I do not own any of the characters, places, or plots from The Hunger Games series.
Chapter 1: Where It All Began
I remember the winter snow crunching beneath my dad's heavy work boots. He held my small hand in his large calloused one as he walked me to my first day of school. I remember him shuffling through the spring rain, his hand holding mine loser than usual. I remember him struggling down the stairs into hot summer heat to watch me take off by myself. I remember standing at my bedroom window watching the autumn leaves fall onto his grave. A year was all it took for my world to be turned completely upside down.
My poor mother would bring a wilted flower to dad's grave for as long as she could before the illness that took him threatened to take her as well. So for this reason, in my second year of school, I signed myself up to train as a District 2 career for The Hunger Games. As a career in training, I received enough food to make three hearty meals a day for me and my mother. I was also paid a little money with which I bought medicine and medical help for mom.
I was required to train for two hours before school and four hours each night. There were many other kids in The Center who didn't seem to have a reason to be there other than they wanted to win the Games. There were a few like me who were trying to survive the best we knew how. One of the kids that really stood out to me was a scrawny blondie named Cato. He might've been small but what he lacked in size he made up for in determination and heart. He trained harder than any of the other boys who were twice his age and twice his size. I was often paired with him in dueling exercises. I would always win but it got harder and harder to beat him the further along we got in our training.
Around our fifth school year, we started talking outside of training. I learned that he lived in the rougher part of the District that everyone called the Shadows. I met his three younger sisters who all looked just like their beautiful auburn haired mother. Cato's father worked in the Nut so he didn't see the family much.
Cato was really fun once he got out of The Center. It was like a heavy weight was lifted off his back as soon as he walked out the doors. We would race around the district, ignoring the angry shouts of store owners and merchants. We would search for new hiding spots to squeeze into while we hid from the bigger careers. We had about as much fun anyone can have in such a dark and miserable district like District 2. Sure we were one of the more well off districts of Panem, but that didn't mean we were happy. I preferred freedom over wealth but that was something I could only dream of.
Dating in District 2 was just going over to each other's houses for dinner until you were of age to marry. Cato and I did it differently. When I turned thirteen he gave me a copper ring and took me for a picnic by the Nut. There was a small pond hidden behind large weeping willows where we sat and talked for hours about our plans for the future. We were assuming of course that we would both make it out of The Hunger Games as victors. Cato wanted to buy his family a better house outside of the Shadows. I wanted to be able to get the best medical care possible for my mom who was slipping away despite the hard work of the doctor. We sat at the pond late into the night, past the District curfew. We carefully made our way back to my house, trying not to run into any peacekeepers. Cato walked me up the creaky porch stairs leading to my front door.
"Thanks for the picnic Cato. I had fun. I guess I'll see you..."
I was interrupted as Cato planted a small kiss on my cheek and ran off into the night. I stood staring at the place where he had just been before I came to my senses and went inside to my small bedroom. That night I dreamt of life after Cato and I became victors.