Pretty As a Primrose (A Hunger Games Fanfiction)

Chapter 14

Far away I heard another cannon fire, but I couldn't tell if it was for me. I would rather die this way, then be tortured to death by a career or something. My mind was in an unconscious state, so it wandered aimlessly. I watched childhood memories play before my eyes, that was how the venom was meant to work. It sent you into unconsciousness and played with your mind, flipping through childhood memories and giving you a last review of your life before the venom flows through all your veins and you die. In a far corner of my mind, I held onto my last bits of awareness, wondering if Katniss would be disappointed in me. Then my mind crumbles away and I fall into oblivion. Was it a good sign? I wasn't sure. I wished my mother and Katniss and Rory wouldn't be too sad, that one day their lives would go on without me.

The time I spent dead to the world I was unsure of, it could have been as vast as the ocean or as minute as a droplet of water. The first thing I could think of was that there was something warm on my face. Then I could hear someone calling my name, but it sounded so far away. Finally, my eyelids felt light enough to open and my eyelashes fluttered as I looked up. Was I dead now?

"Prim" came that same voice, only now it was closer. I saw Rue sitting next to me, her brown eyes wider than I'd ever seen them before. "Are you okay?"

It took me a second to remember how to use my voice, my throat was dry and tickled when I talked. "I think so. I thought I was dead"

"Where's Peeta?"

"He's waiting back at our spot. I think so, at least" her forehead crinkled and she offered her hand to help me up. I took it and we pulled ourselves out of the grass together, my legs felt wobbly -unstable, really- but I managed to not fall over as we trekked through the tall grass. I went to wipe the dirt off of my face when I felt something cool and leafy touch my skin. I looked down at my arm, a big, thick leaf covered half of it and was wrapped tightly around.

"I had to do something to get the venom out" Rue says, simply if you will but I knew what she meant. She had to cut my arm to let the nasty venom out. It was starting to get dark by the time we got back to Peeta, he was sitting there holding a knife in his hand and darting his eyes around nervously.

"Peeta!" I stumble towards him and carefully sit down next to him, throwing my arms around him. I was glad he was still alive, he was like a big brother to me but we both watched out for each other.

"Hey, kid. What happened to you? I was so worried."

"I got bit by a viper. I don't know how I'm even alive, they're deadly. I've seen them take out so many tributes in my life and-"

The anthem started playing and we all went silent and looked expectantly towards the sky. The first face it showed was the boy from district 1, Marvel. Then the girl from district 2, the one who threw knives like me, Clove. She looked mean in her picture, she had an icy stare that sent a shudder all through me. But I remembered we're all just kids in this game. And then that was it, only the careers had died today, not all of them but there were only two left, I think. Cato from 2 and the girl from 4. Maybe they had a falling-out that resulted in someone killing the other two, or maybe they were attacked and murdered by someone. I wondered who, if that was the case. I don't know why I call it murder when the point of the game is to kill, so I shouldn't refer to it as that but I do because it seems fitting.

Rue, Peeta, and I didn't say another word that night, just curled up on our bed of grass and slept. None of us made a comment about one staying awake and keeping guard. For tonight it didn't matter. We were all still alive and frankly, that's all that does matter.

"Was it hard, Prim?" Rory looked me in the eyes, the way he does when he's being serious. They were gentle pools of grey staring into mine, he touched the necklace, still chained around my neck and held onto it.

"Of course it was hard, but I needed to come home. I had so much to live for" We both turned around, the town was celebrating but here we were, sitting in the grass looking out past the fence that surrounded our little district. I knew Peeta's family would be mourning, they would be shutting their windows and drawing the curtains and locking their doors and leaving the lights off for tonight. Peeta was just a kid in their game, I had to keep telling myself. They all were.

My eyelids flung open, my eyes stared into the bright morning sunlight and I blinked a few times. I looked over at Peeta, he was sleeping peacefully and Rue was too. I liked seeing them in such a vulnerable state, to me it meant that we truly trusted each other in this world which is entirely different from the outside world. Trust means more in here, but in the end don't we all die?

Aren't we all just kids playing a silly game?

I turned that idea over and over, hoping it would start sounding less harsh the more I thought about it. But it didn't, actually it started sounding worse the more I thought about it. We're all put into an arena and forced to kill one another until you are the last one alive. Alone in this big, empty arena with 23 other children's blood on your hands. So why does everyone play if your chances of winning are next to impossible when you're put up against trained 18 year olds that are three times your size and skill level? Because we are all young, and naïve, holding onto a piece of hope that everyone will just die off themselves and magically you'll be the victor without having killed anyone. If anyone here actually could think a sane thought they would put a knife through their head before the countdown even finished.

I'll see you again soon, father.

But first, I have a game to win.

Maybe I should leave Rue and Peeta, maybe being alone was how I should approach this. I just laid there between them, thinking about how Peeta wouldn't last a second on his own so I didn't move at all. Here was where I needed to stay.

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Kind of a boring chapter but Prim needed some time to just think for a bit, don't you think? Next chapter - I promise!- will have more action. I feel like Rue is going to have to go soon :,c because, after all, she is just a kid playing a silly game that no one really wins, right? Say goodbye to Rue everyone, possibly Peeta too, who knows? Hah, I know but it's a secret. Byee lovelies :*

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