NOTE: I don't own the Hunger Games… though I would be sooo happy if I did. The characters are mine though! Also... I don't own the picture. The amazing picture that I am using as a cover photo is taken by Tanneke Peetoom... otherwise known as Tanneke Photography. :)
Oh wait! WARNING! This is rated T for a reason! I know… it's hard to believe. It isn't bad yet… but when the games come… or maybe a little before that, you will understand why it is Rated T. I think it might get dangerously close to M… since it might be too violent. I don't think it will though. If you think at anytime that it needs to be changed to M… please PM or review telling me so! Otherwise I will start scaring the random 10 year olds that read this… And disturb you all! So yeah… Thanks!
I hope you enjoy the chapter!
"LACEY! WAKE UP ALREADY"
I snap my eyes open and look around. The colorful field I was in just moments ago (stupid dreams…) is now the dark room that I share with Mabel, my best friend. Her parents died 9 years ago in a forest fire, and even though my family is poor, we let her and her 4 older siblings move in with us. It was very crowded in our house. Our house only has three bedrooms, and there are 10 people living in it. Wait… were 10. The year Mabel's parents died, her older brother was reaped, and her oldest sister, who was 18, volunteered to save Rose, who was 12. They both died in the bloodbath that year, and soon only 8 people lived in our house. Three years later was the 1st quarter quell, and my brother and her older sister were both voted into the Hunger Games…which is odd because no one said that they voted for them … either way the odds weren't in their favors either, since they both drowned when they were trying to escape the careers. Suddenly only 6 people lived in our house. My mom died trying to give birth to Lyla, and my dad was killed for "rebellious acts" It's obvious at this point that they are trying to get rid of our family. Rose, Mabel's last sibling, killed herself the day of the reaping, just knowing that they would call her name, and they did. They quickly sorted it out and reaped someone else, who came out a victor. 3. My older sister is too old to be reaped, being 29, but I am now eligible to be reaped, and I just know that I will be called up onto the stage and put into an arena to die.
What they don't know is that I have trained. At night, when they all think I'm sleeping. I've been training since I was 7, the year my older brother died. I watched him get tortured by the careers, watched him manage to escape, only to drown a minute later. I've practice with every weapon I could get my hands on, climbed every tree I could. I've studied plants during the day and practiced first aid. On the days they make me work in the forests, I get to use an axe, though I pretend to be too weak to pick it up. The peacekeepers hate me, and they all smirk knowingly at me on the reaping day each year.
"-nd then she said that she saved up the money to get us bread! Hey! Were you even listening?" Mabel says.
"No. I honestly wasn't… Why did you wake me up?" I grumble, wiping my eyes so that everything doesn't look blurry.
"Oh… it's the reaping day. You need to get ready." She whispers sadly. She knows that I'm going to get reaped. She is 11, not yet eligible for the reapings, and my sister is too old for them, so that leaves me. I'm the only one eligible, and I need to be killed if the capitol wants our family gone. Sending a child to the Hunger games just makes it less suspicious.
"Right; I guess I have to get ready."
I swing my legs over the side of the bed and sit there for a moment, letting my feet dangle since they can't touch the ground. I stretch and then stand up and walk to the bathroom. I quickly scrub myself clean and rinse my hair. I then dry off and wrap the towel around myself, walking back into my room. When I enter, I notice that Mabel is looking in our closet (we both wear the same size clothes) and has a few dresses in her hand. As soon as I take two steps, she turns to face me, her ponytail falling out and letting her dark brown hair fall straight down her back.
"I already picked out my dress, but we need a dress for you! I was thinking either the light blue one, the pink one, or the white one. They all look so pretty on you! Actually… you should wear the light blue one or the white, they look better on you…. Oh and apparently your sister has your shoes…" She says excitedly, practically pushing the dresses into my hands "try them on already! We don't have all day!"
I nod, looking at the dresses she handed me. I instantly hand her the white one, since I just know that I'd get it dirty. I quickly pull the blue one over my head and walk over to the mirror, but not before doing a little twirl. When I saw myself in the mirror, I gasped, not quite recognizing the person I saw.
The girl I saw staring back at me had light blonde, some would even say platinum, hair that curled into ringlets that just reach her shoulders and are slightly more perfect than mine. The little amount of light in the room made it shine in a way that I didn't know hair could. The eyes that stared back at me were such a pale shade of blue with specks of gold in them. They were my eyes, but they were opened wide with awe, wider than my own eyes ever were. Her lips were a perfect shade of light pink and her skin was flawless and clean, not a speck of dirt in sight. She was short, 4'5 to be exact, and was skinny from being fed so little. She didn't look strong, but I knew she was. In any other clothes, I probably would have known she was me, but it was the dress, one I had never seen before, that made me question her.
The dress had short sleeves that were made of a light material and a square neckline. It was tight up top and flairs out at the waist, stopping just above the knees. Over top of the light material was a thin layer of lace that had a beautiful flower design on it. A white belt separated the upper and lower part, its simplicity only adding to the beauty of the dress.
"Mabel… Where did you get this dress? I've never seen it before." I asked, not taking my eyes off of the girl in the mirror in fear that she would disappear.
"Your sister put it in here this morning. I think it was your mom's first reaping dress…" She replies, whispering the last part. "Speaking of which, you need to go see Emma."
I nod, blinking away the tears that were threatening to fall as I turn away from the mirror and walk down the hall to my sister's room. I take a deep breath before lightly knocking on the door.
"Come In!" I hear, slightly muted.
I slowly open the door and see my sister finish putting up her dirty blonde hair. She turns to face me and smiles sadly, knowing that this could be one of the last times she ever sees me.
"You look so beautiful Lacey! I swear I wish I looked like you." She coos sweetly.
I run the fabric of the dress between my fingers and smile slightly. Everyone is jealous of my sister's wavy dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She is popular and everyone loves her, and yet she wants to look like me.
"You are just saying that," I mumble "Everyone wants to look like you."
"No, I mean it. Anyway, I have your shoes… and I have something else that mom told me to keep for your first reaping, just like that dress" She says as she goes to her closet and pulls out a big box and a smaller box, handing me the bigger one.
When I open the box, I can't help but smile. They are ballet flats. White ballet flats. I can see why I wasn't given them before now; they would have been brown or green! Also inside the box is a piece of paper. I take it out and unfold it slowly.
Lacey,
Well…. If you are reading this, I am no longer with you and it is your first reaping. I always dreaded today. The day your name would be in the reaping ball. You are smart Lacey; you know what the capitol is trying to do to our family. They are trying to get rid of us. Today, you will be reaped, as much as I hate saying that, I know that it is true and I'm sure that you have known for a while now.
You look fragile, small, innocent, sweet, and most of all, you look harmless. They will all underestimate you. Use that to your advantage. Act sweet and girly and frightened. They aren't hard to fool. Don't tell anyone about this plan, they aren't trustworthy. Not even your mentor can know. In training, try to use a weapon, and pretend to fail miserably. Make it seem like you are too weak to even pick up an axe, much less be able to hurt anyone with it. Purposefully look weak in the Private Sessions so that you get a low training score. Only work on your skills at night, when no one is watching. No one will suspect a thing. I know that you have been training at night; I've seen what you can do… But no one else has, keep it that way until you are in the arena, and then try to make so that the only tributes that have seen are dead. If you can, cry during your interview. In the arena, don't go down without a fight. With your skills and the element of surprise on your side, you will be unstoppable.
One last thing, Make the capitol wish that they hadn't made you a tribute. Make them regret it. I know you will find a way to do this. If you won't do it for me, then do it for your siblings, or Mabel's siblings.
I love you so much sweetie! You mean the world to me and I am right here, watching and protecting you.
Mom.
I read the paper once again before folding it up and putting it in my shoe.
"Well… what does it say?" Emma asks curiously.
"It just says that she knew this would happen and that she loves me." I reply, not telling her the whole truth.
She nods before putting the box away and pulling something out of the little box, telling me to close my eyes.
I close my eyes and feel her brush my hair out of the way and place a chain around my neck. I feel something cool resting against my chest bone and I instantly recognize it as the pendant of a necklace. I reach up and touch it, rolling it between my thumb and pointer finger, trying to figure out what it is without opening my eyes.
Emma releases my hair and whispers "You can open your eyes now."
I open my eyes and look in the mirror, my eyes instantly finding the necklace. The chain is a plain silver chain, nothing special there. But the pendant is so… different. It's a corkscrew of blue, white, and green glass that is swirled together. There is also a similar corkscrew but in red, orange, and pink. They twist around each other but do not touch until the end.
Wait… glass? But… I will break it!
As if reading my mind, my sister says "The glass is coated in something that makes it indestructible"
"It's beautiful" I mumble quietly
"Yes it is. We have to get going soon… we don't want you to miss the reapings."
I nod and open my mouth to say something, but am interrupted by a loud knock on the door to our house. I hear Mabel say "I'll get it!" I know who it is, and I don't want her facing them alone, so I run out of Emma's room and down the hall to catch up with Mabel.
"I said I would get it!" She exclaims
"It's the peacekeepers. I don't want you facing them alone." I snap at her.
She nods in understanding as I put on a fake smile and open the door to see what looks to be… 7 peacekeepers? Of course, the regular group they send to retrieve us each year.
"Yes? Oh hey! Great to see you guys again!" I say in a sickeningly sweet voice
"The reapings are going to start soon. You have to go now." The only one without a gun replied.
"Oh they are? Well give us a minute, we gotta go get Emma. You know how she is… always taking forever"
"You both need to go get Emma? No. You will stay here. Mabel can go get Emma."
"Oh… I suppose you are right." I say casually as Mabel walks away to get Emma, "So… how are you guys? Must be tiring preparing for the reapings, I would know; I had to get up at 7 this morning! That's two hours earlier than usual!"
"Well… this year is a big year for you Lacey. It's your first reaping!"
"Yeah I know! I really hope I don't get picked this year! I mean… its soooo unlikely that I will though. My name is only in there 3 times!" I try to keep my tone sweet, but I'm pretty sure some sarcasm got into my voice.
If it did, they didn't catch it. I could see the shock on their faces and hear the two in the back whisper "She doesn't know? Damn she is oblivious!"
Oh I know. I thought and tried to keep the smirk off my face you guys are the only oblivious ones here.
I was about to say something else, but Emma and Mabel came back, so instead I said "Are we ready to go? I just want to get this over with and get back home!"
Again I heard the whispers from the back two, but the shock wasn't as evident on their faces as they nodded. I linked my arm in Mabel's and flashed her a big smile. The Peacekeepers circled around us as the unarmed one led the way.
Well… they are stupid. I could stab him before they could stop me. Too bad I left my knife at home.
As we walked to the reapings, everyone stared at us. I smiled and waved and jumped up and down… which is what they expected me to do. After all, I have a reputation of acting childish. When we reached the town square I skipped, yes skipped into the line to have my finger pricked. I smiled sweetly at the grumpy capitol lady and her eyes widened with shock. She didn't even need to prick my finger to identify me, but she had to so that the computer would. I skipped into the 12 year old pen and was instantly surrounded by people. I talked to them about everything and nothing, keeping the smile on my face and my tone upbeat and happy. I was bubbly and giggly. I'm pretty sure by the time that we had to quiet down; I had talked to everyone in our pen.
The wonderful Capitol escort walked onto the stage. She has been out escort for years now and thinks that we will like her more if she dresses like our district would in the chariots; Trees. She is wearing a weirdly textured brown dress that looks hideous and she died her hair leaf green. I swear she purposefully tries to insult us.
"Hello district 7!" she says in her high pitched voice with her obnoxious Capitol accent. When no one replies, I smile sweetly and yell in a bubbly and energetic voice "Hello! I love your dress!" all the kids around me laugh, knowing that I didn't mean it.
The Capitol escort smiles and looks around our section, trying to find the person that said it. I grin and wave at her, hopping up and down. She waves back and continues to talk about the hunger games and the Capitol and the dark days.
I don't really listen; instead I plan out what I will do when my name is called.
"Ladies first!" she squeals and I have to fight the urge to cringe. She walks over to the reaping ball and plucks a name off the top. The first thing I notice is that the paper is white while the rest are ivory. Could they make it any more obvious that it is rigged? She unfolds the paper and taps the mike before saying the name and letting it ring through the silence
"Lacey Lockhart"
That's my cue, I think as everyone turns to stare at me. I let my face pale and my eyes widen with shock. I stay frozen in place for a second before someone nudges me forward. At this moment, I burst out crying and stumble forward, almost falling over but catching myself at the last moment. I walk up to the stage with my head down, as if I was trying to hide my tears. When I reach the stage, I let out a sob before climbing the stairs and going to stand next to the escort, who puts an arm around me for a second. I cover my face with my hands before wiping my eyes and sniffling. Nice acting I think and try to keep myself from smirking.
"Awww... Its ok sweetie." she says before adding "and now for the boys."
She walks over to the boys reaping ball and picks a random piece of paper up. I notice that this one isn't white, unlike mine.
"Soul Kingston"
A boy steps out of the 18 year old pen and walks confidently to the stage. He smirks at me and looks like he is sizing me up. Well... I must look pretty pathetic because the look in his eyes softens and he gives me a reassuring smile. I smile back sheepishly and blink away the tears in my eyes, keeping them wide so that I appear frightened by Soul.
This boy is BIG! He must be over 6 feet tall and he is so muscular, his arm is as big as my waist! He has brown hair and grey eyes, which have a warm and inviting look in them. He has a few scars on his arm and I'm tempted to ask him how he got them, but that would ruin my act. So instead I let my eyes widen in fear and when the escort tells us to shake hands, I flinch away from him before taking his hand and shaking it. After that we are led into the justice building for our goodbyes before we leave this place for what could very well be forever.
Hey! I'm Shelby… and this is my new story! I hope you like it! My goal is to post a new chapter very often… maybe once a week… But please PLEASE don't kill me if that doesn't happen… school fucking sucks.
Anyway… Thank you for reading… Please review! I'd really appreciate it!