The Third Quarter Quell

Healing

Prim's POV
Tyga was groaning. The knife was still in his shoulder. "Tyga, I'm going to take the knife out soon," I told him. "You know how to do this Prim?" Tyga said. He sounded surprised. "She is just like her mom. She can do it," Gale said with a ghost of a smile.

I ran for the rainforest to get herbs. Jay followed. "I'm not going to let you go by yourself," Jay said. "I can take care of myself, but I appreciate it," I said.

I searched for the correct plants. "What did Vea do to make you so angry?" I asked. "It's a long story." "I have time," I replied.

"Okay, well, before I was born my great-grandparents had lived in..." he got up close to my ear,"They had lived in district 13." "That's impossible it I was destroyed," I whispered. "Not completely. Tell me have you seen the Capitol lie before?" I thought about it. "Yes."

"Well, district 13 sent my family to district 9 to keep an eye on the Capitol and the other districts shortly after the Dark Days. My grandpa had won the Hunger Games. That's why I'm here. My parents still kept contact with district 13. I was a few weeks old when they took me away and experimented on me. They did something to my brain that made Snow able to control my body. They sent me back. Vea used to live in district 9. We were good friends. She started to change. She just became very hostile. When I was ten and she was seventeen, she caught my parents talking to 13. I watched her tell the peacekeepers about my parents. The smirk on her face made it obvious that she wanted my parents to get punished. Become avoxes or worse. President Snow found out about it. He took control of my body and.." his voice cracked."He made me slit my parents throats. I had a little sister. I killed her too. Snow installed a microphone in my ear." Jay tapped his ear. "I could hear him saying,"Doesn't it kill you that your family is going to die and you can't do anything?" I could hear him laughing as they died. The peacekeepers found me with my dead family. I was whipped at least thirty times before I passed out. President Snow ordered them not to execute me. I was put in a community home and Vea was moved to district 6. It's sorta like a witness protection program. She lived a rich happy life until today. It's always killed me that I murdered my parents. I sometimes hear Snow warning me that he could make me kill more people. I've got nothing left."

I stared at Jay. He wasn't crying, but he looked broken. He sighed. "I'm sorry Jay," I whispered. "Prim, can you do me a favor?" "Yeah, whatever you want." "If I start going crazy, I want you to kill me."

I looked at him. "I don't think I could." The thought of him dying physically hurt. I quickly gathered the rest of the herbs and ran down to Tyga. "I need a bowl." Like magic another sponsor gift floated down. I mixed up the concoction.

I made Tyga lay down. "Maple could you hold his hand. This won't be fun." I mentally prepared myself for this. I had to rip off his sleeve. I made him swallow a plant that kills pain and I gripped the knife handle. I slowly pulled the knife out. Tyga grit his teeth.

"Jay, that moss we saw on the trees. Get me an arm full." He ran as fast as he could. He came back with a load. I soaked the moss in the concoction and pressed it on his shoulder. The moss was soaking up the blood. I added some more moss, and wrapped it with Tyga's sleeve.

I looked at Tyga. He smiled. "Good job Prim." I backed away to let Maple take over. Beor had silently watched. He stared at me. I sat on the sand near him. I sighed, and asked him a question that had been tugging at the corner of my mind,"How did you get that?" I pointed to the weapon.

"I'm very good with a staff, but I realized that a staff wasn't very threatening. I carved a curved point." "Can I see it?" He handed it to me. The slender point was almost natural. "Wow, it's beautiful." Beor smiled. "Thanks, Primrose." I smiled. Most people called me Prim, but I liked the way he said my full name.