A/N: Yay! I finally made it up to 2,000 words AND I finished two chapters in one day. I may or may not get the next chapter up tomorrow, it depends on school. I will get it up within the next couple of days. Thank you to all my readers. Please Review!
Disclaimer: I don't own The Hunger Games
Once again, I wake up early. I'm not sure if I'm going hunting with Gale, but I sure can't sleep anymore. Everything seems to be affecting me and Mom differently. She's sleeping quite a lot. I can't blame her, I'm tired too, but I just can't seem to sleep. She wakes up late and takes a while to get out of bed. I, on the other hand, can't sleep, can't sit still, can't focus. I lie in bed awake for hours before falling asleep and waking up only a few hours earlier. The night before last, I succeeded in going to bed early, only to wake up almost every half hour. I've decided to only go to bed if I'm tired and to get up whenever I wake up. I hope eventually I can get some regular sleep. To my relief, I hear a knock on the door. I'm guessing Gale's here, and we're going hunting again. I like the woods. They are peaceful and thriving, unlike the Seam. I open the door and to my surprise, I see Rory, Gale's brother. He looks a lot like Gale, he has messy, dark brown hair and stunning grey eyes.
"Hello," I say, "Come in,"
"I um... well, how are you? I won't uh stay or anything, well, Gale asked me to come and see how you're doing so..." he stutters. He's nervous, but he usually is. He looks down at his feet, waiting for an answer.
"Oh, I'm alright, I guess," I answer, "Want to sit down?" I can tell he's pondering it.
"Well, alright," he says, sitting down at the table. I busy myself for a few minutes getting tea. I bring out Daddy's old tea kettle from the cupboard. It is the nicest kitchen tool we have. I remember that Daddy saved up for a year to get it. It is mostly copper, but the sides are plated with white glass. On the glass are painted flowers. We had tea with him every Sunday after getting it. Once it's filled with water and on the stove, I mix some herbs. We can't afford to buy real tea leaves, so we always make do with a delicious mixture of mint, chicory root, and dried dandelion.
"You will stay for tea, won't you," I ask. I don't want to sound silly, and I'm not trying to have a tea party or anything, but tea is comforting and I don't have much else to offer him.
"Yes, but you don't have to do all that," Rory mumbles.
"It's nothing, really," I reply, "Anyway it's nice to have someone to talk to."
"I'm really sorry about everything that's happening," he says. I smile, weakly, and nod.
"I miss her," I say, "It's just so quiet," We sit in silence for a minute before I finally speak again.
"Is Gale doing alright?" I ask. I look back up at him trying to read the expression on his face.
"I'm not really sure," he replies, shaking his head.
"He's different," Rory continues, "He talks even less now and he always leaves the room if she's brought up in conversation." He begins to tell a story about Gale and Posy, their four-year-old sister.
"She came up to him last night and asked why Katniss hadn't come to visit. She usually comes by every day you know. Posy still doesn't understand the whole concept of the Reaping. Gale's face got angry, and he said she'd be taken away. Taken away by very bad people and that she probably won't come back. Gale and Posy were the only ones in the room 'cause I was in my bedroom. I guess he thought no one was listening. Posy told Gale that she just wanted to see Katniss, and he said that he did too. Gale picked her up and sat her on his lap on the couch. Then she started to cry. After that no one said anything, but when I peeked out of my doorway, he was rocking her still on the couch, and he was crying silently. I didn't say anything to him, but I've never seen him cry. Not even when Dad died."
I look up at him once again, and I see the pained expression in his eyes. Tears had been gathering in my eyes, and I wipe them with the palm of my hand. I don't want to cry, not right now, but my sisters gone, and what Gale said was right. She probably won't come back. Tears are just beginning to spill over onto my cheeks when I hear the tea kettle whistling. It's done. I stand up and make my way to the stove. I blow out the little fire underneath the kettle and get out three cups. I stuff the herb mix into little bags that I make a couple of years ago and close them up. After putting in the tea bags and pouring in the water, I bring the first to cups to the table.
"I'll be back in a minute," I promise. I bring the third cup into my room and set it on Mom's nightstand. She's just blankly staring at the wall, but she stops me before I leave.
"Thank you, Primrose," she whispers. I just nod.
"I love you," she says.
"I love you too, Mom,"
When I return to the kitchen, Rory is sipping his steaming tea.
"This is really good," he compliments, "Your herbs?" I nod, smiling. Some people don't see it as worth it to grow herbs. Most people actually. They think it's a waste of time and space. Many people don't understand their healing properties. They usually change their mind after Mom and I heal and injury or cure a sickness. In a place with little access to medicine, it's really the best we've got.
"I should be getting back," he says, taking the last sip of tea.
He looks at me inquisitively for a moment before saying, "But we'll be over later," he says, smiling reassuringly, "You're not alone." I smile back up at him thankful to have a friend.
The next hour passes slowly, as I pace back and forth in the kitchen holding Buttercup. Eventually around 11, I end up on the couch, looking at our botanical book. I love to look through the book. Some of the plant's drawings are unfinished, and others unstarted. The first plant is Katniss. It has pretty green leaves and small white flowers. Under my father's drawing Mom has written: Hardy plant; Sometimes called arrowhead; leaves and roots are edible. In the upper corner of the page is a sketch of my sister. She is young is the sketch, but she still has her hair in a messy braid and even on the paper her grey eyes seem to shine. The next page is mine, the Primrose. The drawing of the flower is followed by an entry: medicinal; known as "king's cure-all"; not hardy. Similarly to the first page, I am drawn in the top corner. The rest of the book is sorted alphabetically. Though I have practically the entire thing committed to memory, I still love looking through the book.
It's six-thirty before I realize I need to make dinner. Mom is sitting at the table, tying mint together with twine so we can hang it up to dry. I'm glad that she is finally able to come out of her room. That she is coming out of her shell a bit. I get up to see what I can make for dinner when there is a knock on the door. Probably, Rory, I realize. I know he said he'd be over later, but I didn't realize that meant today. The door opens, and Posy comes bounding in.
"Primy!" she yells and she jumps into my arms. I can't help but smile when I'm around her. She is always so full of energy and joy. She is completely oblivious to the fact that she rarely gets enough to eat or that she has to wear her brother's hand-me-downs. The rest of their family stands in the doorway waiting.
"Come in!" I tell them. Gale walks over to me and rubs Posy on the head.
"I'm not exactly sure what was discussed, Rory just told us we were coming over for dinner. Mom believed him, but I know better than that. He just told you we were coming over, right?" Gale questions jokingly.
"Something like that," I laugh, "But seriously, you guys are always welcome. Our moms are talking, and it's so great to see Mom actually smile.
"You didn't have to do that," I hear Mom say. I turn around towards the table and see a feast. A whole chicken is cooked and on the table. In a bowl are strawberries and blueberries. We begin our feast. Both moms sit at the table with Posy and Vick, the boy between the ages of Posy and Rory. Gale, Rory, and I are on the couch. Suddenly the TV comes on and we hear the voice of Caesar Flickerman.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!" he's saying, "I am your host Caesar Flickerman!"
"After seeing the tributes stunning scores this morning I am sure you have all been waiting for the chance to see them fo yourself! Please welcome, The One, The Only, Glimmer!" I try not to watch the Careers, try not to look at the faces of those who will soon seek to kill my sister. The parts I do see, are terrifying. They all seem so ready to kill, excited even. It gets a little better once the Careers are done and by the time the girl from District 11 comes on, I'm watching it. She's wearing a blue dress and is now talking to Caesar.
The last thing she says is "If they can't catch me, they can't kill me, so don't count me out." She seems very smart. I hope Katniss has a similar strategy, I've have no doubt that she could survive if everyone just left her alone.
Finally, it's Katniss. Katniss's interview actually goes pretty quickly. She talks and makes a few jokes, though I can tell she's not comfortable. Then she is asked about me. I see her face go from pretty fake smiles to panic. She tells him what she told me saying goodbye, that she would try to win for me. I lean on Rory's shoulder my eyes stinging once again, and he puts his arm around me. I feel safe. Well sort of, I am mostly just terrified for Katniss. The last thing that happens, is that Caesar asks her to twirl. Now, once again, she is on fire. The bottom of her dress is covered with flames and sparks are flying. The audience cheers as their Girl On Fire walks off the stage.
The last tribute is Peeta Mellark. He gets along very well with Caesar, he will definitely be a crowd favorite. Soon Caesar starts asking about girls. At first, he refuses to even like someone but then,
"Well, there is this one girl..." he admits
"Do tell" Caesar encourages.
"I've had a crush on her for as long as I can remember, but I don't think she knew I existed until the Reaping." he continues. I roll my eyes, why is it always like this.
"Well, how about this," Caesar begins, "You win the games and go back home, and she'll just have to go out with you."
"Yeah, well that's not really going to help in my case." he sighs.
"Well, why not?" Caesar questions. He keeps doing the same thing giving a little information, just enough to make the audience want more. It's getting quite annoying, to tell the truth. I begin to zone out when I hear Peeta say one thing more.
"Because she came here with me." It takes me a few seconds to register what he just said, and by that time, several things have happened. The audience gasped, Mom almost choked on her tea, and Gale had stormed out of the room, and out of the house, slamming the door behind him. I already know why. Gale loves Katniss. He always has, but Katniss has been too blind to see it. Now, he's worried about this guy taking his place. It's a bit odd, I think, worrying about who likes who when they're about to die. But that's how the capital is, unfortunately, they just want a good show.
A/N: Please review. Please let me know if you find any errors or have suggestions.