Chapter 1
My eyelids flutter open. I'm still not used to living in Katniss' big, luxurious house, even after five years. I turn my head on the fluffy pillow. Buttercup, the cat that I found almost dead back when we lived in the Seam, is lying on the mattress next to me. The mattress is much different than what I had up until Katniss and Peeta won the 74th Hunger Games. I used to sometimes share Katniss' bed, sometimes my mother's. Even when Katniss was away at the Games after the reaping, I didn't take her bed; I didn't feel safe alone. Now I'm used to Buttercup being the only living thing in my room while I sleep. I know that Katniss is just down the hall, and my mother next door, so I feel safe enough.
I sit up in bed, pushing back the thick covers -- again, so different from what I used to have... before. I pull on a robe and slippers and shuffle downstairs to the kitchen, full of its shiny silver appliances and the well-stocked pantry. I pull a soft roll out of the basket on the counter and bite into it.
"Sleep well?" Katniss is coming through the wide doorway, blinking sleepily. She yawns and stretches, then pours herself a glass of orange juice. I think back to the old days in the Seam; endless mornings of hunger, only water to drink... I'm so glad that our life is better now. Then I remember all the families still living in the Seam, who have lost family members to the coal mines and to the hunger.
"I guess so," I say finally. "Can I come with you on the morning rounds today?"
Every morning, Katniss fills a few of her old game bags with food and goes around the district, handing out food to the hungry. She has her priorities; usually Gale's family, and Greasy Sae at the Hob. But she always tries to spread it out. One day she'll go to one family, the next day she'll go to another. She doesn't like to favour anybody. Sometimes I go with her.
"Sure," she says agreeably, putting her empty glass in the sparkling silver sink. She takes two of the game bags off a hook on the door to the pantry, then starts stuffing rolls and cans of soup into it. She tries to take only healthy things, but occasionally she will take some treats to the district kids.
And so, around half an hour later, we set out. We manage to carry double the amount that Katniss usually takes, what with me to carry a couple of bags, as well.
The only thing wrong with Katniss' house in the Victors' Village is that it's so far from the main part of District 12. And there aren't very many houses filled. First is Haymitch, Katniss and Peeta's mentor from when they entered the Games. Then there's Katniss, me, and our mother in one. And Peeta, the male tribute from District 12 when Katniss volunteered to take my place five years ago. That was the one year that the Gamemakers decided to let two people win the Games, to please the audience. The audience didn't want one of the star-crossed lovers to die. Katniss told me when she returned that it had all been an act -- on her part, at least. For Peeta, it had all been real. He sort of shut Katniss out upon their return to District 12, keeping up the love pretense for the cameras when the Victor's Tour rolled around. On the tour, he proposed to her in front of the cameras, at an interview with Caesar Flickerman, but they can't get married for another year or two, because Mother won't let Katniss get married. She's only 21. But now she seems to have really fallen for Peeta. It doesn't seem to be an act anymore.
The only other house in the Victors' Village belongs to the daughter of a tailor, Haven Tenerson, who won a few years back by sheer luck. She used the strategy that a lot of people with no fighting skills use -- weak, innocent, not worth killing straight off the bat. She pretty much did nothing for the whole Games, just sat in a tree, waiting for the others to kill themselves off. She managed to survive okay, eating nuts and berries and switching trees every couple of days, finding water along the way so that she didn't dehydrate. Then, when there was only her and one other contestant left, she took loads and loads of stones up into the tree with her and waited for him to find her. Then she threw the stones down at the District 9 boy and was crowned the winner of the 76th Hunger Games. She mostly keeps to herself, going out for walks occasionally. She never has anybody come over, and she refused to let her parents move in with her, although she was only thirteen when she won.
"Reaping's tomorrow," says Gale's mother, Hazelle, when we stopped by at their house. Posy, who was now nine years old, was just leaving for school.
"Yes," says Katniss tiredly, "another student for me..." The victors have come up with a system for the mentors. They have one mentor for the male tribute, one mentor for the female tribute. Peeta and Katniss always have the same years, leaving Haymitch to pair up with helpless, useless Haven Tenerson.
"I wonder who will be picked as tributes," Hazelle says, gratefully accepting the food that Katniss handed her. For several years now, Hazelle and her oldest son, Gale -- Katniss' best friend -- have been the providers for the family of five. Gale's father died in a mine explosion, just like my father did.
The next day, Katniss goes on her morning rounds alone. Mother forces me to stay home and get ready for the reaping. Everybody looks their best for the reaping, even though it's a rather grim practice. She hands me a dress to get into. It goes down to just above my knees, well-fitted in the torso, thin straps and a zipper up the back. Then she pulls half of my hair back and ties it in place with a long, raspberry-red ribbon to match the dress, and finds a pair of shoes in the closet; pretty, black, low heels. Then, since it looks to be colder outside than it has been in the past few days, she picks out a knitted black sweater.
Katniss returns moments after I finish getting ready, and my mother and I wait for her as she changes into some nicer clothing than the jeans and t-shirt that she customarily wears on her rounds. Then we take a walk down to the main square by the Justice Building for the reaping.
Since the victors receive more than enough food monthly, I've never needed to put my name in for the tessarae like many teenagers in District 12. My name is in the big, clear ball six times now, one for each year since I turned twelve. Last year, my name had been on five slips of paper; so different than Katniss when she was sixteen. Katniss had put her name in four times each year: once because she had to, and three times for the tessarae for herself, me, and our mother.
The mayor -- the father of a friend of Katniss', Madge -- stands up and reads the list of past District 12 winners. The first, the one that won before Haymitch did, died many years ago. "Danielle Moorely. Haymitch Abernathy. Katniss Everdeen. Peeta Mellark. Haven Tenerson." Katniss and Peeta and the others file onto the platform, smiling. The Capitol, the place in charge, requires us to regard this horrific annual event as some kind of celebration. It's sick, really.
Effie Trinket, who has been the escort for the tributes of District 12 for several years, since before Katniss had taken my place, jumps up excitedly.
"Happy Hunger Games!" she begins, the same way as always. "And may the odds be ever in your favour!" This year, her curly wig is orange. "Ladies first!" she says in a singsong voice, heading across the platform to the girls' ball of names. She reaches in, fumbling and pulling out one slip of paper.
My heart beats faster and faster. Will it be one of my friends?
"Primrose Everdeen."
***
Author's Note: So, what do you think? This is kind of new for me, writing in present tense... So this is kind of alternate-universe, what with Catching Fire not happening in this story, because I just finished Catching Fire today, and I was so mad that it was kind of a cliffhanger ending, and the next one not coming out for a while... :( And I wanted to have District 12 still exist, because I want everything to be normal. For those who have read the Hunger Games, pretend that the Quarter Quell was more normal... That Catching Fire didn't really exist, the rebellion didn't exist. I know it's kind of depressing, but maybe I'll make it so that President Snow died or something, so he can't be all evil. :)
