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The old woman sat in her rocking chair by the warm stone hearth, watching her granddaughter read a book near the fire. It was a peaceful moment, and the woman closed her eyes, and leaned her head back. It was one of the good things in living in District Seven, it had none of the hustle and bustle of the other districts. It was quiet. The only sound was the rock of her chair, the turn of pages and the crackle of fire. But too soon, the silence was broken.

"Grandma, what were the Hunger Games?"

The old woman's eyes flew open with shock, then she sighed. It wasn't inevitable, she thought to herself sadly. She was bound to ask some time.

"They were a punishment," the women began slowly, cringing. "A punishment for uprising against the Capitol. They used to rule over us. They had every sort of luxury you could imagine, while half of the nation was starving. Every year, 24 children, two from each district, a boy and a girl, were sent out to the Capitol, where they would fight to the death, until only one of them was left."

The girl looked shocked. "But how did they stop, Grandma?"

"One year, a girl from District Twelve was chosen. Her name was Primrose. She was only twelve. But her sister Katniss volunteered for her. Everyone thought she would die, because District Twelve wasn't known for winning the games. But she ended up winning, and she wasn't alone. You see, she and the boy tribute from her district, Peeta, had pretended to be in love so they could get sponsers. They ended up being the last ones left, and instead of killing each other, they took poisonous berries and threatened to kill themselves with it. They both were allowed to win."

The old woman took a breath. Her granddaughter looked frightened.

"The President of Panem was not happy with that. To him, it was a signal of defiance, of rebellion. So the next year, it was the Quarter Quell. Which happened every twenty-five years. So for that Quarter Quell, he had the victors of previous Games go back into the arena. Katniss was included. Everyone thought she would die. But she didn't. She was taken by District Thirteen from the arena. But Peeta was not. He was taken prisoner by the Capitol, to be used as bait. But eventually, they got him back. Katniss and Peeta and many others ended up storming into the Capitol to fight. Many of them died. But the Districts won, and the Hunger Games no longer exist any more."

The girl clutched at her book like a life-line. "Is she still alive? Katniss?"

The woman nodded. "Yes, but she's around my age, more or less. She has children, and grandchildren, just like me."

The girl looked up at her grandmother, and yawned. "I'm tired," she said.

The woman slowly rose to her feet, and took the young girl to her room, where she changed into her night clothes and crawled into bed. The woman sat on the edge of the bed, her hand brushing the girl's forhead. All was quiet once again. Then, Madge began singing.

"Deep in the meadow, under the willow...."