Author's note:
I don't own The Hunger Games. If I did, I would hardly be publishing here.
This is my first chapter, I'm really unsure about this story, so let me know if i must go on.
Hope you like it :)
...
It's a beautiful day today. The woods are greener than usual and my traps are full of rabbits. I got really lucky today, where the food is concerned. On my hip I feel the rabbits hanging, on the other I have the bread from the bakery I got this morning. The smell fills my nose. I must say, it's not an unpleasant smell. I look down and see that my shoes are starting to wear out. That's bad news, I was hoping to eventually pass these down to Rory, when he needed them. I guess tomorrow I'll have to look for some new ones. The forest is very quiet, my footsteps silent. the only thing you can hear are the birds singing. The wind is gentle, the breeze cooling my cheeks. I continue foward until I come to our place where we always meet up. Katniss will be here any minute. I expect her any moment, listening to the rustling of the leaves. With a smile up to her ears. She never smiles, except in the forest. It does not matter what day it is, she will laugh. She can not leave the forest without laughing. I wonder if she is worried about Prim. Probably. But she will not talk about it. Katniss is not the type of girl that talks about her feelings. We also do not talk about the misfortune of our fathers, years ago. It's not just her, I can't talk about it either. Too painful. Sometimes I feel that I should tell my story to someone, but I don't want to burden anyone. It's more my thing.
I hear noises coming from the bushes. Smiling I get up and walk towards the sounds. I hear her footsteps. Not noisy, but not completely silent. Simply, Katniss. I step through a bush and there she is. Her dishevelled braid hanging down her back. Her gray eyes are sad, but as soon as she sees me, a grin on her face. Without thinking about it, I give her a grin back.
"Hey Catnip." I mumble. That's the nickname I have given her. When we first met I asked her for her name but she was a little shy so she mumbled something that sounded like catnip. Obviously, I heard wrong. But it's stuck, so I call her that anyways. And she has become accustomed. "Look what I've shot this morning?" I hold up the bread from the bakery this morning that I got. To finish, I have an arrow pierced through it. Yes there is joker in me. I give her the bread and she started laughing.
"Mm, it's still warm. "She breaks it in half and smells it. "What did it cost?" She pulls her eyebrows questioningly.
"But one squirrel. I think old man was a little emotional today."I say. "He wished me success itself." The baker, who never says much, this morning looked really sad. I realize that he has a son who is participating in the Reaping. Probably he was worried about him. This is rather normal.
"Oh yes, on a day like today we all live together, not?"Yes, she has a point. "Prim has given us a cheese. "I smile, the first thing she say today about Prim and it has nothing to do with the Reaping. You see what I said about Katniss? Katniss and feelings do not go together. A bit like people from the city and me.
But then I think that that cheese probably tastes delicious with my bread from the baker's. My stomach begins to growl at that time. As it usually does. "Thank you, Prim. Now we have a real feast." And of course, before I forget,with my best capitol accent I begin to speak. "Almost forgot! Happy Hunger Games!" I pick a few berries from the nearest berry bush. "May the odds ..." I remain silent for the rest and throw the berries in a high arc to Katniss. She catches him in her mouth and her face lights up. "be ever in your favor!" She makes the sentence as exagerated as me.
Katniss is sat next to me and I start cutting the bread. It still smells wonderful, but it's less hot. Katniss looks at how I prepare the dinner. Her gray eyes follow every move I do. Katniss looks pretty to me, we would be family. But we're not. I will not lie, you could say that Katniss is beautiful. I think she's beautiful. But, we have more of a brother-sister relationship. We are best friends for sure. But between us there is never anything romantic that happens. I have no feelings for Katniss. I love her, for sure. But as best friends. That's all. And I'm sure that she also feels the same way. I brush the bread with Prim's goat cheese and top with a basil leaf on. Katniss has now risen up to go picking berries. We go on our permanent place among the rocks and eat our food.
"We could do it, huh? " I suddenly say. What put that in my head? Good job Hawthorne.
"What?" She asks.
Now I have to finish my sentence. What have I gotten myself into? "Run from the district. Outta here. Live in the forest." I stop to study her face. It's unreadable. "We'd best get by with two." I say further. She still has that expression on her face that says "Do not be ridiculous." But somehow she knows well that it is actually not a bad idea. "If we didn't have so many children." I say quickly. They are not our children, obviously, but it feels like it. We feed them, we care for them. So that's why we say that they are our children.
"I never want children." Katniss says suddenly. Her eyes staring at a point in the distance. I do not know where that comes suddenly. It is a different response than I expected.
So I decide just honest answers. "I might. If I did not live here." Her answer comes immediately after it. short and angry. And clearly annoyed. "But you do live here."
"Never mind. "I snap back. Okay, maybe it was stupid to begin talking about it. I will keep that in my mind for next time. It feels suddenly very tense between us. We say nothing and just eat our last leftovers.
Katniss breaks the tension first. "What shall we do?" She asks. We can hunt, fish or plucking. I think about that for a moment and decides nevertheless to fish.
"Lets go to the lake and fish. We can leave our rods there and then in the forest get some other things. Something nice for tonight." I say that last one there because I know she is concerned about Prim. And about me. I am also worried about her and Prim.
Her eyes look at me a second long. And finally she nods. We hunt and pick strawberries. Between hunting we say little. Occasionally a word, but not about our conversation earlier. Just about other people and school. And we carefully avoid the subject, what's in the back of our mind. The Reaping.
As we come out of the forest with our harvest, we are both clearly satisfied. We go to the hob. The lady does us a few chunks of paraffin in return. Then we walk to the house of the mayor. He would usually every Saturday buy a serving strawberries. He is a good and regular customer.
We knock on the door and not much later, the mayor's daughter opens the door. A small and frail appearance in a beautiful white dress. I swallow, she looks beautiful. As usuall. I never talk about it aloud but somehow, I've always been attracted to her. I know it's incredibly stupid. And that's why I do not talk about it. she is the mayor's daughter, And I'm an ordinary, poor Seam boy. So that's understandable.
"Pretty dress. "The words slip out of my mouth. Great. While I'm cursing myself, a shy smile slides on her face and a soft pink colour on her cheeks.
"Well, when I go to the Capitol, I would of course look nice, huh?" What is meant as a joke, is completely wrong about with me. I do my best not to yell at her. Katniss looks forward corners of her eyes at me, her eyes speak volumes. Gale, don't dare say anything. That's what she thinks. And how much I would like to say something, I press my lips together and throw her a sullen look.
Madge's eyes dart quickly away from me and go to Katniss. She gives the money to Katniss and takes the strawberries from me. "Good luck." she whispers. And she closes the door gently. On the way home we say nothing, we keep our eyes focused on the path and nod at people passing by. We arrive at the crossroads of our street. We divide the rest of our haul, still saying nothing to each other.
"See you in the square." Katniss says softly.
"Pull something nice on." I mumble. She gets a little smile on her face and leaves for her home. And I do the same. Once home, I see them all waiting for me. Rory, Vick and Posy sit on our old office and look at me. Posy jumps up, her little legs hopping towards me.
"What have you got, Gale?" She asks. I let her see my haul and you can clearly see all the happy faces in the room. My mother dries her hands on her apron and smiles at Vick and Rory. "Go get dressed. I have your clothes in the bathroom ready." My brothers nod and go to the bathroom. Posy still on my leg is clamped, sucks her thumb.
"Don't do that, Pose." I tell her, I lift her up and hug her. She puts her little arms around me and I put her back on the floor. My mother beckons me from the kitchen. When I'm with her she throws her arms around me. "How was Katniss?" She asks in my ear.
I let go of her and smile at her. "As always." My mother nods. I know what she thinks, she's probably worried about Katniss and the little Prim. But also worried about me. "If I were you, I'd just go get changed." She says to me. Yes that's probably not a bad idea.
Rory and Vick are just out the bathroom so I can go inside. My clothes hanging over the bath. They are from my father. Quickly, I pull my clothes and wash my face just as quickly. I stare gloomily at myself in the mirror. I do not know how long I stood there but suddenly I'm getting shouted at through the door that it's time to go.
We all walk together to the square. It's been pretty busy. Rory and I go in the rows for us to sign. When we finish we give each other a quick hug and he goes to his friends , and I go to mine. I look around and see if I can see anyone I know. Hard to say really, there are so many people that I don't see it. Effie announces the 74th Hunger Games, thereafter become the Treaty of Treason read. Every year the same. I know it all by heart. Between the crowds by devaluations I see Katniss. I smile at her with the intention, it's gonna be okay. She grins back at me and turn her head away. My name is in that ball forty-two times. I do not know if that should make me nervous. Because I'm not. Well for Rory, Prim and Katniss course. I'd rather be drawn than any of them. If Rory was called, I would volunteer. Without a doubt.
"Ladies first!" I didn't realize that it's time for the tribute draw. Effie patters to the girls ball, sticks her hand in it, and takes a slip rushing back to her place. She unfolds it. I take a deep breath and brace myself.
"Primrose Everdeen!