"Mr Abernathy, I'm nervous!" I exclaimed. "I don't like the hunger games all that much!" He put his tough hand on my bony shoulder. "It's alright Fern, your name is only in there once, it won't be you!" Haymitch said. I knew him at the time as Mr Abernathy but we later came to first names.
"What about all the others though, my brothers, my sisters, Katniss, Gale and all my school friends?" I asked.
"Someday we might all understand the games and death itself!" He said. He always says things like that, although he is usually drunk when he says them. It was two days until the reaping. Two days.
I went to see Katniss, as I did almost every day of my life. "Hello Fern!" Said Mrs Everdeen. She is the nicest woman I have ever met. Her voice is so soft and she is so pretty. "Is Katniss home?" I asked.
"Yes, although she only just got back from a hunt so she might be a while! Do come in while you wait!" She said kindly.
Prim was sat in the kitchen. I ran to her and we shared a warm hug. "Oh Prim, I'm so scared for you!" I exclaimed.
"Me too and I'm scared for you!" Prim replied, hugging me again. Prim and Katniss are like my sisters. Katniss lost her father, just like I lost mine. My mother died too though, not long after. It was Prim's first year too. Everybody except her knew she wouldn't be picked.
Prim and I spent around half an hour talking about all sorts of things before Katniss showed up. "Hey Fern, are you alright?" Katniss asked picking me up and spinning me around, then doing the same to Prim.
"I'm alright I guess. Mr Abernathy is in that sort of mood again, the one he gets in every year around the reaping!"
"I don't get how you can live with him, he is such a mess!" Katniss replied.
"I suppose but I haven't anywhere else to go. I don't want to be like my siblings!" I said, sadly.
"I guess so, I'm just surprised the peacekeepers have never even spotted them!" Katniss said. I looked into her eyes for a brief moment. I could plainly see the fear in her eyes. I couldn't tell if she was scared of going into the games or if she was scared that Prim would be reaped.
"You are always welcome here, you know Fern!" Mrs Everdeen exclaimed walking over to us. Out of my whole family, I was the closest to the Everdeen's. When our father's died in the mines, Katniss and Gale would get food for their families and mine too! My oldest brother Malcolm had signed up for tesserae and got reaped the next year. I was only 7 when he was reaped so I don't really remember him. He was killed by the careers in his games. He was seventeen. The second oldest in my family was my sister Amber, she works as a maid for the mayor and lives in their big house. She was 16. The next in the family are two of my brothers: Ribo and Fajo. They were 15. They were twins and looked after our other siblings: Maple, Josp and Page. Maple was 13, Josp was 11 and Page was 10. There's also my little sister Pip, she was only a baby when our parents died, but at this point she was five years old. Amber had persuaded the mayor to let Pip share her room.
When my mother died, Mr Abernathy offered for us all to come live with him, but Amber got her job offer and the twins hated him for some unknown reason. Maple and Josp were alright with it but Page didn't want to and they didn't want to leave Page with the twins as they had to find work. I was the only one left and my siblings all insisted that I took the offer. It's not like they gave me much choice. My siblings tried to refuse all charity, but Mr Abernathy managed to persuade them to allow him to give them clothes.
At this point, he felt about as close to a father to me as he could ever get. The best part of living with a drunk victor, is that I can get whatever I want. When I first moved in, he bought me a whole load of dresses and outfits. Once I had moved in with Mr Abernathy, Katniss and Gale no longer had to give me food. Instead they took me with them hunting some of the time. I couldn't really use a bow as well as Katniss, but then again I don't think anybody could. Gale taught how to make hundreds of traps and snares. My favourite is knife throwing, but neither Gale nor Katniss. "Are you going hunting tomorrow Katniss?" I asked.
"Yep, do you want to come Fern?" She replied. We both laughed a little.
"Was it that obvious?" I asked. "Well I think I'd best head off before Mr Abernathy misses me!" I added laughing. "I'll come by in the morning to get you Fern!" Katniss said as I left.
1 day until the reaping. "Good morning Katniss!" I said opening our front door.
"Are you ready?" She asked. I nodded almost excitedly. We walked over to the electric fence, well it's almost not an electric fence because it's never turned on. We climbed through a gap and met Gale where we all hide our gear. I got my knives, I mean they're not proper knives, we made them from large sturdy sticks and some sharpened stones attached with tweed. Close enough. I spotted a rabbit eating something in the long grass. I grabbed one of my 'knives' and prepared to throw it. I released it and it shot directly into the rabbit's eye. "That's way better than last time!" Katniss said, going to retrieve it. Gale wrapped his arm around me and ripped my 'knife' out of the rabbit's eye.
I set up a few snares with Gale and Katniss shot four squirrels, two rabbits and a crow. Once we'd decided to call it a day we went to the small fishing house by the pond. Gale lit the fire and Katniss skinned a squirrel to cook. I chose to go climb a tree while they cooked the squirrel. My footing was a bit off and I slipped a little, a branch near me fell. "Careful little monkey, don't want you to end up like one of these squirrels!" Gale said after rushing to see what was happening. I climbed down after that, a little bit startled. I grabbed the 'knife' I had used on the rabbit and washing it using a clump of moss in the pond.
"Do you want some Fern?" Katniss asked when the squirrel was cooked. I shook my head. Even when we had no food, no money, no house and no security, I refused to eat squirrel. I tried a tiny bit once and it was revolting. They both came and sat by me near the edge of the pond. "What if it's me?" I asked after we had been sitting in silence for a few minutes. "I'd volunteer!" Katniss said, putting her arm around my shoulder.
"Don't be stupid, your family needs you!" I replied shrugging her off me.
"She's not wrong Catnip, but it won't be you Fern. Your name's only in their once. Don't even bother worrying about it, it's not gonna happen!" Gale said.
"Can I come with you to sell all of this?" I asked as we slipped through the gap in the fence.
"Alright then, we'll show you how it's done!" Gale said, making me chuckle. "What are you gonna do with you're rabbit little monkey?" Gale asked. Katniss opened her hunting bag and showed me which one I'd killed. It looked really sad. "I reckon we should sell it, to the bakers!" I replied. Gale nodded, my suggestion wasn't ridiculous for once. We went to the bakery first to sell some meat. "We have a rabbit for you if you'll take it!" Katniss said, while Gale was holding the door open for us.
"Let's have a look at it then love!" Mr Mellark said. Katniss pulled my rabbit out of her hunting bag. "This from one of your snares Gale?" He asked. Gale shook his head and walked over to me. He put his arm around me. "This little one got it with a knife!" Gale said. Mr Mellark looked really impressed.
"Looks as good as one I'd get from Katniss or Gale! Well done Fern, that's ace!" He said, smiling at me. "I'll buy it!" He added. He exchanged a whole loaf of bread for it. I told Gale that he or Katniss could keep the bread, but of course Gale insisted that Katniss had to take it. Mr Mellark's son Peeta came into the front of the bakery just before we left. I gave him a shy wave and he waved back. We left the bakery, then Katniss and Gale walked me home before trading the rest of the hunt.
"How was it?" Mr Abernathy asked me. He'd been drinking really heavily, you could smell it from the moment you walked through the door. "It was great! I got a rabbit, in the eye just like Katniss does!" I said excitedly. "That's great! I made some lunch so eat up and then go clean up a little, but wait until the morning to have a bath alright?" He said. I nodded. I went upstairs and washed my face then changed into a night dress, even though it was nowhere near my bed time. I knew I wouldn't be going out again. The rest of the day was average: I read a book, drew some flowers, ate dinner and went to bed. The next day would be different.
