Hi there. My name is Laurel, Laurel Mellark. Right now I'm 12 years old. I live in district 12. Its nothing but wide open field as far as the eye can see. There's this one field covered in flowers. That's the field where we go almost every week. It's where my Dad proposed to my Mom, and it's where my brother and I have all of our birthday parties. But now these fields are covered in snow. But I don't mind. Because what's Christmas without snow? My Mom told my brother and I that Christmas is a time when we come together as a family and give each other presents. My dad gave us money to buy a present for our Mom, and my Mom gave us money to buy presents for our Dad, so after lunch I'm taking my brother into town to buy them presents.
I walk out of my bedroom and knock on my brother's door. "Alto, time for lunch." I call. Alto comes out. He is only 8 years old. He smiles at me and his grey eyes light up. I smile back and ruffle his curly blonde hair and take his hand before heading downstairs. We sit at the table and our parents sit opposite us. My father is Peeta Mellark, and he owns the best bakery in the district. We've even had visitors from other district come just to buy cakes from here. Everyone leaves with a smile no matter what mood they were in when they entered. My mother is Katniss Mellark. She usually goes and hunts in the woods to bring us meat. We could easily but meat from the stores, but my mother prefers to hunt fresh meat. I prefer hunted meat better anyway.
We eat pork and potatoes for our dinner. It tastes just as good as always. I glance sideways at my brother. He has the curly blonde hair of our father, but the stormy grey eyes of our mother. Though both their eyes are stormy grey, their personalities do not match it at all. I myself have my mother's olive skin and dark hair, but my fathers sparkling blue eyes. Anyone who saw our family together would immediately see which parts of my brother and I came from either our mother or our father. I am excused from the table and take Alto towards the front door. I put on my shoes and grab a coat. I sit on the stairs and wait for my brother.
Then I hear a dull meow and look over my shoulder to see our cat coming slowly down the stairs and smile. My mother was never really fond of buttercup, but my father, brother and I adore him. He is over 15 years old now so will most likely be leaving us soon. I scoop him up into my lap and scratch him between the ears. He closes his eyes and purrs. My mother said that he belonged to our aunt. We never knew our aunt, but our mother told us she died in an accidental explosion. I could always tell when she was holding information from us. Even though Buttercup is old, he seems to still do everything he did as a young cat. He's been in numerous accidents, and yet has come out without a scratch. When I was younger, I actually used to think he was immortal
My trance is broken when the front door opens and the cold air rushes in. Buttercup springs off of my lap and rushes upstairs to the warmth. "Come on Laurel!" Alto calls. "Coming." I run out after him and close the door behind us. We head down to the district centre. There are ribbons and decorations everywhere and everyone is so happy and cheery. After walking around a few stores, my brother finds a lot of things he wants for Christmas. I just smile and tell him we're here for Mom and Dad.
"Laurel! Laurel come here!" Alto calls for me. I walk over from a different stall. "How about this for Mom?" He holds up a small mirror. It has a beautiful silver frame and handle encrusted with emeralds, our mother's favourite stone. "How much?" I ask the stall owner. "You keep it." She says. I smile. "Thank you."
We walk to another stall to find something for our Dad. I find something almost right away. You see my mother and my father seem to have a sort of connection to mockingjays. My mother has a pin and my father has a necklace. I see a lot of mockingjay decorations around, but never really knew why. Now at this stall I have found a beautiful tree ornament. It is a silver mockingjay. I buy it and me and my brother head home. I wrap up the presents and put them under the tree.
"Laurel, can you please take this and put it on the door?" My mother asks, handing me a wreath. "Yes Mom." I say and head back outside and hang up the wreath on the door. Then something in the snow catches my eye. I crouch down and brush the snow away. Picking it up, I examine it. It is small photo album. I hide it in my coat and go back inside. I secretly take it up to my room and sit on my desk.
The first picture looks like my mother and father, but much, much younger. About 16. They are wearing full black clothes and look like they're on fire. The next picture is them again, this time dressed up like they're at a party. There is an older man with them, putting a crown on my mother's head. My mother doesn't look too happy to see him there. I flick through some more pictures. The last picture is the most curious. It is my mother and father again. They still look 16. But they have a smaller girl with them. She has blue eyes and blonde hair, and looks an awful lot like my grandmother. There is a small message written on the back of the picture. *Dear Katniss, I don't know when you'll find this message. Maybe never. But I just wanted to thank you for volunteering for my place in the hunger games. Love Prim Everdeen, AKA little duck.*
A million questions swirl in my head. Who is Prim? What are The Hunger Games? I don't think I'll ever know the answers. I hear my mother cal me down for dinner and put the book under my pillow. "Merry Christmas" My father says.