I don't understand! Prim…in the stocks…what could she have possibly done? She's a sweet innocent girl! The look on Katniss' face scares me. It's the same look she had when she got herself thrown into the arena. I know i must say something. "Katniss, don't do anything stupid. You might make things worse." She seems to calm down. She runs to her sister. "Prim, Prim what happened?" she asks urgently, crying. Prim looks scared, but also determined. It seems like she's trying to be brave for Katniss.

"We needed medicine…we needed certain herbs.." she looks over at me, "We needed ingredients for some herbal medicines for his wounds to heal them faster." she looks back to Katniss. "They were beyond district boundaries…but I know you cross all the time." She whispers that last part so low it's barely audible, but it scares me. Katniss is risking a beating, if not that, then death…Prim goes on. "I was outside the fence picking the herbs when all of a sudden The new Head walks over, gets through the fence, grabs and arrests me, and brings me back in. He threw me in the stocks. I'm sentenced to two weeks. No food or water." I know the look on my face is the same as Katniss', because it only takes a second to know what is to come. Two weeks, and she'll dehydrate. Two weeks, and she starves. Two weeks…and she's dead. Katniss runs to Thread. I sincerely hope she doesn't get herself punished as well. I walk slowly over to where they are. Katniss is pleading with him…

"Please, sir, is there anything else, can I take her place?"

"New policy on that. I've decided that was a one time thing." he looks to me. "I've decided criminals must face their own punishments."

"Please, two weeks will kill her! Is there anything else you can do that will allow her to live?"

"There is…one thing. Maybe we could come to a compromise, let's say, 2 lashes for every year of her life." We both calculate in our heads. 26 lashes. Prim being so young and thin, there's no way she'll survive that. "Could we please reduce that by ten, please?" begs Katniss, trying not to let tears fall in front of Thread.

"Fine." he states. "Sixteen lashes. She can choose the stocks for two weeks, or the whipping." And we walk over to her, Katniss helping me to walk. I notice Katniss is looking at my back, even though it's covered. I know she's imagining my wounds on her little sister. But that is better than death.

We finally make it over to Prim. Thread looks down on her. "Everdeen, you have a choice. Stay in these stocks for two weeks without food and water…or take sixteen lashes. The choice is yours." He steps back to let us talk. She has tears threatening to escape her eyes. I see Katniss doesn't want to talk. She looks at me for me to explain. "Prim, you're 13. You're old enough to know that two weeks in here without food and water…you'll die. It'll be slow and painful. A whipping…sixteen lashes won't kill you, Prim, and it'll be over in only a couple of minutes." She looks at me. "How much does it hurt?" she asks. "I'm not gonna lie to you, Prim. It hurts a lot. But it'll be over before you know it." "I've seen the gashes…the ones the whip made on your back…they look really bad…I'm scared to-"

Thread comes back, cutting her off. "Tell me your decision." I look at her, praying she'll take the whipping. "I…I'll take the lashes." she says. Immediately she is taken from the stocks to the post. Forced on her knees, back of her shirt ripped open, moved over her shoulders to bare them as well. Katniss is crying freely seeing this. Prim's braid is placed in front of her shoulder so it won't interfere. Prim looks and mouths at me to come so she can talk to me. Painfully I get to her level. "Is Katniss crying?" she asks. I nod. "Then I'll make sure not to cry out." she states bravely. But I know personally that that is much easier said than done. I slowly stand back up. Thread now has the whip. But it's not the regular whip; it's the cat-o-nine that was used for my final ten. I multiply in my head. 16 lashes with this, she'll end up with…no…oh God, the total comes to 144. She'll have 144 wounds when this is over! Katniss looks over and sees the dreaded whip. She puts her hands over her mouth and I hear her whispering repeatedly "no…no…no…" The whip is raised and brought down. Prim makes no sound as the whip makes contact with her skin, cutting her in 9 places. There's already blood. Katniss cries into my shoulder and I bury my face in hers, unable to watch small innocent Prim get this flogging.

…

15…16. And finally it's over. "Katniss, go home. I'll bring her over." She looks at me. "Peeta, you can barely walk. She's my sister. I'll do it." And we look at Prim for the first time since lash number one. Her back is a mess. Now I'm really glad I haven't seen mine, which I know is ten times worse. Katniss unties Prim, who stayed true to her word and never cried out or screamed, but is silently crying. Katniss carries Prim under her neck and knees, careful not to touch any wounded flesh.

We get back to Katniss' house slowly. We walk in. By her expression, Ms. Everdeen obviously doesn't know what happened. We explain what happened as she places her own daughter on the table to clean her wounds. At each touch, Prim moans in pain.

"Now I know it's starting over…" says Ms. Everdeen, tearing up at the sight of her whipped daughgter. "Before Cray, newly whipped people were brought to me daily. Thread also seems to enjoy using the lash." she says. I certainly agree. "They were also executing people, and had others in the stocks too." I say. "Oh Lord…" whispers Ms. Everdeen. And I know we're all thinking the same thing. If they can have a thirteen year old make the choice of a brutal whipping or 2 weeks in the stocks that will surely kill her, then no one in District 12 is safe from the new cruelties that have come upon us with Thread's presence.

2 weeks have passed. I'm pretty mobile again. Today I looked in the mirror. My wounds are all in different stages of healing. My back is a mass of red. Prim also seems recovered, but she refuses to leave the house. I don't blame her, either. She doesn't talk much, or leave her room except for to help the sick and wounded, but if they were whipped, then she can't stay in the room. I think it makes her re-live her experience.

Katniss has been absent. I really hope she hasn't been going to the woods with Gale…for two obvious reasons: one, because if they are caught, she'll be whipped, or more likely, killed. And two, because I don't like the idea of her being around Gale. But I know she needs him to help her. Her little sister is her world. She proved that last year when she volunteered to take her sister's place at the reaping and went into the Hunger Games to save her life. I know the very idea of her sister even having a minor bruise breaks her heart. But this is a whole new level. And I fear that Gale will pull her further into his ideas of hating government. We all know he wants to fight, because he hates the Games with a passion. And with this incident, she'll be more hateful. If they attempt rebellion…they'll be executed immediately.

I stop thinking about that. I can't imagine Katniss being executed. All I know is that she is my world, and Gale is her world, and if he rebels, he'll most likely use this to make her rebel with him. Katniss walks in the door. There's stale, burnt bread in her hands. "Found it in the trash. All there is to eat." she says. Prim comes down and eats the bread silently. It's like that whipping broke more than just her flesh…it's like it broke her spirit. She is having to grow up entirely too fast in the cruel country of Panem.

The next day Katniss goes to leave the house again. "I wanna come." I state simply. She rejects me and walks out. I wait and then I creep out of the house. I must know what she's doing. I go and I find Her and Gale in a corner in the hob between two empty shops. I get in close enough to hear, but still be invisible. I hear Gale speak:

"They are becoming absolutely insane. And the Quarter Quell is coming…another chance at cruelty."

"Gale, there's nothing we can do…"

"They whipped your little sister, and you can't tell me you weren't upset when they whipped Peeta."

"Yes, I was very upset when they whipped Peeta, When they nearly whipped you, when they had mysister choose lashes or death at only thirteen. But rebelling will only get us both killed."

"Well, I'm willing to risk it." he says.

"No, Gale, you know how much I care about you…I love you. and if you love me you won't do this."

"Without rebellion, we have no chance of overthrowing the Capitol, and if the Capitol isn't overthrown, then we can never have a happy life together, never have children because I will never have children who will be forced into the reaping. We can't have a life together with the Capitol running our lives."

I walk away. I can't listen anymore. I know she'll eventually give in. I walk back to the house, but it's not her house; it's mine.