Behind the Seams

“Larsen?” I heard. I opened my eyes a little bit. It was too bright so I quickly closed them. “Larsen? Are you awake?” I tried to speak but nothing came out. My mouth was so dry. I nodded instead. “Mrs. Everdeen!” Gale shouted. I clutched my head and put a finger to my mouth attempting to shush him. Mrs. Everdeen came into the room with a glass of mint water. I drank it quickly.

“Hey.” I said.

“Hey.” Gale smiled. He slowly sat down next to me.

“Why does my head hurt?” I asked Gale. He furrowed his brow.

“You don’t remember?” I shook my head, but stopped quickly feeling too dizzy. “What do you remember?”

“Hunting with you. Going back to your house. Hearing something from the Hunger Games and then running home.” Gale nodded, looking a little sad.

“When you went home. Your dad was there. He was drunk, of course. This obviously is not something out of the ordinary. I don’t know exactly what happened, but something must have happened that got him mad and he hit you over the head with one of his alcohol glass bottles.” I shook my head.

“No way! My dad was a drunk, but he was not a violent one. He would never hit me.” Gale bit his lip.

“Larsen, I’m so sorry. I should have followed you. I didn’t I thought I did something so I was letting you cool off.” I shook my head, trying to recall everything that happened.

“Where is he? What happened?”

“I don’t know what happened. He’s just gone. No one can find him. No one will tell me anything. I’ve been trying to figure out the missing pieces while you were sleeping.”

“How long was I out?”

“Two weeks. Just about. You always woke up when your dose of morphling wore off. You just kept screaming. The glass was in your head pretty good.” My eyes widened.

“I—I started a fire. For dinner. Is the house okay? My mom’s stuff.” I started to tear. What if all of that stuff left from my mom was burned just because I was standing up against my dad.

“Larsen, slow down. The main part of your house is gone. Your parents’ room is fine. Your mom’s stuff is fine.” I felt a tear finally fall down my face. “Larsen, what’s wrong?”

“My family is gone. All of them. I know that my father and I didn’t get along very well. But he was the last family I had left. He was still my dad. Now I really am alone.”

“Moo, you will never be alone. I promise you. As long as you have me you will -never be alone.” I nodded and hugged him. “Who found me?”

“Mr. Mellark. He forgot to pay you for the game you brought him. He brought you here and Prim ran to get me.” I nodded.

“And where am I?”

“You are at Katniss’s house in the Victor’s Village.” I nodded, biting my lip. So Peeta let her kill him. He was too good for her. I started to cry. Gale hugged me tightly until I fell back asleep.

*

“Please, Gale! I feel fine. I need to get off of this couch. I’m tired of seeing Katniss try to avoid me.” I said in a lower voice. “I will be gone for maybe an hour.”

“Moo, I’m not sure if that is such a good idea.”

“I need to thank Mr. Mellark for saving me. He has been a key part in my survival even before this.” I pointed to the scar above my eyebrow. “He was one of the few people who bought game from me. Please, let me go see him.” I saw that he was hesitant. It was understandable, I suppose. But I needed to get outside. I gave him my puppy dog eyes.

“You can always break me. You’re my weak spot. It is not fair.” I smiled.

“Thank you. I will see you later, Gale. While I’m gone you should go home. Please get some sleep. I’ll be fine. I promise.” He nodded. I kissed his cheek. He smiled.

“What was that for?” I shrugged.

“Thank you. For being there for me and loving me. I love you, Goose.” He smiled a full smile. “Do not get ahead of yourself, Romeo.”

“I know. I’m just glad that you do.” I nodded.

“I’ll see you later, Gale.” He smiled as I walked out the front door.

*

I heard that familiar bell ring as I opened the front door. Mr. Mellark was at the counter with his back turned.

“Good morning.” He started to turn around. “How can I he—Larsen.” He gasped. “Thank God. You’re okay. He came around the counter to hug me tightly. I hugged him back.

“Thank you so much, Mr. Mellark. You saved my life.” He pulled away.

“No, please. Don’t thank me. I’m just glad that you are okay. You are like the daughter that I never had. It would have been terrible losing you.”

“So everyone keeps telling me.” I nodded, smiling. “But nonetheless I am still so thankful. You’ve treated me so well the past few months since mom died.”

“Your mom was a great friend of mine. I think she knew your dad would handle her death badly. She told me to look after you and Holden. Make sure nothing like this happened.”

“My mom knew she was going to die?”

“I think a small part of her did. She must have felt it.” I nodded. She always had a knack for knowing when my brother or I was getting sick. “So I hate to pry. But are you okay? I heard you saw Peeta’s mistake on the projector.”

“With Katniss you mean?” He nodded. “I’ll admit that my heart is broken. I think now that he’s gone that I’ll be okay.”

“Gone?” What do you mean?” I was confused.

“The day my dad hit me, Gale and I just got back from hunting. The television was on and I heard that they would only accept one victor. I have seen Katniss. But not—”

“Dad!” Peeta. He came around the corner too fast for me to get out of there. That is the moment where my heart felt like it burst into flames. When I saw him, I could not help but melt. I wanted to run to him and just hug him. He had stopped in the doorway from the back.

“Larsen.” I smiled. Hearing his voice again made me so happy.

“Peeta.” My voice cracked. I had a lump in my throat. It was like seeing the dead. Only he did not really die.

“Well, I see you two have quite a lot to talk about.” Mr. Mellark said. “I can just—”

“No, Dad. We’ll go somewhere. If that’s okay?” Peeta looked at me. I shook my head.

“I don’t really know if that is a good idea. Gale is probably waiting for me.”

“’Probably?’ Meaning you’re not sure.” I nodded, agreeing. “So, please. It won’t take long.” I saw him stare directly at me with his deep blue eyes. I nodded, finding it hard to resist.

*

“I saw your leg. When you were in the cave. How is it?” I asked. This was my way of bringing up his kiss with Katniss without blatantly bringing it up.

“Actually that leg is gone. The lower half anyway. They gave me a fake one. A prosthetic. That’s what they called it. It is pretty cool.” He shook his head. “You saw what happened in the cave.”

“It was the only thing that I watched.” I felt my eyes start to water.

“Larsen,” he tried to sit next to me. I shook my head, pushing him away. He sat anyway, with his hands in his lap, looking directly at them. “I am so sorry. I was really hoping you had not.”

“I found out about the rule change. I was so excited that I could get both of my friends back. So I wanted to watch and make sure you came home.” I said, quietly. I looked up at him.

“Friends?” He looked up at me. He looked sad. I nodded a few times.

“Yeah. Friends.” He looked back at his hands.

“I guess I should have guessed that. For what it’s worth, I did it for you.”

“Oh, please, Peet. You broke my heart. In front of everyone. Now you are trying to say that you did everything for me?”

“Well, at the time, I can admit that it was in the moment. I felt in the moment.”

“You love her. That’s what you felt.” He bit his lip.

“Yeah.” Was all he said.

“Alright, if you don’t mind, I’d like it if you left.” He nodded without another word. I went into my mom’s room and curled up on her side of the bed.