“No, no way Rory. It’s too dangerous. If Katniss were here then maybe, but no.” I tell him being very stern.
“Please! I have wanted to go in there forever but I was too afraid to go in alone. Now I have you with me and I’m not afraid anymore.” He says smiling.
“Rory, it’s too dangerous. What if something happens while we are in there? Then what do we do?” I ask him.
“Nothing is going to happen. I promise.” He says.
“Rory-” I start to say but he kisses me, stopping my words. If he thinks this will get him in the forest he is wrong. There is no way. I kiss him back either way. When he finally breaks apart, he says.
“Please Prim.” He is almost begging now.
“Rory, no. We can’t. We can ask Katniss sometime, but not without her.” I say, firmly holding my ground. He looks sad.
“Fine, I’ll see you later Prim.” He says letting go of my hand. He turns for the fence. I stop him.
“Wait, what are you doing?” I ask him.
“I told you, I was always afraid to go in here, but I felt I would be safe with you. I still want to go in, so I guess I will have to go in scared.” He says. He is trying to make me feel bad and go with him, and I think it’s working.
“Rory, please. We can always get Katniss. She will come with us so that way if something does happen, we will have her.” I say.
“No, I’m old enough now and I want to do this. Are you coming or not?” He asks me extending his hand. I sigh and take it.
“Wait, listen?” I say, holding my breath hoping to hear a hum. I don’t.
“The fence isn’t on. It’s okay. Don’t be afraid.” He tells me.
“You don’t want me to be afraid?” I’m a bit offended. “I just got back from the Hunger Games two months ago! How could I be afraid of a froest!?” I exclaim. He looks shocked at my intensity, but his face softens.
“I’m sorry Prim. You’re right. If anyone should be afraid it should be me.” He says sweetly. He leans in to kiss me, but I move.
“Not until we both get out of these woods unharmed, okay?” I say.
“Okay.” He says back. We duck under the whole in the fence, hand in hand, then take off running. I don’t know how he knows his way around if he has never been in here before. Either he is lying to me or he is a fast learner. Natural instincts maybe. I’m not sure. We keep running though, and my side starts hurting. I haven’t run this much since the Games, and even then it wasn’t as much as I’m running now. All of the sudden he stops and smiles at me.
“Look Prim.” He says pointing to a small lake with a deer standing in front of it.
“Don’t move.” I tell him. I turn and run off to the nearest hollow tree. Katniss told me about this lake and where she keeps the bow and arrows nearest to it. She said if you turn from the lake, run about 30 yards; turn right, there is a white sycamore tree with a hollow in it. Reach in there, and you should find a bow. I don’t know why she ever told me this. Maybe she thought it would be useless to me since I would never go into the woods. I don’t think she anticipated for me to go to the Hunger Games and grow use to it. Sleeping and living in a woods for almost 2 weeks has paid off, and I was about to get Rory dinner. I turn right and see the white tree. A song comes to mind. One that I think I heard my father sing and my sister repeat.
Are you, are you
Coming to the Tree.
Where they strung up a man,
They say murdered three.
Strange things did happen here,
No strange would it be.
If we met up at midnight,
In the Hanging Tree.
That song always gave me the creeps. There is more to it, but I get shivers and don’t want to think of it. I reach in the hollow and sure enough, there is a bow with arrows. I grab it and run. Rory stayed in his spot just like I said to. The deer is there too. I draw an arrow and string it. I haven’t held a weapon for a long time, and it feels good. I pull back an aim for the deer’s shoulder. I will probably want to save its life, but I can’t. Gale hasn’t been hunting for a while and they need meat in that house. I aim again and release my grip. It instantly hits the deer and down it came. I smiled and Rory clapped.
“I have never seen you hunt before. Other than on the T.V. but not up close. I like watching you hunt Prim.” He says to me. My smile gets bigger. I lean over and kiss him lightly.
“What happened to no kisses?” He asks me. Grinning of course.
“You deserved one.” I say to him. We both laugh. We walk over to the deer and I pull out the arrow. I watch it take its last breath, and Rory skins it with a knife he has with him. I’m thankful for that. He gets it gutted and skinned and walks over to me. He grabs my hand and we go sit by the lake. It’s really nice today. It’s really hot too. I didn’t realize how much I’m sweating.
“Wanna take a swim Rory?” I ask. He nods. We take off our boots and socks. He removed his shirt and jumps in. Water splashes on me.
“Come in!” He yells with excitement. I do just what he did and jumped into the cool water. It feels good. I poke my head out of the water.
“That was fun!” I say looking around for him. Where did he go?
“Rory?” I say. He doesn’t answer. “Rory!” I yell. “Rory! Where are you Rory!” I splash around in the looking for him. Did he go under and get caught on something? Did he drown? Is he drowning right now? “Rory!” I yell again. BAM! He slashes out of the water from underneath me and I’m on top of his shoulders. He is actually stronger than he looks.
“Put me down right now!” I yell, this is not funny. He sets me down and I expect myself to be mad at him. Instead, I put my arms around him.
“Don’t do that again. I thought something happened to you. I thought you dead or something.” I tell him. He holds me.
“It’s okay. I just wanted to have some fun.” He says.
“Well, can you do it next time without giving me a heart attack?” I ask him. He smiles and nods. Then he kisses me on the cheek.
“It’s time to go.” I tell him. “They will be looking for us.” He looks sad, but he lifts me out of the water and I help him out. We just carry our boots and socks, but he does put on his shirt. Probably don’t want anyone finding us with his shirt missing anyway. We walk through the woods and I realized I still have the bow and arrow. I will just have to let Katniss know it’s in a different spot. She probably won’t be happy I came in the woods without her. We have the deer and are dragging it to the fence. Rory stops.
“Wait right here. I want to get something for you. Close your eyes too. It’s a surprise.” He says smiling. I close my eyes. He walks off. I sit there and wait for his return. I wait 5, 10, and 15 minutes before I finally hear him. But what I do hear is not what I want to. Rory is screaming.
“Prim help!” I hear and take off running in that direction. I knew this would happen.
