"Forest! Will you hurry up! You're going to be late" I holler up the stairs.
"I'm coming mum, calm down" she sighs as she jogs downstairs, in her new school uniform. After a few years the district was remade, new houses and shops built, including a new school; part of some capitol scheme to make sure every child is educated properly. She stands in front of me, wearing a white blouse, black blazer and pleated skirt. I hand over her school bag.
"Your lunch is on the table, make sure Bae gets to school on time too, ok?"
"I will, I will." She sighs, walking into the dining room to get her lunch. "Bye dad!" She calls to him. He walks out of the kitchen to give her a hug.
"Bye honey." He says. "Have a good first day, yeah"
"I will." She tells him. "Bae, hurry up!" she shouts.
"I can't find my shoes!" he screams from his room.
"They're here" I shout up the stairs. He runs down the stairs, almost tripping as he does, grabs his shoes, shoves them over his toes and rushes out of the door.
"Forest" I catch her, just before she leaves. "Look after him, please."
"I will. Don't worry mum" She says, kissing my cheek before she goes, shutting the door behind her. She's very mature for her age, she's 14 now, but you could easily mistake her for 16. She's tall and slim and still has bright blonde ringlets like her father. Unlike Bae, who, although slim like his sister, is short and very young looking for a twelve year old.
I go and join Peeta in the kitchen.
"I worry about that boy" I joke "Can you remember a day when he didn't lose something?
"Nope" he chuckles, drying his hands on a tea towel before wrapping his arms around me.
"I wouldn't worry about him, though. I'd worry about forest more. She's going to be breaking the hearts of every boy at that school" he sighs. "Just like her mother"
"Whatever. Other than you and gale, no boy looked at me twice, not before the games…" I trail off. The games. We haven't talked about them for a while. Not after Bae was born. We didn't want to have to explain to the kids what we had to go through. I mean, it's not like they don't know about the war, about the games, about the rebellion. They just don't know what role we had to play in it. They don't know about our past.
The rest of the day goes as most days do. Peeta goes to work, so I go and make sure Haymitch is still alive. Then I go and have lunch with sae, before I go to 'work' at Cinna's. His dress making business hit off pretty well, I just go by every day and act as a sort of apprentice. Today he's making a dress for someone in another district, so I have to stand there with pins and ribbon and various other accessories while he laces a woman up in a beautiful wedding dress. From what I gather, she's from district two, so she's travelled rather far just for a dress.
"My friend told me about this place a while ago, and then when my boyfriend proposed, I just had to come here. Who else could make a dress so fitting, then the man that created the girl on fire's stunning outfits?" She beams. I know she means well, but it angers me how much people hang on to the games. I smile at her and say
"It's Katniss." I nod.
"Right, sorry. You must get so many people calling you that."
"Yeah, but you didn't know. It's fine." I say. "So tell me about your wedding. Got any plans?"
"Not yet. Just the colour scheme." She beams.
"Green?" I ask, looking at the dress, which its white, but Cinna is fixing various emerald accessories to it as we speak.
"Pin please." He asks, I hold out the pin cushion. "Thanks."
"So, what about you gir- Katniss." She corrects herself. "What happened to you after the rebellion?"
"Oh, you know. I got married to Peeta. We have two kids. I work here. Life goes on I guess"
"Ahem." Cinna chimes in
"Oh, yes and Cinna game back to life."
"Aha. Yes, I see." She laughs.
"Done" Cinna says, pulling the sheet off the mirror in front of her. she's speechless, as are all of Cinna's customers, he's done it again.
Katniss' Point of view.
I hear Forest let herself in, throw her bag on the floor and shut the door.
"Mum I'm home" she shouts.
"Hey honey, in the living room." I call. "There are biscuits in the kitchen if you're hungry." she walks to the living room and takes a seat on the sofa, next to me.
"No thanks, I'm not hungry."
"Ok. Where's your brother?"
"He went to Ivy's"
"Honestly, the Hawthorne's see more of that boy than I do."
"I know, but he can't help it. He's in love"
"Hey, don't tease your brother."
"Sorry."
"So how was your day? What did you do?" I ask her
"Not much. But history seems cool."
"Really? What are you doing?"
"The hunger games." I feel every muscle in my body tense at the words.
"That's… Um. That's interesting." I lie.
"Yeah, we're going to do a whole class project about it over a few weeks, focussing on everything. The first games, the quells, why they happened, what happened afterwards. Everything."
"Well. That'll be… interesting." I say again, interesting being the only word I can spit out.
"Hey mum, what were you like when the games still existed."
"Oh… I can't really remember, they were a while ago…" I trail off. I've never seen her like this. "Oh, honey I just remembered, I need to talk to your dad. Will you be alright on your own for a while, if I go to the bakery?"
"Yeah, sure mum. Bye" She calls as I get up and go.
I stumble into the bakery, bumping into a woman with blonde hair. I've never seen her before; she must be new in town.
"Oh, I'm so sorry." I say. "Sorry." I end up rambling, so decide it's best to find Peeta.
"Peeta? Peeta!" I say, pushing through the doors into the kitchen.
"Katniss, what's up?" He says, dusting the flour off his hands on his shirt.
"Forest told me that at school they're going to learn about the games." I feel myself shaking as I tell him. "What do we do" I whisper. He sits on the counter top, and puts his hands over his mouth before pulling them away. He takes my hands in his.
"We always knew this day would come. I mean. We can't pretend it never happened. Because it did."
"I know. But I just… It's hard for me to talk about these things. I haven't had such bad nightmares recently. If I bring the memories back the nightmares come with them."
"I know. But I'll be there. I'll stay with you until the nightmares leave. I'm going to be here for everything. Don't worry."
"How do we tell her? Do we tell Bae too? I… it's so complicated." Suddenly I'm swimming in so many thoughts; I actually think I might drown.
"We just answer her questions. Truthfully. Forget any lies we told her before."
"Ok…" I whisper, placing my forehead against his. "I guess we let the games begin."