The Huntress

When her name was announced, all color drained from my face. I made sure her name was only in there once. Being the oldest sibling I made sure that my name was in there more times than Katniss’ and Prim’s combined. I was brought back to reality when I heard Prim screaming and calling out for me and Katniss. All the girls standing in my area saw the seer panic in my eyes and then they saw the decision in my eyes and they made a path as I quickly walked into the aisle to go tell Prim to go stand next to mom until this was all over. The peacekeepers saw me walk out into the middle of is aisle and were trying to stop me from going anywhere when I turned around and looked at Effie.

“I . . . I volunteer as tribute for District 12,” I said holding my head high and locked the emotions that wanted to come out into the box that I created inside myself since my father died.

“No!” Prim exclaimed reaching for me and I crouched down to Prim’s level.

“Go stand next to Mom Prim,” I said quickly, “I’m so sorry Prim but you have to listen to me and go now.”

“No! Adyrn!” she exclaimed but Peeta picked her up and I looked up at him and nodded my head in thanks to him.

“Well sweetheart,” she said almost as sickly sweet as she said hello to Haymitch, “We have to follow our procedure.”

“Oh what’s it matter Effie,” Mayor said, “She’s volunteering.”

I was then escorted to the stage and I stood next to Effie and Haymitch was so drunk that he tried to come hug me but I was quicker than Effie and moved and made it look like I was moving out of the way for Effie to go back to the podium to announce the girl tribute. As Haymitch loses his balance he stage dived head first and was knocked unconscious. Once Haymitch was carried out on a stretcher and I could just see Mayor Undersee groaning internally because District 12 will be the laughing stalk of Panem once again. It’s been the laughing stalk of Panem for years now. Ever since Haymitch won the Games, it has been horrible for District 12. The tributes from here don’t make it past the third or fourth day because they don’t know what to expect or die of starvation.

“Well what is your name sweetheart?” Effie asked me.

“Adyrn Everdeen,” I replied in a monotone voice.

“Well I bet I can guess that little girl was your sister,” Effie said.

“Yes she was,” I replied into the microphone.

“Well ladies and gentlemen,” she said, “Let’s give a round of applause for our girl tribute, Adyrn Everdeen.”

No one applauded but my younger sisters were the first people to show their respects to me. They did District 12’s signature respect signal. Katniss and Prim put their three middle fingers to their lips and held them up towards me. Then it was the people of the Seam and then it was the entire district giving the same signal. For some odd reason I didn’t know how well respected I was around District 12 until that moment in time. I had a feeling everyone was going to be shocked when they saw this instead of everyone applauding. I knew that the people of the Capitol would be thinking that the people of District 12 should be applauding; this district hasn’t ever had a volunteer before. As I stood on the stage with my head held high and my face emotionless, Effie made her way back over to the bowls and picked out the boy’s name that would be joining me on this journey as the Capitol likes to call it. She quickly stuck her hand into the bowl and I hoped that Gale wasn’t going to be picked out of that bowl. Effie then made her way back to the podium and unfolded the paper.

“Our boy tribute from the wonderful District 12 is,” she said and looked back down at her paper, “Gale Hawthorne.”

The minute the name left Effie’s mouth; my heart dropped and weighed about four tons in my chest. I realized I was going to have to kill the one boy that I can truly be myself around. I was going to have to kill the boy that I am head over heels for. As I started getting to know Gale, I found out a lot more about him. I learned that Gale had put up a wall to see who would try to break down the wall and get to know the real him after his dad died. It took me years to break down the wall that Gale had built around himself. He was much like me, he didn’t trust easy. He thought everyone was out to get him and he had to watch what he said around everyone but the more we got to know each other, the more he opened up to me. The more I got to see the caring side of Gale I began to fall in love with him. I loved the way his grey eyes would sparkle when he found that his snares were successful. I loved the way he presented himself to others. Even though Gale and I had been in the same class since we were five I never really met him until we were both sixteen. He was tall, loving to his friends and family and knew just what to say to make your bad day go a little bit better then cruddy. I remember watching him play with his younger sister as she grew up and how he would teach his brothers how to act like gentlemen and how to treat a lady.

Gale slowly made his way to the stage and we stood together as Effie introduced us as District 12’s tributes. As she started talking, all I could think about was how this was not going to help me at all in the Games. I was going to be at a disadvantage the entire game because I know I would let my feelings get in the way of this. As soon the cameras went off, Gale and I were escorted to the Justice Building to say good-bye to our families. I’ve only been to the Justice Building to take out the tesserae so many times for our family that I really didn’t pay attention to how it looked. It usually smelled like mold in there but you got used to it. The office for tesserae is on the second floor so I’ve ridden in the nice elevator one too many times in the past six years. Today however we were going to a much higher floor. We were going to the fifth floor which meant either Gale or I were never coming back to District 12. For the next hour we would be saying good-bye to our loved ones and family. I didn’t know how long it was going to take my family to come up here but the minute I was put in the room, the door opened to reveal Katniss, Prim, and my mom. They all walked in and Prim and Katniss wrapped me in a tight hug.

“You didn’t have to do this,” Katniss said.

“Yes I did,” I said, “I wasn’t going to sit there and watch Prim in the games no way in hell.”
I smiled down at Prim to see she had tears in her eyes.

“Hey buttercup cheer up,” I said smiling lightly at her, “There’s no need to be sad.”

“Yes there is,” she said quietly as I wiped away her tears, “This could be the last time I might see you.”

“Hey,” I said getting to her level so she could see the seriousness in my eyes, “This will not be the last time you see me Prim. You will be watching me on the TV and rooting for me or Gale okay? And if I don’t come back you have to promise to never take out a tesserae unless Katniss says it’s alright.”

“I promise,” she says and hugged me tightly as I heard her sniffle.

“I love you Buttercup,” I said smiling as brave as could without crying because crying was not an option at this point in time.

“I love you too Adyrn,” she said and then went to hug our mother.

I then stood up and looked at Katniss who was trying not to cry as well.

“Who’s going to help be scavenge and hunt with me now?” she asked smiling sadly.

“One of us will back to be your partner again,” I said, “I don’t know which one of us it will be but one of us will come back.”

“Do not say that,” Katniss said, “Please don’t say that. I don’t want to think about that yet.”

“Hey I have one more favor to ask you,” I said.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Go talk to Peeta Mellark,” I said, “Please go get to know him while I’m away. He’s a good kid.”

“Why?” she asked confused.

“He’s going to help you out in a lot of ways you don’t know Catnip,” I said using Gale’s nickname and hugged her tightly, “And remember all the tricks I’ve taught you and be strong.”

“Wait take this,” Katniss said and pinned a mockingjay pin to my dress, “Madge gave this to me to give to you. This is to remind you of our district. She says you get to bring something into the arena that reminds you of home so take this.”

Before I could say no, the pin was on my dress and then Katniss and I hugged a final time and I could tell she was at her breaking point.

“Go say good-bye Gale,” I whisper in her ear, “Before it’s too late.”

I then looked at my mockingjay pin and smiled lightly. A mockingjay is a hybrid between a mocking bird and a jabberjay. Jabberjays are a type of bird that were created in Capitol labs to spy on enemies and the rebels during the rebellion. The Jabberjays had the ability to memorize and repeat entire human conversations, and were used to gather words from the rebels. Once the people in the districts realized how their private conversations were being transmitted to the Capitol, they used the jabberjays to feed lies. The Capitol soon figured this out and ceased using the jabberjays and abandoned them to die off in the wild. The male jabberjays bred with female mockingbirds to create mockingjays, which were able to repeat both human melodies and birdsong. They were considered a slap in the face to the Capitol, because it had failed to foresee that possibility.

I then looked up at my mother to see tears running down her face lightly.

“Oh Mom,” I said hugging her tightly, “Now you can’t go to that place you did when Dad died. Katniss and Prim need you know more than ever.”

“I won’t let that happen,” she said hugging me even tighter, “but you have to win Adyrn. Not for you but for us.”

“I’ll try Momma,” I whispered, “I’ll try.”

“I love you Adyrn,” my mother she whispered and then the door opened and Prim started screaming my name again.

“Be strong Buttercup,” I said, “You have to be strong.”

I then had to hold in the tears so they wouldn’t fall down my face. If I cried, I wouldn’t be able to appear strong to the Capitol and the rest of Panem as I was escorted to the train. I was then left alone in the room until the door opened and Peeta walked in.

“I brought you something,” Peeta said as he handed me a bag of cookies.

“Thank you,” I said and looked up at him.

“They just want a good show you know,” Peeta said, “That’s all they want and I know you’re the one to come home.”

“I’m not so sure Peeta,” I said, “There’s twenty-four of us go in and one of us come out and you and I both know Gale and I are good hunters.”

“Adyrn,” Peeta started and I continued to smile and shook my head.

“I’ll be fine Peeta,” I said laughing lightly, “You worry too much.”

Peeta then wrapped me in a hug tightly.

“I’ll make sure both of your families have food,” he whispered.

“I put in a good word for you with Katniss too,” I said and kissed his cheek as the door opened, “It was nice to know you Peeta and thank you.”

The guards then took Peeta away and I was alone. I was in the room for a little bit before the door opened to reveal Capitol guards waiting to escort me to the train that would take every tribute to our deaths. As I entered the train, Effie immediately escorted me to my own room and told me to change into something comfortable and to go and explore the train since we would be spending the next couple of days in it. I walked into my room and I was in shock. This room was a lot bigger than any of the houses in the Seam. The bed was huge and everything was digitalized. I walked over to the closet and pressed the buttons until I could figure out an outfit that I wanted to wear. Once I was changed, I left my hair up in the way my mother fixed it and headed out of the room to explore the train. When I opened my door, I saw Gale making his way over to my room. When we saw each other we both rushed over to each other and hugged each other tightly.

“Gale what do we do?” I whispered.

“We’ll figure something out Adyrn,” he said using the nickname he came up with me the second day he officially accepted me as a friend.

We continued to hug in the hallway of the train until we figured we might as well explore the rest of the train. Gale intertwined our fingers together as we explored and by the time it was dinner, we had been through the entire train at least a few times. Gale and I were sitting in the sitting room not talking when Effie walked into the room with this bubbly excitement.

“Dinner’s ready,” she said with a smile and Gale and I slowly followed behind her.

“Shall we show her we have manners or are we going to be barbarians?” Gale whispered in my ear and I had to hold in a giggle.

“Both,” I replied quickly, “first manners then when she makes a comment then we turn into barbarians.”

“Sounds like a great plan of attack,” he replied and we took our spots across from each other.

Haymitch’s spot was empty yet again and I figured that he was still unconscious from his face dive off of the stage earlier this afternoon. When the food came out, I didn’t realize how hungry I was since I hadn’t eaten since this morning when Gale and I had a loaf of bread, blackberries, and the goat cheese Prim made for us. Our soup was full of beef and lots of different type of vegetables; it was incredible. Effie kept telling us that we shouldn’t eat so much because there was more going to come but I was on edge and didn’t know if the Capitol was going to tell us we couldn’t eat when we got to the Capitol just to give the Games an edge. When it came time to the main course, Haymitch had joined us and was still drunk as hell. As Haymitch just shoved the food into his mouth, Effie made a comment that offended all of us.

“I’m so happy that you two have some manners,” she said nonchalantly but looked straight at Haymitch, “Most of the tributes eat with their hands.”

Haymitch, Gale, and I all stopped eating and Effie must have not noticed but we all looked at each other and put down our silverware and started eating with our hands and when Effie looked back up to see us eating with our hands and she cringed. Effie then left and said that she was going to give us time with our mentor. Haymitch won the 50th Hunger Games and has become a mentor for District 12 ever since. A mentor is the person who helps get us sponsors and gives us strategies when we go into arena. They are also the ones who are allowed to give us gifts throughout the Games to help us survive them. When the door closed, we turned to see that Haymitch was passed out on the table.

“Let’s get him back to his room,” I sighed as we stood up and I could feel the richness of the food not mix with my stomach and Gale had the same reaction.

“We gotta lay off of the rich foods,” he said as we both got to Haymitch.

“I agree,” I murmured.

We got both sides of him and lifted Haymitch up and we headed to his room. We got him to the bathroom and we both looked at each other.

“Go to bed Adyrn,” Gale said, “I can take care of him.”

“Are you sure Gale?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said, “and don’t call any of the guards I’ll be fine.”

“Okay,” I said and nodded my head, “Night Gale.”

“Night Adyrn,” he said and I headed to my room.