Despite everything that has happened in the past hours, I slept pretty well last night. I wake up to the light peeking through my bedroom curtains.
No, the train curtains. I'm not at home anymore, and I most likely won't be home for the rest of my very short life. "It's a big big day!" Effie shrills as she walks in, "Up, up up!" I don't think I can face today, so I crawl under my covers. "I said get up, Primrose!" Effie says, pulling the covers off of me. I wonder what goes through her head during the Games. Caring for two children, getting attached to them, and then watching them die horrible deaths. Starvation, freezing, bloody confrontations with other tributes. Or maybe she likes it. Or has become numb to it, like a Capitol robot. I put my Reaping outfit back on, along with my pin. We'll probably be in the Capitol soon, and my stylist will choose my outfit for the opening ceremonies. I really hope I'm not naked. They can't do anything crazy indecent on me, can they? I'm only twelve.
When I enter the dining car, everyone is already sitting down and eating. Haymitch's face is puffy and red. I've never seen a drunk person before, but I assume this is from his obscene amount of alcohol yesterday. Peeta pulls out a chair next to him and I sit down. I'm immediately served the biggest platter of food I've seen in my entire life. There are eggs and fried potatoes, a huge dish of chilled fruit, and a big basket of warm rolls. A Capitol worker fills my cup with a dark brown liquid and when I take a sip, it's bitter and burns my tongue.
"She's only twelve, she can't have coffee," Peeta says and takes the cup away from me. So it was coffee. My mother loves coffee, but we can't ever afford it. Sometimes on holidays, we can, but she doesn't seem to enjoy it as much as she used to, she just seems numb to it. To everything.
Haymitch laughs and says, "Oh let her drink it! She won't be alive for much longer anyway, might as well let her enjoy herself."
Effie makes sounds of disapproval and says, "Now Haymitch, let's not give up on her right away. She might have some hidden talents we don't know about yet." And looks kindly at me. I look down. Haymitch is right, I won't be alive much longer and I don't have any hidden talents. I guess I can climb well, and Katniss has tried to teach me to use a bow, but it's not necessarily a talent.
Peeta glares at Haymitch and hands me a different mug. "It's called hot chocolate. You'll love it." And when I take a sip, it doesn't burn. Instead, it's hot, but the bitter, burning feeling is replaced with a creamy sweetness that fills me with happiness.
"What are you, her brother?" Haymitch asks. I can't tell if it is genuine curiosity or mockery. Probably mockery, so far, Haymitch hasn't been the nicest or most helpful mentor I would have wanted.
"I'm her sister's boyfriend," Peeta says through gritted teeth. We're both getting angry. How are we going to even try to survive if our mentor won't even do his job?
"Oh, so that's why you volunteered? You want to protect your little girlfriend's sister? Is that right?" He mocks. I shrink down lower and lower into my chair. This is worse than I imagined and my expectations weren't high, to begin with. Effie chooses now to get up and leave the room, obviously sick of us and our table conversations.
"Yes," he says. "And how am I supposed to do that if you won't even help us?"
Haymitch laughs and says, "Well kid, do you want some advice? Stay alive." He takes a flask out of his robe pocket and pours, what I assume, is alcohol into his drink.
"Very funny," Peeta says sarcastically back and reaches for the mug that Haymitch has on the table. "I think you've had enough of that. It isn't even ten in the morning." But before Peeta can even put his hands on the mug, Haymitch punches him in the jaw, which causes Peeta to fall backward in his chair and onto the floor. Haymitch looks stunned for a second and in that time I manage to take the mug and throw it on the floor, away from me and Peeta. The mug smashes into four large pieces and Haymitch looks shocked, or impressed? I can't exactly place his expression, but he doesn't hit me.
"So did I get fighters this year? Most tributes aren't so..." He has trouble finding the word, but we know what he means. Any tributes from the poorer Districts don't have much of a chance and go into the arena
YOU ARE READING
The Hunger Games- Prim's Story
Fanfiction"She unfolds and smooths out the slip of paper. In a clear voice, she reads out the name. "Primrose Everdeen." When Primrose Everdeen is thrown into the Hunger Games with her sister's boyfriend, she knows she won't make it out alive. But the Games...
