Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games
*4 years later*
Katniss
I rolled over in bed to find the other side empty. Opening my eyes I saw that Prim had moved to sleep with my mom, looking for comfort from her nightmares. Of course she should have nightmares; it's the day of her first reaping. In her arms was the world's ugliest cat, Buttercup. His face was smashed in and part of one ear was missing, this was an improvement from what he looked like when Prim first brought the damn thing home.
The thing had fleas and had worms in its stomach but Prim had begged and pleaded and I really couldn't say no to her. I doubt anyone could say no to Prim. She had insisted that his rotten squash colored fur was the same color as the flower. He faintly growled at me as I put on my hunting gear. Most likely remembering the time I had tried to drown him as a kitten.
Once my boots were on and my hair in its signature braid, I grabbed my game bag and the cheese Prim had made for me and headed for the Meadow. Reaching the fence that surrounded all of District 12, I stopped to listen for the hum of electricity that alerted me when the fence was on. When no hum reached my ears I wiggled through the gap at the bottom and ran into the woods only stopping to pick up my bow and arrows from a hollowed out tree.
I ran to meet Gale at our usual meeting spot. No one but us and the animals know it's there as it's surrounded by berry bushes. As I carefully picked my way through to avoid getting caught on any of the branches, I found Gale sitting on the rock with his back to me. When he heard me coming through he turned around with a smile on his face. "Hey, Catnip. Look what I shot!" In his hand was a loaf of bread with an arrow through it.
My name isn't really Catnip but when I first met him in the woods after my father died in a mine explosion, I had whispered my name so quietly he had thought I'd said Catnip instead of Katniss so the nickname stuck. Laughing I took the bread from him and pulled the arrow out feeling the steam rise out of the hole warming my face. "Mmm…still warm. How much did this cost you?" I asked handing the bread back so he could begin slicing it.
"Only one squirrel, I think the baker was feeling generous today."
"Well, today everyone is gonna be a bit more generous than usual. Oh, Prim left us a cheese." I said pulling it out of my pocket.
"We're gonna have a feast today! Thanks Prim!" He suddenly falls into a Capitol accent mimicking Effie Trinket, the District 12 escort who reads out the names every year. "I almost forgot! Happy Hunger Games!" He plucks a few berries from the bushes. "And may the odds" He throws a berry in a high arc towards me.
I catch it savoring the sweet tartness of its juice. "Be ever in your favor!" I finish. For us the only thing that keeps us from being scared out of our wits is to joke about it. And the Capitol accent is so affected almost anything sounds funny in it. He starts slicing the bread and spread some cheese on one for me and one for him. Even though we aren't related, Gale looks so much like me he could be my brother. We both have olive colored skin, dark hair, and the same gray eyes. The same as everyone else in the Seam. All the families that work in the mines resemble each other. This is why my mother and sister, with their blond hair and blue eyes, stand out so much.
My mother didn't grow up in the Seam. Her family lived in town and was a part of the merchant class that catered to officials, Peacekeepers, and the occasional Seam customer. They ran the apothecary shop since we don't have doctors. The apothecaries are our healers. My father met my mother because on his hunts he would find medicinal herbs and sell them to her to be brewed into medicine. She must have really loved him to leave her home for the Seam. I try to remember that every time I see her staring blankly at a wall doing nothing. She's been this way since he died. For my father's sake I try to forgive her for allowing my sister and me to turn to skin and bones. But I'm not the forgiving type.
We settle back into the nooks of the rocks with our bread and berries, looking our across the valley. No one can see us but we can see everything. "We could do it, you know."
"Do what?" I ask.
"Leave the district. Run away, live in the woods. You and I, we could make it." I sit there not really sure how to respond. "If we didn't have so many kids," he adds quickly. They aren't our kids. But we take care of them so much they might as well be. Gale's two little brothers and his sister; Prim. Our mothers as well, who would take care of them if we were gone.
"I never want kids." I say.
"I might, if I didn't live here," says Gale.
"But you do."
"Forget it," he snaps at me. We sit in silence as I try to figure out the point of the conversation. How could I leave my sister, and Gale who is so devoted to his family? I push the conversation out of my mind. To me there was no point to it, and I'm not going to ask Gale about it. We finish the bread and cheese, and grab our stuff. We decide to fish and gather today instead of the usual hunt.
By the end of the trip we have a dozen fish, some greens, and a bucket of strawberries. On our way home we stop by the Hob to do some trading. We trade eight of the fish for bread and salt, and give half of our greens to Greasy Sae for some paraffin. Once we finished in the market we head over to the mayor's house to sell half of the strawberries. Madge, the mayor's daughter, answers the door. "Pretty dress," says Gale.
She shoots him a look not sure if it's a compliment or if he's being ironic. "Well I want to look nice if I end up going to the Capitol."
"You're not going to the Capitol. You probably only have five entries. I had six when I was twelve."
"That's not her fault," I say.
"No, it's just the way it is."
"Good luck, Katniss," Madge says handing me the money.
We walk home in silence. What Gale did to Madge was wrong. It's not her fault that she doesn't need to get tesserae. We got the tesserae for our families, it was our choice. We know what happens when you get it. We know that we get added in more times, one extra for each person in our family. This year at sixteen my name will be in the reaping bowl twenty times, and Gale at eighteen will be in forty-two times.
When we reach Gale's house we split our goods in half, leaving two fish, a couple of loaves of bread, greens, and a quart of strawberries each. "See you in the square," I say.
"Wear something pretty."