𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐞 ☦︎ 𝐒𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐧

𝐓𝐇𝐆 ☦︎ 𝐭𝐰𝐨

Prim, Katniss and my mother are all in the kitchen by the time I arrive back home. Katniss is in a blue dress that used to belong to my mother, and Prim's in the white blouse and skirt that both her sisters before her have worn for their first reaping. The shirt's a little too big for her, and sticks out at the back, but I find it amusing.

"Oh, you look beautiful!" I exclaim, kneeling down and stroking her hair, which is in two braids. "But you need to tuck in that tail, little duck," I joke, tucking in the back of the blouse.

Prim giggles slightly and I smile to her, but I stop almost immediately when my mother tells me. "I've laid something out for you, too."

I sigh. I knew it was only a matter of time, but hearing her say it just confirms it to me. The reaping is coming, and my littlest sister's name lies on one of the slips.

I quickly conceal my look of worry and concern for Prim's sake, however, and nod. "Okay."

I hate reaping day, I decide, as I reach the tiny bathroom and see the brush, the soap and the small sink before me.

I scrub religiously, even though it hurts. All the dirt underneath my nails, all the sweat from the woods, all the grime from my hair, it has to go. For some reason, we dress up for the reaping.

We dress up to see two kids go to their deaths.

I scrub until it hurts, because I want to distract myself. From the reaping, from Prim's one slip, Katniss' ten, Gale's forty two. Not mine. I care about them more than I'll ever care about myself.

By the time I'm draining the cold water and drying my hair in a cloth, I'm clean, rubbed raw, and losing the will to live.

Seeing an old green dress of my mother's lying out on her bed doesn't help.

Grudgingly, I change into it, the soft fabric hugging my body. To be honest, this dress would probably make a fortune in the Hob, but my mother is very particular about all her old possessions from the merchant's side of town, and wouldn't let me trade them away.

Before I know it, I'm standing in front of the mirror, my mother behind me, braiding my hair into a crown on my head. I resist the urge to roll my eyes as I can feel Katniss and Prim's eyes on me, but I can't look at them because my hair's being painfully pulled out my skull.

As my mother finishes, almost all of my hair braided back with only two strands framing my face, she leans closer to me, whispering. "Now you look beautiful, too."

"Wish I looked like you," Prim voiced. "Both of you," she adds, eying Katniss.

"Oh, no," Katniss says, leaning down and stroking one of Prim's braids. "We wish we looked like you, little duck."

Her voice is cut short, however, from the blaring sound of the alarm that tells everyone to get to the town square. I look at the small clock on the mantle. It's quarter to two.

Prim is shaking, her small blue eyes suddenly plagued with fear. I quickly step towards her, grabbing her hand and squeezing it.

"Hey," I tell her, smiling slightly. "You wanna see what I got you today?"

I'd put it in the pocket of my dress as I'd changed into it, so it wasn't hard to reach into it and pull out the pin Sae had given me at the Hob.

"It's a mockingjay pin," I tell my little sister, pressing it into her open palm. "To protect you. And as long as you have it, nothing bad will happen to you. Okay?" I look into her eyes. "Promise?"

She nods, her eyes glassy as the second alarm blares. I pull her into me, wrapping one arm around her and smiling to Katniss, gesturing her over.

I try not to look at my mother as I hug my two sisters, one arm around each of them. I've been mothering Katniss and Prim for a while now, and I know she often feels put out because of that.