Hello everybody! I was listening to one of my favourite HG podcasts (Nightlock Podcast) when they did a scenario segment. The scenario was what if Prim went into the HG and Katniss didn't take her place? Then the creative juices started to flow and well this is what became of it. I hope You enjoy Ch 1.
~ Littl3 Bookshelf
Chapter 1
It's the day of the reaping. I don't know how I got to the square or when I woke up this morning. I try to think back but it is all fuzzy. In fact, there is no memory at all.
I stand in the crowd. They all are taller than me. I feel insecure as they look down at me, as if they are superior to me. I am only twelve. This is my first reaping. I am terrified. I feel like crying my eyes out.
The reaping begins. Effie Trinket climbs onto the stage. She is wearing a pink wig and her skin is painted white. She always creeps me out. I can't even see her eyebrows! The speech seems to roll into one second. Suddenly Effie is thrusting her hand into the big, glass bowl. She rummages around in there for a while. I feel like throwing up. I am so scared, I'm shaking.
"Please don't pick me, please don't pick me, please don't pick me, please don't pick me…" I find myself praying.
She must have touched every single piece of paper in there now. Then she very slowly pulls out a piece of paper. She unfolds it even slower. Oh, I wish she would just put us out of our misery! An hour seems to pass as her brightly coloured nails unfold the slip of paper.
She leans into the microphone. She makes eye contact with every single child in the audience.
"PRIMROSE EVERDEEN!" Effie's voice booms around the square. It echoes and bounces off every corner and crevasse. PRIMROSE EVERDEEN, PRIMROSE EVERDEEN, PRIMROSE EVERDEEN, PRIMROSE EVERDEEN…
Before I can react, a cruel faced peacekeeper grabs my left arm. Another grabs my right. I scream as they yank me forward. They start to transform into hideous creatures. Their eyeballs are gleaming red. Their mouths full of sharp teeth. They act like rabid dogs as they haul me onto the stage. Effie as turned into something far worse. Her nails grow to incredible lengths. Her skin oozes with a substance unknown to me. Her whole body is covered with it. She looks at me hungrily. I try to back away but my feet are glued to the ground. The Effie monster gets on all fours and growls.
I scream. I try to move but I cannot. I look at the audience. They have no faces. They stare at me without eyes. I scream louder.
They all pounce on me. I am screaming my head off. I feel their teeth sink into my flesh. I'm done for.
I wake up in Katniss's arms. She is trying to shush me. I realise I am still screaming. I cry in her arms.
"Shh…shh, it's okay," she comforts me. She strokes my hair and rocks me back and forth, like a baby.
"It was me," I sob.
"It was just a dream," she says calmly, "It's your first year, Prim. You've only been in there once. They're not going to pick you."
The odds of getting picked are in my favour. Katniss refused that I take out a tessera. Most Seam kids will have their name in many more times than I do. But I still can't help but worry. It's not impossible.
I reach over to Katniss's ear.
"Can you sing to me?" I whisper. She gives me a smile and nods. I love to hear her sing. She has the most beautiful voice. Ever since I was a baby, she would sing to me lullabies. She inherited it from our father. Whenever he sang all the birds outside would stop and listen. But after he died, all music died in our house. Katniss never sang freely as she did when he was alive. She only sings for me. The one she loves the most in the world.
I lie back down on the pillow. She holds my hand.
"Deep in the meadow, under a willow," she sings.
"A bed of grass, a soft green pillow," I join in.
"You remember that song," she strokes my forehead, "You finish. I've got to go."
"Go where?" I ask. I know exactly where she's going. I don't know why I ask this.
"I've just got to go," she replies carefully, "But I'll be back. I love you."
She then slips on her hunting boots and walks down stairs. I try to go back to sleep but I keep on seeing those faceless people in the crowd.
I feel something furry next to me. My cat Buttercup plops himself on my tummy. He does this whenever I am sad or scared. I sit up and scratch between his ears. He's not much of a looker but I wouldn't change him for the world.
I look up at the old clock on the wall. There is no way I am going to be able to get back to sleep. It's time to milk Lady anyway.
I put on my work overalls and pull my hair into a messy ponytail. I slip on my gumboots and make my way to the shed. The shed is where Lady is kept. It is a couple of metres away from the front door of the house. I grab a pail as I leave.
I open the rickety door. Lady is placidly munching on some hay in her feeding bag. Katniss bought me Lady when I was ten. She had a mangled leg but it is now healed. I inherited my mother's healing powers.
We sell Lady's goat milk. We also make goats cheese. Katniss sells it at the Hob. It's the black market of District 12. We don't earn much but every little bit helps.
"Come on you," I say to her as I lead her by the rope around her neck. I never have to force Lady to do anything. She knows when it is milking time or when it is time for grazing. She loves me with every bit of her big goat heart. I have that effect on animals. Unlike Katniss. She hunts.
I lead her around to the side of the shed, where I tie her to a post. I go back into the shed to bring out my little stool. I set to work milking lady. The milk hits the bottom of the pail. Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk… Lady munches on some grass as I milk her,
When the bucket is half-way, I look up. I see Rory Hawthorne walking toward me. He comes every morning. We chat and relax until breakfast then we go home. It's our little thing.
"Hey Prim," he says. He's got both hands in his pockets and walks like he is dragging his feet. All the boys my age walk like that. I don't know why.
"Hi Rory," I say, whipping my brow. Believe it or not, milking a goat is hard work.
"This lot for the cheese?" he asks. My goats cheese is famous throughout the Hob and their families.
"Yep, it's going to make a good batch," I say confidently. I pride myself on my goats cheese. The bucket is now full. Lady still has a little bit of milk left. I fill up two tin cups with milk. I take the pail and the stool back into the shed and bring out two cubes of goats cheese, wrapped in basil.
Rory and I sit on the other side of the shed. It looks on the fence of District 12. We sit with our backs to the wall, sipping milk and munching on cheese. For a moment I am almost happy. We talk about random things; cheese, coal, our teacher at school.
"Is Katniss hunting today?" Rory asks me.
"Yes, is Gale?"
"Yeah, they go every day now. What do you think they are actually doing out there?" he asks mischievously.
"Hunting, gathering. There's not much else to do on the woods, is there?"
"You sure they don't have this big romance and just send their time making out?"
"Haha, no. That does not sound like Katniss." I laugh with Rory. Katniss is best friends with his brother Gale. I have Rory, she has Gale.
"Gale wants to teach me how to hunt," he says proudly.
"Ugh, Katniss already tried to teach me," I say unhappily, "I don't like killing things."
The subject of killing things brings up an unwanted topic.
"Are you ready for today?" Rory asks a bit more gently. He knows about my fear of the Huger Games and my continuous nightmare since I turned twelve. This is his first reaping too.
"No," a knot forms in my stomach, "I don't know how I am going to cope today."
Memories of the nightmare come flooding back. I start to hyperventilate.
"Hey relax," he says handing me the rest of his goats milk, "The odds are in your favour. They are in my favour too. Gale didn't let me take out a tessera and I know Katniss would never have let you either."
"I know," I whimper. A tear slides down my face.
"Hey," he says looking me right in the eye, "we are one out of thousands of slips in those bowls. I am more worried about Gale. He's in there forty-two times."
I realise Katniss's name will be in there twenty times. This whole time I have been worrying about myself when I should have been worrying about my older friends!
I see my mother opening the windows of the house. It's breakfast time.
"I have to go," I say to Rory. We stand up and brush the dirt from our pants. Just as I'm about to go, Rory grabs my hand.
"You will be alright," he wipes the tear for my cheek and gives my hand a reassuring squeeze. He looks embarrassed and turns and runs, before I can say anything else. What was that about?
Before I go inside, I fill up a glass bottle with Lady's milk. I tie her outside in the front yard, so she can graze.
I go inside where Mum is stirring a pot of porridge.
"Hey, honey," she says giving me a hug, "Did you have a nightmare last night?"
"Yes," I say leaning into the hug.
"Aw, poor baby," she says smoothing my hair, "come have some porridge to cheer you up. We'll even put some of that honey on it, that we have in the cupboard."
We eat in silence. We don't want to talk about anything. The honey improves the porridge a lot.
"After breakfast, Mum goes and heats up some water for my bath. We don't have any hot water unless we boil it. I scrub the dirt off my hands and feet. After the bath I go to my room. Katniss's old blouse and skirt are lying on my bed. My first reaping outfit.
I put on my clothes and braid my hair into two piggy-tails. I look at myself in the mirror. I look younger than twelve. Maybe ten even. Maybe I can get away without being there. Then I remember that they can scan you to check your age.
I walk down stairs. Katniss is back from the Hob. Her game bag is full of fish, greens, salt, paraffin, strawberries and even some bakery bread!
"Aw," she says coming up to me, "You look beautiful."
She stands me in front of her so she can get a better look.
"You better tuck in that tail, little duck," she says tucking the back of my shirt into my skirt.
"Quack!" I say playfully.
"I laid out something for you too," mother says to Katniss.
"Okay," Katniss says, not even looking at her. When Dad died, Mum kind of lost it. She would sit in the same chair every day and stare at the wall. She went into depression. It was like she was paralysed with sorrow. Because we had no one working in the family, we were starving. That's when Katniss decided to venture out into the woods and hunt. With food back on the table, Mum started to come back to life and began working again. We are now able to afford medicine to help with her depression. I forgave her for leaving us but Katniss still has not.
Katniss leaves the room to have a bath. Mum misses the relationship she once had with Katniss. She looks so sad when Katniss ignores her. I go over and give her a hug.
Katniss emerges in mother's blue dress and shoes. Mum braids her hair.
"There," she says when she is finished, "now you look beautiful too."
Katniss stares at her coldly.
"I wish looked like you," I say trying to break the tension.
"Oh no," Katniss says, walking over to me, not saying thank you to Mum, "I wish I looked like you, little duck,"
I smile. Little duck is the nickname she gave me, because my shirt always sticks out the back, like a ducks tail.
Just then the whistle blows. The three of us look at each other. I feel sick. It's reaping time.
So how was it? Was it fabulous or a flop? I need feed back! Review! Tell me if I suck! I need to know if there is any future for this story. And if you do have any ideas on how this story should develop please let me know. Until next chapter…
~ Littl3 Bookshelf