"Primrose Everdeen." Effie Trinket calls out on stage.
I don't move. I can't move. One slip of paper in the hundreds has decided my death.I was only in there one in my family can volunteer because they're too old.I start to walk forward.
"NO! NO! NOT MY BABY!" my mum calls out.
"PRIM! NO!" Katniss screams.
I run to hug peacekeepers hold me back. Katniss and mum try to get to me. They're held back too. One of the peacekeepers throws me over their shoulder.
"NO!" I scream.
Effie Trinket looks startled. I thinks her wig is falling off. The peacekeepers drop me on stage.I stand up. I put on a blank face even though all I want to do is Trinket reaches into the glass ball.
"And now the boys." Effie says.
She pulls out one slip of paper.
"Edmind Hawthorne." She calls out.
Silence.
Gale's little brother starts walking to stage
"WAIT! NO! EDMIND!" Gale yells."I VOLUNTEER! I VOLUNTEER! I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE!"
Edmind starts telling him no and Gale pushes him behind himself. The peacekeepers start to grab at Edmind.
"NO GALE NO!" Edmind screams again.
Me and Gale shake hands. A tear rolls down my face. I look into his deep eyes and see complete sadness. This was Gale's last year in the reapings. Katniss finished last year because it's a rule girls finish one year earlier. This was my first year. I know I am not going to win. I am going to die.
Haymitch our drunken mentor staggers on stage. He comes over to shake our hands but instead he falls head first off stage.
"And those are our tributes from District 12" Effie says.
The crowd clears and Effie whisks us into the Justice Building.
I'm shoved into a room. This is the last time I will see my family.I sit on the velvet couch. Next to the couch is a side table. There are chocolates in a bowl. It is one of the most expensive delicacies in District 12. The door opens and Katniss and mum hurry in.
"You have five minutes." A peacekeeper says.
"Mommy." I cry and they run to me. We all hug so tightly. Katniss is crying.
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." she cries tears draining.
"Oh Honey... I love you..." Mum says. We all just sit there hugging in fear. I cry non-stop. They know I'm going to die. This is how we say goodbye. The peacekeeper comes in a few minutes later.
"Remember what I taught you! I love you!" Katniss screams as they drag her out.
"I love you honey!" Mum screams.
"I love you to!" I scream to them.
Mum throws me a book before she's dragged away. When the peacekeepers are gone I pick up the book and flip through the pages. It is the family book where generations have drawn plants described what you can use them for and what's edible. She must want me to use this in the arena. I don't really know how to hunt Katniss has only showed me a few times so I will have to use this book. Stuck in the back cover is our family heirloom. The mockingjay pin. I put it on as my symbol of our district.
Effie comes and gets me and takes us to the train station. I see the biggest train pull in as we arrive. Effie takes us on board and leads me to my room. The train starts to leave.
"There are clothes in the dresser for you to change into. Dinner's in an hour."She says with a smile.
I start by taking a bath. I spend as much time as I can blowing bubbles and then I get out 10 minutes before dinner. I dress in black leggings and a purple t-shirt. I still have more than five minutes til dinner so I lay down in bed. I put my face into my pillow. I scream as loud as I can. I cry hard into it. I hear someone come into my room but I don't move. They sit down and start stroking my hair. I turn my head so I can see them. It's Gale. He was always like a big brother to me. I see a tear sneak from his eyes. I sit up and hug him. He picks me up and holds me like a baby. Rocking me back and forth. This is his way of saying goodbye. He lays me back down. He turns away and leaves my room. I get up, wash my face and head to the dining car.
The dining car is HUGE. I have never seen so much food. There is orange juice, rice cakes and peanut butter, lamb stew on rice with dried plums, teriyaki chicken skewers and rice, every type of pie, and a cake that says 'WELCOME TRIBUTES'. Plus tons more that I can't name.
I sit down across from Haymitch and Effie. I serve a small portion of lamb stew to myself.I finish it almost instantly! It is so good! I serve myself a medium size portion of the lamb stew again. I also grab some cheese buns and hot cocoa. Gale suggests dipping some of the bun into the hot cocoa. This puts a disgusted look on Effie's face but I try it anyway. Gale suggested right because it was absolutely delicious. I finish up that round of lamb stew and take a piece of pie and cake. Both are the sweetest things I've ever tasted. I drink another cup of hot cocoa and take another half slice of cake. I try some peanut butter to. I've never had peanut butter before but I like it. I finish all my food and realize I'm stuffed full. I've never been full before. I've never eaten this much before even when Katniss brings home a rabbit we have to save it for three nights. I remember when she brought home a deer we ate a normal size meal and turned the rest to jerky before it went bad. Before today that was the most food I'd had.
I look out the train window and see we are arriving at The Capitol. It's the biggest buildings I've ever seen. There are people crowding the station. I run and get my reaping outfit and my pin. I put the pin on. The train stops. The doors open. I wave and smile at people. I'm not really happy but I will need sponsors. Effie and Haymitch lead us out through the crowd and takes us into one huge building. The Training Center. It's here where you go through training and get a score. The score helps you get sponsers if it is good. If it's bad you're out of luck. This is also where your housed until The Games actually start.
We are staying on the top floor. Floor 12. I am taken to a room and am met by an Avox changing out the sheets. I recognize her. Who is she? Then I remember. She lived in District 12. It's Greasy Sae. She used to make soup with all sorts of weird stuff. She was reported by a new batch of Peacekeepers. They took her to The Capitol and cut her tongue out. Like they do to all the Avox. She is frightened at the sight of me. We knew each other well. Basically friends. I see a few tears fall at the sight of me. I run over and hug her. Even if we were only friends we all join together in The Games.
"I'm sorry this happened to you." I tell her.
She points at me intending that it's the other way around. It goes both ways. I let go of her. She points to the door and slides her finger across her throat I understand. We could both get in trouble. I lay in bed and only sleep because I'm exhausted. Tomorrow's another day.
I wake in the middle of the night.I look at the clock. 1:00 A.M. I get out of bed and step into Floor 12's hallway. It's silent. At the end of the hall I see a door that reads: ROOF ACCESS. I walk silently to it. I open it climb the stairs and step onto the roof. The lights of the city's streets light up the roof beautifully. I see someone with their legs over the side. I walk quietly to them.
"Gale?" I whisper.
"Prim? Why are you awake?" He asks.
"Couldn't sleep." I say.
"Can't argue with that." Gale says.
"Don't fall." I tell him. He jumps.
"GALE!" I yell. Gale starts floating back like some magic force.
"Force fields for suicidal tributes." He says with a smile.I run over and sit with him. We're silent.
"I'm going to die." I say by accident.
"Did Katniss visit you?" I say.
"Uh..."He stammers
"Tell me what's wrong." I say. I can read people like a book.
"Yeah she visited me..."
FLASHBACK...(Gale's)
Effie whisks us into the Justice Building. I'm put into a room. The visits come and go tears are shed. MY PARENTS...THEN THE KIDS(MY SIBLINGS)... Then Katniss comes in.
"Katniss!" I say.
"You don't have to go Gale..." she says staring to shed tears.
"I do Katniss." I say.
"No let's run away. Let's get Prim and mum and throw this chair through the window and just leave run hide anything but this." She says crying. She stops and looks at me. She bends over and kisses me.
"I love you." I whisper under my breath. But she hears me. Katniss' eyes meet mine. They're beautiful grey. I kiss her again. The Peacekeepers come in.
"Just one more minute." Katniss tells them. They start pulling her but she fights them.
Just before they pull her out and shut the door she yells:
"I love you too."
"I should have left with her."Gale says.
"You can win Gale."I say. I always wanted them together, I think happily.
"What about you? I can't let you die. I could never go home with you dead." He says.
"What happens, happens you can't change it." I say.
"I have to be your alley." he says.
"No. I will only keep you from winning. I'm tired. Goodnight." I say as I walk away.
I walk back to my room.
After I fell asleep I slept hard. No nightmares tonight. Just the deepest sleep.
When I wake it's grey outside. I look at the clock 8:00 A.M. I better get up and go get breakfast. Effie will want us on schedule. I run over and knock on Gale's door.
"Breakfast time." I say through the door.
I run down 12 flights of stairs. There was an elevator but I don't like riding in one. I also don't know how to use one. There is only one elevator in District 12 and it's in the Justice Building. The dining is on the basement level so District 1 can have Level 1.
I open up the door to the bottom level. I must have gone to far because this doesn't look like dining. It's a small empty hallway with a light flickering in the middle. I doubt that this is on the elevator panel. To curious, I start walking down the hallway. I open up the door at the end quietly. It reveals a huge room opening up to other rooms. There are jail cells lining the walls. A patient bed stands in the middle of the room. Blood covers the sheets of it. I hold in a scream rising in my chest. I hear faint crying coming from one of the cells. I scan each one until I find the right one.
"Effie?" I whisper.
"Prim?" She says.
"What's going on?" I ask.
"Why do think I go to your district and choose the kids to die? They torture every last person. Including me." She says looking faint.
"How did you get down here?" she says her voice cracking.
"I took the stairs a little too far." I say.
"Effie are you gonna be okay?"I whisper.
"SSH. I hear them coming back you need to go Prim." She whispers.
I run and hide. I am not leaving now. I need to see if they have anyone else. A guard drags Haymitch in. He is not drunk. He punches the guard in the nose. His nose starts bleeding but he grabs Haymitch and shoves him down in the hospital bed. He pulls up straps and locks Haymitch to the bed. Haymitch curses at him. President Snow, ruler of The Capitol, comes into the room and sticks a poker into the woodstove on the wall. When he pulls it out I see it's the letters H.A. Haymitch Abernathy. IT's glowing red, red hot. He pulls up Haymitch's shirt until his stomach is showing. He sticks a piece of leather into Haymitch's mouth to bite down on. He takes the poker and sticks it into Haymitch's stomach.
"You will obey us or we will kill you and everyone you love. In a slow and painful death." Snow says in a snakey voice.
Snow takes bottle of gel and squeezes it on to the burn. He rubs it on and the burn quickly turns to a red scar. Haymitch spits out the leather.
"I don't love nobody and no one loves me." Haymitch spats at Snow.
The room smells of burning flesh from the burn. Snow leaves the room and Haymitch looks at me.
"You need to get out of here now. You're lucky I didn't give you away before Snow came into the room...See you at breakfast sweet cheeks." Haymitch whispers to me smiling.
I don't know how he cracks a joke at a time like this but I listen to these words anyways. I make a run to the door. I run out and down the hallway. I click the up arrow on the elevator panel. When it opens up I run inside and click the D button on the panel assuming it means DINING. The doors close and the elevator lurched upwards. I only took this beast because I was scared someone would be following me on the stairs. The doors slide open and this time I'm in the right place. The kitchen and dining. Gale is sitting at one of the table's. I think about getting food but realize my appetites gone now. I sit across from Gale at the District 12 table.
"Where have you been? You told me breakfast time so I got up, but when I got down here you weren't here" Gale asks.
"Sorry Um...I was like..." I stammer thinking that I might not tell him.
"Well you look spooked." Gale says figuring me out.
"Oh I just got lost in this huge building." I lie.
"You not gonna get food?" He asks.
"Not hungry."I answer quietly.
I see Haymitch and Effie walk into the dining room. Effie is wearing a turtleneck. I remember in The Games years ago when she said she HATED turtlenecks. Haymitch is barely walking from pain. They sit at our table after they get their food. Gale goes back to his room so when they finish I start talking.
"Come with me." I tell them.
Since they are with me we take the elevator. I almost puke. We finally get to Level 12 and I take them to my room. Haymitch sits in a desk chair, Effie stays standing.
"What do you want?" Effie asks confused.
"My mother is a great doctor. She has taught me a lot. So let me see it. Let me see the burn. I know it's on your neck." I demand.
"How do you know that?" She says.
"3 years ago my best friend was pulled in the reapings. That year you declared that you HATED turtlenecks in an argument with her stylist. My friend was killed in cold blood. And as I watched her on T.V. laying in her own puddle of blood I knew I wouldn't forget one thing about that year of The Games." I say.
I see in Effie's eyes that she almost cries at my story. Effie pulls down her turtleneck showing her neck. Her burn is E.T. It's severely bruised and severely burned. I run to the closet and pull out a first aid kit. I stole it from the supply closet downstairs. For a severe burn treat with aloe rub after cleaning burn. I take a antiseptic wipe out of the box.
"What you Extra Terrestrial?" I joke to her. She smiles.
"This may sting." I tell her.
I wipe her burn clean as she grips Haymitch's chair. Yep it does sting. I get the aloe rub out of the First Aid Kit. I put some on a paper towel and rub it gently over her burn. I cover it with a bandage. I give her the bottle of aloe rub and a few fresh bandages so she can switch it out on her own.
"Your turn.' I tell Haymitch.
I read his burn again H.A. I look and see that his is not as bruised as Effie's. I look think of what I should treat a medium burn with. First I take another antiseptic wipe and clean his burn. It still stings. I take an aloe lotion which is less intense and rub that on his burn. I also mix a pain relief powder into a pudding for both of them. It should really help the pain. They leave once I'm done treating them. I guess we aren't doing anything today. I run to the stairs and go to level T. Training. We don't have training actually scheduled for 2 days. Tomorrows is the Tribute Parade so our stylists are prepping us tonight. I arrive at level T and I walk into a lobby with couches and a few tables. There is a door with a huge sign that reads : TRAINING HALL.
"Are you Prim?" says someone. I look to them.
"Yes who are you?" I ask.
"I'm Cinna your stylist." Cinna says.
"Aren't we meeting tonight?" I ask.
"Plans changed so we are meeting now." He says. "Follow me."
I follow Cinna through a door and into a dressing room with a big bathroom, a desk and couch. He tells me to sit. He sits across from me in a chair.
"Sorry this is so sudden I just had to change plans." He apologizes.
"That's ok I didn't have anything to do anyway." I assure him.
"So the tribute parade is tomorrow and I need to fix you up. Get undressed and into the bath I ran for you." He says.
I do as he says and after my bath he has me get into a robe. I don't really like having to undress in front of him but I guess I have to. He sits me in a chair and waxes my legs. It hurts horribly. He next waxes my arms. I'm like a hairless cat. He comments that he likes my braids. I told him my sister does them for me. He clips and files my nails. He paints them black. He puts me into a black jumpsuit representing coal from District 12.
"Is that it?" I ask.
"Tomorrow at the parade I'm going to light your suit with fake flames. It will look real but won't burn or be hot at all." He assures me.
I don't really believe him. At least I will be different from every past tribute. Usually the costumes are awful. Once he lets me leave I go to dinner. Tonight's meal is fried chicken, corn on the cob,and lamb stew with dried plums on rice. I also help myself to cookies and cream ice cream.
I go back up to my room after saying goodnight to everyone. I lay in bed for 3 hours not being able to sleep. It's 12P.M. Didn't this just happen last night?,I think. I do the same thing as yesterday and go to the roof. The lights are still beautiful. I run over and jump off the building.
"OH my god!" I hear someone yell form the roof.
The force field catches me and pulls me back up. I land on the ledge sitting there calmly. I turn to see a girl, my age, sitting on the ledge too.
"Force fields for suicidal tributes." I say smiling at her. Copying Gale. She laughs.
"I'm from Disrict 11. How about you?"She asks.
"12. My name's Prim. How about you?" I say winking.
"Rue. You couldn't sleep?" she asks.
"Nope, you either I assume." I say. She shakes her head.
"How'd you know the force field was there?" Rue asks.
"Someone told me." I say mysteriously.
"Want to try jumping? I'll do it with you." I tell her.
"Um.. Well sure." Rue says.
We stand next to each other on the ledge. She seems scared so she grabs for my hand. We count. 1...2...3...
There must have been a glitch in the force field and it couldn't hold both of us because next thing I know I'm being held up but Rue is dangling in the wind. I pull her up into the force field zone. We sit on a invisible bench looking out on the city.
"It's beautiful..." We say at the same time.
"That was awesome!" Rue says.
The force field pulls us back up to the roof.
"I'm hungry because I haven't eaten all day."I say
"Same here!" Rue says.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" I ask. She nods.
We race down to the dining level. And I learn we both hate elevators. So we take the stairs. I really like this girl which is horrible because on Saturday we have to go to an arena and fight to the death. I don't plan on killing anyone. I'm going to hide. Hide until every last person has killed each other. I can't alley with anyone because they will hide with me. And it would end up just being us left. And I think they would kill me. I've seen allies turn on each other before.
We raid the fridge on Level D. We get cheese plates, crackers and fruit. We run back to the roof and feast. There are lawn chairs up there so we lounge in those. It's probably 1 A.M. and we are on the roof eating cheese. That thought makes me laugh.
"What?" Rue asks.
"It's probably 1 A.M. and we are on the roof eating cheese." I tell her laughing. It makes her laugh to.
"Well we were hungry! Gosh!" Rue says smiling.
We fall asleep in the lawn chairs.