2
Be strong.
Prim clenched her fists at her side and forced her feet to move. The crowd murmured—they didn't sound happy. Each foot she managed to place before the next jolted her body like a gong.
It's me.
"No!" The strangled croak could only be Katniss.
Prim didn't look. She couldn't look. She'd be strong like her sister. Better that it's me than it is someone else. The thought brought little comfort.
"Come on up, dear." Effie Trinket held out a hand as Prim reached the platform. Prim used to gape at Effie's clothes, wishing she could wear nice things—or just see them up close. Now they were too close. Prim would rather be back in their dusty house, cuddling dirty old Buttercup, never wearing a nice thing again.
"No!" Katniss screamed.
Prim's gaze jerked up to meet her sister's. Katniss clawed toward the platform, but Gale held her back. Peacekeepers marched toward her. They'd hurt Katniss if she didn't stop soon. Prim lifted her chin, holding Katniss's wild gaze. It's okay. It's okay. I can be brave, too.
She trembled and took Effie's hand. Her skin was cold and her long nails scraped Prim's palm. If only it were Mom's hand she was holding.
Mom stood beside Katniss and Gale, clutching a handkerchief between her hands, paler than all the kids at the reaping. Prim looked away.
"Well, Bravo!" Effie clapped alone, the sound echoing until she finally had the sense to stop.
The stage felt...alone. Prim bit her lip, trying not to look at her friends from school, or at Katniss who had sunk to her knees, or at the drunken Haymitch who didn't seem to realize what was going on. But, as usual, whenever she tried not to think about something, that was the only thing she could think about. And it broke the dam of her strength. Tears escaped, making rivers down Prim's cheeks. She should stop, but she couldn't. She just…couldn't. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her skirt and encountered the goat cheeses. She didn't think one would have to go to her family.
Effie gave Prim a side hug. Prim couldn't have hugged her back if she'd wanted to.
"It's time to pick our boy tribute!" Effie teetered over to the other glass ball. She whipped out another slip of paper, not taking the time she had with the girls. Maybe she was trying to divert the attention away from Prim. "Peeta Mellark!"
Prim didn't know this boy, but he looked old—almost too old to be reaped. The blood drained from his face, his blond hair stuck to his scalp and he stepped out of line. For a moment, Katniss looked like she'd pass out. Did she know this boy? Or was she still reeling from Prim's reaping?
Peeta walked on stage with a sigh. Would he be the one to kill Prim in the arena? He looked so kind. He gave Effie a wobbly smile. "Just one month shy of turning nineteen. Just my luck."
Effie patted him on the shoulder and then the whirlwind began. Peacekeepers whisked Prim into a room and left her alone, locked in. What happened in here? Would they tell her secrets about the games? Would they come question her? And would she ever see Katniss or Mom—
The door burst open. Katniss rushed in and grabbed Prim's hand. "Quick, Prim, we need to get out of here. Now."
Prim reeled back. "No, Katniss!" But why not? Was it because the idea of fleeing felt even more terrifying? "They'll catch us. They'll catch you!"
She shook her head. "Gale and I will take you—"
"Ahem." A peacekeeper stood in the doorway. "Five minutes."
Prim launched into Katniss's arms, sobbing into the crook of her shoulder. She shook her head, but words didn't come until she took a great shuddering gasp. "I don't want to go. I don't want to go!"
Mom stepped up and wrapped both Katniss and Prim in a hug. Prim couldn't get close enough to them. She wanted to be enveloped, secure, tucked into those warm arms.
"Take care of Buttercup." Prim swiped her sleeve along her running nose. Poor Buttercup! She hadn't even given him a proper good-bye!
"I will." Katniss wiped tears from her face. Prim had never seen her cry before. "I-I wanted to take your place, Prim. You know I would—"
"I'm glad you can't." Be strong. "I'm glad you get to stay here and get married. You have to live the happy ending for both of us."
Katniss groaned and Mom sucked in a shuddering breath. Then, as if accepting Prim's fate, Katniss looked up with steel in her eyes. She clamped her hands around Prim's shoulders and said in a strong, fierce voice, "You can survive, Prim. You can."
Prim shook her head. "I can't!"
"You can. I've shown you how to shoot a couple times—"
"I don't want to!" she wailed. "I don't want to kill anyone!"
"You don't have to." Katniss stood. "You can hide, or pretend to be insane, or scavenge until they've all killed off each other."
The peacekeepers waltzed in. "Time's up."
"Wait!" Prim pulled the goat cheeses out of her pocket and handed them to Katniss. "One for you and…one for the Mellark family."
Something in Katniss's face crumbled at the name Mellark. She held the cheese close. "That boy—Peeta...he'll take care of you, Prim. I know he will." The Peacekeeper pulled them out and slammed the door shut on Katniss's "I love you."
"I love you, too," Prim whispered, folding her arms around her middle. "Good-bye." Now, she stood utterly alone, wishing she were already dead.
.
.
To be continued...
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~If you like my writing, please check out my own dystopian book, A Time to Die (by Nadine Brandes), on Amazon~
How would you live if you knew the day you'd die? Parvin Blackwater believes she has wasted her life. At only seventeen, she has one year left according to the Clock by her bedside. In a last-ditch effort to make a difference, she tries to rescue Radicals from the government's crooked justice system. But when the authorities find out about her illegal activity, they cast her through the Wall - her people's death sentence. What she finds on the other side about the world, about eternity, and about herself changes Parvin forever and might just save her people. But her clock is running out.
