A scream awakes me; I snap up and turn my head directly at the sound. It's my little sister, Lily, sobbing loudly and squeezing the hem of her cotton blanket. I quickly stand up and dash to her bed concerned. I sit down and wrap my arms around her protectively. Still she is sobbing and it breaks my heart to see her like this. "No! No! No!" Lily shouts at the top of her lungs.
"Lily…shhh…Lily. It's just a dream. It's just a dream. It's ok." I soothe caressing her smooth blonde hair. She seems to calm down after a couple of minutes of me running my fingers throughout her hair. Finally after a couple of minutes she whimpers through her hair, "It was me."
"Lily, your name is only in there once, they're not gonna pick you." I mumble softly kissing the top of her head. She is shaking hard at the thought of her being reaped to the Capitol to fight in Panem's annual pageant called The Hunger Games. She has every right to be afraid; the Hunger Games is basically a reminder of the Dark Days from those who were strong and courageous through those days. Now today is the seventy-fourth year and its Lily's first year of being in the glass ball that has every girl's name in District Twelve in it. Same goes for the boys. But they pick young men and women between the ages of 12 and 18 to fight to the death in an arena where only one come out alive out of twenty-four tributes.
"Try to go back to sleep." I murmur against her hair.
She shakes her head slowly. "I can't."
"Just try."
Her small hands cup around my ear and she asks me to sing for her. I nod. She lays back down into her bed and I clear my throat. "Deep in the meadow, under the willow, a bed of grass, a soft green pillow…" I begin softly caressing her hair. Soon Lily starts to stay in sync with me. "See, you know the song." I smile. She returns the grin and I turn to get up to leave. Her eyes turn worried. "Where are you going Ally?" She asks. I shake my head. "I'll be back. Just go to sleep. I love you." Slowly, Lily nods with a smile on her lips and falls back into a deep sleep as I get ready. Soundless, I put on my father's leather jacket, a shirt underneath, comfortable pants and my worn hunting boots. I put my hair into a back braid and grab my game bag.
I hear a hiss directed towards me and I whip towards the noise. My eyes turn to glare at the scruffy, messed up cat named Buttercup. Lily is all about home economics and saving the world and its animals. But one day I had found him in the streets with a messed up ear, rough, black fur and big, bright ugly yellow eyes. Lily begged me to save that cat. I couldn't say no to her so before I knew it, Lily named it Buttercup and they have a really good relationship to this day. Buttercup purrs whenever Lily brings him into bed with her and slowly, they fall fast asleep, it's adorable, except without that disgusting cat in the picture.
Buttercup hisses again and I scoff. "I'll still cook you." Me and Buttercup don't have a really good relationship but if it means keeping Lily happy. I bet Buttercup feels the same way.
I walk outside closing the rigid door seeing kids bathing for the Reaping today. I skip towards the electric fence that fences District Twelve. I listen for the buzzing and it's not there, whenever it's buzzing, it means it's on and I cannot trespass. I go under and walk towards my tree, the one with the bag of arrows and my bow in the hiding out in the hole.
Quickly, I snatch it out of the tree and put an arrow in waiting for game to come along. Something catches my eye when I see a deer, its curious eyes probably looking for food as well. I point my dad's bow towards the game and breathe. It helps me concentrate on my target; it's a little something my father taught me when I was Lily's age.
It runs off and I follow it trying to be as silent as I can. To trick it, I use my slingshot to hit the belly of the tree and scare it off. It skips off and I again follow it, ready to aim, I got it right in the face so it'll go down nice and easy. I am about to release the arrow until…
"What are you going to do with it when you catch it?" A voice asks startling both me and the deer. I try to make a shot and get the deer injured so I can catch up to it but it dashes off before I can shoot. "Damn you Dallas! It's not funny!" I shout pretty angry as Dallas is laughing. "Well what were you going to do with it, Alls? The place is crawling with peacekeepers."
"I was going to sell it to some peacekeepers." I mumble and Dallas chuckles once more.
"Well it's not that you don't sell to peacekeepers." I answer defensively.
"No, not today!" He says.
"That was the first deer I've seen in months, now I have nothing." I frown at him and I could see guilt in his eyes.
Suddenly, he picks up a rock and throws it towards the tips of a tree and some birds fly out hoping to get away. Instinctively, I put my arrow in the bow and shoot catching a bird off guard getting it to the ground. I giggle and Dallas grins giving me Goosebumps on my arms.
A loud noise rumbles against the trees and birds are squawking loudly. Dallas gives me a light shove to underneath a rock boulder and I follow his lead. Darkness surrounds us and I give Dallas a look of annoyance. It's the hovercraft. The Hunger Games are here.
Dallas and I were at our hill, hanging out, just talking about today and some other stuff.
"What if they did? What if they just stopped watching?" Dallas asks. I roll my eyes.
"They won't, Dallas. It's way too engrossing."
"What if they did? What if we did just for one year?" Dallas questions again.
"Not going to happen." I say.
"They root for their favorites, they cry when they get killed, it's sick." Dallas snaps.
"Dallas." I say warningly. If people hear us, we are going to be killed. You'd be surprised how fast news spread, if it was that fast, we'd both be dead in an instant.
"If no one watches, then they don't have a game," says Dallas. I look at him seeing how disgusted he is by the fact of the Hunger Games.
"It's as simple as that." He finishes. My lips curve up into a smile about how Dallas is talking and talking about this.
"What?"
"Nothing." I say biting my lip preventing a smile. He turns away. "Fine, laugh at me."
"I'm not laughing." I defend myself and let out a giggle, even Dallas realized how ridiculous he is being and smiles. After a minute of two of silence between me and Dallas, Dallas looks at me hesitantly. "We could do it you know?"
I look at Dallas and his face was dead serious, no hint of a jokingly face that he always uses.
"Take off, live in the woods. It's what we do anyways." says Dallas.
"They'd catch us." I say.
"Well maybe not." He says.
I scoff. "Cut out our tongues, or worse. We wouldn't make it five miles, even if we tried."
"No I'd get five miles. I'd go that way." says Dallas pointing to the far end of the forest and from the way he'd said it, I can tell he really means it.
I roll my eyes again. "I have Lily and you have your brothers and sister."
"Well, they can come too." Dallas says.
I chuckle, "Lily in the woods?" Lily is not the type to be in the woods. Dallas snorts and nods.
"Or maybe not."
If we did, take off, then we'd have to handle all of Dallas's siblings and my Lily, and our parents. It'd be a hassle, so much work, so much food for everyone, it just wouldn't work.
"I'm never having kids." I blurt out.
"I might, if I didn't live here in Twelve." says Dallas staring off in the distance.
"But you do."
"I know but if I didn't." snaps Dallas. I sit there and look at him scanning his features and I hate to admit this at a time like this but he has very strong features about him, his hair, his ravishing brown eyes, pink lips.
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot." Dallas says pulling something from his sack. "Here, take this."
Immediately, I sit up smelling fresh bread. "Oh, my god! Dallas, is this real?" I snatch the small piece of loaf in his hands and rip it open; making sure it's not a joke or something. Bread isn't the easiest thing everyone can buy; it's a lot more expensive since it's fresh every time.
"Better be, cost me a squirrel." I smell the insides, warmth fills my nostrils and I smile.
"Happy Hunger Games." Dallas muses and I laugh.
"And may the odds be ever in your favor." I say using my best Capitol accent to mock Ms. Effie Trinket, the Capitol lady who does The Reaping's. My teeth sink into the soft, fluffy bread that cost Dallas a squirrel. It's only the size of my palm, but it's worth it because my taste buds are begging for more. But then I think about today, Reaping Day. How many times is his name in the bowl?
"Forty-two." Dallas says and I realize I must've said it aloud.
"The odds aren't exactly in my favor, I guess." He mumbles. I look at him with sympathetic eyes but then I force my eyes to look down, I wouldn't want to make him feel bad. I mean, if he did the same to me, I would feel terrible.
I am at the black market, giving some coins for yarn so Lily can use it. "Thank you, girl." Greasy Sae smiles and I nod.
"M-hm."
I rummage through the beads in her basket; something shines throughout all the others, like a very shiny yellow whilst the other beads are coal black or a dark brown. My fingers find a pin, with a bird on it, its gold and hanging on an arrow. "What's this?" I ask. Greasy Sae puts her fingers up to her chin thinking until her eyes light up.
"That's uh, a mockingjay." She answers. I hesitate whether to get it or not.
"How much?" I ask after a minute.
She gives a wave of her hand, shaking her head and gives me a generous grin. "It's yours, you keep it."
"Thank you." I beam admiring the mocking jay. Back then, the jabberjay's were used as a weapon to spy and when the Capitol found out, they killed all the jabberjay's except one. That one jabberjay mated with a mocking bird and soon, a new species was created. The mockingjays.
When I get home, Lily is dressed up in the white blouse and yellow skirt I wore to my first reaping, a hand me down from…me. Her blonde hair was braided into two separate ones, and she was adorable with her brown boots. "Look at you!" I exclaim.
"You are beautiful." Lily grins at me. "But you better tuck in that tail, little duck." I tease pushing the hem of her blouse back into her skirt. Lily giggles.
"I put something out for you too." a soft voice says. My mother. I feel my smile fade but regain it as soon as I realize Lily is in front of me.
"Okay." I say.
I get into the tub and grab the cloth. I wash everywhere, between my toes, in my fingernails, and rinse my face with water. After I'm done, I walk into my room naked seeing the pale blue dress laid out neatly at the edge of my bed. I stare at it, is she sure she wants me to wear it? This dress was when my mom was my age; it's very valuable to her because it reminds her of her past, of being free and young.
I slip it on and stare at myself in the mirror. It's nice, it's beautiful but the bland look on my face ruins it. My mother comes in to do my hair, and after fifteen minutes, my hair is neatly braided into a nice circle around my scalp but some bangs slipped off and fell to the borders of my face.
"Now you look beautiful, too." My mother softly says.
"Wish I looked like you." Lily says keeping her eyes glued to the floor. I walk over to her.
"No, I wish I looked like you, little duck." I adjusted the collar on her blouse and as soon as I said that, the horn rings outside. That means it's time for Reaping. Lily's face froze, and my jaws clenched. Anxiety was on my mother's, Lily's and my mind. I know it.
"Hey, want to see what I got for you today?" I ask Lily and her face beams. I pull it off the shelf and put it into Lily's small palm. "It's a Mockingjay pin. To protect you," Lily stares at it and I continue. "As long as you have it, nothing bad will happen to you." After hearing that, Lily tightens her grip on it frightened. "Okay? I promise." She nods her head and I hear the horn again. Lily hugs me and I hug her too, I rub my hand on her soft hair, slowly. "Come on, we have to go now." I say softly and we walk out the door holding hands, never letting go.
We break the sync of movement as Lily stops and panics. I forgot to explain to her that the Peacekeepers take blood from our fingers to make sure we are still qualified to enter the games. Tears flood down her face and I wipe them off with my thumbs. "Shh, shh, Lily, it's okay, it's okay." Lily nods.
"Okay, it's time to sign in now, Okay?" She is having trouble breathing.
"They're just going to prick your finger to take a little bit of blood." I explain.
"You didn't say anything…" Lily begins and I nod my head. "I know. It doesn't hurt much, only a little."
I wipe the rest of her tears with my thumb again. "Okay? Just go sit down with the little kids and I will find you after, okay?" I say worriedly. Lily walks into line with the other twelve year olds and I can see that they are ready to prick her finger. Lily winces and the Peacekeeper tells her to go, Lily does so and walks in line with the other kids like I told her.
"Next!" The lady Peacekeeper calls and she pricks my finger as I keep my eyes on the lookout for blonde hair and a duck tail. The big screen in the town square is clearly recording our reaping so everyone knows how the tributes were reaped. "Next!" The lady Peacekeeper says again and I run off searching for Lily but we are put in order of girls on one side and boys on the other in order of our age. The mayor, Effie Trinket and some other pale people walk out of the Justice Building.
I turn my head with wandering eyes only to see Dallas. I give him a scared face because of my worry for Lily and he shakes his head subtly. It's okay. He mouths to me and I nod to him. Effie Trinket and her big, pink hair walk up to the podium, she taps her deep purple glove on the microphone. "Welcome! Welcome! Happy Hunger Games! And, may the odds be ever in your favor." Her high-pitched voice is loud and weird, she talks the Capitol talk.
"Now, before we begin, we have a very special video brought to you all the way from the Capitol!" She grins and everyone gives her a dull stare.
I turn to Dallas and he mouths, War. Terrible War. I chuckle lightly, so no one hears me. The video, that's how it starts out. The little movie is just a reminder of how everything came to be but it's about five minutes long.
When it's over, Effie mouths the ending to herself excitedly, as if today is in fact a perfect world.
"I just love that!" She muses. When the music ended, Effie starts talking again. "Now, the time has come for us to select one courageous young man and woman for the honor of representing District Twelve in the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games!" I feel my arms tighten as well as every muscle in my body. "As usual, ladies first." Effie says, because apparently, it's polite to do that in the Capitol.
As she waltzes over to the glass ball piled with girls names, my palms became sweaty and I was afraid my forehead was soaking in sweat. Her hand, swirled around the ball—and I waited, anticipating for what name she picks—until she slipped out one little piece of paper that was neatly folded. The town square was so silent, you could hear a pin drop, and I bet everyone was holding their breaths, as I was. Effie walked back to the microphone and opened the paper. My heart was beating out of its chest, thumping so loud you could hear it across Panem, from my district to the Capitol, as it felt like this to me. My stomach was folding inside my stomach lining; the thought almost throws my dinner out.
She said the name, it wasn't my name, but it was Lily Dawson's.
Hillo! So this is my second Austin & Ally story, and I just wanted to apologize if I got anything wrong in the chapter about the HG, so yep. o_o
Enjoy! Review, and I hope you guys like it!
P.S: I've already written the next three chapters so please...five review please? :D
PPS: Sorry I haven't written the next chapter for my other Austin & Ally story :( I lost interest. I hate it when I do that, so sorry!
