Chapter 1~
"And you're not even a little bit scared?" Grace asks, threading one daisy into another, making a daisy chain. "Not particularly." I shrug, placing another apple into my basket. Grace laughs and shakes her head. "I'm terrified!" she admits, placing the finished daisy chain onto Bea's head, who frowns and swats it off immediately. I pick another apple and look down at Grace, smiling. "Don't be. It's your first reaping, and you've only put your name in once." Grace shrugs and yawns. She scrunches her eyes up and uses her hand to block the sunlight. It's spring, and it's pleasantly warm with a cool breeze sweeping throughout District 9. Fresh fruit doesn't usually grow here, only the first few weeks of spring, but Nathaniel's being doing this ever since Father died, he knows all the right times.
"So, how come you're not scared?" Grace asks, lying down in the grass and propping herself up with her elbows. "Well, I've been doing this for 5 years, you just get used to it I guess." And in honestly, it would just be another way to die.
Nathaniel's the oldest of us 4; he's 19 and works in the fields. Then there's me, Ava. I'm 17, and finished school at 15 to look after Bea. Grace is 12, and today is her first reaping. Finally, there's Bea. She's only 2 and has a different Father to the rest of us. Father died 8 years ago. Mother slinked into depression, and suddenly 11 year old Nathaniel had to keep us 4 alive. 2 years ago Mother got pregnant with Bea, and even that didn't wake her up from the sadness which wraps around her like a cloak. Illnesses have came and gone, and one night Grace was so close to dying. Sometimes we don't eat for days, and once the authorities came round. I'm not fazed about the Games, I've faced death nearly every day and I'm still alive.
When my basket is overfilling with apples, I climb down from the tree, hand the basket to Grace, pick up Bea and we go home. It's 11 in the morning, the Reaping is in half an hour. Nathaniel's already home, washed and dressed, and he's brushing out Mother's hair. He looks up when we enter and smiles, taking Bea from me. Grace and I go up to the room we share with Bea. She originally slept in Mother's room, but when she wet herself during the night, Mother never tended to her, so we decided it would be better for her to be with us.
Grace gets changed quickly into a blue dress and brushes her hair, humming to herself. I change into a white blouse and blue skirt, and then I look into the mirror. Grace gets all the good genes, she has blonde hair that falls to her waist, bright green eyes that go a shade of blue in the sunlight, tanned skin and soft features. I am pale and go freckly in the summer, with grey eyes and brown hair. Grace looks up at me and grins. "Shall we go?" I nod and take her hand, leading her downstairs. Nathaniel is holding Bea, who is drifting asleep. "Bye Mother." Nathaniel says sharply, glaring at her. Her eyes flicker up to us but then back down to the table. "Right." Nat growls and steps outside. "Nathaniel," I begin, but he turns around and throws his hands up. "Eight years, Ava. It's been eight years and she still won't take care of us." He snaps, his grey eyes darkening.
"If you died I would never get over it, let alone in eight years." I hiss, glaring at him. He just stares at me and then turns around, walking away. We often have these arguments. Nat hates Mother, hates her for abandoning us, he hates her for 'not caring'. I growl in frustration and walk quickly to catch up with him. Grace runs after me and threads her fingers through Nat's. He smiles down at her and squeezes her hand. We reach the Town Square, and Nat quickly gives Grace a hug. Then he disappears somewhere with Ava.
Grace and I line up by the desk, and she clutches onto my arm so tight I can't feel it. "You won't get picked, trust me Gracie." She nods and sticks her arm out as the Peacekeeper draws her blood. She lets out a gasp of pain, and I watch as tears prick her eyes. Once my bloods been taken I enclose Grace in a hug, crouch down and put my hands on her shoulders. "Hey, Gracie it'll be fine. I promise! Meet me here again after the reaping, and we'll go home and have lunch. Okay?" she nods and catches sign of a friend. I watch as they both walk off, arms linked, to the 12 year old section.
In the 17 year old section, I find myself next to a classmate I rarely speak too. We exchange smiles and wish each other luck before the one and only Jade Pride comes on stage. Capitol citizens have a tendency to dress a bit…eccentric, but Jade is something else. She is green, there's no other way to describe it. Luminous green eyes and hair, pale green skin and forest green shoes and dress - it hurts your eyes to look at her.
"District 9 - welcome! Welcome to the Reaping of the 37th Hunger Games!" she cries, in a voice surprisingly high. It makes the four people sat in chairs behind her cringe. One is Mayor L. Mark, an ancient man, who has no idea how to run a district. Then are our 3 Victors. Kian Barley, Harvey Keaton and Isabella Martin. Kian and Harvey, are cousins, Kian won the 19th and Harvey the 20th. Both are in the mid 20's, and not much to look at. Isabella won the 32nd, and she's in her early 20's. All 3 look tired and fed up, as if they already know we're not going to win this year.
Jade makes some speech about pride and honour which nobody listens to, and then she clears her throat. "And now, for our tributes." She goes over to the female bowl first, and a hush settles over the whole crowd. She picks a slip of paper and walks back to the stage, making the whole progress painfully slow. I bite my lip - my names in there 45 times. Nathaniel was furious when he found out, but we were starving and poor, so I had to take the tesserae. Jade slowly unfolds the paper, and reads the name.
"Ava-Lee Willows."
I can't breathe. It feels like someone's hugging me too tight and all the airs gone out my lungs. The girl stood next to me turns to me, a look of sadness in her eyes. I take a shaky step out of the area and walk slowly up to the stage. I pass Grace, but I don't look at her. Jade takes my hand and smiles at me. "Ava-L-," she begins. "Ava. Just Ava, please." I murmur, and Jade nods. "Yes, of course. And now, onto the boys!"
I try not to cry. I take deep breaths and I pinch the skin on my hand, and I try not to cry. Jade calls out the boys name, and it's an 18 year old named Isaac Thorn. He was in my sport class, I think. Strong and fast, he could easily win.
When we turn to shake hands, he looks me dead in the eye and smiles.
"Ladies and Gentlemen of Distrcit 9, your tributes - Ava Willows and Isaac Thorn!"
A/N
Hope you enjoyed chapter 1! Tell me what you think?