*Gale Hawthorn love story*
"There's something about you Everdeen girls that makes people want to fight back."
Wisteria Everdeen never imagined these things were going to happen to her. Her sisters weren't supposed to be reaped for the Hunger Games.
...
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There were few things in her life that Wisteria Everdeen knew well. She didn't know much of her father, who passed before she would learn all she could from him. She didn't know much from her mother, who could barely utter enough words to bid her good night. She knew nothing of cooking, or braiding hair, or choosing her words carefully. She didn't know how to rig traps as well as her sister Katniss, or to make cheese like her sister Prim.
She didn't know how anyone could find solace in the never ending nightmare they all endured.
She didn't know what true peace looked like.
But she did know how to take care of her family, and how to hunt. She knew how to identify poisonous berries, how to ask the right questions, and how to swim. She knew what unconditional love and friendship felt like.
She knew how to survive... or at least she thought she did.
As they waited for Gale to make his appearance that morning, Katniss searched for game. Wisteria on the other hand knew it was pointless to try and drag anything back to the hub on the day of the reaping.
District 12 was crawling with unfamiliar faces whose uniforms held weapons their own peacekeepers never bothered to carry. To get caught breaking the law on reaping day was to lose your hand, maybe even an eye, maybe even your life.
Because she knew this very well, she declined to join Katniss on her hunt and sat on the cliff side, staring out over the valley. The sun was warm, glistening off the lake where she had taught her sister to swim. Summers ago, back when their father was still alive.
The hovercraft could be heard long before it could be seen coming from the west. She scurried backwards into the tree line, peering through the branches as the propellers kicked up a wind so strong it seemed to shake the entire valley.
She prayed silently that Katniss and Gale found coverage, but she didn't worry much for it. They weren't stupid, you couldn't be stupid out here. Once the loud air craft was out of ear shot she returned to her spot, the valley settling once more as if nothing had disturbed it.
Her prayers were granted shortly after, voices arguing in the distance. She doesn't bother to turn her head, knowing the familiar patter of footsteps and annoyed protests from her sister and best friend.
"If no one watches, then they don't have a game. It's as simple as that!" Gale states as they enter the clearing, Katniss shaking her head at him. Wis could see the neck of an unlucky water fowl tied to her bag and shakes her own head as well.
"It'll never happen!" Katniss shoot's back, plopping down to the right of Wisteria while Gale lowers himself to her left.
Wisteria chuckles at their antics. On her face rising the only thing close to a smile she thought she could manage today.
"Fine, Wis, laugh at me," Gale sighs as he playfully knocks his shoulder into hers.
"I will thank you," Wis taunts and they all fall silent, Katniss and Gale taking in the same view she had been enjoying moments before. She pictured running, heading North with her family and never turning back. Packing what little they had, slipping under the fence at dusk, and making their home out in the in-between. All she wanted was for her sisters to be safe.
