Pretty As a Primrose (A Hunger Games Fanfiction)

Chapter 8

In the early morning, Cinna is handing me something. I blink my eyes a few times, my vision clearing up in the dim light.

"This is the basic part of your arena outfit" he says. He seems wide awake, even though it's the crack of dawn and I wonder how long he's been up. I dress quickly and follow Cinna's instructions to head through a door that leads to the roof. I stand waiting as a hovercraft appears out of nowhere and I hold onto the lower rungs of the ladder as it pulls me upward. A lady in a white labcoat holding a syringe in her hands approaches me.

"This is your tracker, hold still so I can place it correctly" she says. I freeze as she presses the needle into my arm. It hurts and after she pulls out the needle, a small bump forms. I take my seat, on the very end next to the boy from district 10. No one looks at each other or even glances one another's way, the feeling is so tense and seems like the hovercraft is shrinking. The hovercraft lifts into the air and I gaze out the window at the blue sky, there's not a cloud in sight. It would be a perfect day if I was back home, I might be outside picking flowers or playing tag with Rory if it weren't the day the Hunger Games begin. A pain in my heart wells up against my chest at the thought of home. I wonder how my mother and Katniss are holding up, somehow I know my older sister will be fine. She's probably in the woods with Gale right now, but my mother is a different story. When my father died, she just sat by no matter how much I sobbed and begged for her to help us. That's when Katniss began to care for us, I remember how my mother practically came back to life whenever Katniss brought home game, it was amazing to have her come back.

My mind is drawn away from my thoughts when the windows of the hovercraft darken, we must be nearing the arena. The hovercraft pulls into a dark tunnel and a group of peacekeepers lead us away, I'm brought to a door that says Female 12. I push open the door and Cinna is waiting for me.

"This is your arena outfit" he says, as he unzips a black bag. Cinna pulls out a black jacket and helps me into it. "This is designed to reflect body heat" says Cinna. The boots remind me of the ones Katniss wears to go hunting, thick and sturdy. At home I usually wore my school shoes, that makes these boots feel heavy on my feet. The pants are a thick olive green material that I tuck in the boots and under the black jacket is a black blouse.

After I've dressed, an avox girl brings in our breakfast. I pick nervously at my breakfast, losing any appetite I had. My teeth chatter horribly, I can't seem to stop them. Cinna wraps me in a hug, I let out a muffled sob.

"Don't be scared, it will be alright" he whispers. A song my father used to sing, that Katniss sang whenever I felt sick, comes to me.

Deep in the meadow, under the willow

A bed of grass, a soft green pillow

Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes

And when again the open, the sun will rise

I sniffle and look up at Cinna. There's something so comforting and warm about him that makes me feel safe. That is, until the voice over the speaker comes.

"15 seconds until countdown" a pleasant voice says. The chattering in my teeth turns into my whole body trembling in Cinna's arms. He releases me and I take small steps toward the cylindrical tube that brings me up into the arena. I step inside the tube and glance back at Cinna, he gives me a sad smile then a thumbs up. His face disapppears as I am immersed in darkness. My palms sweat, my hair sticks to my face, and my heart pounds furiously. For about fifteen seconds, I stand there waiting in the darkness before the tube pushes me upward and immediately sunlight dazzles my eyes. I squint and make out a forest of tall trees behind me, a large lake gleaming in the sunlight. The Cornucopia, a large golden horn containing the supplies we will need to survive, is placed right in the middle of the ring of tributes. The mouth of the Cornucopia is around 20 feet high, supplies piled inside it and around it are less and less useful the further they are from the horn. About 4 feet from my launch pad, is a pair of gloves. They could be useful for keeping your hands warm, but in the mouth of the Cornucopia I can spot rolls of blankets. The point of the best supplies at the Cornucopia is to bring tributes in for a fight, I've seen enough Games to know this.

The countdown is nearing the end, the tributes to my left and right are all positioning themselves to run so I do the same.

20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 The gong rings against my ears and I flee my launch pad and find myself scooping up a few small things as I run. I stop when the smell of pine trees fill my nose, and look around. The tall trees surround me, towering far above my head. I walk at a fast pace, hoping to get as far from everyone else as possible.

"The arena's not so bad" I turn around and see Rue, dressed in her arena outfit. The only difference is her jacket is brown and mine is black. I shrug in response.

"It's ok, I suppose. I've never been much for the woods" I say. She looks somewhat offended at this statement, maybe because she's from district 11 which is agriculture meaning she's grown up around the land.

"Sorry, it's just that I'm not used to the forest" I add quickly. She smiles and looks up in the trees, the tall pine trees now weren't the only ones. Now they were mixed in with the willows and oaks and other trees.

"Watch this" she says quietly, then whistles a 4-note tune. The birds in the trees pick up on her song and sing it back and forth to one another. She beams at me.

"They're mockingjays" says Rue. Mockingjays. I've heard about them from my father when I was really young and from Katniss as well. My father would come home and tell me about how the birds would sing with him in the forest and that one day when I'm older, he would take me into the forest to hear them sing. But that day never came becauce when I was 7 years old, an alarm sounded throughout the school and I did what Katniss told me to do if I ever heard that alarm. Wait for her. We both went home only to discover our father had been blown to bits by a mine explosion.

"I use it to signal the workers out in the fields when the day is done" she says, seeming pleased at the memory. I smile gently, then glance around behind me. Where is Peeta at? I wondered, but silently I told myself he could be dead already. The thought of him dead lingers in my head, giving me gruesome images of the blonde boy with a knife jammed in his throat, a spear dug deep in his stomach. I grimace as I follow Rue through the forest, part of me feels at peace though. At some sort of agreement. Because this is't a bad place to die. With the birds singing overhead and the tall trees surrounding me, it brings on a sense of home. But there's another feeling lurking behind this pleasant one. It reminds me of sun shining on a particularly bad day, rain falling on good ones. Of course these are the feelings the Capitol have placed inside me, they try to turn innocent pure minds into brutal monsters.

"Primrose, someone's coming" Rue's hushed whisper reaches me. Before I have time to react, she's scurrying up a tree. I have never climbed a tree before but I follow her up as fast as I can. I'm lucky for my light weight or I would have fallen to the ground by now. I look down and see just how high up I am, my hands clamor uncontrollably. Footsteps become more audible and I force myself higher, seeking the refuge of the tree. When I look down, I am surprised by what I see.