PRIM AND GALE: Prologue
I woke up to find Katniss awake and sitting on the wooden desk. I walked up to her, carefully tucking Buttercup in. " Don't feel like sleeping?" I whispered so I don't wake mom up and sat on the table in front of her. " Not really" she answered and I could see tear marks on her cheeks. I signalled towards the door and both of us wore our jackets and headed towards it. " What happened? Is something wrong with Peeta?" I asked as I hugged her. "No, Peeta is perfectly fine." She answered hugging me back. " Then why were you crying and why were you in there. You should have been in your room with Peeta and your kids." I said suddenly feeling worried that something is actually very wrong. "No, Prim. It's not that. Um.. You do know that tomorrow is reaping day. Right?" Katniss says and I can make out the sadness in her voice. " Don't worry" I try to reassure her. "We have already crossed the age and besides, Kalmia and Peter have never put their names in and will never do so." " But Prim!" her eyes transform from sad to angry. "If the other people don't belong to our family, does'nt mean we don't care about them! They too are humans. They have lives! Don't be such a rock hearted person!" I can't bear it any more. My sister who understood me the best just called me a rock hearted person. If I was a rock hearted person, I wouldn't be nursing the people the Capitol had struck. Wouldn't be here, at midnight, reassuring her. I suddenly feel hot tears rolling down my cheeks. "Go away!" I shout at Katniss and run away to my room. "Prim!" I hear her voice but ignore it and then I shut the door behind me. Then I peek out of the door and watch Katniss slowly head for her room.
The next morning, I woke up to Kalmia's and Peter's voices. I opened my eyes and found them running around the room. " Peter, get out! Aunt has to change and help me change" Kalmia says as she gets two bundles. "But who is gonna help me change?" Peter wails. Kalmia gives him a look and says, "Go ask mom or dad. Dad had kept warm water for you anyway." "Okay" He replies and heads out. "And oh!" Kalmia exclaims to stop him. " Don't irritate him much because he looked sad this morning". "Why?" "I don't know. Now, hurry up and Go! Go! Go! Peter scowls at her and goes out closing the door behind him. Then Kalmia turns towards me and jumps excitedly. "Oh aunt! You are finally awake! Let's dress up for the reaping day!" She does'nt know the pain raping day causes to all of us. Peeta and Katniss never wanted their children to know. Said they were too young. I smiled at Kalmia. "Come on!"
She pushes me into the bathroom. "Get ready within two minutes!"she calls after me. I stand under the shower and put on some jasmine oil. I come out in my underwear and find Kalmia in the same way. "Let's dress each other up!"she exclaims. I smile and nod my head. Kalmia pulls two identical purple coloured gowns. " All the ladies who are technically you, me and mom are wearing these and dad and Peter are wearing black suits. My choice." She smiles nervously then adds " Do you like it?" " I pretend to have get a close look at the dresses and then reply" Like it? I love it!"."Yipee!" she exclaims and we dress each other up and then put some make-up on. When we open the door, Peter rushes up to us and hugs me. I hug him back. I look up to see Katniss and Peeta looking good, but sad. They both smile politely at me. I smile back. Katniss must have not told him about our fight last night. We head towards the ceremonial place and Katniss takes my hand as the others walk ahead of us. " One minute, Prim." I look up at her and try my best not to look like a child and give her an empty stare. "Listen, you know I didn't mean what I said last night. Don't you? I was just... sick and tired of The Hunger Games. You know, mentoring and stuff like that. I can't see the children of our district killing others and then finally dying themselves." I hug her. "I'm sorry I couldn't understand you". " I'm sorry too." She replies and then we both head towards the hall where the names of the tributes will be announced.
We walk up to the hall and the peacekeepers separate us. Kalmia and Peter find me and guide me to the front row. I don't want to sit in the front row. To look at the startled tributes' faces. But I don't object. There is no place in the back row anyway. I watch as Effie Trinket comes onto the stage in her usual style. "Ladies first" she says in her Capitol accent and pulls out a chit. "Mary Lee" she announces as if she is giving away a reward. I don't know Mary Lee that well. She was 3 years younger to me in school. I watch as she nervously takes her place on stage. There are tears in her eyes and slowly, they trickle down her cheeks. Effie clears her throat uncomfortably and smiles at the crowd. "And now for the male tribute". She walks over to the left bowl and picks up another chit. " Rory Hawthorne" Effie announces and smiles back at the crowd. Her voice rings in my ears and I whip my head back to see Rory heading towards the stage. My eyes shift towards Gale. He face has stiffened and he is biting his lip. His fists are clenched and his legs are trembling. He looks at Katniss and she holds his stare for a second and then looks at Rory. I watch as Peeta takes her hand and squeezes it. Her grip gets tighter on his hand and it looks like if she lets go, she's going to fall off the stage. I look back Gale and he looks back at me. I suddenly feel warmth spreading through my body and I'm not sure why that happened.