nothing is as it seems.
thresh & rue
( big and small )
:: for Tim, who really does imagine Thresh with soft hair. ::
disclaimer: i don't own.
I never trusted people easily. Before Katniss, there was only a handful of people I could put my faith in, and almost all of them were my family. Except one.
Thresh.
I don't know how we became friends in the first place. I'd always kind of know who he was, but we hadn't really spoken until we were on our way to the Capitol to compete in the Hunger Games
He was a difficult person to figure out. Thresh, I mean.
Everything about him seemed hard. His attitude, his demeanor, his outlook on life.
But after time, I realized something: Thresh was far from hard. He was soft.
Even when he was doing hard things, like getting into fights at school, he still looked so soft… from his hair to his heart, Thresh absolutely radiated softness.
I don't know what it was. Maybe it was the way he'd smile randomly at me. The way he'd sometimes hum while he was harvesting grain. Maybe it was his unusual affection for kittens. Maybe even just the way he talked. Rough and grainy, with a soft center. Yes, it's possible for your voice to have a soft center.
Anyway. When we left for the games, he promised to protect me. He was so sweet.
All through training, he kept promising. And promising and promising. Promising one thing: I would make it out of the Games.
The day before we left for the arena, I asked him one thing: Why was he so set on protecting me?
He looked at me and gravely said: "Because, Rue… your kittens need you. They need you to come home alive. No kitten can live without someone to pet it every day."
And that was that.
I went to sleep that night almost without fear. I had Thresh to watch out for me. I would come home alive. After all, my kittens needed me to.
But the next day, in the arena, I found that Thresh had abandoned me. I tried to shake it off. I could take care of myself. This is me we're talking about.
I was on my own for a few days. I found water easily, and there were plenty of tall trees for me to climb for shelter and cover.
But on the fourth day, I ran into him. Thresh. I drew my knife and prepared to fight him.
But Thresh simply stood there. "I'm not going to fight you, Rue." Then he turned around and started to leave.
"Wait!" I called after him. I told him before he left, there was one thing I needed to know.
"What?" he asked.
"Your hair… how do you get it so soft?"
He flipped it and said with a giggle, "It's natural!"
And then he was gone.
Sometimes I wonder about that boy.