Chapter 23

The train pulls up to district 4 and Prim and I get off. We walk to my home in a comfortable silence. We find Thresh sitting on the porch stairs waiting for us.

"So, are you going to answer my questions now?"

Prim shrugs her shoulders helplessly, "I said I would."

Thresh thinks over his first question very carefully, "Where were you guys last night. Where were you really?"

Prim doesn't answer. Nor do I. Prim looks up at me and bats her eyes. She wants me to explain it. I look to my left and my right. A couple of people walk the sidewalks, "Why don't we go inside to discuss this."

Thresh nods and opens the door. We follow him to the dining table and Prim and I both sit across from him. "So where were you?" This time he just asks me.

I think over it very carefully, "We were, uh- er," this would be the first time I tell anybody about this; it was actually kind of scary. It's like that feeling you get when you know you're doing something wrong. Not that telling Thresh is wrong, but it still felt that way, "We were in… the Capitol."

Thresh rolls his eyes, "Don't lie to me. I'm not an idiot; the Capitol went down over fifteen years ago."

Prim shakes her head sadly, "No, that's just what people thought. The Capitol keeps itself a secret now for protection but still very much exists."

Thresh still doesn't believe us, "Okay, so say the Capitol did exist, which it doesn't, what would you be doing there?"

Prim's eyes swell with tears and she looks at me for support. My mouth opens to answer but no words come out. I try again, but it's a very embarrassing thing to confess. I decide to give him a ballpark answer, "The Capitol forces us to work for them."

"Work? Work doing what?"

I stumble over my words as I try to decide how to say it. "Some might say we entertain. Or others might say we "walk the streets" although we've never really walked the streets literally, but it's that sort of a thing. I've heard people call us-"

"You're prostitutes?"

I avoid eye contact with him, "Uhhhh."

He busts up laughing. "Oh my gosh, you're prostitutes!"

Prim gets angry, "It's not funny Thresh! It's awful."

Thresh quiets himself, "Yes, I'm sorry. How can they exactly force you to do that?"

Prim looks at her little brother with cold grey eyes, "By threatening to kill you."

"Oh, oh I see," He grows quiet. He speaks very timidly, "Is that what happened to mom and dad?"

Prim doesn't cry. Her face stays very serious, just a small nod, "Yes, it is."

"So what, you tried to quit?"

I speak up, "We tried to runaway."

Prim finishes the story about Josh but how he doesn't cause problems like asking her to marry him anymore. She also tells him about our time in the wilderness and rescuing Jess and she even tells him about Maple.

Thresh sits there quiet for a long time, "You guys are really good liars, but I still don't believe it."

Prim clenches her jaw in frustration, "We just told you our darkest secrets and you won't even accept that they're true? What will it take to convince you?"

"Proof."

"Proof? We don't have any proof! What are we suppose to do take you with us next time? Not happening! And what about-" I tap on Prim's shoulder to stop her and pull the two discs from my bag.

I show them to Thresh, "Okay, there's your proof."

"What is it?"

"Hunger Games. One's the year my father played and the other's the year your mom played."

"But Hunger Game tapes were banned from the districts."

I smile smugly, "I know, we got them from the Capitol."

"How do I know those are Hunger Game tapes? I mean, they could be anything."

"We were just about to watch them. You could too if you wanted."

"No!" Both Thresh and I look at Prim.

"Com'n Prim, why not?"

"It's too violent and I don't want you to see mom like that."

"I can handle it."

"Yeah, he can handle it."

Prim glares at me for my comment. After a long time, she gives in, "Fine, but if I say you have to leave, you leave."

I go put the first disc in. We wait as the TV loads. I sit on the couch. Prim makes herself comfortable in my arms. Thresh lays on the ground in front of the TV.

The tape begins. In big letters reads "The 60th Hunger Games."

"This one's my Dad's." Everybody nods at my comment without much thought.

It begins with the reapings. Each person that gets called up or volunteers, I can't help but think, "You're going to die in these games. You're going to die and you don't even know it."

The district 4 reapings come. I watch as my father's turn to go up comes. He walks up onto the stage, strong and confident. I stare in wonder; that is my father. Prim gasps, "Wow, he's so young." She looks at me, "Nick, you look just like him." I allow myself a smile. People have told me that before but now that I've actually seen this man, it feels more real and more like a compliment.

They go through the interviews and then the real game begins. I watch as my father wins his trident in the blood bath. He runs to the woods. The cameras follow his expert fingers as he weaves a giant net the next few days. He sets up his trap. One by one, tributes find themselves caught and then my father comes in and stabs them with his trident.

Prim's pov:

At first I just saw Nick's father killing. Killing, killing, killing; he seemed like a monster. But come around the third person caught in his net, the cameras do a close up on his face. The girl in the net pleads and cries. Finnick stabs. But in the close up, you can see the tiniest bit of hesitation and then the shocking sorrow in his eyes that follow. Any other person wouldn't have sensed his grief, but I could. His eyes reflected his pain the same way Nick's do every time I walk in to a Capitol man's house.

Nick's pov:

The final person is captured and killed. The cameras do a close up on his face. He shows no emotion besides pure exhaustion. The young boy that I can hardly believe is my father stands there in disbelief as the voice from the Cornucopia announced he has won. I look over his face closely; he looks like he might throw up. He looks like he just found out something horrible. But he won, he should be happy.

He leans on his trident heavily and closes his eyes tightly like he's trying to wish it all away. He opens his eyes suddenly and without warning. They are wide. He doesn't look sad, just scared. The words leave his lips in a soft whisper "I'm going to hell."

The tape goes black. You can tell they tried to cut that part out.

Thresh rolls over on the ground, "That was short. It couldn't have lasted more than a week."

I nod to Thresh, "My mother once told me that my father's games were the shortest ones to ever be finished."

I feel kind of sick. My father killed so viciously. It was awful; he was awful. Prim rubs my back soothingly, "Are you okay?"

"He killed all those people and he didn't even care."

Prim frowns, "He cared. His eyes got sad the same way yours do."

"I didn't know my eyes got sad."

She smiles, "They do." She gets up and puts in the other disc.

These games start much like the other one did. The district 11 male is called to the stage. Thresh looks confused, "That guys name is Thresh too?"

Prim laughs a little to herself, "You were named after him dummy."

"But why? He's the enemy here."

"I don't know. I thought the same thing when they announced the little Rue girl. You know, because that's my middle name, we'll just have to watch and find out."

The district 12 girl is called. Prim gasps, "That's mom's sister, Thresh! That's Aunt Prim!" We watch as Katniss takes her sister's place.

Then Peeta is called up. Prim gets confused, "Mom and Dad were in the same Hunger Games? But only one person gets out alive."

I shrug, "I guess that's why your parents started the revolution."

I watch in interest as Peeta declares his love for Katniss in the interviews, as he joins the careers in the games in order to protect her. I also notice how Katniss tries to kill him with tracker jackers.

We watch as Katniss and Rue form an alliance and a friendship. I nudge Prim in the ribs. I watch Rue get stabbed and Katniss kill the attacker. I notice Prim starts singing along as her mother sings to dying Rue. Prim looks to me, "My mom sang that to me as a lullaby."

Katniss is sitting in a tree when the announcement that there may be two victors if they are from the same district comes out. Katniss nearly falls off her branch as she screams Peeta's name.

We watch Katniss find Peeta and nurse him back to health. She goes to get medicine when the girl from 1 catches her. She's just about to kill her when Thresh hits her with a rock. "Did you kill that little girl?"

Katniss tells him of her and Rue's friendship and he lets her go.

She manages to save Peeta with the medicine and then they have to go back to the Cornucopia for water. I watch as mutts maul Cato. I can't help but wonder if they're the same type of mutts that killed my own father. Finally, Katniss puts him out of his misery with her bow and arrow. The announcement comes that says there will actually only be one victor. Katniss raises her bow to Peeta but after seeing he wasn't going to attack, lowers it. She pulls out some berries and the tape stops.

Thresh looks confused, "That's it? There's no more?"

Prim shuffles in her chair, "No, there's more. The Capitol just didn't want us to see it."

I look at Prim, "Well?"

She lowers her head sadly, "My mom didn't love my dad."

"Well she must've learned to love him, otherwise I don't think they'd marry."

"Yeah, I guess." She still doesn't seem entirely convinced.

"Other than that?" She stays really quiet. It's not about her parents love anymore, but something is troubling her. Is it troubling her? I can't tell. "What's going on in your head; what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking… I'm thinking that I would be able to do that."

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