Nightlock

Accomplice

After getting to a point where we didn't even have any grains to eat I decided I would have to start hunting again, we couldn't live off air and Prim was start to look ill, she never complained but I would hear her stomach while we lay in bed at night growling with hunger, she was already such a sickly child, I worried that a cold would take her out.

I still had my bow, even though it was a little small it could still do the job, I remembered my fathers route well and for 2 days I managed to get 5 squirrels and forage a small amount of wild Katniss root from around the lake, this went down a treat at home and I still had 3 to sell at the Hob, I managed to get a bag of oats, some root vegetables and 3 packets of seeds, which Prim planted in the soil at the back of the house.

On day 4 I decided to take my trip a little later, just before sunset, I knew more animals would be out and I might get a better haul, I was hoping for a turkey or a pheasant but knew if not I could fall back on a patch of berries I had seen the day before.

As I walked past the berry bush I noticed they had all gone, not a single one remained there, I thought to myself how funny that was, but maybe a deer had been in the area and cleared them.

I walked deeper into the bush area and noticed something on the floor.. A SNARE.

My dad had tried to teach me plenty of times how to make snares but I could never get the knot right, I didn't have the patience for it and found it tedious, this one was beautifully crafted, as I take a closer look I hear a man's voice behind me.

"Hey, don't touch that!".

"wasn't going too", I reply firmly, as I turn around I recognise the tall figure in front of me, it was the boy from the day my father had died, one of the widows sons, it was Gale Hawthorne.

His family were also struggling with food and he had decided it would be a good idea to hunt to help them, we sat for a hour speaking of how our fathers had taught us such valuable foraging knowledge.

We decided after that day that maybe hunting together would be a good idea, more eyes and more hands.

From that day, whatever we caught or found, we split between us, even though at the start we were both a suspect of each other we bonded and after a while I finally felt like I found a missing piece of myself in him, I had never met another person who's brained worked the same as mine, we were two of the same person. The only time I smiled was when we were in the woods together.