Out Of The Games

Chapter Two

                 I remember the first couple of days when i came back to district 12. I tried to get back to my normal day to day routine. I would hunt and Peeta would bake and we continued on living like this. District 12 started getting emptier and lonelier by the day. People started leaving to other districts because of the lack of food and and the mines became empty and useless. There wasn't anything to mine anymore. It's not like I spoke to anyone before they left they were too busy staring at me and my scars. Days passed until i got used to the new life I deserved. That was until the Carter's moved in. The Carters are a family of five children. Jason was the oldest. He was the weary one, he even reminded me of--------- someone. He kept to himself and his family raising his four siblings. However, it wasn't him who caused my life a change it was James, the third child. He is strong as Peeta puts it. However, i see him as a walking reminder of myself. Maybe it was because of the scars that cover his face or the cold attitude he has against everyone. Or maybe it's just that he never gives up and that he went through so much yet he gets back up. Or maybe it's because he hunts. He hunts better than anyone I've ever known. He hunts better than me, and that's saying something. So what may have made him a very important change in my life? He gave me a gift. I never got many gifts growing up because we were so poor. He gave me a goat. I named it Lady.

Flashback: It was a Friday evening, the day before Prim's tenth birthday in late May. As soon as school ended, Gale and I hit the woods, because I wanted to get enough to trade for a present for Prim. Maybe some new cloth for a dress or a hairbrush. Our snares had done well enough and the woods were flush with greens, but this was really no more than our average Friday-night haul. I was disappointed as we headed back, even though Gale said we'd be sure to do better tomorrow. We were resting a moment by a stream when we saw him. A young buck, probably a yearling by his size. His antlers were just growing in, still small and coated in velvet. Poised to run but unsure of us, unfamiliar with humans. Beautiful. Less beautiful perhaps when the two arrows caught him, one in the neck, the other in the chest. Gale and I had shot at the same time. The buck tried to run but stumbled, and Gale's knife slit his throat before he knew what had happened. Momentarily, I'd felt a pang at killing something so fresh and innocent. And then my stomach rumbled at the thought of all that fresh and innocent meat. A deer! Gale and I have only brought down three in all. The first one, a doe that had injured her leg somehow, almost didn't count. But we knew from that experience not to go dragging the carcass into the Hob. It had caused chaos with people bidding on parts and actually trying to hack off pieces themselves. Greasy Sae had intervened and sent us with our deer to the butcher, but not before it'd been badly damaged, hunks of meat taken, the hide riddled with holes. Although everybody paid up fairly, it had lowered the value of the kill. This time, we waited until dark fell and slipped under a hole in the fence close to the butcher. Even though we were known hunters, it wouldn't have been good to go carrying a 150-pound deer through the streets of District 12 in daylight like we were rubbing it in the officials' faces. The butcher, a short, chunky woman named Rooba, came to the back door when we knocked. You don't haggle with Rooba. She gives you one price, which you can take or leave, but it's a fair price. We took her offer on the deer and she threw in a couple of venison steaks we could pick up after the butchering. Even with the money divided in two, neither Gale nor I had held so much at one time in our lives. We decided to keep it a secret and surprise our families with the meat and money at the end of the next day. This is where I really got the money for the goat, but I tell Peeta I sold an old silver locket of my mother's. That can't hurt anyone. Then I pick up the story in the late afternoon of Prim's birthday. Gale and I went to the market on the square so that I could buy dress materials. As I was running my fingers over a length of thick blue cotton cloth, something caught my eye. There's an old man who keeps a small herd of goats on the other side of the Seam. I don't know his real name, everyone just calls him the Goat Man. His joints are swollen and twisted in painful angles, and he's got a hacking cough that proves he spent years in the mines. But he's lucky. Somewhere along the way he saved up enough for these goats and now has something to do in his old age besides slowly starve to death. He's filthy and impatient, but the goats are clean and their milk is rich if you can afford it. One of the goats, a white one with black patches, was lying down in a cart. It was easy to see why. Something, probably a dog, had mauled her shoulder and infection had set in. It was bad, the Goat Man had to hold her up to milk her. But I thought I knew someone who could fix it. "Gale, " I whispered. "I want that goat for Prim." Owning a nanny goat can change your life in District 12. The animals can live off almost anything, the Meadow's a perfect feeding place, and they can give four quarts of milk a day. To drink, to make into cheese, to sell. It's not even against the law. "She's hurt pretty bad," said Gale. "We better take a closer look." We went over and bought a cup of milk to share, then stood over the goat as if idly curious. "Let her be," said the man. "Just looking," said Gale. "Well, look fast. She goes to the butcher soon. Hardly anyone will buy her milk, and then they only pay half price," said the man. "What's the butcher giving for her?" I asked. The man shrugged. "Hang around and see." I turned and saw Rooba coming across the square toward us. "Lucky thing you showed up," said the Goat Man when she arrived. "Girl's got her eye on your goat." "Not if she's spoken for," I said carelessly. Rooba looked me up and down then frowned at the goat. "She's not. Look at that shoulder. Bet you half the carcass will be too rotten for even sausage." "What?" said the Goat Man. "We had a deal." "We had a deal on an animal with a few teeth marks. Not that thing. Sell her to the girl if she's stupid enough to take her," said Rooba. As she marched off, I caught her wink. The Goat Man was mad, but he still wanted that goal off his hands. It took us half an hour to agree on the price. Quite a crowd had gathered by then to hand out opinions. It was an excellent deal if the goat lived; I'd been robbed if she died. People took sides in the argument, but I took the goat. Gale offered to carry her. I think he wanted to see the look on Prim's face as much as I did. In a moment of complete giddiness, I bought a pink ribbon and tied it around her neck. Then we hurried back to my house. You should have seen Prim's reaction when we walked in with that goat. Remember this is a girl who wept to save that awful old cat, Buttercup. She was so excited she started crying and laughing all at once. My mother was less sure, seeing the injury, but the pair of them went to work on it, grinding up herbs and coaxing brews down the animal's throat. End of Flashback. 

             Lady was better, but then was gone by the time i was back here a district 12. Looking at the goat James gave me, I sometimes believe it's the same goat that i gave Prim. It was a white goat with black patches. However, It's not the same goat because Prim and her goat are both dead.