Hi everyone! I know you all probably forgot about this story (I'll be honest, I kinda did too). I cannot say how sorry I am for my long absence but I will say that although my schedule probably won't be consistent at all from here on out, but I'm hoping I won't be gone again as long as I was. Anyways, I really hope you enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.
As soon as I wake up I know that today is going to be awful.
"I really don't want to get out of bed," I grumble to my cat who is sitting at the end of my bed intently watching me.
Yesterday was one of the worst days of my life. I had to watch an innocent child die in the arms of my older sister. After she died the camera showed Katniss in a flower patch but then it suddenly switched to show Peeta lying almost dead in the stream bed. He doesn't have much time left.
I had tried to change it back to Katniss but it wouldn't let me which made me extremely worried and it took Rory a long time to get me calmed down enough to think reasonably. Eventually, after a long hour of not being able to watch my sister, the camera switched to show her in a tree thanking District 11 for a loaf of bread that was probably sent because Rue is not here to take it.
The day ended with me falling asleep on the couch which probably means Rory carried me in here before leaving. That would explain why I'm still in my clothes from yesterday.
I reluctantly get out of bed when I remember that we have to be in the square by noon or else the peacekeepers will come looking. I pad into the kitchen and check the little analog clock we have over the stove.
"Ten-thirty?" I exclaim quietly. "How!?"
I quickly rush back into the bedroom and frantically wake up my mother.
"Mom wake up, we slept in! We've got to get to the interviews!" I tell her.
She looks at me and begins to get out of bed slowly. I go over the closet and grab one of her faded gray dresses and hand it to her.
"Here, wear this," I say, wanting us both to look somewhat presentable.
As she goes to the bathroom to change I grab one of Katniss's old light blue dresses and quickly slip it over my head. Then I go into the kitchen to try and find my hairbrush which I seem to have misplaced one of the very few times I've bothered to use it since the Games started. My stomach growls as soon as I step foot into the kitchen and I tell myself to get through the interviews then I can talk with Gale about food.
Things have been pretty rough with my mother turning away patients due to her inability to do much at the moment so we aren't getting any money from that, plus Katniss isn't here to hunt for Game so I have been getting as much milk out of Lady as possible and gathering edible plants at the edge of the woods to try and keep our stomachs satisfied, but it's still not much.
"Ah, there it is!" I say, grabbing the purple hairbrush that somehow ended up in one of the cabinets.
I quickly brush through my hair and then braid it into two French braids which trial down my back after I'm done. When my mother comes out of the bathroom I quickly grab her hand and sit her on the floor in the living room. As I begin to pile her grayish-blonde hair on top of her hair into a bun, she turns on the Games.
Katniss is not doing well. It's clear that Rue's death has really affected her, I mean it affected me and I'm not even in the Games. I can't imagine how awful it must be for my sister.
Katniss does stuff slowly telling herself what she has to do, "Now you have to hunt, Katniss," she tells herself quietly before going off to hunt.
It makes me smile a little hearing that she uses the strategy that our father taught us in order to get stuff done.
Soon I'm finished with my mother's hair which I have made into a bun and wrapped a braided strand around. I check the clock and it's already been an hour so we have only half an hour to get to the square.
"C'mon mom," I say while grabbing her hand and pulling her off the floor.
Together we rush to the square and much to my relief we make it there just as the clock strikes twelve.
"Prim!" I hear someone exclaim before they pull me into a big hug from behind.
"Rory?" I ask, turning around to look at him.
"Hi," he says with a goofy grin.
"Why are you so happy?" I ask with a chuckle.
He hesitates a bit before answering, "I don't really know, but I do know that you were almost late getting here," he says, raising his eyebrow in question.
I groan, "Yeah, I know. We slept in."
"Makes sense," he says with a chuckle, "You passed out and didn't even stir when I tried waking you up."
"Yeah, sorry about that," I say with an embarrassed chuckle.
"It's fine," he says with a small smile, "You ready?"
"Not really," I tell him truthfully, referring to the interviews that are about to happen.
"Me either," he replies.
"Can the Hawthorne family please come to the interview tent," a voice says, booming out all around the square from speakers placed everywhere.
"Good luck!" I call out to my friend as he and his family walk into the tent temporarily set up in the square just for the interviews.
As I wait for the Hawthorne's to finish I watch the Games on a small screen set up in the square. Things in the arena aren't very exciting right now. Katniss is painfully trying to get things done, but you can tell Rue's death has taken its toll on her.
"Can the Everdeen family please come to the interview tent," says the booming voice.
My heart begins to pound as I grab my mother's hand and lead her into the tent. The Hawthorne's come out just as we are going in and Rory's hand rubs against mine, causing my heart to flutter.
"Good luck," he whispers as he walks past.
I turn back to smile at him then walk into the tent.
The inside of the tent is filled with people with wild hair and crazy outfits. It's easy to tell that they all are from the Capitol. There are also lots of cameras pointed at two chairs that are facing each other. It's very terrifying if I'm being completely honest.
A lady with magenta hair that is pulled into a very high ponytail comes over to me and asks, "Are you Primrose Everdeen, Katniss Everdeen's sister?"
"Y-yeah," I choke out, my nerves getting the better of me.
"Okay great! Follow me," she says with a big grin.
She leads me over to one of the chairs that's in front of the cameras and tells me to sit down.
"This is where you're gonna be doing your interview!" She chirps in her Capitol accent. "Roxie will be out in just a moment to interview you.
"Okay, thank you!" I say, remembering that I need to be nice to these people. They are just doing their jobs, it's not their fault I'm nervous.
"Victor, my coffee better be ready after I interview this girl!" A person with bright pink hair and very tall heels exclaims before taking a seat in front of me.
"Hi I'm Roxie, I'm going to be interviewing you today," the woman says, her whole mood changing from an angry Capitol citizen to a polite interviewer.
"I'm Primrose, but you can just call me Prim. Pleasure to meet you," I say with a smile.
"Oh I can already tell this is going to be a good one," Roxie says with a grin to a person behind the camera.
A person comes up to Roxie and tells her that we have one minute before the interview starts.
"Is this going to be live?" I ask.
Roxie looks at me and says, "Oh honey no. We are going to have to cut a lot of the Mellark family's interview out so none of the interviews will be live."
I sigh with relief as Roxie begins to mutter about Mrs. Mellark, "That lady's a real b-"
"Ten seconds left!" A person interrupts.
I sit up straight and tell myself that it's just an interview, I can do it.
A person signals to Roxie that they are rolling and Roxie looks at the camera with a big grin, "Hello everyone! This is Roxie from Capitol news and today I am meeting with the sister of the tribute Katniss Everdeen, Primrose Everdeen!"
I smile at the camera and then look back to Roxie who begins, "Okay Prim can you tell me how you felt when your name got drawn from the reaping bowl.
"Well obviously I was very scared because I never thought it would be my name that would get drawn. I mean it was only in there once so the chances were pretty low," I say.
"And how did you feel when your sister volunteered in your place?"
"Be honest," I tell myself silently.
"Well at first I was shocked because it's never happened here before from what I can remember. But then I was upset because I didn't want her to leave me," I tell her as honestly as I can.
"Of course. I think it was really moving watching you cling to her during the reaping, it really showed how much you love her. Speaking of love, I think we are all curious about the relationship between Katniss and her District partner Peeta Mellark since he saved her life after the tracker jackers. Do you have any inside information you can share with us?" She asks me.
I have to think before answering because my answer is going to affect all the Capitol people's views of my sister and Peeta's relationship. If I tell them there is nothing between them, then they might lose interest in my sister which probably won't help her gain any sponsors. But if I say there is definitely something there then everyone will think there actually is something between them, which would probably make my sister miserable.
"Well I can't go and spill all my sister's secrets while she's gone, can I?" I say with a giggle and a small wink at the camera.
There that should be good.
"Well now you've got us intrigued!" Roxie exclaims, "You've got to tell us more!"
I hold my hand up to my lips and twist it, telling her that my lips are sealed.
"One last thing, if you could say something to your sister right now, what would you say?"
"I would tell her that I love her and that I know she can do it and I would tell her to come back to me," I tell her quietly.
"I'm sure she will," Roxie says with a hint of sincerity in her eyes.
"Now that's the end of the interview with Primrose Everdeen. Come back tomorrow for more news on the Games," she says into the camera.
"And cut!" A voice yells and then the cameras all turn off.
"That was great! You have some real star quality there, Prim!" Roxie tells me.
I give her a polite smile and say thank you before she rushes off to prepare for my mother's interview.
Luckily they let me sit next to my mom to try and help her out. I end up speaking for her for most of the interview but I don't mind because I actually quite enjoy talking.
After the interview they quickly shoo us out because most of the Capitol are desperate to leave this "filthy excuse of a District" I heard someone call it. In the square I grab my mother's hand and lead her home. When we get home we decide that we should go over to the Hawthorne's home to watch the interviews all together.
"Well hello you two!" Hazelle greets us kindly. "You here to watch the interviews?"
"Yup, if that's okay with you," I say with a smile.
"Of course. Come on in!" she says, grabbing my shoulder and leading me inside.
When we get inside I unsurprisingly find Gale sitting in front of the television watching the Games intently while Rory, Vick, and Posy play a game together. I immediately go over to Rory and them to ask what they're playing.
"Jacks!" Vick says happily because it's obviously his favorite game.
"Can I join?" I ask them.
"Of course," Rory says while looking at me with a smile.
I smile back at him and join the game.
After a while of playing Hazelle comes over to us and says, "The interviews are on!"
Vick and Posy get up excitedly, wanting to see themselves on the television while Rory and I get up slowly, dreading seeing the other people's interviews.
"Hello everyone, as you know now that we are down to the final six, we interviewed the family and friends of the tributes, and here is what they had to say," Caesar says as it cuts to an interview of Cato's bloodthirsty parents.
The rest of the interviews are either disturbing with how bloodthirsty the people are, sad with stories about the tribute, or upsetting with how much they obviously don't care about their child, (Mrs. Mellark I'm looking at you).
The only interviews I actually pay attention to are the District 12 ones. For Peeta they start with his father, the baker, and it's clear that he's very distraught about Peeta's state.
"Well Christopher, I know that you are up to date with all the events happening in the Games right now, and I would just like to hear what you're thinking about the state your son is in," Roxie asks him.
Christopher runs his hand through his hair anxiously and replies, "Well obviously I'm worried, but I know my son, he's a fighter."
Then later Roxie asks him what he knows about the relationship between Peeta and Katniss, and I'm relieved to find that he doesn't share anything.
"I don't think that it's my responsibility to share anything about them, without knowing exactly what's between them," he states, clearly tired of people asking about his son's "love life" when that same son is literally about to die in a ditch.
Mrs. Mellark's interview is...angering to say in the least. She doesn't hide the fact that she doesn't care about her son very much except for the times the interviewer confronts her about it and she bursts into fake tears claiming that she is just "grieving". It's terrible.
It also boils my blood when they ask about events in the Games and she can't answer because she clearly hasn't been watching them. I mean I can understand if someone doesn't want to watch their kid fight for their life but if it's obvious that they just don't care about their child, I can't feel any sympathy for them.
After Mrs. Mellark's interview they show a few of Peeta's friends from school, then it's time for our interviews.
First up is my mother who's interview I've already seen, so none of the stuff said is new to me. Plus it's mostly just me talking for her, so I don't pay very much attention to it. Then after my mother's interview it's mine, and they really made me out to be a much better person than I actually am. They cut the interview perfectly to make me seem like this nice, polite, and very put together mature young woman when in fact I'm just a sad and broken young girl. Or maybe I'm just that good at pretending that everything is fine.
When it gets to the part in the interview where they asked me about Peeta and Katniss's relationship, Rory leans over and whispers in my ear, "The Capitol people must have been so frustrated when we wouldn't tell them anything."
I chuckle in agreement before turning back to the television.
Now it's time for Gale's interview and I'm confused to read the caption at the bottom left corner of the screen where it says the person's name and how they're connected, it says "cousin".
"Why does it say cousin under Gale's name?" I ask the group, hoping they know something about it.
Gale scowls, crosses his arms over his chest, and glares at the television.
"Oh they thought that Katniss having a best friend that's a guy would mess up the "relationship" that Peeta and Katniss have," Hazelle says using air quotes when she says relationship and then she rolls her eyes, obviously annoyed.
"It's fucking stupid," Gale grumbles.
"Language!" Hazelle scolds.
I can't help but agree with Gale, it is stupid. They are pushing this relationship into the two when in reality they probably don't even feel that way about each other. Well actually Peeta feels that way, but I doubt Katniss does. And are they forgetting that they can't both survive due to the rules of their stupid Games?
I'm pulled out of my thoughts when Rory grabs my hand and looks at me questioningly. I shake my head to tell him that it's nothing and then focus back on the television, but I notice that neither of us let go of the other person's hand.
Gale's interview is hostile to say in the least. He doesn't want to be there and makes it known to everyone. They tried to edit it to make him seem nicer, but it didn't do much so the whole interview is pretty short probably because they cut a ton of stuff out.
Then they show Rory and Vick's interview which they did together. It's short and sweet with them just talking about their hope that Katniss will win and come back so things will be normal again.
Lastly, is Posy and Hazelle's interview which is arguably the most heartbreaking of all of them. It starts with Hazelle talking about how much Katniss has helped her family, then Posy joins in with memories of her and Katniss.
"So Posy, we all know this must be hard with your cousin gone in the Games, can you tell us any happy memories you have of her?" The interviewer asks Posy.
"Well, I remember when Katniss came over and we played in the snow together. Then we came home and she braided my hair by the fire," Posy says sadly.
Hazelle looks over at her kindly which somehow causes her to burst into tears, and she breaks everyone's hearts with one tearful line, "I just want Katniss to come home and braid my hair again."
So that's it! I really hope you enjoyed it! Hopefully I'll be back soon.
Please take care of yourselves. Drink some water, eat some food, and take a shower. Love ya'll! Stay safe and healthy! :)