The next day, Prim and her mother along with my family have pushed our ways to the front of the square, where we sit on dusty wooden crates. Prim is clutching onto her mother's hand for support and I'm sitting uselessly on my crate a few feet away. You can see how things are changing her because of her sister being tossed onto the game board like just a pawn in a game of chess. She's more independent and she's maturing a whole lot in the mental sense. She knows what exactly goes on; some things most of us don't know. She's smart, smarter than the rest of us and to be honest, it's kind of scary the way she glowers at me when I say something or mention Katniss' way of things. I try to comfort her, but she doesn't need me anymore.
That is, not until the Games start. Not until she grabs my hand like it's her last dying breath as the Capitol Anthem ends and the screen cuts to a wide-shot view of the tributes standing still as statues on their discs as the countdown to the beginning of the bloodbath ensues.
10
9
8
The screen cuts to Katniss' face for a moment, and I see fear as she finds Peeta's face and looks at him desperately. We don't see his response but it must have been bad, because now she's confused.
3
2
1
The gong sounds, signaling the beginning of the Hunger Games. She stands still on her disc for more than necessary and my heart jumps for her when I realize that this could be the end for her. Right then, right there, just that temporarily stunning movement from her could bring her to the end. But even I thought she would have lasted at least until the last ten.
Finally, she's running, dashing to the cornucopia and scooping up a backpack. Shots of the blonde, bulkier tribute from District 2 slicing the head off a smaller tribute brings my teeth digging into my lip. It's horrible how they make us watch, and it's even more disgusting how they make us participate. I count about five cannons and my eyes keep darting around the screen to find Katniss' braid, to see her still alive.
Just then, a throwing knife zooms right at Katniss and if she hadn't held up her neon orange backpack in just the right time, it would have landed dead center in the middle of her forehead. Prim's hand grips mine so tightly, I feel numb and I make a mental note later to tell her to cut her fingernails. Gulping, I watch as Katniss dives out of the way of more throwing weapons, rolling across the ground right in the nick of time. Then she's disappearing into the woods and I'm thankful that she's made it the first night with the woods at her advantage.
The rest of the night is uneventful for District 12. Katniss seemed to be lying low, or high, really. In a tree. Useless shots of the Careers tripping over fallen branches and falling into mud patches fill the screen and my eyes droop. Prim's grip on my hand is looser now, but still firm. I'm sure I hear her stomach grumble as I pry my hand out of hers. I shake her shoulder lightly to get her attention.
"You're hungry." I say, and she shakes her head. "Not fooling me," I laugh softly. Laughing during the Games is never appropriate unless you live in the Capitol, so I make sure to keep my voice low.
"Just a little bit," she admits and I stand up.
I'm not hungry myself, what with all of the blood and gore taking away my appetite. But I know I've got a few coins in my pocket I'd collected around the Seam and I have no problem buying Prim dinner with it. This whole thing has been the hardest on her especially. The Mellarks have resigned to the fact that their son is most likely going to die in that arena, and Mrs. Everdeen has always been too depressed to really care. Nursing and Prim, barely surviving. That's all she does.
Greasy Sae is seated behind her steaming pot of God-Knows-What soup in her flimsy stall in the Hob, her eyes glued to the screen until I'm standing in front of her. Pointing to the pot, I say, "What you got tonight, Sae?"
She grins that toothy grin of rotted teeth and gaps. Lifting the lid, the steam rises up and hits me in the face. The pungent smell that fills my nose is obvious before she presents it by name. "Wild dog stew. Yer br'ther brought me dis her dog dis mornin' to make dis her stew."
Her weird accent that might just be from her rotting teeth or old age is absolutely familiar and normal to me. "I'll take a bowl of it." I say, fishing a few coins out of my pocket and handing them over to her. Normally Gale gives me something to trade for the food at the Hob, but things have been kind of slow in that ballpark and these coins seemed interesting enough for trade purposes.
Taking my steaming bowl of stew to Prim, I hand her a fork and don't tell her what's in it. I know that she doesn't stop by the Hob often, because the Black Market isn't safe for her to go around on her own, and it isn't like her mother ever ventures outside of her home save for now. What with Katniss being gone, though, Gale has been forced to hunt double time for both of our families. Sometimes he doesn't come home until an hour before he's due to the Mines, and other times he doesn't sleep at all.
I watch her look unsurely into the stew with a wrinkle of her nose. I shake my head at her. "It's good; try it." I take the fork and poke it into a small piece of meat and choke it down for her. It's good if you're starving.
"What is it?" she asks as she takes the fork from me and puts a chunk of dog meat into her mouth. She chews it down, and it takes a while with it being so chewy and bitter. But it's food, and we're lucky to have even this.
"Wild dog stew." I say as she swallows. She looks like she's about to faint from eating a pet-worthy animal, but her stomach is growling for more, and she rushes to satisfy it, almost slopping the entire broth down her front in the process.
I wake up to find that I have fallen asleep half sitting on my crate with my back pressed against the ground. Looking over, I see Prim cradled in her mother's arms, just gently stirring awake with the empty bowl pressed to her chest. Dawn streams in rays through the dusty clouds of morning and the Capitol Anthem plays, the entire district snapping wide awake at the sound.
Immediately, the screen cuts to the District 2 male tribute and the Careers plus Peeta shooting arrows and yelling up at Katniss in the tree. Realizing an important detail I'd skimmed over, I'm in shock and my veins are pulsing with white hot anger. Peeta; a Career! One of our own turning on us! I really had thought that after Katniss and Peeta's show with the Chariots would have led to them becoming allies, but I guess I had thought wrong. She was on her own.