Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games
Katniss' Mother's POV
Iwoke up with Primrose curled up next to me, just like she did when she was little. Katniss was gone - no doubt she was in the woods - so I made breakfast for only two. I took a small amount of tesserae grain, put it into a pot,
added some water, and boiled it over the fire until it cooked down to a mush. It tasted very bland on its own, and unfortunately, we were out of berries or maple syrup to sweenten it up. Oh, well. When you live in District 12, you don't turn your
/nose up at food, no matter how repulsive it is. Primrose woke up just as I was setting milk from her goat on the table. We ate our breakfast in silence. With the reaping only hours away, there was no conversation.
After we ate, I filled a large basin with water and we scrubbed ourselves clean. I dressed Primrose in Katniss's first reaping outfit, but since Katniss was much bigger than Primrose is now at the age of twelve, I had to make her shirt
stay tucked in with pins. I ran out before I could do the whole shirt. It would have to do
I had just finished braiding Primrose's hair - a simplebraid my mother taught me called a waterfall braid - when Katniss walked in. She dropped her game bag in the table and took out fish, greens, strawberries, and some money. While
she washed off all the dirt and sweat from the woods, I began turning the fish and greens into a stew for our meal after the reaping. Also, I lay out a dress for Katniss to wear - a simple blue one with matching shoes - but would she accept it? After
/my husband died in a mine explosion, I fell into an overwhelming depression. It's an illness of mind, and there are herbs that can help ease the pain, but I didn't have them, so it was Katniss who kept us alive. She has never forgiven me for all that
/I put her through, although I have tried several times to mend things between us. This blue dress is another gesture. My dresses from my past are very precious to me. "Oh," said Katniss when she saw it. "Are you sure?" "Of course I'm sure," I said.
/"Come on, let's do your hair." Her braid was much more complicated than Primrose's, but I thought it matched their personalities: Primrose being so sweet, simple, kind, and innocent; Katniss having many layers to herself and very complex, but beautiful
/once you took a step back. I wished them luck and they were herded off into the town square
Prim's POV
Katniss looked so beautiful, in my mother's blue dress and shoes, and her hair tied up in an elaborate braid. She said she wished she looked like me, but I don't see why-my clothes are too big and my shirt keeps forming a duck tail. We waited
in a line so they could draw a "sample." "What do they mean by sample?" I asked Katniss as we got closer to the front of the line. "They draw some of your blood to make sure you came," she replied. What? They draw my blood? No one told me
about
this. I wasn't ready. A peacekeeper stood ahead of me holding a device with an evil-looking needle on it. The world started spinning. Everything, my fear of the reaping, of the games, of this man standing there with the needles, threatened to drown
/me. Katniss was there, holding my arm. "Prim, it only hurts for a second-" "No!" I was getting hysterical now, but it was too much, too much..."No!" Katniss was leading me up there, but the world was spinning and growing fuzzy..,
A sharp stab in my arm jerked me back to my senses. Katniss was literally holding me up, and a peacekeeper was spreading my blood next to the name Everdeen, Primrose. Another peacekeeper marched me over to a roped area with all the
other twelve-year-olds after about ten minutes, Mayor Undersee and Effie Trinket sat down in chairs on the stage. Haymitch was supposed to be there too, but he didn't show up until halfway through the mayor's speech, dead drunk. After thelong
and dreary speech, it was time to draw the names. Effie Trinket, our escort, began with her signature, "Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be everin your favor." She beams at all of us, but we all know that she's just waiting to get
promoted to a better district. "Ladies first!" She says. Effie walks over to the bowl with the girls names in them. After clawing around for a little, she snags a piece of paper and walks back to the microphone. I hold my breath, hoping that it's
/not me, that it's not Katniss, her names in more times than mine is - and now Effie's reading the name "Primrose Everdeen."
It's just like my nightmares, and I'm going to wake up screaming any second, but I don't wake up. People are looking at me, and I can feel my legs moving me toward the stage. My ears feel plugged, like all the noise around me is muffled,
people are whispering, and in my mind I can hear Katniss calling my name...
No, that wasn't just in my mind. Katniss was running toward me, peacekeepers following her, but she was too fast. "Prim!" She screamed. She caught up to me and pushed me behind her. "I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!" "No, Katniss, you
can't go," I said, crying, and I wrapped my skinny arms around her. "Prim. Let go," she said, probably more harshly than she intended, but I was never going to let go. Then Gale appeared and picked me up, and he carried me, kicking and screaming,
/back to my mother.
Gale's POV
Prim's name was drawn, and I was in shock. How could Prim, who was one slip in thousands, be going into the arena? But I knew she wasn't, because Katniss was running past me, volunteering for Prim. It broke my heart to see them standing there, Prim
screaming
and crying, Katniss heading off to certain death. Prim wasn't going to let go, and if the peacekeepers had to force her, the Everdeens would be in huge trouble for interfering with the reaping. So I walked out and picked up Prim, who was now thrashingaround
in my arms. "Up you go, Catnip," I said, and it was all I could do not to cry as I watched my best friend mount the stage. I stood there as Effie Trinket called Peta Mellark as the boy tribute. They were lead into a room, and had only one hour to
say goodbye to the people they loved.
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