I woke up from yet another dream. Dad I yelled in my mind. I miss him so much. I looked to my left, half expecting my older sister Katniss or my little sister Prim in the bed next to mine. Half expecting, so naturally neither of them where there. Prim, I realized, was across the room in bed with my mom. Katniss was probably out hunting. I sighed.
All of a sudden, Prim sat straight up in bed, startling me. She started breathing heavy as I got out of bed to comfort her. I hugged her, and she held on tightly, as I felt damp tears going through my night shirt.
"It was me…" she weeped
"Shhh." I tried soothing her, "your name is only in there once, they aren't going to pick you."
"Its just… I'm… Scared."
"I dont blame you. I was terrified my first time."I said. She sighed and broke the hug up.
"Has Katniss left yet?" She asked, changing the subject.
"Yeah, shes not in bed." She nodded and followed me back to the 3 mattresses pushed together that functioned as our one bed. I usually slept on the far right side of the 3 mattresses with Prim in the middle and Katniss on the far left. I sat up, leaning against the wall and Prim rested her head on my shoulder, eventually falling back asleep.
I stayed awake, in my own thoughts, imagining a life, a better life where we arent poor. A life with a bigger house that has more than 2 rooms. A life with no Hunger Games. No deaths of fathers, and no fights between my mother and Katniss. Just a happy family.
While I was in the middle of dreaming up a really nice house with a swimming pool and 3 floors, when Prim woke up again. After I calmed her down, she stood up and started getting ready for today. Reaping Day. The most heart wracking day of the year. Reaping Day is when 1 boy and girl are chosen to fight to the death in the Hunger Games. Their opponents are the tributes from the other 11 districts. Their objective? To be the last one standing. District 12 has had only 2 winners, the first victor won, came home and killed herself. The second one is an alcoholic man whose' name is I think Haymitch? Yeah that sounds right. Anyway, I've only seen him at the reaping and maybe twice around the town. He was drunk off his ass and looking for another bottle. He was drowning himself in alcohol.
I opened the door into the other room that was the same size as the bedroom, but functioned as everything besides the bedroom. My mother was standing there, next to Prim, holding 2 dresses. I walked up behind her, and when she noticed me, she handed me the smaller of the two dresses.
"Here." She said, "This one is for you, the other is for Katniss." I looked at the dress and could already tell that it wasn't going to fit me. It was a nice dress, a white blouse with a pale skirt and frilly things around it. I took it from my mother and went back into the bedroom to change.
Prim followed me, and when I went to close the door behind me, she held the door.
"I just wanted to thank you, for you know, putting up with me, umm… every morning… yeah" She said, looking at the ground.
"Hey," I said, grinning at her, "What are sisters for?" I asked. "Now get out, I'm changing." She giggled and shut the door.
I changed as quickly as possible and looked at myself in the mirror. I was right, the dress was way too big for me, it came off of my body like some of the hand me downs I get from Katniss. Im a small kid, especially since we were starving most of the time. I look like a smaller version of Katniss, we have the same eyes, just at different intensities. She and I share the same dark brown hair. I remember the faintest memories before my father died, kids at school called me mini Katniss and Katniss's face would get super red and she would walk off with me.
I walked out of the room, and saw Prim sitting at the table, with her head down doing school work.
"Amber? Can you help me with this?" She asked once she noticed my presence.
"Yeah with what?" I sat down on the chair next to her.
"Writing."
"How am I supposed to help you with handwriting?"
"No, not handwriting, writing. As in stories."
"Okay. I can try." I sighed. It was a new subject offered at our school. My grade has not introduced it yet, so I wasn't sure how much help I would actually be.
She slid the paper towards me, and I read it. It wasn't too complicated. There was one sentence at the top, and the rest of the paper was just lines.
"Write a short story about anything." I read from the paper,"You don't have any ideas, do you?"
"That's why I need help."
Just then, Katniss came through the door. Katniss is about a head taller than me, and as I said earlier, we look pretty much the same. Katniss and I, we used to be best friends, we did everything together. Then the mining accident happened.
It was in the morning. Our dad had left for work in the coal mines. Some sort of a bomb went off, or a gas leak, I don't remember, it was about 5 years ago. The first year without him was total hell. Katniss was only 11, and she was trying her hardest to keep us alive. We have never really had enough to eat, but it was worse then. We all got way to skinny, but one day, she came home with 2 pieces of burnt bread. That is probably what saved us.
As soon as Katniss turned 12, she got grain and oil from Terssera. Terssera is an opportunity for anyone in the district to get a one month supply of grain and oil from the capitol. In return, each month a person gets grain, they add their name to the standard of their age. When Katniss was 12, she signed up for all 12 months of the year, she had her name in there 13 times, the one standard plus the 12 months. The oil was good, I guess, and the grain made bland and rough bread.
"You look beautiful little duck." Katniss said, walking over to the table.
"Thats it!" I interrupted,"Write about a little duck!" I sort of ruined the sentimental sister moment, but that's okay, they have to live with me.
"What?" Katniss flashed a confused face to me. This was extremely rare, considering she has two facial expressions: Touch me and I will kick your ass, and when she looks at Prim, love. It's rare for me to see that expression towards me. It's often rare for Katniss for do anything besides ask me to help her with housework or something. Its okay though. Prim needs her for support.
"I was helping her with homework." I said, trying to clarify. She still looked slightly confused. "Write a short story." She nodded.
"I prepared a bath for you." Mom said, coming back into the house.
"Yeah, okay." Katniss said, kissing Prim on the forehead, patting me on the shoulder, and walking into the other room.
Prim turned back to the paper sitting on the table. She picked up a stubby wooden pencil and began to write. When she was done, she placed the pencil down and stared at the paper.
"Can I read it?" I asked. She nodded, so I slid the paper in front of me.
The litlest duck
By Primrose Everdeen
"Littlest has 3 t's, not two." I said, "And you need to underline the title." I slid the paper back to her and she made the changes.
Just then, Katniss came back through the door. She sighed and walked over to us. She pulled us both into a hug, and we stayed like that for about a minute. I could feel Prim shaking next to me.
"Hey, Its okay." Katniss said, "It's gonna be alright, Your name is only in there once, they aren't going to pick you." Katniss was right, her name is only in there once, but she forgot one thing. Her name is in there. If Primrose Everdeen is written on any one of those, she has a chance. And that chance is not good. Not good at all.
Katniss broke off from me to hug Prim fully when I realized what she was wearing. It was a beautiful light blue dress that went to her knees. It had a belt type thing going around her waist and a v-neck going on. The belt was tied into a bow and her hair was in this intricate braid atop her head.
I looked up at the clock. 12:36. I cleared my throat.
"We need to go." I said.
Katniss nodded and stood up. She walked through the door holding Prim's hand. I followed with my mom behind me, coming from the other room.
Walking up to the Justice Building, I could feel the tension. It's hard not to.
I could see the check in stand, where the Peacekeepers prick your finger to get a bit of blood. Thats how they know who you are. Its kind of creepy, but one of my friends told me that our parents are forced to give up some of our blood so they can identify us at the reaping. I didn't believe her at first, but I started thinking about it, and I have the slightest memory of a bunch of Peacekeepers storming into the house and doing something, I don't remember what. I asked Katniss and she said that she slightly remembers that for both of us. Prim and I that is.
Prim started to hyperventilate, probably from seeing the check in stand. Katniss noticed, and pulled Prim to the side.
"Its okay." She said, "They are just going to prick your finger, just to get a little bit of blood." Prim was turning into a nervous wreck, her cries getting more and more distressed.
"Go get checked in." She said to me, with much less gentleness in her voice.
"No, Im good." I said with the same sternness. Katniss looked at me for a moment before going back to sooth Prim.
"You didn't say-," Prim started
"I know, but it doesn't hurt that much." Katniss tried calming her down, "Just a little." Prim nodded and stood up a little straighter. I patted her back as we got in line to check in. The 12 year old line went faster than the 14 year old and 16 year old line, so Katniss and I could see her get checked in. They zapped her finger with a needle thing, which made her jump a little. I was so preoccupied with watching Prim, that I didn't even notice them pricking my finger.
The zap came and I jumped, realizing where I was. I was being ushered into the town square by a lot of Peacekeepers.
The 12 year olds stand in the way back, then the 13 year olds and so on until the 18 year olds in the front. I lost track of Prim and Katniss in the crowd, so I just focused my attention forward as Effie Trinket read the same speech and the same video as every year. I sort of daydreamed until the tribute drawing.
"And as always, ladies first." Effie said in her over the top capital voice.
Not Amber Everdeen. Or Katniss Everdeen. Or-
It wasn't either of us.
It was Primrose Everdeen.