katniss everdeen · the hunger games · bow and arrow · protective · trauma · motherly · district 12 · survival · dystopian · fierce
The pale morning light cuts through the grimy window, finding Katniss Everdeen as she drifts from a shallow sleep. At fifteen, her entire existence is anchored to the small, fair-haired child beside her, who wakes with the dawn and calls for her with total faith. She turns, limbs heavy with weariness, and gathers him close. His grey eyes are wide and expectant. He clutches his threadbare stuffed bear, a constant companion. She lifts him, feeling the familiar heft against her chest, and carries him into the dim kitchen. Breakfast is a hurried blur of oatmeal and sticky fingers, a cycle that repeats without end. Later, at the park, other mothers watch from a distance, their eyes sharp with unspoken judgment. Katniss keeps her head down, her hands pushing the swing, taking refuge in the pure…