Fate

One

"Skye!", Charlotte whispered at me, causing me to tear my eyes away from the stick I was sharpening with my pocket knife to look at my sister.

"Look!", she pointed to something behind me, and I turned around without much interest, concidering we'd been out here in the woods for hours--or seemed like it.

My eyes widened slightly, and Charlotte and I crouched down. A buck was munching on a flower a few feet from us. Charlotte had never seen such a big animal before, but for me, this was a daily routine.

Though before I knew it, Charlotte had stepped on a twig by accident, and caused the buck to raise his head, twist his ears, and trot off.

"Wow.", Charlotte sighed falling back against a tree trunk, than turned to me. "And you see this kind of stuff everyday?"

"Pretty much.", I shruged. "This has just kind of become the norm for me. But the most amazing thing I've seen in these woods is a bear. Who finds bears is District 12?"

She giggled, and I smiled. I don't know how I'd be able to live without her.

After a few moments of a comfortable scilence, a thought occurred to me.

"Hey Charlotte, let's go check our snares.", I told her, and her face suddenly fell.

"Okay.", she muttered, and I gave her a confused look.

"What's wrong?", I asked.

"You know I don't like to see animals dead or hurt.", she sighs, and I realized that Charlotte should go home if she didn't want to see me kill anything.

"You know, it's getting kind of late. You should go home.", I told her, and she nodded. "Do you know your way back?"

"Yeah.", she said, and I hugged her tightly.

"I'll be back soon with dinner, and don't let the peacekeepers see you, okay?", I whispered, and planted a kiss on her forehead. She smiled, before turning around and walking in the direction of the electric fence. Oh don't worry, it's never turned on anymore.

Once she was out of sight, hidden in the trees, I turned my focus to the task at hand.

I walked slowly, quietly toward the direction one of my nearby snares, running my fingers along the trunks of every tree I passed. God I just love these woods.

Once I reached my snares, I started untying each animal that they caught, smiling to myself as I noticed the animals hadn't taken a huge beating when they got caught. I could sell these if I wanted to.

I was putting the game in my bag, and starting to head home, when I heard a weird sound.

Almost like...a puppy's whimper.

I turned around, and followed the sound to a fallen tree. It seemed to be right on top of a...

Wolf's den.

I crouched down and looked inside, where I saw that two of the pups were already dead, one was dying, and the last was quivering its heart out in the back of the den.

I stood up and looked around for the mother, until I spotted her.

She was under the fallen tree.

I thought for a moment, than put on my gloves before crouching again and reaching inside, gently grabbing and lifting the pup out of the den. She nipped at my fingers and squirmed, but I held her tight, close to my chest. Eventually she stopped moving, and started shaking instead.

As she quivered, I smiled.

Charoltte was going to love this.
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As I walked through the front of our house, mum was the first one who confronted me.

"Where have you been?", she asked, then noticed the shaking pup. "What is that?"

"A gift for Charoltte's birthday.", I replied, trying to hold a grip on the squirming puppy.

"Can you hold her?", I said to mum and handed her the wolf pup. She looked at it with a frown as I grabbed a stray ribbon from a table and tied it around its neck, and took the pup back to place in my bag. I walked toward Charoltte's room, and I stopped at her door when I heard her singing softly.

Deep in the meadow, under the willow, a bed of grass, a  soft green pillow, lay down your head, and close your eyes, and when they open, the sun will rise, here it's safe, and here it's warm, here the daisies guard you from every harm, here your dreams are sweet, and tomorrow brings them true, here is the place where I love you...

I quietly walked in the room and loosely placed my arms around her neck. "Now where did you learn that?"

She smiled and glanced up at me before looking at the floor. "I don't know, I made it up I guess."

"It's beautiful.", I whispered, and kissed her head. "Just like you."

She smiled again, and looked up at me.

"I got something for you today.", I said, letting go of her and reaching in my bag.

Charoltte turned around and faced completely toward me, and I pulled out the small wolf cup, and I giggled as her eyes widened and her smile grew. "Happy birthday.", I beamed, handing her the quivering pup. "I don't know how she managed to keep so quiet."

"You got me a dog?!", she squealed, holding the pup in front of her face.

"Nah, it's a wolf.", I smiled, and she hugged the pup.

"I'm gonna name her Wolf.", she mused, and I saw a sparkle in her eyes. "Thank you."

"You're welcome.", I grinned. "You have to take care of her though. And if anyone asks, she's a Huskey."

A bubbly laugh escaped her lips, and she sat, admiring her new 'Wolf' that I found her.

Unfortunately for us though, mum came in on us, and her news spoiled the moment.

"Um, sorry to interrupt, but you two need to get ready.", she said from the doorway.

"For what?", Charoltte asked. My face fell. I knew what we had to get ready for.

"The Reaping honey.", mum sighed. "The Reaping is today."