Cruel Intentions |Everlark|

Chapter One

4 years ago, April 20

I'm picking Dandelions in the Meadow as dawn approaches. I didn't get much sleep last night so around 4 a.m. I was up, dressing in my dads jacket and his boots. They were a bit big on me but since I'm only 11, I figure I'll grow into them. As I left, I noticed Prim was sleeping with our mother, curled up around her lifeless form. You could barely tell she was breathing by looking at her. I make her eat, I help her wash up, I take care of her since it seems shes stopped caring.

I haven't yet been able to force myself into the woods to hunt with bow and arrow, though I had a feeling I'd be able to do it today. But for right now, I'll pick as many of these pretty little weeds till the suns up. I put them in my father's game bag...my game bag now I guess.

I couldn't sleep for the usual reason: all I see is my father being blown to bites in those dark, suffocating mines. In the mist of the horror, I see familiar blue eyes watching me cry out from the corner of my eye. But when I look, their gone. I'm alone. That dream freaked me out more than just the usual mine dreams. I don't want to be alone.

"Katniss?" I turn quickly around, dropping a handful of Dandelions as I hear a voice behind me. It's Peeta. He has a scar on his cheek that has turned a deep purple. I blink at the injury, before I am anywhere close to being able to speak.

"Hi, Peeta." I stuff the last of the weeds I picked into my game bag before making my way over to him. He raises a blonde eyebrow at me in curiosity, which makes me pause about seven paces from him in fear. Could I trust him not to rat me out? The Meadow was as illegal to be in as the woods, but I had to feed my family some how. The bread was still on the table, but it wouldn't last more than a night. He must have noticed the widening of my eyes because he shakes his head and walks towards me.

"Don't worry, I can keep a secret." He smiles slightly, as if trying to reassure me. I nod, making my legs move again, towards the gate that separates the woods and The Meadow before turning back to look at him. His eyes were wide in shock, yet he still smiled. Well, he knew now what I intended to do, might as well bring him along.

"You want to come with me?" I murmur.

"Hell yeah!" He exclaims before he catches himself. "I mean...sure." I smile at this and make it to a hole under the fence that was loose now. I look over my shoulder at him.

"Follow me, Baker Boy." I say lightly before crawling under the ditch in the fence, and coming up into the green radiance of a forbidden forest. Peeta was bigger than me but we are about the same height, I'm still sickly looking, especially compared to him. I watch him struggle to get through the small opening, hiding my smile behind a hand. A part of me is confused by this impulse to smile after everything that's happened, but the rest of me doesn't want to over analyze it, I don't get to smile often. Might as well enjoy it while it's easy. When he's standing next to me, his other cheek a slight pink, a question occurs to me. "Why are you up so early?" I ask looking him in his eyes. Half his face lifts in a smile, the smile doesn't reach his eyes.

"My mom woke me up because I burned some bread last night, told me to stay out the house today so I started walking." I gape at not only what his mother did, but how casually he repeated it. "What about you?" he asks.

"What about me?"

"What's your mom like?" I feel my face go blank as I turn from him and continue walking into the woods till I'm lost in the foliage. I feel him follow close behind. "I'm sorry, that's none of my business."