Pain. A sudden shock of pain runs through my body. It hits my heart like an arrow. No one can make me feel such agony but the cry of my little sister.
"NO! … NO!"
I open my eyes. She lays there clutching on my sides. Crying.
Of course.
It's Reaping day.
I quickly wrap my arms around her small, fragile body. She clings to me like her life depended on it. Slowly I start to rock back and forth trying to comfort her.
"Shh… Shh.. It's okay. Everything's okay. It was just a dream. You were just dreaming." I carefully stroke her soft blond locks and hug her even tighter.
"Me… It was me." she quietly mutters through her uneven sobs as more tears fall from her red, swollen eyes. I tenderly wipe away the tears rolling down her cheeks and place her head closer to my heart.
"I know.. I know.. But it's not. It's your first year Prim, your name has been in there only once. They're not going to pick you." I try to sound sweet, calm and confident, but all I can manage is a little whisper. I just can't stand her tears. It pains me so much to see her cry or even to see her sweet innocent smile vanish from her round face. Prim. Sweet, innocent, pure, kind. She is just a child whodoesn'tdeserve all of this.
"You need to rest Prim. Go to sleep."
"I can't…" she sobs into the crock of my neck.
"Just try. Just try."
I feel Prim moving closer to my ear. She whispers so quietly that only I can hear it. As if it matters. No one would hear us. We are alone in this room. If you can call it a room. Despite it I look deep into her eyes and nod. I lay her down on our bed and pull the ripped piece of material that we call a blanket over her now relaxed body. She smiles warmly at me and my heart melts. I can almost feel happiness. I take her hand stroking it softly and start to sing.
Deep in the meadow, under the willow
A bed of grass, a soft green pillow
Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes
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 brings them true
Here is the place where I love you.
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 brings them true
Here is the place where I love you.
I can hear her sweet husky voice join mine. We end the lullaby together. I smile a little. I only smile when I'm with Prim. I sometimes force a smile when Katniss tells a joke wrong, but only little Prim can make my face lit up with joy.
"You remember the song. Now try to get a little bit of rest."I look at the broken clock on the table. "Okay. I have to go."
"Where?"
"I just have to go."
Prim nods and closes her eyes.
I walk out of the room and quietly go downstairs trying not to wake Katniss. She needs to rest too.. I put on my brown leather jacket, leather shoes and put my long thick black hair into a single braid down my back. I softly pet Prim's cat and walk out the door. Warm rays of sunshine hit my dirty face. The weather is wonderful. The whole Seam smells like it's the beginning of spring again. I roll my eyes. How ironic. Such a beautiful blood stained day. Soon I reach the border of District 12. The electricity of the fence is turned off like every other day since there is no sound. I look around and spot no one. I swiftly and safely get through the fence and head straight to the forest. I can already smell the wonderful scent off the woods, which reminds me of my past, when I hear a silent call.
"Callista! … Calli!"I turn around and spot Katniss running to catch up with me.
"Shh! Do you want all Panem to hear you?"I scold her smirking while she tries to catch her breath.
"What am I supposed to do? You're the one whodidn'twait for me!"Katniss pouts as we head to find our bows deeper into the forest.
"I just wanted you to get your beauty sleep and get ready for this very, very, very special day!"I exclaim with sarcasm dripping from my every word. I throw my hands into the air trying to imitate our District's overly happy escort Effie Trinket. Katniss bursts into fits of laughter. At least she can have a little fun.
While having an everyday conversation between us we find our bows. We take them and I also take my knife collection. We don't waste any time and start our hunt. I wield a bow perfectly. I never miss. Me and Katniss love to have a little competition between us. Usually I win because I have been using a bow since I was 4. Well I used to live in this very same forest. I thought myself how to hunt and survive in harshest conditions. Maybe that's why I'm so cold and unfeeling. I lived in the woods till I was eight when a little nine year old girl found me. That girl was Katniss. She offered me home and a family. I will never be able to repay her for everything she has done for me. She also gave me my name. I never knew mine. She named me Callista [Kalysta]. It means the most beautiful. I have no idea why she gave me that name. I'm nowhere near pretty. Not that I care. All I care about is providing for my family and making sure they are safe and healthy. Well as healthy as district 12 habitants can be.
I spot a squirrel on the tall tree branch. Unfortunately so does Katniss. She tries to shoot it, but misses, because it's too high in the tree. The startled squirrel tries to get away but I get it with my arrow. It falls right to Katniss feet. She picks it up.
"Wow… I will never be able to shoot so good. How did you do that?"She states in admiration.
"Well I am a natural." I wink playfully at her. She lets out a giggle.
Suddenly we hear a sound somewhere in the bushes. It gets louder and louder. It seems to be a big animal. A deer maybe. But bigdoesn'talways mean a lot of meat. Sometimes it's dangerous. Me and Katniss share a look and load our bows. We silently wait for our pray. Someone parts the bushes and steps out. Turns out it's not an animal.
"Good morning ladies!" Gale smiles at us. I roll my eyes.
"Hey.." says Katniss and puts the bow down.
"A moment there and I would have shot you." I state still keeping my bow loaded. Gale smirks a little and I can see a slight blush on his cheeks. He always blushes when I look into his grey eyes. I have no idea why. Maybe hedoesn'tlike the fact that I look at him ordoesn'tlike me. I guess I don't understand feelings at all.
"Well, thisisn'tthe death games. Yet." he growls slightly. For a moment there I forgot what day it is. Soon we will have to go home and make ourselves look pretty for the Capital scum. Then while fake smiles are plastered across our faces we will have to see little children get reaped and taken away from their families to their certain death. During that you will pray with everything you have that itwouldn'tbe you. Ha. What a lovely celebration we have. The Hunger Games. Where the odds are never in District 12 favor.
After all three of us have a very good hunt, we head to our favorite spot to take a break and rest. I sit down in between them and gaze at the forest. I am aware of Gale, who watches my every movement. We all stay silent because we know that the games are on each of our minds. Gale shifts and looks at us both.
"We could do it you know. Take off, live in the woods what we do anyway. Callista has lived there before. She survived."
"They'd catch us. Cut our tongues or worse. We wouldn't make it five miles." Katniss says.
"Besides we have to many kids." I join the conversation. Gale shifts at my comment. This makes me a little uncomfortable. But to think about little Prim living in the woods makes my heart sting. "I'm never having kids." I add.
"I might, if Ididn'tlive here." Mumbles Gale.
"But you do live here." I argue.
"But what if we didn't?" Gale looks into my eyes. I send him a confused look.
"Oh.. I forgot." He takes his eyes away from mine and takes a big loaf of bread out of his bag.
"Wow.. Is this real?" Katniss takes the bread and inhales the delicious and warm smell.
"Happy Hunger Games!" Gale salutes us with fake glee.
"And may the odds be ever in your favor!" Says Katniss while imitating that disgusting capital accent.
We split the bread in three equal pieces. I take a bite of mine and put it safely in my bag. For Prim.
"How many times is your name there?" Katniss asks Gale while munching on her bread.
"Forty two. I guess the oddsaren'texactly in my favor." Kaniss eyes widen. She had her name in there twenty five times. I had my name in there fifty times. But no one knew. Everyone thought that I only had my name in there twenty times. When our dad died I pleaded one of the higher rank peacekeepers to allow me to take an early tesserae. For that I had my name written in there thirty times. I don't regret it. Katniss and Prim needed the food very much, since Momcouldn'tdo anything. Or she justdidn'twant to. I had to do everything I can to make sure they don't die of hunger. Thank god they never suspected anything.
A few minutes later we say our goodbyes and head home. Me and Katniss head for the Hob first. I wanted her to go home but she is very stubborn. Me and Katniss never barter together though. It's better this way. We meet at the entrance a few moments later and go home. To make ourselves look pretty for our death.