𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐒 | ᴄ. ʜᴀᴅʟᴇʏ

"Goodbye."

I turn to Prim and cup her soft cheek with my hand. "Go find your mom, Prim." I say gently.

"No!" she says.

"Prim go find your mom." I repeat. The peacekeepers pick up Prim and put her on their shoulders.

"No! NO!" Prim screams at them and she is deposited next to Gale who holds her still, though  he himself looks like he might break down and burst into tears soon. I turn to face the capitol escort.

Effie smiles delightedly and somewhat disturbingly at me. "Well! It looks like district 12 has its very first volunteer!" she says. "Come on up!"

I walk at a snail's pace towards to stairs of the Justice Building. I climb them slowly and eventually reach the platform Effie standing on. "What is your name, dear?" she asks.

"Y/n L/n." I say numbly into the microphone.

"Well I bet my hat you knew that little girl!" Effie chirps annoyingly.

"Yes, she is one of my best friend's little sister." I say. Effie smiles again.

"And now, for the boys." she says. She reaches into the other bowl full of names and pulls out a slip. I pray to god it isn't Gale. It isn't.

"Peeta Mellark." Effie calls out. Oh crap. I know Peeta. Not well of course, but I had had a rather strange encounter with the youngest of the Mellarks when I was eleven years old.

I had been sent out hastily into the rainy night by my mother who was running out of ways to feed us. She sent me out to poke around in garbage bins and see what I could find. That's how you know we were starving. We were willing to eat anything we could find unless it was spoiled past the point of being edible. I had been looking around in the garbage bins in the back of the Mellark family bakery. I didn't know many of the Mellarks very well, I vaguely recalled making brief small talk with Mr. Mellark one time in The Hob but that was about it. While I took the lid off a can I saw that it was empty and had been emptied recently. I sighed. That was when the rolling pin whizzed by my ear. My head snapped up and I saw a woman on the back porch. From her skinny frame and wiry hair I could take a safe bet that it was Mrs. Mellark. I had seen her around town a few times, we had ever spoken though. "Out! Get out! I won't have some dirty street people scrounging around in my garbage cans! GET OUT!" she screamed at me. I had just enough energy to run out of their backyard and out onto the hill beyond. She went back inside and I collapsed at the base of a tree. I was so hungry, I couldn't move. I was done. There was only two days until I was only enough to sign up for the tesserae. Then I could get the precious grain and oil that my mom and I needed. But no, I wouldn't make it to my 12th birthday. I would die here at the base of this random tree, starving, cold, and alone. I sat there shivering for a good ten minutes, hoping that I would just hurry up and die. I didn't want suffering. And then I saw a faint light over by the bakery. The back door was open and Mrs. Mellark had marched back outside, dragging a smaller figure behind her. I later learned that his name was Peeta Mellark, the youngest of the three bakers's sons. She appeared to be giving him some sort of small beating. Mom of the year  I thought. "DO YOU THINK PEOPLE ARE GOING TO BUY BURNT BREAD!?" she yelled at him. "FEED IT TO THE PIGS!" she screeched. She stomped back inside and left a sore Peeta behind her. In his hands he held something. The burnt bread I was guessing. He walked slowly in my direction. He was a solid 50 yards away, so I could scarcely see him. When were roughly 20 yards apart, he threw what he was carrying on the ground, spun around and ran back to his house. I shakily walked forward toward where he has thrown the object. I picked it up, and in my hands was a slightly burnt but otherwise perfectly good loaf of fresh bread. Full of new adrenaline I had raced home and given the bread to my mother. I had frequently seen Peeta staring at me at school after that. I had always had a sneaking suspicion that he burnt the bread on purpose.