2

Everything happens in slow motion.

Prim walks to towards the stage – her little fists clenched as she walks stiffly like me. Her outfit is too big for her. She looks so little in Katiniss' old clothes and when her eyes meet mine I'm forced to look away. We're looking at each other with the same bout of disbelief. She looks like a dear in headlights. She's just shocked as me.
I stand there, gasping for air, my mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. Like all those other tributes who had died. A choke escapes my mouth, an alien gargling sound that I'm not used to.
Then suddenly, out of nowhere, she's running towards Prim, pushing her sister's body behind her protectively. I know what she's going to say, but I just stand there, frozen. I don't stop her.

"I volunteer." She rasps, gasping for air, "I volunteer as tribute!"

Murmurs ripple through the square. The Mayor and Effie, onstage, look at each other, confused. It's been years since the District as had a volunteer. We're not the type to raise Careers.

The ear piercing scream brings us back to our senses, as Prim wraps herself around Katniss. "No, Katniss! No! You can't go!"

Without taking her eyes off of me, she tries to shake Prim off. I see her eyes glaze over; tearing up as Katniss refuses to look her in the face. Suddenly Peacemakers are behind them, wrenching Prim away from her sister, as she sobs and moans – almost in pain.

She climbs the steps and quickly takes her place on the podium, next to the ball containing the girls' names. She glances over at me then looks down at the floor – the colour drained from her face. "Well bravo! That's the spirit of the games!" Effie Trinket says with strained enthusiasm. "And what's your name?"
"Katniss," She rasps, almost silently "Katniss Everdeen."
"I bet buttons that was your sister! Don't want to steal her glory, do we?"
I replant my feet on the podium. It takes a large amount of willpower to not run over to Katniss, kicking Effie off the podium as I do so – and holding her as tight as I could. She looked so helpless and scared, in her mother's blue dress. It was the first time I'd seen her like that – without power or strength, frozen solid as Effie asks her the obligatory questions about her background. She answers in a rough, shakey voice.

Effie leads us both to the front of the stage, and demands a round of applause from the pale, drawn faces in the square. As we're led off the stage, I take Katniss' hand. Her palms were cold and clammy. I held on tightly nevertheless – more for my sake than hers.
But instead of applause there's a dead, cold silence. Her hand shifts in my grip as slowly, one by one, every member of District 12 raises their three middle fingers to their lips and points towards us. Approbation. Respect. Protest.

The Mayor is silent, then clears his throat awkwardly and starts to recite the compulsory Treaty of Treason. Katniss and I look at each other from the side of the stage. Her jaw was locked now – as mine was. We tried to smile through our clenched teeth, but we both knew what would happen now. Inevitable, unjust and merciless death. We couldn't even pretend to be happy about it.

I squeeze her hand, and she squeezes it back twice, as the mayor concludes the Treaty and nods to indicate that we can shake hands. We don't move. He and Effie look down to see our fingers tightly intertwined. The mayor looked down in, what was it – shame? Sympathy?
Effie just gave a patronisingly sorrowful look, tilting her head to the left. It was the sort of expression shown when someone dies, and you have to pretend to care. The sort of expression of I despised. The sort of expression I wanted to wipe of her fluorescently painted little face.

The anthem starts up, and we grip each other's hand so tightly that I lose feeling in my whole lower arm. We're ushered offstage as soon as the anthem ends by the same Peacemakers that prized Prim from Katniss. As we're led towards the Justice building, Effie and the mayor following closely behind, I look across at her again. She opens her mouth to say something, but then I'm pushed into a room.

I'm alone.