Under the Willow

Chapter 1

I'm a nobody.

       Fantastic way to start off a story, I know. But it's true. I'm a nobody. Sure, I have a great mom and a sister, but it's kinda hard when I'm always worried about her costume catching on fire.
  

    You guessed it. I'm the sister of Katniss Everdeen. If you didn't know my sister, then you may be living under a rock. But if you've never heard of me, I wouldn't be surprised. Everyone thinks I'm the softer side of her. I have blonde hair opposed to her dark brown hair, hazel instead of her grey eyes, and our very mixed personalities. Many people say I have a calm, and gently one instead of her prickly one.

   But somehow, we're the same in many ways.

      Our relationship is like a chain. You need strong metal to start a chain, one that would never fall apart. Katniss is exactly that. She would never let you down, and never give up on you. And I'm the warmth. The warmth that makes the chain connected, forever. That's obviously me. I knew from the day of the Reaping, the chain would be unbreakable.
I remember, that day. That was the beginning of everything. I had woken up to a horrible nightmare of me in the games.

At first, all I saw was the glass ball. And then, I was in the forest, and for some reason I only had one instinct: run. That's all I could think of. Run from the games, run from the life I used to have. Then I was free. I ran so fast, I couldn't feel the wind around me. But the boy with a sword grinned, and everything went black.

I screamed so loud, I think people as far as
District 8 could hear me. Katniss ran in, and made sure that I was ok.
" It was me!" I cried. " It was me!"
  Katniss stroked my hair gently.
" Prim, your name is only in there once. They're not going to pick you."

"Go back to sleep," she said calmly.

" I can't." I said, and sniffled a few tears.

" Just try, just try," Katniss said soothingly. 

"Can you sing?"

She sang a song that was basically the only one I knew.

"Deep in the meadow,
Under the willow, "

I stared to sing along. My voice is soft, like breeze on summer flowers.

"A bed of grass, a soft green pillow."

" You remember that song," she said and smiled.

" I have to go, I'll be right back. Love you."

I went back to sleep, but when I woke up Katniss wasn't there. At first I thought I had overslept, but since today was such a "special" day, we were aloud to sleep in. I slowly got up and washed my face with water and went out into the very tiny kitchen we had. The windows were covered in soot from the mines, and the walls were dull. But somehow, we made it work.  I saw on the kitchen table that the goat cheese I had left out for Katniss was gone.
Suddenly, the door swung open and Katniss came in, her face and clothes dirty. She smiled, and put a bag on the table.

      Katniss had come from the woods with her game bag filled with squirrels for meat. Mother and I had saved up to get grain, so we could possibly make a small loaf of bread. I had milked Lady beforehand, so we had fresh milk and cheese. I also went outside to collect some blueberries from the small berry bush. This was all saved for later, when we were supposed to celebrate our family members not being reaped for the Hunger Games, but at least two families pulled their shudders and closed their doors in mourning. Of course, I was never worried before. But this year, I was especially. It wasn't just because my name would be entered, but also that Katniss had a very fair chance of being picked. Her name was entered twenty times.

Twenty.

Mom had let me start watching the Hunger Games a few years ago, which made me even more scared of the horror. And on top of that, most of the District 12 tributes die in the Cornucopia.

Yeah, as you can tell it's a real feel good thing to wait for.

     Of course though, we had to look nice. Mother had braided my dirty blonde hair into two braids. It's more blonde than brown, but I still consider it dirty blonde. I had to take a bath too, which I hated because it was always ice cold. But mother had made a nice lavender soap for Katniss and I to use so we good smell
" Anything but the Seam", as my mother would say. The funny thing was, we barely had pimples. Of course, I bet the Capital and the all the other districts didn't have a lot either, but they weren't exposed to mines everyday. 

   Then Katniss took her bath while I was getting dressed. I only had one pair of my own clothes, and two hand-me-downs from Katniss. The one I would be wearing was a white blouse with an extremely loose skirt. Mom had managed to pin it, but there was still a bit of shirt sticking out in the back. As Katniss finished with her bath, I groomed Buttercup. I peered over to look at the bath, and the once clear water had turned a muddy dark brown color. I let out a small giggle, and walked back to the kitchen. Then mother braided Katniss's hair, and she slipped into her blue dress.
" I wish I looked like you," I said, which was true. She had a muscular figure unlike my weak one, long dark hair, and stunning grey eyes.
"Your beautiful Prim," she said while tucking in the tiny section of shirt in the back of my skirt.

"Tuck in your tail, little duck".

And that's when she pulled out an object from behind her.