I stood up as I heard the National Anthem playing on the speakers, making our whole house vibrate. I sang the words to the song loud and clear; making sure my Mother would be able to hear me. She hates when I don't sing it...she gets mad and tells me that I should be singing, because to her, I have the voice of an angel. I always wondered if she was trying to make me feel better, or if she was telling the truth. I finished the song:
Oh the sound of birds chirping,
the Sun beats down on the pavement.
My heart is within you, my Lord.
I glanced over at Mother, for her nod in approval to sit down. I sat down when she nodded, (the slightest nod, just once) and I listened for the gong to be played 12 times. When I heard it, I went back to cooking, and I watched as everyone went back to their normal business. I looked up at Texa. She didn't bother to look at me as she brushed past me, causing the cool air to blow into my face. For once, I felt cool air, instead of hot.
I observe her dark skin, thin eyebrows, and sharp nose. I watched as the lifted corners of her mouth lowered, and made her normal face into a frown. I sighed, and just got back to my business after I made sure she was putting the bread in the oven just perfectly. She did. Texa was perfect. She gets everything that she wants, but never shares it. Texa is selfish, mean, and rude. She should be happy that we are accepting her into this family. She comes from District 13, which is now dead. She got shipped here when she was a baby (before I was born) and I absolutely hate that she gets more attention than me. She's not even my Mother's real child! I am, along with my little sister! My sister and I are my Mother's only real children. How could Mother accept her into this family? I mean, I know she was just alone and had no family...but...still! She's not part of this family! She doesn't even belong in this district!
"Why Lord," I thought, "Oh why does she have to be here?" I prayed to the Lord, dropped the pan that I was holding, and ran to my bedroom. I heard my sisters' and Mothers' footsteps behind me, but I slammed the door in their face, and locked it. They can mind their own business, and leave me alone.
As I turn around, I feel a cool breeze, mixed with cold mist. I ignore this, and try to go and jump onto my bed, and cuddle up, but I land in a pile of moss, and dampness. I look around. I am in a Jungle...What has happened? I look back, and see my door. I can't open it.
"Mom!" I yell. There is no answer. I finally get the door open, and it is just Jungle.
I sigh and lean against a wall, and suddenly all of the walls fall down, and reveal more Jungle. I am trapped in this place.
I walk down the walkway through the jungle, stepping over massive logs, and collecting moss on the way. If the moss were wet, it could help heal organisms. I would only use it on myself though, because my mission here is to stay alive. That's all I need. Just to stay alive. If I can get back home alive, I would be thankful for all the little things that I have. Our house compared to this is a mansion.
I crossed a river, and saw a dark line marked in the dirt, and under it, it read 'Territory: DO NOT CROSS'. I crossed anyway, since whoever wrote that is probably dead by now. How could any human still be living? I walked more, aimlessly, not knowing where I was going, or what direction I was going in.
Suddenly, I felt someone's gaze, so I turned around and noticed a boy, about my age with dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, and the perfect nose and head shape. I attacked him anyway, because you know what they say. You can't judge a book by its' cover. I threw him to the ground, by sort of body slamming him, but not falling over. I put my heel on his chest to keep him down. I looked down at him, glaring.
"Following, huh?" I asked him curiously, with an innocent voice.
"No, actually, you're in my territory, and I thought I should see what you're doing." He said with the slightest rhythm to his voice. He looked up at me, struggling and wiggling, trying to get my foot off of him.
"And who says this is your territory? You did?" I said in the same voice, looking at him like I was about to laugh. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were the head of this place." I said, sarcastically. I smiled, and this time, I couldn't hold in my laughter. I laughed for a few seconds, and then became serious.
I finally took my foot off of him, after a while looking at his innocent face. I was still a bit upset, considering he thinks that he's in charge here.
"Well, actually, I was the first human being to come to this place, so can I get at least a little credit?" He asked me, brushing down his shirt where my foot was on it. There was really no point, because his shirt looks like he's been wearing it for more than a year.
I looked up at him, and his eyes met mine. I looked into his eyes. The beautiful blue had changed to a dark brown. I raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"My eyes change color." He said, as if he was reading my thoughts. "They go along with my mood." I wondered how exactly that was possible. Oh well…this isn't really what we're worried about right now. We're…or should I say I'm…worried about returning home alive.
I nodded, still not believing it.
"I'm sorry for…uh…attacking you…It was wrong." I said, with a slight smile on my face. I really wanted him to forgive me, but since I could make a bow and arrow, It'd be okay really, if he didn't.
"And, of course, I forgive you. What kind of man would I be not to forgive you?" He said, with a smirk on his face. I smiled, and nodded.
"Thanks." I said, with a sigh, very soon after. I looked up at him.
"Would you like to see my cave?" He asked, looking down at me. He smiled, showing his perfectly white teeth. I nodded once, like my mother, and followed him down a path that was lined with rocks, with the dirt brushed lightly in one direction. There were no foot prints, which meant that the dirt was dry. It's probably been dry for a while. That means no water. I sighed, and we arrived at his cave. It was huge, and a sandy brown color. I looked around, and saw that we were near a river. YES. This is just what I need right now: A river.
He walked me inside, which took about 10 minutes. His home must be very far into this cave if were walking this far. Maybe it's like a 5 mile long cave, and his place is at the last mile at the very end. If so…then I'm not walking that far. It's either he carries me, or I'm leaving. I refuse to walk 5 stinking miles.
We actually got to his place in a few minutes. It was only about 15 minutes. That really sucks. If I end up staying here, then that's really going to be hard on me. I'm already super skinny. I don't want to become anorexic. Then I'll never get a chance with this lovely man.
"Why is your home so far into this place?" I asked, looking over at him as he plopped casually down on a bed that he constructed himself. It looked pretty nice, considering we're in a Jungle.
"Creatures come inside here. They won't come in very far, maybe about half a mile, then they just turn around and go look for food some where else. The tigers don't even like our smell, so they turn around. We disgust them, apparently." He said, acting like he was an experienced expert at this.
"Actually, tigers love us." I explained, seeing a tiger at my feet. I took my hand, and pet her-yes; it was a girl- gently. I looked up at the boy, and smiled. "Did I ever get your name?" I asked, knowing that I hadn't. I kept on petting the tiger, and he looked at the tiger like he'd never seen one before. He kept silent.
"EARTH TO BLONDE BOY!" I said, raising my voice, but not quite yelling. I didn't want to startle the tiger.
"Oh, um it's…Peeta." He said, softly, staring at the tiger, with a surprised expression on his face.
"Didn't you ever learn your manners? Staring isn't polite." I said, walking away from the tiger, with a high pitch to my voice. I sat down next to him, and looked over at his perfect face, and now, light blue eyes. I sighed. "What do you do when you're bored? Just, sit here? Doing nothing? Just, eating and sleeping? Don't you get bored of doing the same thing every day?" I asked, feeling awkward sitting right next to him. I scooted away just a little, so that it was barely noticeable. He gave me a weird look. I wasn't sure if it meant 'Why are scooting away?' or 'Why am I allowing you to talk to me that way in my house?', so I ignored it. It would be very embarrassing to be wrong, when, and if I confronted him about it. I looked down, at my feet, and then I stared at my lap.
"I don't get bored," He said, and I'm pretty sure he was lying. Of course he gets bored!
"I just interact with the animals, most of the time…" He said, sounding a little nervous. I still didn't believe him. He sounded like he was about to through up.
"Peeta, are you alright?" I asked him, wondering what was wrong with him. I signaled the Tiger to leave, and go find us something to eat for the night.
"Yeah, I'm fine...I just…I don't like T—"He got interrupted my throw up coming out of his mouth, spurting out right next to me. Luckily, I jumped out of the way quickly enough so that it wouldn't hit me. I went over and sat next to him, rubbing his back, barely touching him. I know the feeling of throwing up…and it's not really fun. I sighed, and just sat there next to him, rubbing his back, softly. He threw up for minutes, maybe ten. I don't know. I was too busy thinking about how my new life would be in the place. I just wonder how my life will be with this guy, Peeta, and no family, no Texa. Fortunately, being away from Texa was an advantage, but being away from my Mother and Rae, my sister, wasn't an advantage. I sighed, and when he stopped throwing up, I had already found some water in a bucket next to him home-made bed. I gave it to him, so that he could get the disgusting taste out of his mouth.
As he rinsed out his mouth, I said, "Why did you throw up? And…what were about to say?" I looked at him, waiting for an answer, and he didn't answer for a while, but eventually her did, after rinsing his mouth, and putting the bucket to the side.
"I don't like Tigers. A…A tiger killed my little brother…back at home…" He said, sort of trailing off at the end of his answer. As he said this, I was dumping the bucket down in a hole I found in the cave. I looked over at him, and walked to him quickly. I threw my arms around him. I wish I could tell him I know how it feels, but I really can't. I have never had a sibling that died.
"I can't tell you I know how you fell, but…I'm there for you…" I said softly, still hugging him. I felt him pull away, and I knew immediately that I'd done something wrong. I looked up at him, watching him stand up. He kissed me on the forehead, and I felt on the blood rushing to my cheeks, making them a bright red. I looked up at him, and also stood up. His now light blue eyes met mine. In the corner of my eyes, I could see that his face was very pale.
"Was that aloud? Kissing you?" Peeta asked, softly, and quietly. He looked at me innocently, waiting for an answer. I smiled, and nodded, blushing even more.
"Good, because if that wasn't, than I'm pretty sure this isn't either…" He kissed me softly on the lips. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer. I smiled, and pulled away before he could do anything else. He looked down at me, and then turned his head towards the way out of the cave. Then he turned back to me.
"It's almost 11 o' clock." He said softly, sitting down on the ground. "And, there's going to be a storm tonight, and it will be cold." He said even softer. "You can have the bed; I'll sleep on the floor." He said, finally making his voice a little louder so I can actually hear the words that come out of his mouth.
I walked over to him. "That is not going to happen. I'm not just going to let you sleep on the floor in a storm! You're on the bed, okay?" I said sitting on the floor.
Peeta stood up, and pulled me up, my taking my hands in his. This is when I realized that I haven't even told him my name. I sighed, and looked up at him.
Peeta spoke softly, "Please…sleep on the bed for me…" He looked into my eyes. I guess I'll just let him win, because I know he'll never give up. I sighed, and nodded. I started to walk away, but I stopped when I was a few feet away from the bed. I turned to face Peeta.
"By the way, I'm Katniss. Katniss Everdeen." I smiled, and looked at him, nodding him goodnight and then I slipped under the multiple fur blankets. I fell asleep quickly, but woke up later, freezing. I was shaking, and I looked over to see Peeta still awake. I closed my eyes again, and right when I did, I felt him laying another thick fur blanket on top of me. He tucked it in so that only my head was sticking out. I smiled to myself, and fell asleep quickly after this. I didn't wake up for the rest of night, because I was so comfortable, I suppose, and I woke up early the next morning, ready to talk to Peeta, look into his handsome eyes, and start a brand new day.