Prims Story
"Walk faster Prim," my sister Katniss says sternly. Instead of arguing like I want to, I simply do as I'm told. The soft crunch of leaves and dirt under my feet is almost comforting as I make my way through the field that surrounds our house. I rely do try to keep up with Katniss, but my legs just aren't as long as hers, sometimes I think she forgets that. I here her audibly sigh as she stops to let me catch up for the fifteenth time.
Our crude little house finally comes into view, and I start running. Katniss yells for me to wait for her, but I ignore her. The wind blowing through my hair and the grass whipping at my legs feels so good that I can't help but start to giggle. When I make it in the door, I'm winded but grinning from ear to ear.
"Theirs my little Prim," my father says with a smile, scooping me off the ground and twirling me in the air. When he finally sets me down, I'm super dissy and almost fall over, but Katniss appears in the doorway and catches me.
"Thanks," I say in between giggles. Her stony look softens and she says, "no problem, but it will cost you."
"What?" I reply.
"A tickling !" She says as she lunges at me. Soon we're both rolling on the floor laughing. After a wile, my father intervenes, saying " okay, thats enough, Prim why don't you help mom in the kitchen, and Katniss, why don't we go hunting."
"Do you guys have to go so soon?" I say, my voice sounding whiny.
"You know we have to have food and if we don't go hunting how do you suppose we get it?" My father asks, cocking an eyebrow.
I know I had lost the fight, so I just nod my head. I watch them walk over to the fence that surrounds our district and slip through the a chink in the chain link.
As I watched them, my mind starts to wander to what we did in school today. Just thinking about school makes me sleepy, and soon my eyelids feel droopy, and before I knew it I was being shooken awake by mom.
"Morning, time to get ready for school," mom says cheerily. I sit up groggily, and look around. Some time in the night, dad must have moved me to my room. I look at my mom and see that her blond hair is pulled onto an elegant, braided up-do, her fare skin is shining and clean, and shes wearing a long flowing dress. She was so pretty.
I get up and make my way down the short hallway to our tiny bathroom. Looking around I see that I forgot to clean the bathroom last night, so coal dust lined everything (our district was famous for its coal for a reason). I sigh and begin methodically wiping down the cracked mirror. Once done, I hurriedly get dressed and run into the living room, were Katniss is already waiting.
"Dad already left for work(he works at the coal mine like everyone else in our district)," she says answering my unspoken question.
"Why did he leave so early?" I ask cursorily.
"Their sending him into a new part of the mine, and he wants to get a head start," she says quickly, " but, he'll be okay," she adds seeing my look.
"Okay..." I say uneasily, not fully convinced. Mom gives me a reassuring smile and me and Katniss make our way out the door to school. We walk in silence for a little wile, the chirping of birds, and the soft crunch of the dirt road being the only sound. We soon make it to the small school house, and I'm still thinking about dad.
"It'll be okay," Katniss says reading my mind. I nod my head and silently go into the school house. The day passes in a blur, and before I know it the bell rings. I rack my brain, to see if I can remember a single thing I 'learned' today. Nope.
Katniss is waiting for me when I walk out. After a few minutes of aimless chit-chat, we fall into a comfortable silence. For some odd reason, Katniss doesn't scold me once during our whole walk home, maybe shes just as worried about dad as I am. When we get home, instead of the usual greeting we get from our parents, we come home to silence. I look over at Katniss, for an explanation, but she just pales and stiffly crosses the threshold of our humble abode. My gaze follows her as she plops down into one of the dining room chairs and stares off into space, clearly deep in thought. I take a deep breath and go into our house, calling my mom and dads name as I search for both of them. My mind starts spinning when I don't find them. What happened? Was their an accident in the mines...? No. their couldn't be, I refuse to believe it.
I sit next to Katniss, who was still deep in though.
"Do you think..." I start, but Katniss shoots me a sharp glare and I stop cold. We sit like that for a wile, speculating. Just when I think
I'm going to explode from the silence and uncertainty, I here a sharp knock on the door. There I see my mother. One look at her face confirms my worst fears. Her hair is wildly sticking up, her eyes are red and puffy, her once pretty dress is now ripped, and stained with coal dust.
"Is he..." I suddenly have to stop when a lump the size of a baseball rises in my throat. She nods her head violently and brakes down sobbing.
"H-h-h-he, their was an acs-si-sident in the m-mines..."she says between strangled sobs. Hearing her say the words makes the whole thing real to me. It feels like my entire life is over. An unbearable weight is suddenly rested on my chest, and I feeling my heart shatter, I start sobbing uncontrollably. I run into my mothers open arms, and we sit like that together, crying, for what seems like an eternity, I barely even here Katniss leave. Finally, when my eyes completely dry, I stumble into my room, then collapse on to my bed. It doesn't take long for sleep to come,and when it does it provides no escape. My dreams are tortured with mutilated images of my fathers death, over and over again. I see him crushed and exploding right before my eyes. I suddenly wake with a start, and for a precious second I'm confused and disorientated, until I remember yesterday. What will we do with no way to get food? How will we ever survive without him?
It feels like a hole is being riped in my chest, and I curl up into a ball and cry some more, knowing nothing will ever be the same.