Prim was born on a beautiful, sunny spring day. There was not a cloud in the sky, and the meadow was dotted with dandelions and daffodils and clover. Katniss had just turned four, and she waited impatiently outside of her house in Seam for her father to come get her. She wasn't entirely sure what was happening, just that suddenly her father ushered her outside, yelled for the neighbors to keep an eye out for her, and then ran back inside. Katniss had been sitting in her neighbor's yard, while her older neighbors showed her how to make daisy chains from the stands of grass that grew from the ground. After what seemed like forever in Katniss's four-year-old brain, her father walked out of their house and knelt down to Katniss's level.
"Katniss," he started in his gentle timbre, "do you remember how Mom and I told you that you're going to be a big sister?" Katniss nodded emphatically. For months she had watched her mother sew baby clothes and her father build a new bassinet. Both of her parents had said that being a big sister was a big responsibility and that Katniss would have to help them take care of her younger sibling.
"Well," her father continued, "Mom just had the baby. You have a little sister. Would you like to come meet her?" Katniss noded with wide eyes. She had never met a baby before. She hoped they would like each other. Her neighbor, Ozie, had a baby brother, and she always complained about how much he cried. Her father took her hand and guided her back into the house and to the bedroom, where her mom held a bundle of blankets. Katniss's father picked her up and placed her on the bed, and Katniss crawled over to be next to her mom. She peered over her mother's arms into the bundle of white blankets, and saw a round, pink face, with a tuft of blonde hair poking out from the top. She looked up at her mom with curious eyes, and her mom smiled at her, placing a kiss on the crown of her hair.
"Katniss, this is your baby sister. Her name is Primrose. Would you like to hold her?" Katniss's mother asked. Katniss nodded her head, and her mom placed Prim in her arms, still supporting the baby's head while Katniss got a better look at her. She had ten tiny fingers and ten tiny toes, and her blonde eyelashes brushed against her cheeks as she slept. Katniss brought her hand up to feel the soft down on the top of her head. Her touch caused baby Prim to open her eyes, and Katniss saw that they were a bright blue, like the cloudless sky outside. Katniss smiled widely. She didn't know what Ozie was talking about. She liked her baby sister.
"Now Katniss," Katniss's father whispered as he sat next to her on the bed, "you're a big sister now. That means you always have to look out for Primrose and protect her, even after you two grow up. Do you think you can do that?"
Katniss looked into her father's Seam gray eyes, then back into Primrose's blue ones. Her sister smiled, showing off dimples on both of her cheeks, before drifting back off to sleep. Katniss felt something in her chest, and she knew that she would always protect her. This was her baby sister, and she would do anything for her. Katniss looked back to her father again, and said "Yes, dad, I promise."
Today, Katniss couldn't help but think that she completely shattered that promise that she made to her father twelve years ago. She wondered if he would have ever forgiven her.
Katniss plowed through the Justice Building, finally stopping when she saw Peacekeepers guarding a pair of identical doors at the end of a hallway. They seemingly knew who she was and why she was there, because one of them stepped away from the door, opening it before saying "You have fifteen minutes." Katniss nodded at the guard curtly, before entering the room and closing the door behind her and her mother.
There, sitting on a velvet loveseat, was Prim. She turned her head toward the door, blonde braids whipping with her movement before her eyes calmed with the realization that it was her mother and sister. She met her family halfway across the room, and they all melted into an embrace. Katniss could barely wheeze out her words, repeating over and over "I'm so sorry, Prim. I'm so, so sorry." Prim pulled away from the two pairs of arms smothering her and placed Katniss's face between her hands.
"Oh, Katniss, you have nothing to be sorry about," Prim assured, her eyes glossy with tears. She knew it was probably best to not cry, to appear strong for the cameras. But what was the point? The audience could see that she was twelve, that she didn't even break five feet tall, that she didn't fill out the hand-me-down clothes she wore. They would know that she wouldn't stand a chance in the Arena, there was no point in pretending. Maybe crying would even break some Capitol hearts and they would sponsor her.
"No, Prim. I should have made them take me instead. I should have taken you and run away with Gale like he said we could. Oh, Prim," Katniss's body was wracked with sobs. This was it. After everything she had done, she couldn't even take care of the one person she loved most. "You deserved a better sister." Katniss conceded, reaching out to stroke the end of one of Prim's braids.
"That's not true," Prim interjected. "Don't say that, don't even think that. You are the best sister anyone could ever ask for. That's why I couldn't let you go into the Games. You have given everything up for me. I couldn't ask you to go into the Games. You deserve a life too, Katniss." Katniss gasped, trying to catch her breath. When did her tiny baby sister, who shed a tear whenever her ugly little tomcat, Buttercup, caught a mouse, grow so strong? Maybe in trying to protect her this whole time, she had missed that her sister had grown up. She helped her mother care for the sick and injured. She saw how the less fortunate children in school lived, with sunken eyes and growling stomachs. Try as she might, Katniss couldn't protect Prim from the realities of living in this cruel world.
Prim turned her attention to her mother, who looked like she was barely keeping herself from passing out. Prim wrapped her arms tightly around her mother's midsection, and rested her head on her chest. It was only then that her mother let out a sort of guttural noise from her throat, sounding something like a wounded animal. "Oh, my baby," her mom whispered, placing her chin on the top of Prim's head.
"Prim," Katniss spoke up, "I don't want you to give up. You're smart. You've helped Mom heal so many people. You're small, you can easily hide out in the tops of the trees where no one can reach you. You have to try, okay?" Prim wasn't stupid. She knew that the odds were not in her favor. A twelve-year-old had never won the Games. The youngest ever was Finnick Odair at fourteen years old, and he was from a Career district. Well-fed, well-trained. Not even someone who was eighteen from District 12 really had a chance of winning the Games. She knew that in reality, she would be cannon fodder before the real excitement of the Games started. But she saw the desperation in Katniss's eyes, holding onto any thread of hope that her little sister would come back to her. Katniss wasn't asking her to win, she was asking her to try. She could do that, couldn't she? Give it her best shot?
"Okay. I'll try, I promise," said Prim, reaching out to hold her sister's hand and pull her in to join her and her mother's embrace. The three girls stayed like that for the rest of their time, before the Peacekeeper entered the room, giving them a look that signaled their time was up. Katniss and her mother gripped tighter, not ready to let go of their light, their Primrose.
"I promise, Katniss I'll try. I love you. I love you, Mom." Prim gasped, giving both of the women a kiss on their cheek. The Peacekeeper took a hold of Katniss's arm and guided her out the door. Katniss felt her whole world fall apart. As she looked back one last time, she saw that Prim's white blouse had once again formed a ducktail in the back. She desperately wanted to reach out and fix it, but the guard continued to pull her away.
Next door, Peeta Mellark sat in an identical loveseat to Prim's. His family had come in and said their goodbyes. There was no pleading to try to come home. Just quiet acceptance that this would be the last time that he, his mother, his father, and his two brothers would ever be in the same room. Some childhood friends had come to bid him farewell, too. Once again, no inkling of hope that in a few weeks, he'd be back to frosting the cakes in the bakery. Nobody had any faith that Peeta Mellark would make his way back home, not even himself.
So when he heard the door open, he assumed that it was going to be a Peacekeeper who would tell him that it was time to go. But instead, it was Katniss Everdeen. Peeta didn't have time to form a thought before Katniss was face to face with him, her face red and her eyes hard. "You're going to protect my sister in that Arena," Katniss stated. It wasn't a question or a request. It was a demand. Peeta nodded his head, his throat unable to form any words. "No," Katniss snarled, "I need to hear you say it."
"Okay," Peeta stammered. "I'll protect her, I'll keep her safe." With that, Katniss turned on her heel and left, saying nothing more to the baker, the boy that once saved her family from the brink of starvation. If she couldn't be in the Arena in Prim's place, she could at least protect her through Peeta. She was willing to be okay with this. She didn't have any other choice.
Back in the room, Peeta thought that even if he was going to die, at least he got to be face-to-face with the girl he had loved for years, even if it was to demand that he lay his life down for her little sister.
It was time for them to go, and Effie escorted Peeta and Prim out through the back of the Justice Building and into a car. Neither of them had been in a car before. Looking out the window made Prim a little sick, so she looked down at her hands that were folded in her lap. Effie talked their ears off about the luxuries of the Capitol, but neither tribute could force themselves to pretend to care right now. The car made it to the train station, where there was already a swarm of cameras. Effie placed her hands on both Prim and Peeta's backs and made sure they got onto the train. Prim watched helplessly as the train station, as well as the only home she had ever known, receded into the distance. She couldn't help but think about how her whole life had been taken away from her within a matter of a few hours.
She didn't wipe away the tears that started to fall freely down her face. Peeta pretended not to notice.