Under the Willow

Chapter 28

   I brushed my fingers across the white marble apartments, leaving the warmth inside. I dreaded the fact that we had to meet up with past trainers to learn how to defend ourselves.
No idea why either.

      As we approached the building, a man was standing in front of weapons. His skin basically blended in with the black weapons, but yet very smooth. His muscles were huge, bigger than any I have ever seen. I almost wanted to go run in a corner.  " My name is Idin." the man said, his accent thick.
   " I will be showing you how to defend yourself in a Capital situation."
  I look puzzled, but he continued.
" Two of our students were severely injured, and one was even killed, in the bombings of District 8." Idin spoke, but paused.
   " Reza Norme was actually in the hospital when the bombings happened, and the two others, Cecila and Margret were just arriving."
   I turned to Cecila who had her head down. When she looked up, she turned right at me.
  Half of her face was completely burned, but her eyes were saved. I felt a heavy stone hit my heart from the site. I turned around, and walked in between Lidia and Rory. Once we began, Idin walked right over to me.
  " Primrose Everdeen, right?" Idin said, and showed a bright toothy grin.
   " Yeah, that's me."
He smiled.  " I want to see you with a bow first."

     I nodded, but rolled my eyes right when I turned away from him. Everyone thinks I'll be good with a bow. I'll show them.

  I aimed the bow toward the target, and released the bowstring. It awkwardly bounced off the floor, and crashed into the case of arrows. " See, I'm not good at bow and arrows."
I said, looking straight into his dark brown eyes.  " I have heard your a very good person who works under pressure , though." 
  I looked toward the knives. " Can I try those?"
He almost laughed. " The throwing knives? Sure, knock yourself out kid. Just don't hurt yourself." He added, laughing his head off.

     I angrily got to the station to see Ivy throwing knives, but missing all of the points.
There was something were odd about her.
She tossed a knife at me and I halfway caught it, but some skimmed my wrist causing blood to rise. " Knock yourself out."
  I glared at her and looked steadily at the target.
A few people, including Ivy, stopped to stare and look at me. I bet they stayed to see how far I'd miss the target by. I'd show them.
  I extending my arms throwing the knife with such force, it caught air. Our eyes all gazed to where it followed, then again followed by gasps. I opened up my squeezed eyes.

  I hit the target.

Right in the middle.

***

  Lidia turned out to be a good archer.
As we were all leaving, smiles on our faces, Ivy pulled me over.
Not again...
" You did a great job showing off in there," she said, a grin forming across her face. Her dark hazel eyes were blazing right into my light hazel eyes. " But it can never cover up what you did."  I was confused. " What did I do?" I asked.
Her snickering grin turned into a face filled with anger. " What did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO?" Ivy screamed at me. " I HAD TO MOVE TO ANOTHER DISTRICT BECAUSE OF YOU. IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU, NOT HER. "  She pinned me against the wall, but suddenly released. I could see the hurt and tears in her eyes.
  " What did I do Ivy?" I asked again.
Ivy was sitting on the ground now, her head in her knees.
  " You killed her," she mumbled.
Ivy lifted up her head, and I finally understood.

  " You killed my sister, Clove."