A different Time and Place
Authors Note- Hello! It's me again! I have another idea for a hunger games story. Shocking, I know! Ha-ha
I hope you all like this one too, I'm not going to stop writing chapter for all the others, but when the creative bug catches me, I must succumb to its wishes ha-ha
Enjoy!
Chapter 1
"No! No! Please! No! Katniss! Save me! Please!" Agonizing screams of terror woke Katniss up from her slumber. She rolled quickly, falling off the side of the bed but recovering quickly. Standing she climbed back onto the bed and pulled the other occupant into her arms, quietly shushing and rocking her.
"Shh Prim, Prim Prim, it's okay Prim, Shh wake up, your fine, nothing's happening to you, your fine. Nothing's going to happen to you little duck, I won't let it. Shh, Shh..." Her mantra continued for a few more seconds before the little girl in her arms woke with a cry, and clung onto Katniss with surprising strength for one so small.
"Katniss! They called my name, they called my name today! I don't want to go, please don't make me!" The sobs were heart wrenching and they killed Katniss even more when she heard them. She only wished she could say to Prim that she didn't have to go, but they had no choice. She was of reaping age now.
"Don't worry little duck, your name won't be called. You only have one slip of paper with your name on in there. You won't be called. I said I'd keep you safe and I will. That's why told you not to get any Teressa, because it's not worth you being called up when I can do it. It's going to be okay Prim, don't worry. It's early, why don't you try and get some more sleep? I'm going to go out and meet Gale, like we always do, okay?" Sher carded her fingers through the blonde locks on her little sister head and leaned back, wiping away all the stray tears. Prim nodded and Lay back down, letting Katniss tuck her in and kiss her on the forehead. As Katniss stood up and turned to walk away, a quiet voice stopped her.
"Katniss?" Her voice sounded so quiet and childlike it almost broke her heart.
"Yes, little duck?" She looked back at her sister and even on the small bed that they both had to share, it made her look a lot smaller than she is.
"Can you sing to me? Please? You know I sleep better when you do..." Her small voice wavered just slightly and it made Katniss' heart clench painfully. She put a soft smile on her face, one that only a select few people ever saw, and knelt by the bed once again.
Opening her mouth, the soft but peaceful words flowed out.
Deep in the meadow, under the willow,
A bed of grass, a soft green pillow,
Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eye's,
And when again they open, the sun will rise,
Here it's safe, here it's warm,
Here the daisies guard you from every harm,
Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow you bring them true,
Here is the place where I love you.
Half way through the song, Prim's eyes started to close. Outside, there were no birds singing, just like every time she sings as they were waiting for her to finish singing. She was known for having the voice of a song bird but no one knew the true extent. Her melodious voice continued with the song.
Deep in the meadow, hidden far away,
A cloak of leaves, a moonbeam ray,
Forget your woes and let your troubles lay,
And when again it's morning, they'll wash away.
Here it's safe, here it's warm,
Here the daisies guard you from every harm,
Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow you bring them true,
Here is the place where I love you.
Her beautiful voice tapered off at the end and ended in a soft hum as she watched the peaceful rise and fall of her sister chest. Staying there for a moment, revelling in the silence that followed, she stood up and the birds started singing again. Only this time they weren't singing their random tunes anymore, they were all singing 'The Valley Song'. The song that she just sang. Another small smile was on her face, but it disappeared as she thought of what today was.
'Reaping day. A day where two unfortunate people are basically thrown to their deaths. And there's no way out of it.' A grimace pushed on her face as she looked over to the other side of the room, where their mother lay, still asleep. She hadn't move when Prim started screaming, nor when she had sung. Shaking her head, she looked away and started to get changed into her hunting gear. Her relationship with her mother had never been that good and it had disintegrated as soon as her father passed away.
Her father worked in the mines. And one day, not long after her 11th birthday, something happened in the mines. There was an explosion and when the alarms went off, everyone went into a panic. There were many explosions in the mines, but never when there were people in there. Rushing through the crowds of people, Katniss found her mother and sister sitting on the ground with everyone else who had family in the mines, waiting for the verdict. Sitting with them, they waited for the lifts to come to the surface. The lifts kept coming up, bring less and less people each time it came up. Some bought up the dead bodies and the families were left to grieve their losses. It got to the end of the day and no more people came up. No body was found of her father. And they weren't the only family. Gale's family the Hawthorne's also lost their father and his body was never recovered. That's how they met and became best friends. The families of the deceased got a months' worth of money to keep them going while they grieved and found themselves a job, but Katniss' mother never did recover. She basically shut down and wouldn't do anything, wouldn't move or speak sometimes. Katniss basically became the head of the Everdeen family there and then. She was left to her own devices, trying to find ways of getting money and food to feed her sister, because when that month's money ran out, they were on their own.
She didn't figure it out quick enough and after that moth, both her and Prim were starving to death with no hope. That is until somebody gave her something. Something that gave her hope and the will to live. Ever since then, she's been breaking the law and going beyond the district fences to hunt game with her bow and arrow, just like her father taught her. Sometime since then, Gale has joined her. He made the snares and the traps to catch things, as well as collecting herbs and berries while Katniss hunted bigger things and animals that flew. He collects the herbs for Katniss' mother, because even though she's hardly there and can't even look after her daughters most of the time, she's the best healer they have in district 12. And she's teaching Prim to follow in her footsteps.
Ever since then, she's become well known for her game, how she shoots them and how she and Gale basically feed the whole district. Even the peacekeepers turn a blind eye to them, because they are almost as bad off as the rest of the district. But she also remains a mystery to just about everyone. They know of her but she stays to herself. She stopped going to school as soon as Prim started, hung around Gale more, and traded her goods at the Hob.
Shaking herself out of those thoughts, she pulled on her father's hunting jacket, pulled the side to her face and took a long sniff. It still smelt slightly of him. Pulling her hair out and braiding it to the side, leaving a few locks loose, she walked quietly out of the door and followed her daily path to the Meadow and then to the fences that stop the people going across the border. She stopped and listened for a few seconds and when the tell-tale buzzing of electricity wasn't heard, she climbed through the gap and ran off into the woods.
Finding the tree, she wanted, she pulled out her bow. The log on the floor hid her sheath of Arrows, which she also pulled out. For the next half an hour, she hunted game, mostly squirrels and birds, when movement caught her eye. It was something big and she froze, waiting for it to move into sight. It was a deer, and fully grown to. She moved slowly, as to not startle it and put an arrow on her bow and pulled it back, aiming steadily at its eye. She was about to let go when a twig snapped behind her and the deer ran off. Turning at speed she had the arrow pointed at Gales head before she could realize who it was.
Stepping back, with his hands up and a cheeky grin on his face, he spoke to her. "Hey Catnip!" the nickname may annoy her, but it was only ever him that got away with calling her that. Anyone else who tried, knew not to do it again.
"Gale! You scared it away. That was the first deer I'd seen since last year." She slipped her arrow back into the sheath and slapped his arm. He laughed at her and slung his arm around her shoulder and lead her off to their usual place.
The sat in comfortable silence before Gale started talking. "Do you ever you could just leave? Get away from here and keep going?"
"Every single day. I know we could do it, but I have Prim to look after and you have your brothers." Her answer was quick, almost like they'd already had this conversation before.
"We could bring them with us!" Gale turned to look at her and caught the incredulous look on her face.
"Prim? In the woods? Are you serious?" her laugh finished that sentence and once again they sat in silence. A loud buzzing was heard and the winds picked up. Overhead, there was a hovercraft going over, signally that the reaping was about to starts. Gale covered Katniss and pulled her over to the bushes. Once it was gone, they looked at each other and started walking back. The grabbed what they had caught and found. Grabbing a few berried out of the back, Gale started to eat them.
"Happy hunger games..." he threw a berry in the air for Katniss to catch and she did, in her mouth. "And may the odds be ever in your favour!" she finished the sentence for him, putting on the posh Capital voice that everyone there seemed to use.
Walking back through the woods and hiding the bow and arrow once again, they went and sold everything they bought at the hob. Splitting off, Katniss went over to the old woman's stall and handed her the bag of berries in trade for some coins. She was going to walk away when something caught her attention. She picked it up and saw it was a circle pin, with a bird inside. Looking questionably up at the woman, she explained.
It's a mocking-jay. It's meant to protect you against things." Her voice was old and raspy but Katniss payed no attention to that.
"How much?" Katniss' thought went to Prim. It would keep her safe, to make her think that at least. The old woman gazed at her and gave a soft smile. Waving her off she said she could keep it. Smiling back at her and a thank you later, she was walking back to her house to get dressed for the reaping.
Walking through the door she saw her sister, ready and dressed and looking wonderful.
"Look at you! You look so pretty! But you might want to watch that tail little duck." Katniss smiled as she tucked the back of her shirt all the way in. During this she gave Prim the pin and told her it will protect her, if she wasn't there. The moment was ruined by their mother.
"I laid something out for you to." The smile was off Katniss' face and she froze for a second before responding.
"Okay, I'll be right out." After a quick scrub in the 'bath' they had she dried off and put on the dress that was laid out for her. It was one of her mother's old ones and it fit her.
Doing her hair in a braid and then wrapping it around the back of her head, she was ready to go. Walking out of the bedroom, her mother stood there. "You look beautiful." no knowing how to respond she turned to look at Prim.
"I wished I looked like you Katniss." Prim was always telling her how she'd love to look like her and her response was every time the same things.
"Oh, but I wish I looked like you little duck!" 'little duck' was what her father used to call prim, since she's the prettiest of them all. Katniss was 'his little hunter' or 'Kat' not that anyone calls her that anymore. Well, almost no one.
The bell tolls, telling everyone they have 5 minutes to make it to the square. Kneeling in front of Prim, she tells her one last thing. "When we get there, they're going to prick your finger and draw a little blood, only a little and then you go and stand in your age group until the reaping is over and then I'll come and collect you okay? You have nothing to worry about, I'll be there the whole-time okay? And so, will mum and Gale? Okay. Let's go."
Holding her hand all the way to the line, she sends her through first, keeping an eye on her even when her finger got pricked. Walking fast to where she's meant to be, she saw Gale and nodded. Trying to find Prim was hard, as she was so small. By the time she had, Effie Trinket was on the stage welcoming everyone.
"Hello. Hello and welcome to the 84th annual Hunger Games Isn't it so exciting? Okay, before we call up the tributes, were going to watch this short film from the Capital."
She turned, with a smile on her face, as she watched the big screen. Everyone else there didn't care, but they had no choice. All the way through it, Gale and Katniss were making faces at each other.
"Wow, bring a tear to my eye every time we watch that! Now! Onto the tributes, ladies first!" she wandered over the bowls on the right of the stage and put her hands in, waving it around and around as she picked a slip of paper. Pulling it out, she totted back over to the microphone and pulled it apart. Taking a deep breath, she said clearly "Primrose Everdeen!"
Authors Note - Sorry for leaving it here, but I didn't think you'd want a long chapter to read for the first chapter. I hope you like it and I know some things might give clues to what's happening here. Because this isn't the normal Hunger games like it seems so far ;)
Enjoy xx
~Kitty