Unraveling Hope

Prologue

The day of the reaping sent an unfamiliar anxiety in the air. People were rushing about. District 12 was no different. For Katniss Everdeen, it meant life but also death. The tesserae supplied food and could keep them alive for a month at the least. But that meant putting in little pieces of paper to volunteer for death. Katniss doubted she would survive with what she had gotten to eat over the last few months. It was no competition to the kids in the other districts who have been fed well and prepared their whole lives for this.

The Everdeen household was relatively quiet. Although Prim and Katniss's reaping day dresses brought a splash of color to the greying walls, Katniss thought they looked older than ever. Katniss looked into Prim's innocent, brilliantly colored blue eyes and prayed that no matter what, Prim would be protected.

When they arrived at the location of the reaping, the mayor made his way up to the podium. Everyone had lost interest in the repetitive speech the mayor would give every year. Anticipation rose in the air as District 12's mayor stepped back down and allowed Effie Trinket to take his place.

"Welcome, welcome, to the 74th annual hunger games," She said with a pink lipstick smile. "May the odds be ever in your favor."

Everyone had held their breath as her hand circled once around the bowl of names and dived to grab a slip of paper. She carefully unrolled the folded piece of paper with her perfectly manicured fingers. She held it in front of her and read out the name of the female tribute of District 12 this year.

"Delly Cartwright," She read aloud. Delly was a slender girl with the standard town appearance of blonde hair and blue eyes. Katniss had seen her a few times before but had never quite paid attention.

Effie reached into the boy's reaping bowl and smiled, clearly in amusment of everyone's anxious faces.

"Peeta Mellark," Katniss's breath caught abrubtly as she recognized the head of blonde hair making his way up to the stage. The boy with the bread, she thought. She didn't even get to thank him. She was scared. Scared for the boy who saved her life. Now, he was just going to die on a screen in front of her.

Effie cleared her throat loudly. People had already begun to celebrate that their kids had not been reaped. Except for two families, Katniss thought.

"Tributes of the 74th annual hunger games, Peeta Mellark and Delly Cartwright!" Effie announced enthusiastically and raised both Peeta and Delly's hands in the air.

Chapter 1 - Tributes, Peeta Mellark, and Delly Cartwright

(This story will be told in Katniss, Peeta, and third person points of view.)

PEETA'S POV

I watched intently at Effie as her hand dived into the bowl, picking out a name for the boy tribute. She seemed to be moving in slow motion as she squinted her eyes to read the name.

"Peeta Mellark," My breath caught in the back of my throat. I did not expect my name out of thousands to be spoken by Effie's squeaky voice. I only had about 5 slips in there. The odds were definitely not in my favor.

People started turning their heads toward me. In that moment of complete shock, I did not register the fact that I was expected to go up to the stage. I took a shallow uneven breath, swallowed hard, and made my way up the cleared aisle that people had formed for me.

I scanned the gathered crowd from my place on the stage. Some people were embracing, some looked relieved, and some had no expression at all. I looked over to the left, where my family stood. My father and brothers were looking up at me. I could see that the 3 of them had started wearing devastated expressions. My mother...well...she was a completely different story. You would've thought she would at least show some sort of sadness. The expression on her face was blank. Unlike the mother of other children who had been reaped, there were no tears, not even a frown, nothing. I told myself it was because of shock, but in the back of my mind, I knew that it wasn't the case.

My gaze traveled over to the right and landed on the Everdeens. Katniss. Oh well, I didn't think she would love me back anyway. I was just a spoiled merchant boy to the people from the seam. Katniss, I noticed, had been looking up at me, with a sorrow expression on her face. Why would she care? Why wasn't she celebrating not being reaped like all the others. I caught her eye for a moment before she looked away towards the ground.

I took a deep breath and tried to wipe all emotion from my face. A blank mask. No emotion, I told myself. I snuck a sideways glance at Delly who seemed to be struggling to do the same. I know how she feels. On the outside, your face is a cold, hard stone of nothing. On the inside, you are a complete and utter mess that just wants to crawl under the covers and wish the nightmare away.

Effie used her hands and gestured on either side of her for us to come closer. We both shuffled over to her hesitantly. She took my right and Delly's left hand and raised them high in the air.

"Tributes of the 74th annual Hunger Games, Peeta Mellark and Delly Cartwright," She shouted enthusiastically into the microphone causing everyone to return their gaze to the stage.

Soon after, I found myself lead to the Justice building by a few peacekeepers. They put Delly and I in two separate rooms. A peacekeeper walked me to my room and informed me that this is the time I would get to have visitors. I recieved instructions to just sit down and stay put like a child or a domesticated animal.

With nothing else to do, I began to analyze the strange habitat. The walls were colored a strange white that somehow had a blinding effect. The chairs and couches had a vast contrast from the rest of the room because of their rich velvet color.

I had never been claustrophobic before, but as I stared up at the ceiling and walls, they seemed to be closing up on me. Before long, the room started to blur and spin. I put my hand down on the velvety fabric of the couch to steady myself.

A few moments later, I heard a loud knock that caused me to jump a little, as the room was completely silent before. My dad stepped in, followed by my brothers. We said nothing. The 4 of us, just held on to each other tightly and let silent tears fall.

I was first to speak, " So I guess this is goodbye then?"

"No, Peeta, this means I'll see you in a couple weeks," My father said. He believed I would win. I didn't even think so myself. My father was a man who had hope, who believed. Believed that miracles would happen. I'd like to believe that I had inherited that trait. My brothers though, wasn't on the same side of the bridge as my father. They believed that this was goodbye. But I couldn't blame them. I believed that quite a lot myself. My father stepped forward and gave me a big hug.

Then whispered in my ear,"Don't give up on her" Who was he talking about? Delly?

Before I had time to think about it, both my brothers came and gave me a quick hug. The three of them gave me one last look and one by one slowly retreated out the door. I stared at their backs thinking, this would be the last time I ever get to see them.

My mind wandered back to what my father had previously said. The only other time my father and I had talked about a girl was on the first day of school. When I was just 4 years old. He had pointed Katniss out to me.

Katniss? Was he talking about Katniss? He couldn't possibly be. I was sent into the Hunger Games, practically being sentenced to die. There was no point in hoping now.

Just as I repeated that to myself, the door creaked open again. I wondered if it was my mother. When I looked up, I found a pair of grey eyes looking over at me. Katniss. She stared hesitantly at me before looking around for somewhere to sit. She finally decided on a small chair, diagonal to the couch I was sitting on.

"What are you doing here, " That came out sounding unwelcoming. She seemed slightly taken back by the tone of my tone but started to speak.

"I- uh, I want to thank you for the bread. The one you gave to me a few years ago? I never got to thank you and I didn't want to feel like I always owed you. You saved my life- I mean my family's life . And whenever I saw you, I thought there's the boy with the bread. But I never got the guts to so now I um-" She blabbered on. I never thought Katniss would be the type to stutter over her words. She seemed so sure of herself. She seemed so strong and sure of herself, but her speech just now did not reflect her personality.

"So you decided to tell me now because I'm basically going to die soon," I finished for her. "And what did you just call me?"

" The boy with the bread," Katniss blushed, a rare sight I supposed. I let out a slight chuckle.

"The boy with the bread," I repeated. A moment of silence took over.

"I love you," I blurted out. I covered my mouth. It didn't matter anyway. It wasn't like I was ever going to see her again.

Katniss looked flustered and astonished," Wh-What?"

"Katniss, I've loved you ever since we were five. When you were that little girl with the braid down her back, singing the valley song. "

"Thanks for the bread." Katniss said in a clipped tone after a moment's hesitation, and left the room before she exited, I caught a glimpse of a gold pin on her shirt. A mockingjay pin. I sighed and slumped down in my seat.

A mere three hours later, I found myself on a moving train. This is it. We were going to the capitol. Delly was sitting five inches to my left. We haven't talked in weeks.

I was surprised when I heard her say my name," Peeta." I looked over at her.

"I'm scared." She sounded vulnerable and frightened. Delly was not weak, but however, she was notably not as strong and brave as Katniss.

"Me too, " I agreed. And frankly, it was the truth. Silence took over again.

It was about five minutes later when she said, " There's only twenty four of us."

"I know, and only one victor." The realization had silently dawned on us. We may have to killl each other. Delly and I had known each other since childhood. She was my first friend. I remember our mothers, bringing us together for playdates. How could those happy kids be inserted into this horrendous nightmare, years later?

Suddenly, a loud stomp interrupted my thoughts. In front of me, stood a tall, green suited man, that looked like he worked for the capitol.

"This is your mentor, Haymitch Abernathy. " He said in a deep, gruff voice. He sounded uninterested and tired, probably having to do this every year.

Delly and I both peered our heads into the hallway, where Haymitch had began to stumble his way into the room.

As soon as we made our introductions and greetings, we made our way to where we were going to have dinner.

The table was filled with dishes and dishes of food. I had never seen so much of it in my life. All this food would probably last my family two weeks at the least!

Dispite the slight shaking of the train, the food had managed to stay put on the table, undisturbed. All the foods on the table looked strange, but seemed to smell delicious. My stomach started rumbling. I haven't eaten since before the reaping.

Effie had to explain what every single food was, due to the fact that the only thing Delly and I recognized on the table was the glass of water. Even the unbelievable shiny capitol drinking glass was unfamiliar.

The food varied from green salad, to mashed potatoes to lamb chops. A bowl of thick carrot soup was placed in front of each of us. On the far end of the table were fruit, cheese, and a chocolate cake for desert. I didn't know where to start. There was so much food to choose from.

Delly and I ate to our stomach's desire. Effie had scolded us for the lack of silverware use. Delly had immediately dropped the food in her hands and picked up the fork. I however, just kept eating, ignoring Effie's constant glare.

That night, I climbed onto the cotton bedspread and closed my eyes. Trying to sleep, dispite the fact that in two days, I would be fighting to the death. I fell asleep, with the mockingjay pin burning in my mind.

This story will not be exactly like The Hunger Games. The plot and everything is completely different and will eventually turn out to be a Patniss. :)

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