Ariel's POV:
I wake up groggily.
My face is lodged in my cold pillow, red hair spread out around me.
I'm Ariel of district 4, fishing.
With a pang I remember the date. It's the reaping day. I'm 16 and I'm usually very curious, but not today.
Since I'm 16, I can still be picked to be a tribute, as they pick people from 12 to 23. I have 6 older sisters, Attina, Aquata, Andrina, Adella, Arista and Alana who can all also be picked.
I sit up and stare around at my sisters who are all awake. Yeah, 4 is a career district, but that doesn't mean I like it. A lot do, though.
"Ariel," Attina, the oldest at twenty one, says quietly "get dressed, the reapings are starting soon."
I don't need telling, that is the only thing I can think of.
There is a stale salty sea smell in the air and I yawn. From out of the dresser I take an old turquoise dress with a small mermaid tail. I strip off my night clothes and put it on, having to twist it around because I put it on backwards. "You look beautiful" Arista smiles "You too, all of you do," I reply, staring at all of my sisters beautiful outfits and perfectly done hair. They all thank me genuinely. I ramble into the bathroom, looking at my face with disdain. My hair, ruby red, is sticking out in all directions. I take my toothbrush and slowly brush my teeth. I wash my face with some cool water from a basin on the left side of the trash, slow. Although you might think otherwise in district 4, which has sea water everywhere, water is as scarce as the next district.
My brush is running through my hair, snagging knots every two seconds. My thick hair is very knotty. After I feel presentable enough -I honestly don't care too too much about appearances- I walk out of the small bathroom.
After saying goodbye to my father, who'll come along eventually but has to get something done first, I step outside.
It's a cloudy and grey dark day, and gulls circle overhead. I'm still sleepy, but the looming threat of being picked overwhelms my brain like an ear-worm. District 4 has a lot of music in it's roots, fishing songs and sea shanties. Out of all the things I love, I love music. My voice is the one thing I treasure about myself (not including my collection of rare items). It's what keeps me from going insane in this one place. Admittedly, I haven't ever left district 4.
My many sisters and I, with me at the front, walk down a forest-sided pathway that eventually opens out onto a wooden dock. The dock is more like a bridge that leads from out side to the city square.
The square is very big, (and right now packed to it's full capacity) with small little broken shops making a plaza of sorts around it. I hate this place. The whole district, I mean. I want to live, explore, go to a different district and smell something other then seaweed!
Through the masses of people I walk up to a man sitting at a seat and a desk next to others, who pricks my finger and draws out blood, then I stamp my finger on the paper consenting you. I would be entered three times, I mean they would put my name into the glass ball three times usually, but a week before they took our tesserae and I entered 7, when I would have only needed to enter 3; we have a large family to feed.
Thousands of people, the whole district, gather around the wooden stage where a posh young woman is standing. On top of the buildings and on the sidelines camera men wait, positioned to record our every move. This is being broadcasted live throughout all the districts, and I shift around.
I can feel tension brewing in the air, good and bad vibes.
Now the mayor steps up to the wooden podium and takes out a large stack of paper. He reads the history of Disney, the valiant country that prevailed and defiantly 'rose out of the ashes' of a place that was called Germany before. He lists the countless deaths, the endless struggle, the hurricanes, the poverty, the tsunami that destroyed huge parts of the world. The result from all that was Disney, a Kingdom ringed by thirteen districts, which brought peace and prosperity to its citizens. Then there were Dark Days, the uprising of the districts against the Kingdom. Twelve districts were defeated, the thirteenth destroyed.
The Treaty of Treason gave us the new laws to guarantee peace and, as our yearly reminder that the Dark Days must never be repeated, it gave us the Disney Games. I'm so glad I never lived through that period. But is this really better?
The rules of the Disney Games are simple. In punishment for the past uprising, each of the twelve districts must give one girl and one boy, called tributes, to the Kingdom to participate. The twenty-four tributes will be forced into a huge arena that could hold anything from a lethal wasteland to a deadly forest. Over a time period, a month to a week or two, they fight it out until one tribute is left standing. Simple, see? This is how the Kingdom reminds us of our past failures, and how they warn us we'll all die if we try it again.
"C'mon, gather round y'all! It's time for the reapings to begin!" The woman on the stage says cheerily in her new-orleans accent, wearing the most ridiculous outfit I've ever seen. She has on a huge amount of pink eyeshadow on and fake eyelashes. Her pink dress is huge, poofy, magenta and encrusted with crystals- It's also about three times as wide as her body. Her blonde hair is glossed back under her giant flowery pink sun hat. Kingdom fashions are horrible, but her skin is thankfully free of dye.
We stare up at the happy woman seriously. If there was a time to smile it isn't now. "Hello y'all, and happy Disney Games! May the odds be ever in your favour!"
We clap a bit, it's only polite, they say.
"I'm Charlotte Lebouff!" She smiles broadly "Now, we have to pick one young man and woman to fight in the 90th annual Disney games! Yay! Lets start with girls, shall we?"
She walks over to a big glass ball full of paper. I'm not expecting to be picked out of the thousands of slips, there's only a remote chance, but it's still there. She reaches into the ball.
I'm more scared for my sisters. I love them and I don't want anything to happen to them. I remember the time I turned 12, everyone was worried for me, they made me not put in any extra tessera but I did in secret. Dad found out later and was very disappointed in me. Sometimes that's even worse then him being mad. Eventually, after I apologized, I was only trying to help them, he forgave me but told me not to do it again.
Charlotte fumbles around blindly in the sea of papers, biting her lip. It's almost like she's trying to find the one that feels right. It takes about twenty seconds until she picks one.
"Oh, okay, here it goes!" She squeals, taking her hand out and raising it up to her eyes.
"Adrina Atlanica!" She says.
It can't be.
Adrina is maybe the sister I'm the very closest to. I love her. We would always play together, being to the two younger sisters of the group. We were once caught by the authority sneaking into the water, but the peacekeeper happened to be nice, and just got us out before anyone else would see. That was an amazing thing to do as we don't have lax security here. He was one in a million.
Everyone claps and smiles, oh yeah, lucky her!
"Come on up!" Charlotte says.
"ADRINA!" I scream, not even checking to see my other sisters reactions.
My sister glances back at me with a pleading look. The usual jokester has nothing to joke about now. The people part to form a line for her to walk down. She holds up her head in dignity and ascends the stairs, then stands next to Charlotte.
No. I won't let it happen.
"Please! I volunteer as tribute!" I shout, raising my hand before I even know what I'm doing. The crowd looks on in surprise. In our district, volunteering isn't usually done. I scream and start running up through the line of people. Some peacekeepers from the Kingdom hold me back. I begin crying softly as I thrash pointlessly in their arms.
Charlotte stares in surprise. Adrina looks heartbroken but at this moment I don't care.
"Oh- I-" Charlotte stutters "Well... come on up dear" She says. The peacekeepers release me and I stand next to Adrina. "You don't need to do this!" Adrina whispers urgently "But I am" I reply stubbornly. Tears begin streaking down her face too as she is pulled away by the peacekeepers.
"I love you!" She shouts.
I look at my other sisters, and at my father in the back. Devastated. It's been said before that I'm stubborn and act without thinking. That I don't make good decisions. They're right, but I can't let Adrina go into those games.
"What's your name?" Charlotte asks "I'm Ariel Atlantica... that was my sister!" I say loudly between sobs.
I cry silently. She tries to comfort me, something I'm really happy she did. It makes me feel maybe a bit better. More clapping. "So um, now onto the boys!"
I can't think. My brain is fuzzed. Just last night I was with my friends, in school, playing, laughing. We snuck over the railings and took a illegal swim in the water. A stupid thing to do but we aren't exactly conscious of the consequences.
Charlotte walks over to a second ball and does the exact same thing she did to the girls one. When she picks the paper she raises it up to the mellow sun.
"Eric Chillon!"
I know him. All too well. We go to school together and I have... a big crush on him.
Call it what you like, but it's not a school girls simple affection, and out of all the thousands of men in the whole of district four it's Eric.
Eric's handsome, he's a great and popular fisherman with jet black hair... I think he may like me back, but I can't care about how much I like people in the games... not now.
I see his friend standing petrified as he walks up onto the other side of Charlotte.
"Well, here we are, district four's tributes!"
We all hold hands and raise them into the air. They clap halfheartedly. Again.
I give Eric a sad look but he returns it with an uplifting smile of hope.
I can't kill him, and I can't let him die.
But there's no way out by this point.
"Go on, shake hands you two" Charlotte smiles. Eric extends his hand and I put out my small one. His hand is warm and inviting as I shake it, and I don't want to stop. It's a bit of comfort.
"Happy disney games! And may the odds be ever in you favour!"