37Hey everyone! It's like 11 at night and I'm listening to Miranda Lambert and posting chapter 8! It certainty took long enough and I finally had time! I really want to thank DreamReaderGirl cause she read both my Hunger Games stories and she said she loved them both so thanks so much! And bps1006... ahh your comments :). So yeah I just decided to post this now, don't exactly know how many people will be awake at this hour... well... enjoy! REad and Review!
"Katniss!" We both screamed.
My heart started to pound. What if my sister was dead? The flames that had engulfed her seemed like they could kill. Yet, they seemed to only be covering her legs. She had jumped in water and immediately the embers had demolished. I just couldn't bring myself to believe she was dead. Out of all the things that could kill her I didn't think fire was one of them. As I sat and thought things threw I noticed Gale was a wreck. Hot tears were streaming down his face and he kept mutter Catnip over and over again.
At the sound of the cannon, my mom had walked into the room. "Who… died?" she asked.
"Um," I didn't know what to say. I was afraid if she found out it was Katniss she would go back into her state of depression she was in when my father died.
To my surprise and relief then I noticed the TV for the first time after the cannon fire. The cameras were showing a hovercraft in the air, reaching down to lift up a limp body of a boy. I sighed with relief. It wasn't Katniss who had died; it was a boy from some other district.
"Katniss is alive!" Gale cried. He jumped up and hugged my mother.
"Um," she was a little startled. "She was never dead…"
I didn't want her to worry so I quickly interrupted. "Of course she's fine! Gale's just glad that wasn't her."
Gale realized his over excitement and calmed down. "Er, right." He scratched his head.
Clearly not in our favor at the moment, the cameras flashed to Katniss. There was no way I could fool my mother into believing she was ok. Katniss was lying in a pool of water. Her eyes open but stiff with pain. She had her leg laid carefully in the cool, blue water. Even from the TV screen the burn looked bad. It looked as though half of her calf was charred off. It was red and black mixed together and very swollen.
"Katniss!" my mother ran to the television screen and put her hand on it. "She's hurt! Look at her leg! It's terribly burnt! Prim what happened?"
"Um, nothing bad," I tried to lie. "You know, probably looks worse than it is…"
"Prim," My mother looked at me, dead serious. "WHAT HAPPENED?"
Gale, seeing I was speechless, explained. "Well, Mrs. Everdeen, the game makers threw some fireballs into the game and one of them caught Katniss."
"Fire balls? The game makers sent them? Oh of course, they wanted some action. They're horrible people!"
"I know," Gale soothed. "But Katniss will be ok."
"We must send medicine or something!" cried my mother.
I finally found my voice. "Yes! We could!"
"But the proper medicine is expensive to treat a burn like that," my mom was deep in thought. "The bird! Gale the bird you gave us for dinner! We can live a night with just vegetables."
"Are you sure…"
"Of course I'm sure, Gale." She looked at me. "Faith, honey, the bird is on the kitchen table. Run, hurry. Take it to Greasy Sae's and ask her for some money for it."
I nodded without a word and ran to the kitchen. I took a small cloth bag and stuffed the bird inside. It was heavy. It would get us enough money to pitch in. Hopefully other sponsors would contribute. I ran like lightening into the Black Market and didn't even bother to stop until I got to Greasy Sae's. I knocked on her door.
"Coming!" She called. I heard her waddling to the door. The door flew open. "Hiya Prim."
"Hi," I gave a quick smile. "How much will you pay me for this bird?"
She took the animal out of my bag and examined it. "Hmm, decent. You want cold, hard cash for this hear bird?"
"Yes please," I heard her TV in the background. Obviously she was watching the Hunger Games.
"How 'bout fifteen?"
"Fifteen," My face paled. Fifteen wasn't nearly enough to pay for good medicine. It barely even contributed a little bit.
Greasy Sae saw my face. "Is the money for your sister?"
I nodded.
"I'll tell you what. Katniss is a nice girl and I'd like to do anything I can to help her with the games. How 'bout forty."
"Forty!" I almost thought she was joking. "Really?"
"Yup," she smiled and handed me the money.
I took it with hastiness. "Are you sure?"
"Take the money, girl!" she laughed. "I'd love to help sponsor your sister. So she had a chance…."
"So she can win!" I corrected finding new confidence.
Greasy Sae looked at me sadly. "Maybe, child."
I thanked her quickly and left. I skipped down the empty streets and went straight into the Hawthorne's house. "Mrs. Hawthorne!" I called with happiness."
She ran into the room and hugged me. "Prim, how are you?"
"Great!" I cried. "Look! I have sponsor money! It's for medicine for Katniss!"
She gave a sad smile. "Yes, I saw Katniss was badly burnt."
"But look! Look at how much Greasy Sae gave me! It's more than half the amount of money needed to get Katniss the right medicine for her burn!" I danced around the small kitchen.
Mrs. Hawthorne took the money. "Alright Prim, I'll send it to the Capitol immediately."
I danced around one last time and left with a quick goodbye. I had to get back home to see the look on Katniss's face when she would receive the small parachute of healing cream. I ran through the streets, the sun seeming brighter than usual. I burst into the front door of our house.
"Mom!" Gale!" I shouted merrily. "Greasy Sae gave me forty for the sponsor money!"
"Forty!" my mom cried and hugged me weakly. "You did it Prim, you helped your sister."
"Yep!" I smiled, feeling like a giddy little girl again.
Gale came over and ruffled my hair. "Catnip will be alright now."
"When will a hovercraft come to collect the money?" I asked eagerly.
"As soon as Mrs. Hawthorne calls the Capitol," my mom replied.
"She looked like she was about to call when I was leaving. The parachute will get to Katniss soon."
We all walked to the couch, anticipated for the moment when Katniss would get the special medicine. Rue was still working on her tree strategies. Peeta was still running around with four careers. There was a district eleven boy who was alone and alive and a girl who seemed very good at sneaking around. There were about three big guys with a camp full of food and supplies. They looked tough. Katniss was half walking-half crawling toward a tree. She was trying to get to safety. Even I knew she was too vulnerable on the ground. I hoped the parachute would come to her soon.
Katniss was carefully settling in to a top branch on a tree. She had stiffly and painfully managed to climb up the branches. By this point I thought not enough money had been donated. I started to lose hope. What if the medicine never came?
Gale seemed to see my distress because he smiled reassuringly. "It'll get to her."
Sure enough a little while parachute eventually did land next to my sister. She looked happy and relieved. She rubbed it all over her burnt leg and immediately relief washed over her pale face. Now I knew she would be ok. This was the first time I was absolutely sure of it.
"You're welcome, Katniss," I whispered. She probably didn't hear me but one of these days, when she came home, I would tell her and she would thank me. She would know who really sent her first parachute.
Hope you liked it! This one didn't really end with a cliffhanger. Please review they make my whole day! SO yeah I should probably get some sleep now... but review revIEW REVIEW! Thanks!:)