Chapter 1
Nothing's been the same since Katniss left for the Capitol. My mother has trouble taking care of me since Katniss isn't here to tell her what to do. Gale comes and brings us squirrels and any other animals he can find. My goat makes milk and I make it into cheese to sell at the Hub. I don't get much money for it, I mostly trade it for vegetables and other things we need to survive. District Twelve is a tough place to live in, especially when the Capitol doesn't care about any one here. They just come once a year and take two children to go die in some horrible place called the Arena.
I enter my home that it nothing but wood with paint dried up all over the walls. In the small room on the bottom floor is a television. We never have it on except to watch the Games. Soon the Chariot Rides will be on and I see what the Capitol has done to Katniss and that other boy. What was his name? Oh yeah, Peeta. Next to the door is my father's hunting jacket. Katniss used to wear that when she went hunting with Gale into the woods.
I lay down everything I acquired from the Hub on the kitchen table. A small ball of yarn rolls off of the table and makes a small thud on the wood. I bend over to pick it up but see Buttercup scramble over to it. I picked him up and rubbed my face in his fur.
"Silly cat," I say and I feel him purr.
I here footsteps above me and set Buttercup on the ground. I pick up the ball of yarn and put back in the towel that was filled with things from the Hub. My mother entered the kitchen and saw that I was back.
"What did you get this time Prim?" she asks.
"Some yarn and a small amount of bread." I answer, "Did Gale come yet?"
"Yes." Mom then goes over to where dad's leather jacket is and takes a bag off of the hook.
"He brought us a squirrel and one fish." she says. "The bread will go perfectly with this meal."
I hand her the yarn and bread and rush upstairs, trying not to let her see what I'm hiding.
Once I'm in mine and Katniss' room I shut the door and lock it. I know the lock doesn't work anymore, but it makes me feel safer. I sit on the bed and unravel the towel. It looks the same. A wooden handle and a silver blade that was about the length of my index finger. I held the knife in my hand like I was going to stab someone. I wanted to learn how to hunt like Katniss. I wanted to be like her. This knife was just a start. I looked out my window to see the sunset. The sky is at least ten different shades of orange.
"Prim!" my mother shouts, "It's on!"
"Coming!" I stuff the knife under the mattress and take the stairs two at a time.
I flip my blond hair back behind my shoulder and sit in one of the chairs at the table. I get comfortable as the Tributes riding Chariots enter the main square of the Capitol. The Tributes for District One are dressed in ugly pink outfits. District Four wears light blue outfits. District eight is dressed in horrible pink and blue clothes with triangles everywhere.
"Who comes up with these clothes?" I ask.
My mother just shakes her head.
A finally District Twelve.
Katniss' hair looks shorter and I start to think that they cut her hair, but then I notice that it's wrapped in braids all around her head. She wears solid black and her face look like that scowl she always makes at other people. Her back is on fire. The flames looked like they went five feet behind her.
"She's beautiful," my mother says.
I nod.
Even when Katniss is on fire she still looks like the most beautiful girl I've ever known.
The horses pull the chariots in a half circle in front of where President Snow stands. He starts his short speech.
"Welcome. Tributes. We welcome you. We wish you, Happy Hunger Games. And, may the odds be ever in your favor."
The crowd cheers.
Why Happy Hunger Games? You think killing people is something that's happy? I thought.
A camera showed Katniss' face and I could tell she was thinking the same thing.