Mentors

44

Raina

You know, I've been very grateful for the amount of hugs I am receiving, but it it's starting to feel out of pity. But when Prim hugs me when I see her in the dining hall, I don't feel an embrace out of any pity, I sense friendship. I know this because it's a tight, literal breathtaking hug. The thought makes me smile.

"Well hey," I chuckle.

"I want today to be fun! Being a refugee doesn't mean that our lives are completely gone, so I can't wait," she tells me as we sit down at a lunch table with our trays of wild dog stew.

"Sounds exciting," I say truthfully.

We skip out on small talk and tell each other interesting things about our lives. Including our problems and insecurities. Prim explains how after her sister won the hunger games, everyone in her classes at school wanted to become her best friend, solely for just what she had. Winning fame and forever fortune hadn't changed her lovely personality at all, but she was annoyed by all the teens trying to take advantage of her. She tells me about District twelve's bombing, how she had ran back to save her cat, causing Katniss and Peeta to run back into the ash filled no-mans-land to look for her.

"I feel guilty, you know? Risking my life to save my pet, causing them to risk their lives to save mine? I mean, don't get me wrong. I would go back for Buttercup any day. It's just that you have to try, at least. Try not to leave your friend behind."

"I see why you went back for him. You can't leave him behind. I know how that feels. More than you'd think. But, knowing that I couldn't do anything to save Kolton and bring him back to thirteen puts a burden on me."

"Well as you said, you're watching over his family. That's more than what he could ask of you. That's a real friend."

I guess Primrose and I can relate to each other on more levels than I thought.

"I just don't understand why they are keeping Kolton, and haven't killed him already." I state.

"That's because district thirteen can technically be the face of this rebellion. We have Katniss and Peeta to lead us. Who does President Snow have? Kolton. They're using your ally as a weapon, the same way they're ours. Without your friend, Snow has nothing to use against any of us. He's trying to break you. And by keeping him alive, he aspires to do just that."

I look into her intelligent blue eyes.
"That's a really.. Smart evaluation."

"It's the only logical one I can think of."

I tell her about my life and how it was back at home before the games. The older sister who was never there, just in other people's pants. The beautiful younger sister I had, who was twelve. The lovely, caring mother who really did love me. My once perfect father, who died from illness.

"It hit me that they're truly gone the same day I found out my mom had left me Rosie. The journal I was given said that they made sure the baby would be taken to the hovercraft first. I conclude that they were too busy writing in that journal to get the hell out of that bombing. We were always late to everything, I guess they were too little, too late."

"Think of this, now you have a beautiful little sister to help raise. She'll be the best thing that'll ever happen to you, considering the circumstances."