Hunger Games 1

Chapter 5 Farewell (1)
As soon as the national anthem was over, we were locked up.I don't mean handcuffed or anything, but guarded by a vigilante, walked through the front door of the courthouse.Previous "tributes" may have escaped, although I've never seen that happen.

Entering the gate, I was led into a room and left there alone.This is the most gorgeous place I have ever seen, thick carpets, velvet couches and chairs.I know velvet from the collar of one of my mother's dresses.Sitting on the sofa, I can't help but run my hands back and forth on the soft velvet, which helps me calm down for the next moment.Soon we'll be saying goodbye to our loved ones, and I can't afford to be distracted, and I can't walk out of this room with a red nose and blistered eyes.Crying is not a good choice.There will be more cameras waiting for us at the train station.

Mom and sister came first.I reached up and hugged Prim, and she climbed onto my lap and put her arms around my neck, her head resting on my shoulder, like she was when she was a toddler.Mom sat next to me with her arms around both of us.For several minutes, we didn't speak.After a while, I began to tell them to keep in mind things that I could no longer do for them.

I told them that Prim must never get food stamps.They were more frugal, and managed to get by selling milk and cheese from Prim's sheep, and their mother's small pharmacy in the Seam.Gail will pick herbs that my mother can't grow, but be sure to tell him in detail what the herbs look like, because he is not as familiar as I am.He'll bring them game too—we made an agreement about a year ago—shouldn't pay them, but they'll have to thank him, give him goat's milk or medicine or something.

I don't have to suggest that Prim learn to hunt, because I've taught her a time or two before, and it's been a disaster.As soon as she was in the woods, she was afraid. When I hunted prey, she would burst into tears, saying that if I caught the prey, I could take it home immediately and heal its wounds.The sheep she raised are really good, so I just let her go.

I told them about the firewood at home, how to exchange goods, and how to go to school. After that, I turned around, grabbed my mother's arm tightly, and said, "You must listen to me, are you listening? ’ She nodded, taken aback by the intensity of my words.She must have understood what was going to happen. "You can't leave us again," I said.

Mom bowed her head and said, "I know, I won't. I couldn't help myself—"

"Well, but this time you gotta get it under control. You can't lose your mind and leave Prim alone. There's no one to feed you now. No matter what happens or what you see on TV, you will Hold on!" I raised my voice, almost shouting, with the anger and fear of letting her go.

She took her arm away from me and got angry herself. "I was sick at the time, and if these medicines were available at that time, I would have cured myself."

She said she was sick, but it might be true.Afterwards I often saw her bring home patients who were terribly distressed and dull-looking.Maybe it's really a disease, but we can't afford it.

"Then accept reality and take good care of her!" I said.

"I'll be fine, Katniss," Prim said, cupping my face in his hands. "But you must take care of yourself, you are quick and brave, maybe you will win."

I can't win, and Prim must know that in her heart.The competition is extremely fierce, and it is simply not something I can handle.Children from wealthy jurisdictions, they regard it as a great honor and have been trained in it since childhood.The boy is several times bigger than me, and the girl is also familiar with various methods of killing people with knives.Oh, of course, there will be people like me - people who get taken out before the real intense hunting begins.

"Maybe," I said.If I give up early, how can I persuade my mother to persevere!Also, even if the enemy is strong, it's not in my character to retreat without fighting. "Then we'll be as rich as Haymitch!"

"I don't care if I have money or not, I just want you to come home. You'll try, won't you? Will, won't you?" Prim asked.

"I'll try, I will. I swear." I said.I know, for Prim's sake, I have to.

At this time, the security police came to the door and signaled that the time was up. We hugged each other tightly and even hurt each other. I kept saying, "I love you, I love you both." He ordered them to go out and closed the door.I buried my head in the velvet pillow, as if it could keep everything out.

Someone else came in.When I looked up, to my surprise, it was the bakery owner, Peeta Mylark's father.I can't believe he's coming to see me.Anyway, I'm going to do everything in my power to kill his son before long.But we don't know each other very well, and he even knows Prim better, because when Prim sells cheese in the mine, she always sets aside two dollars for him, and he also generously gives her some bread .We always wait to deal with him when his nasty wife isn't around because he's so much nicer than his wife.I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be like his wife beating up her son for the burnt bread.But why did he come to see me?
The baker sat awkwardly on the edge of his velvet chair, a tall, broad-shouldered man with burns on his face from years spent by the fire.He must have just said goodbye to his son.

He took out a white paper bag from his pocket and handed it to me.I opened the paper bag and there were cookies in it.This is a luxury we can never afford.

"Thank you." I said.The owner of the bakery is usually not very talkative, and he was even more speechless at this time. "I ate your bread this morning. My friend Gail traded it for squirrels." He nodded, as if remembering the squirrels. "You're at a loss." I said.He shrugged, as if he didn't care too much.

I can't think of anything else to say, we just sit and don't talk.When the security police came to call, he stood up, coughed, cleared his throat, and said, "I'll take care of that little girl so she won't go hungry."

Hearing these words, I felt that the burden on my heart was not so heavy.People make deals and haggle with me, but they all really like Prim, and maybe that love will help her survive.

The next person who came to see me was also unexpected. It was March. She walked straight up to me. She didn't cry or say goodbye, but pleaded earnestly. Her tone surprised me. "They let you wear something in the arena that reminds you of home. Would you like to wear this?" She handed me the round gold brooch she wore on her dress that day.I didn't look carefully before, and then I realized that it was a flying bird.

"Your brooch?" I said.Wearing a trinket representing our precinct is something I almost never thought of.

"Here, can I put it on for you?" March leaned over and put the brooch on my skirt without waiting for my reply. "Promise I'll wear it to the arena, will you, Katniss?" she said. "Promise me."

"Ok." I said.Cookies, brooches.I got all kinds of presents today.March also gave me a gift—a kiss on the cheek.March left after that.I thought to myself, maybe she has been my real friend all along.

Finally, Gail came, and maybe there was no romance between us, but when he opened his arms, I threw myself into his arms without hesitation.His body was familiar to me, his every move, the smell of wood smoke, even the beating of his heart - something I had heard in hunting silence, but now felt for the first time, his heart Cling to mine.

"Listen," he said, "it's easy to get a knife, but you've got to find a bow and arrow, and that's your best chance."

"They don't always give bows and arrows," I said, thinking that one year they only provided pointed clubs, and that the "tributes" of the districts were to be clubbed to death.

"Then make one," Gale said. "A bad bow is better than nothing."

I once wanted to make a pair of bows and arrows according to my father, but I couldn't do well.It's not that easy.Even if Dad does it, sometimes it is useless.

"I don't even know if I can find wood," I said.I hated the year the contestants were thrown into a desert of nothing but boulders, sand, and scrub.Many contestants were either bitten by poisonous snakes or were driven mad with thirst.

"There's wood almost every time," says Gale. "Half the people in the Hunger Games froze to death that year, so it's not very entertaining."

True.One year in The Hunger Games, we watched the contestants freeze to death at night.In fact, the TV footage was not very clear, because there was no wood for the fire, no torches or anything, they were just huddled together.The competition held by the Capitol was considered to be anticlimactic, and all the players died quietly, without fighting or bleeding.After that race, there is usually wood for the fire.

"Yes, there is usually some wood," I said.

"Katniss, it's like hunting, and you're the best hunter I know," Gale said.

"It's not just hunting, those people have weapons and they have minds," I said.

"You have, too. You've practiced more than they did. Real practice," he said. "You know how to hunt."

"It's not murder," I said.

"How much difference does that make? Really," Gale said grimly.

If I don't see them as human, it really doesn't make a difference, but the bad thing is, I can't.

The security police came to urge again, Gale asked for a little more grace, but they took him away by force, and I started to panic.

"Don't let them starve!" I yelled, taking his hand.

"I won't, you know, I won't! Catnip, remember me..." he said.At this time, the security police forcefully dragged us away, and then the door slammed shut.I'll never know what he wants me to remember.

It's a short drive from the courthouse to the train station.I've never been in a car, hardly even a carriage.In the "crack zone", we rely on walking wherever we go.

(End of this chapter)