The Truth Between the Lies Chapter 3
Disclaimer: Not mine don't sue
I stand there in the hallway crying for a good while after I see Gale disappear around a corner. It’s not until someone else comes around the corner that I dry my eyes and start walking away myself. It’s reflection time, according to the schedule on my wrist, and my mother and Prim will be in our room. I decide to tell them right away. After Gale, I can’t imagine telling them will be any worse. Prim will be happy for me, if nothing else. Hell, Prim will probably be happier than I am. Of course I talk myself out of telling them before I’m halfway there and then back into it again by the time I’m at the door.
I open the door to our room to see Prim reading on her bed while our mother unloads the week’s laundry into our drawers. It’s quiet, but not unhappy; they both would like it here if they didn’t spend so much time worrying about me.
“Hi,” Prim says cheerily.
My mother turns and smiles at me as I sit down on my bed. “How are you?” she asks.
“I’m pregnant,” I say flatly, staring straight ahead. I hear Prim gasp and my mother slams the drawer, but I feel too drained to react to either.
Prim leaps off her bed and hugs me, but I don’t really return it. She sits beside me and smiles. “This is great news.”
“I guess so. It’s also pretty scary,” I admit. I don’t like to burden my family, but I feel the need to be comforted by someone just for a minute.
My mother turns around then suddenly. “Well that’s why you get nine months to get ready,” she chirps, her thin smile not quite hiding her disappointment.
“It's okay, Mother, I understand if you're not completely happy about this,” I say. I’m actually touched that she at least tried to support me.
“I’m not upset with you, . I just feel like I failed you,” she says softly.
The ghost of her previous failure hovers in the air for a moment before I shake my head. “You didn’t. I got here myself.”
“I know, but if anybody should know how to avoid this , it’s an apothecary’s daughter. I should have....” She trails off.
“Even if you had told me how to prevent this, I wouldn’t have bothered,” I reply.
“Did you both plan this?” my mother asks, incredulous.
“No, not exactly.” I shake my head “I just never thought Snow would let me out of the arena alive,” I admit. It’s only half the truth, but me saying I planned to die and leave them seems cruel.
My mother narrows her eyes. “You would think Peeta would have at least thought of you.”
I bristle. “He couldn’t have known this would happen. The odds of this happening were so slim…” Although I have wondered that myself, once or twice; Peeta always intended for me to survive, so I can assume he meant for our child to do the same. Just what I was supposed to do with a child without its father I can only guess. Knowing Peeta, it’s meant to protect us somehow.
“You really do love Peeta, don’t you?” Prim asks so suddenly I suspect she simply wants to change the topic.
“I do,” I say simply. Or at least I thought I did. When we woke up the morning after, it was perfectly clear. Even in the arena, I had no doubts about what I was doing. But then I spent the past weeks with Gale and that confused things all over again. It’s just so easy with Gale. I wondered if me with Gale might not be better for everyone. Peeta and I are so different and its always so complicated; things with Gale are just so simple. I suppose I’ll never know now.
“I just really wish he was here,” I say. This seems to exasperate my mother, who goes back to fussing with our clothes.
“Of course you do. That’s normal,” my mother says, refolding an already folded shirt. “I wish he was here so you could make this marriage of yours legal.”
I put my head in my hands, despairing of receiving any comfort from my mother. “Mother,” I start, “ I can’t even think about that right now.”
“What’s to think about?” My mother is genuinely confused now. Thankfully the tone that signals mealtime sounds before I can answer that particularly loaded question. I’m just hoping I never have to tell her I never had a toasting with Peeta, that I hopped into bed with him in a moment of madness. I think even if we had a normal relationship, that might be more than she needs to hear.
We file out into the hallway and I see the Hawthornes ahead of us, minus Gale. I try to maneuver so they don’t see us, but Hazelle turns and to my surprise smiles at me and stops to speak to me.
I walk towards her but I have no idea what to say when I get there.
“Gale told me,” she says simply. She reaches out and puts her hands on my shoulders when she sees my expression “It's all going to be alright. Gale will be fine and so will you. Just give it time”
My lip trembles. I’m tempted to pour out every emotion I’m feeling right now, but she hugs me. It surprises me. I‘m as close to Hazelle as I am to anyone, but I don‘t really hug people save Prim or Peeta. “Don’t be afraid to ask me if you need anything, okay?” she says softly. Then just like that, she turns and moves along; the crowd engulfs her in seconds.
Then it parts again revealing the only other person who truly needs to know I’m pregnant right now, It’s Riley Mellark.
Previous Chapter
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Thanks to sabeceanbabe for betaing this chapter
I stand there in the hallway crying for a good while after I see Gale disappear around a corner. It’s not until someone else comes around the corner that I dry my eyes and start walking away myself. It’s reflection time, according to the schedule on my wrist, and my mother and Prim will be in our room. I decide to tell them right away. After Gale, I can’t imagine telling them will be any worse. Prim will be happy for me, if nothing else. Hell, Prim will probably be happier than I am. Of course I talk myself out of telling them before I’m halfway there and then back into it again by the time I’m at the door.
I open the door to our room to see Prim reading on her bed while our mother unloads the week’s laundry into our drawers. It’s quiet, but not unhappy; they both would like it here if they didn’t spend so much time worrying about me.
“Hi,” Prim says cheerily.
My mother turns and smiles at me as I sit down on my bed. “How are you?” she asks.
“I’m pregnant,” I say flatly, staring straight ahead. I hear Prim gasp and my mother slams the drawer, but I feel too drained to react to either.
Prim leaps off her bed and hugs me, but I don’t really return it. She sits beside me and smiles. “This is great news.”
“I guess so. It’s also pretty scary,” I admit. I don’t like to burden my family, but I feel the need to be comforted by someone just for a minute.
My mother turns around then suddenly. “Well that’s why you get nine months to get ready,” she chirps, her thin smile not quite hiding her disappointment.
“It's okay, Mother, I understand if you're not completely happy about this,” I say. I’m actually touched that she at least tried to support me.
“I’m not upset with you, . I just feel like I failed you,” she says softly.
The ghost of her previous failure hovers in the air for a moment before I shake my head. “You didn’t. I got here myself.”
“I know, but if anybody should know how to avoid this , it’s an apothecary’s daughter. I should have....” She trails off.
“Even if you had told me how to prevent this, I wouldn’t have bothered,” I reply.
“Did you both plan this?” my mother asks, incredulous.
“No, not exactly.” I shake my head “I just never thought Snow would let me out of the arena alive,” I admit. It’s only half the truth, but me saying I planned to die and leave them seems cruel.
My mother narrows her eyes. “You would think Peeta would have at least thought of you.”
I bristle. “He couldn’t have known this would happen. The odds of this happening were so slim…” Although I have wondered that myself, once or twice; Peeta always intended for me to survive, so I can assume he meant for our child to do the same. Just what I was supposed to do with a child without its father I can only guess. Knowing Peeta, it’s meant to protect us somehow.
“You really do love Peeta, don’t you?” Prim asks so suddenly I suspect she simply wants to change the topic.
“I do,” I say simply. Or at least I thought I did. When we woke up the morning after, it was perfectly clear. Even in the arena, I had no doubts about what I was doing. But then I spent the past weeks with Gale and that confused things all over again. It’s just so easy with Gale. I wondered if me with Gale might not be better for everyone. Peeta and I are so different and its always so complicated; things with Gale are just so simple. I suppose I’ll never know now.
“I just really wish he was here,” I say. This seems to exasperate my mother, who goes back to fussing with our clothes.
“Of course you do. That’s normal,” my mother says, refolding an already folded shirt. “I wish he was here so you could make this marriage of yours legal.”
I put my head in my hands, despairing of receiving any comfort from my mother. “Mother,” I start, “ I can’t even think about that right now.”
“What’s to think about?” My mother is genuinely confused now. Thankfully the tone that signals mealtime sounds before I can answer that particularly loaded question. I’m just hoping I never have to tell her I never had a toasting with Peeta, that I hopped into bed with him in a moment of madness. I think even if we had a normal relationship, that might be more than she needs to hear.
We file out into the hallway and I see the Hawthornes ahead of us, minus Gale. I try to maneuver so they don’t see us, but Hazelle turns and to my surprise smiles at me and stops to speak to me.
I walk towards her but I have no idea what to say when I get there.
“Gale told me,” she says simply. She reaches out and puts her hands on my shoulders when she sees my expression “It's all going to be alright. Gale will be fine and so will you. Just give it time”
My lip trembles. I’m tempted to pour out every emotion I’m feeling right now, but she hugs me. It surprises me. I‘m as close to Hazelle as I am to anyone, but I don‘t really hug people save Prim or Peeta. “Don’t be afraid to ask me if you need anything, okay?” she says softly. Then just like that, she turns and moves along; the crowd engulfs her in seconds.
Then it parts again revealing the only other person who truly needs to know I’m pregnant right now, It’s Riley Mellark.
Previous Chapter
Next Chapter
Thanks to sabeceanbabe for betaing this chapter