Prim.
Chapter 1: Family.
I wake early on the morning of the Reaping, surprised that I was even able to sleep a wink last night. The room is dusky, the morning rays not quite poking their heads through the cracked window in my mother's room. I rub my eyes, accepting that I won't be able to sleep a minute more today, and untangle myself from my mother's arms. I trudge into the kitchen and poke my head into Katniss' room. Unlike me, she seems to have very little difficulty sleeping on Reaping day. I take a chunk of goat's cheese from the store, and wrap it in some leaves with a small slice of bread. As I place the little parcel on the table, my fat cat Buttercup pads her way into the room.
"Good morning Buttercup. Are you here for your breakfast?"
She gives a small mew and rubs herself against my leg. I give her a scratch between the ears and she follows me down the stone steps and into the cellar. By the time we return to the kitchen, the small package of cheese and bread is gone, along with Katniss' hunting jacket. I sigh to myself. Of course Katniss won't be able to sleep either. I place Buttercup's bowl on the floor and then set about making breakfast for mother and myself. Supplies have been meagre this year, and we are barely making it by with the tessarae and the meat that Katniss provides. Which is why I went behind my family's back and signed up for extra tessarae. I will not have Katniss taking all the weight for our survival. Besides, soon she won't be able to sign up any longer, and better that I get a head start. I sneak into the room that I share with Katniss and find the small hole in the wall in which I keep the extra grain and oil that I hide from my family each month. Creeping back into the kitchen, I start a fire on the stove and take a grimy pan from the wall. Mixing the grain with the oil and adding goat's cheese, I am able to make my best attempt at pancakes, and soon the small cottage smells delicious. I add some herbs from the collection I have gathered in the district, and add them to the pan, just as my mother comes into the room. She kisses me softly and I turn my back on the cooking for a moment.
"Katniss will be okay, won't she mum?"
She smiles and squeezes my cheek.
"Of course she will sweetheart. She goes hunting every morning. She's fine."
"I'm talking about the Reaping."
"Let's not talk about it Prim." My mother's eyes look tired, as if the years of worrying have physically aged her.
"But what if-"
"That smells delicious, Primrose. I really don't know where you get your knack for cooking from."
I smile.
"Surely not you, mother."
It feels that the morning flies by, as always is the case when there is something you're dreading. I take a bath and try to ready my hair, and my nerves, for the Reaping. It's my first year, and despite the extra tessarae I signed up for in secret, I'm not worried about myself. Nobody from District 12 has ever been picked at such a young age. But Katniss… She must be in the Reaping at least fifteen times. Being a small district, there can't be that many kids, there can't be that many names. I dry myself off with a small towel just as Katniss arrives back home with the game. I pass her on her way to the bathroom. She's nervous – I can tell, although she hides it well from our mother. She gives me a wink as she makes her way past me.
"Best get myself brightened up, eh, Prim?"
In our room, I find a sky blue blouse with a matching skirt, the same outfit Katniss has worn for the Reaping for years. It's been ironed and creased, and is still a shade too big. Katniss has always been bigger than me. I change quickly and silently, and then find my mother in the kitchen. She pulls a comb through my straggly blonde hair and ties it in two braids with blue ribbon. As much as I am now an adult in the Capitol's eyes, I am a child in hers. She pinches my cheeks and smiles. Katniss enters next, looking older than her years in one of mother's old dresses. Mother sits her down and I watch as her fingers fly, braiding her hair in a complicated spiral. When she finishes, she goes into her room to prepare herself. Reaping begins at noon, and we cannot be late.
Katniss pulls me over to her and sits me on her lap, the same way she has done since I was tiny.
"Prim… If I tell you something, will you promise to keep it a secret?"
I smile, because it is so rare to have these moments with my sister.
"Of course Katniss. What is it?"
She glances at the door through which our mother disappeared.
"Prim, I'm running away…"
"What? Katniss, you can't."
"No, listen, me and Gale have it all sorted out. We're going to do it tonight. After the Reaping."
I am silent. If I know my sister, I know that she's not joking.
"Prim, you have to come with us. Gale is going to bring his brother's and Hazelle, and you and mother must come along too."
"We can't just leave."
"We can, and we must, Prim. We'll be fine, trust me."
"I do. I do trust you Katniss."
"But you'll come?"
I pause. We can hear mother's footsteps as she leaves her bedroom.
"How will you persuade mum?"
"It doesn't matter. Will you come?"
I nod. I will follow my family wherever they go, whether it's the end of the earth or straight into a trap.