Ending Two: The Not So Happy One

Gale loved Peeta, but sometimes the arguing was too much to handle. He wanted to work things out with him, Peeta said he wanted to as well, but nothing changed between them. Everything caused some sort of argument between them, whether it was whether one person remembered to do something, or how the food was cooked.

Gale wanted nothing more than to go back to the way things were before, when they were nothing but happy around each other, when they looked forward to nothing but being in each other's arm. Lately it seemed that nothing was happening except getting worse.

One day, during dinner Peeta broke the usual silence with the four words Gale did not want to hear ever; "We need to talk."

"Peeta we can work on this. We can fix this. Don't give up on us yet."

"No, Gale. I should've done this months ago. We need to break up." The words hit Gale as if someone stabbed him repeatedly.

He barely whispered, "No!"' before he broke into tears.

Neither of them knew what exactly made the inevitable end, so inevitable. They were fine one moment and then next they couldn't stop arguing. Gale left the kitchen and hid in the extra bedroom, where he has been sleeping for the last few weeks. He decided that he would leave in the morning and go back to District 2.

The next day came and Gale was packed and ready to leave.

"Goodbye Peeta. I will miss you." Gale's eyes were still red and shiny with tears.

"Goodbye Gale." It was difficult for Peeta, but he felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He would miss Gale, but he couldn't admit to it. He knew that if he did Gale would try and convince him to try and fix things.

Gale had been in District two for three months, continuing in his job the way he had before Katniss died. He thought that with time his wounds would slowly heal, but much to his dismay, they were still fresh as ever. He couldn't help but think about Peeta constantly. Every memory of the two, the adventures in the bedroom, the cuddling, the conversations, refreshed all old wounds.

Eventually the misery became too much for him. He knew he wouldn't be able to tell anyone; otherwise he would lose his job. The people in District 12 were kind and loving; they didn't care if someone was heterosexual or homosexual, they saw it as love and supported Gale and Peeta throughout the whole relationship. In District 2, it was a different story; heterosexuality was the only thing accepted. In fact, the discovery of homosexuality resulted in imprisonment, or even execution. If Gale lost his job, there would be no way he could maintain anything, he would end up dying on the streets.

Bottling everything up was not helping though. He couldn't concentrate and everyone noticed. Women threw themselves at Gale but he never responded with anything but absolute disgust.

The day after his birthday he realized that he and Peeta would not be celebrating as they usually did and he couldn't take it. He took his rope that he had used for hunting back when he and Katniss were younger and made a sufficient noose. He wore a tear streaked face of determination as he made final adjustments on the noose. Slowly, he walked to the closet, where he tied to noose to the highest possible thing he could tie it to, before stepping onto a footstool and slipping the rope ever-so-carefully around his neck. He closed his eyes, silently saying goodbye to the people he cared about, thinking one last time about his happy memories with Peeta, just before he jumped off the stool.