me to tell them how Adyrn was. As soon as I opened the door, all talking that was going on stopped. I walked into the living room to find my mother sitting on the couch looking out the window.

“How is she doing?” she asked me looking up at me.

“She’s in pain,” I said, “She got forty-five lashes. She passed out after twenty-one lashes according to Peeta.”

“Why are you here?” she asked.

“Mrs. Everdeen kicked me out,” I said monotone, “I’m going over tomorrow morning and I’m not leaving until she wakes up.”

“You should get some sleep sweetheart,” my mom said, “Even if it’s just on the couch.”

“I can’t sleep,” I said looking at her, “Go to bed Mom. I’ll be fine.”

My mom looked at me skeptically and I made her go to bed.

“Mom I’ll be fine really,” I said, “I’ll be gone before you and everyone will wake up.”

She nodded her head and slowly made her way up to her room. As I figured, I didn’t sleep much. I mostly kept having nightmares of the games mixed with Adyrn getting whipped over and over again. By the time it was six o’clock, I had woken up a total of fifty times in the last four hours. I decided to change out of the clothes I was wearing yesterday and I then headed over to the Everdeen’s house to sit and wait for Adyrn to wake up. I quickly and quietly changed and made sure I had my mockingjay pin on. That is one thing Adyrn and I kept a promise on. We promised each other that we would wear our mockingjay items until the day we died. She always wore that necklace and I always wore the pin she gave Portia the night before we went into the arena. Ever since the arena and the games Adyrn and I were two entirely new people. She became the person she refused to be. She was scared and nervous. Ever since I told her that the Capitol thought we were rebelling against them, she’s become on edge and on guard all the time. The two people I don’t see her guarded with is Peeta and Haymitch. Why Peeta I will never really know. I mean yeah she’s known Peeta a good five years now but that should be me she doesn’t have to be guarded with not him. Once I was dressed, I quickly crossed the street and headed down towards the Everdeen’s house. I was about to knock on the door lightly when it was opened and Prim was standing in the doorway.

“She kept moaning your name last night,” Prim said as she led me to the kitchen where Peeta was sleeping against the table, “I think she sensed you weren’t here.”

“How long have you been up Prim?” I asked her.

“Around four this morning,” she said, “I couldn’t sleep with hearing Adyrn moaning in pain so I asked Mom if I could give her another shot. She’s done a lot for me and now it’s my turn to help her out.”

I couldn’t believe what words of wisdom came out of that little twelve-year-old’s mouth but when she did she sounded exactly like her older sister.

“Hey Gale,” Prim said and I turned to look at her.

“Yeah Prim,” I said.

“Tell her how you feel please,” Prim said, “Between the nightmares of the games, Daddy dying, and the heartbreak she’s not Adyrn anymore. Only you can fix that whether she wants to admit it or not.”

Prim then went upstairs and I was left with a sleeping Peeta and passed out Adyrn. I gently shook Peeta and he was up in an instant but relaxed when he saw it was me.

“Why don’t you go sleep on the couch Peeta,” I said, “I’ll sit next to her and watch her.”

“You sure?” he asked and I nodded my head.

“Yeah,” I said, “You’ve been here all night. I’ll take a turn. Please. Let me.”

“She loves you,” Peeta said, “Whether she’ll tell anyone but she forgave you the minute you apologized.”

“She has a funny way of showing it,” I said.

“And so do you,” he said.

I didn’t say anything but nodded my head. Peeta walked into the living room and I pulled up a chair and pulled her hand in mine.

“I love you Adyrn Everdeen,” I said kissing her hand and I hoped she heard me, “And I’m going to make you see that I’m not lying this time.”

I then traced the outline of her cheeks, then her eyes, nose, and before I knew it I traced the outline of her lips lightly. I just sat there and watched her sleep and the memories of the games came back to me. We were in the cave and I remember spending nights just watching her sleep and knowing that when I woke up she was going to be next to me still alive. Some hair had fallen in her face and I moved it lightly and smiled down at her.

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to protect you Adyrn,” I whispered, “I’m so sorry.”