Audiobook - Young Adult - Jessica Scholl

Transcript

Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
Hey, this is Jessica Shoal. When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold, my finger stretch out seeking Prem's warmth but finding only the rough canvas cover of the mattress. She must have had bad dreams and climbed in with her mother. Of course she did this. The day of the Reaping, I prop myself up on one elbow. There's enough light in the bedroom to see them. My little sister, prim, curled up on her side, cocooned in my mother's body, their cheeks pressed together in sleep. My mother looks younger, still worn, but not so beaten down. Promes faces as fresh as a raindrop as lovely as the primrose for which she was named. My mother was very beautiful ones, too. Or so they tell me, sitting at Crimson ease, guarding her is the world's ugliest cat, mashed in knows half of one year missing eyes the color of rotting squash. Prove named him buttercup, insisting that his muddy yellow color coat matched the bright flower. He hates me, or at least distrusts me. Even though it was years ago, I think he still remembers how he tried to drown him in a bucket when Prin brought him home scrawny kitten, belly swollen with worms crawling with fleas. The last thing I needed was another mouth to feed. But Prim begged so hard, cried even. I had to let him stay. It turned out okay. My mother got rid of the vermin and he's a born mouser even catches the occasional rat. Sometimes when I clean a kill, I feed Buttercup the entrails. He has stopped hissing at me and trails no hissing. This is the closest we will ever come to love.