Chapter 1
I open my eyes to an early morning sun blaring outside my window. I lie back down and close my eyes for a few seconds. The day is calm and peaceful as I breathe in the cool, crisp spring breeze wafting through my room from an open window. Outside a bird- no, Jabberjay is perched on a willow branch singing a somewhat familiar melody. Beaming on my hair, the sun continues to rise while I sit up and put on my orange t-shirt and shorts. I walk out of my room into silence and immediately realize that something funny is going on. Mom always wakes up before me and begins making breakfast. Today, I couldn't hear or see her. I walk over to my parent's room to find her bed unmade. My mom never leaves her bed messy. Dad isn't there either, but he normally leaves early for work and he's probably in the justice building helping reform the oasis we call Panem. After the fall of the Capitol, the way of life is much better than it used to be, or so I am told. My parents don't tell me much about life before I was born. The absence of Mom, however, has me worried. A tingling feeling creeps up to my neck as fear stars to set in. I run into the kitchen to ask Cassandra about Mom, but see no signs of life. Nothing is disturbed at all. In all my sixteen years of life, I have not seen a day when Mom did not leave out all the pots and pans from breakfast. Finally, I called out, not caring if my siblings were still sleeping,
"Mom?" No answer. "Mom!" No answer. Panic is coursing though me as I check the front door. Mom's boots are there, her knife sheathed next to them, and her jacket on the coat rack, all untouched. Mom never goes out without them. Something is wrong. I go back into the kitchen and yell, "Mom! Can you hear me? Anyone? Cassandra?" The house remains silent with the exception of Epsilon's snoring. Epsilon. As I run out of options and ideas, I plow through my sister's door, filled with fear
"Epsilon? Epsilon, wake up!" I say. Epsilon groggily raises her head from her pillow. Her blue eyes dig into me angrily. "Eclipse? What is it? Do you have an idea what time it is?" She mumbles. "Look, Mom is gone, I don't know where she is, and I am getting freaked out, do you have any clue where she might be?" I ask. My heart is racing and a bead of sweat trickles down my face. By the tone of my voice Eclipse quickly gets up
"No, and are you sure she's just gone?" She asks, clearly becoming worried
"Well I couldn't find her anywhere, and there's no trace of Cassandra either" I reply "I suppose you would like to help me look for her?"
"Sure, but wouldn't it be easier to just call for help?" she asks as she pulls out her phone
"I guess you could give it a shot" I say, trying not to look stupid for not thinking of it earlier. Epsilon dials a number as the gleaming sun reflects of her gold polished nails. She waits for what seems like an eternity, and finally snaps her phone shut,
"Unrecognized number" she says with a grim face "This is impossible, that's the number for the authorities and it has been for years" I walk out of Epsilon's room with her following close behind.
"Let's split up" I suggested "We need to find Mom, or at least find out what happened to her" Epsilon doesn't have a better suggestion, so she goes downstairs while I look upstairs. I run into my little brother Gamma's room and I see him asleep. I decide it's best if I not disturb him. My house is huge and nearly impossible to navigate without extensive knowledge of the house. I go upstairs, and I search literally every room, even the closets of the rooms and bathrooms without success. There isn't a place upstairs that I don't look, and I'm getting frustrated. Just as I am about to go downstairs and report my failure to Epsilon, I get a crazy idea. There's a room at the end of the hallway that I, or my siblings were never allowed to enter. I know that there is almost no chance Mom would be in there, but I am in a desperate situation. The room has an iron door that is pass code protected. Being the not-so-bight-kid I am, I decide to test my luck and attempt to open it. I try the only thing I can think of, Mom's birthday. The pad beeps three times, indicating that I was incorrect. Then I try Dad's. Again I get the same beeping noise. I decide that I could stand here all day trying with no correct combination, so I simply knock on the door. I get no answer. Wow, I'm an idiot. Maybe Epsilon knows the combination I think. I run to the intercom, and shout for Epsilon. The only response I get is Gamma crying. I should have known that would wake Gamma. I start the intercom again, this time saying,
"Epsilon, I need your help, but first stop Gamma's crying." I didn't get a response, but I could imagine her eyes blazing with anger and annoyance. An excellent idea comes into my head. I run into the room adjacent to the forbidden room and see that someone has already done what I plan to do. I see that a massive hole in the wall has been created and tunnels into the next room. The hole is big tall enough for someone twice my height to go through, and wide enough for three of me to go through. Whoever made this hole is either with a group of people or morbidly obese. I walk in anxiously having no idea what could pop out. I walk in and see picture of a large city, which looks like a less futuristic version of the Capitol. Then I realize that is the Capitol. There are many pictures of the large skyscrapers up in flames I see that there are muddy splotches on the floor and walls, which makes me antsy and very uncomfortable. Of all the rooms in the house, the forbidden room shouldn't be the sloppiest. There are also crimson blobs on the floor that look unnervingly like blood. Then I see a picture of my parents as teenagers. They are in what looks like the forest outside of the Seam, lying down in a cave. The cave strikes me as strange, because I've been out in the forest before, and I've never seen a cave. Dad looks badly beaten, his leg bleeding and his face completely pale. His hair is mess with leaves and twigs, but his eyes have happiness to them, happy to be with Mom. Mom is in decent shape with a bow slung over her back. I had no idea Mom was an archer. Mom has an orange backpack, her hair falling down her shoulders and her hunting boots muddied and worn out from extensive running. She is sitting next to Dad, who is lying down. They appear to be having a good time. I wonder why they didn't just go home instead of camp out in a cave. I keep looking around in the room, and everything seems to have something to do with the Capitol or The Hunger Games. I see a large poster that reads "The Hunger Games Abolished!" I have heard of The Hunger Games before. All I know is that it was this massive killing game made for the youth of Panem. It sounds pretty cool. I wonder why my parents have this entire memorabilia. As I walk in more, I see a familiar shoe on floor, bloodied and beaten. There is even more blood on the ground now, and just a few yards away, I see her. Cassandra is lying on the ground, her eyes rolled back in her head, not breathing. She lies in a pool of her own blood with her pink apron and white ruffled shirt stained.
"My God!" I scream
Cassandra is without a doubt dead. She has been stabbed multiple times. I back away with panic seeping through me. I run for the phone. I want to call Dad from work, or maybe try to contact Peacekeepers, but as soon as I pick up the phone, I realize that it is dead. Someone had cut the phone line. I reach into my pocket for my cell phone, and try to make a call, but I see that I have no signal. I've always had signal from the house, why not today?
"Eclipse!" a voice yells. It's Epsilon from downstairs "Look what I found!" I run downstairs, not knowing what to expect
"What is it?" I say meeting her in the living room. Gamma is on the couch with the television on, but he pays no attention to his show as he is crying. Epsilon holds up a torn white dress shirt splattered with dirt and weeds for me to see. I instantly recognize that this is Dad's shirt that he wears for work. Dad wouldn't go to work in casual wear. "That's…that's Dad's" I say nervously. Epsilon nods and then points to the window. I follow her finger and see that outside Dad's briefcase is on the ground in our front yard opened with loose papers scattered everywhere. Dad didn't make it to work this morning.
"Where is he?" she asks on the verge of tears. "Does Cassandra know?" she asks. I remain silent, debating whether I should tell her about Cassandra. I imagine Epsilon going mad if I told her, but I just can't hold it in any longer
"I don't know where Dad is" I start "And Cassandra" it gets difficult for me to talk, tears forming "She's…she's dead. Someone killed" I don't have the voice to finish. My throat is completely knotted up, but Epsilon knows. At this point she completely breaks down and starts crying. She drops Dad's shirt runs to her room, where I know she will cry it out. She takes Gamma with her, who is also crying. I am left standing in the middle of the living room while Bunny and Friends is on TV. A lump forms in my throat and I feel a great urge to cry too, but I have to stay strong.
Both my parents are missing, and my best friend has been murdered. Great. The busy morning leaves me completely starved, so I go into the kitchen and look for something to eat. I grab a doughnut and pour myself some milk and sit down to think about my situation. As I eat, I notice a piece of paper on the table that hadn't been there before. On it reads a simple number 14 hastily written. I put my doughnut down and stare at the number. For some reason it gives me chills to look at. The way it's written just looks so desperate. I feel stupid for being scared by a number, but I call for Epsilon,
"Epsilon!" I call "Come into the kitchen!" I wait for a few minutes as Epsilon drags herself down the stairs
"What?" she asks wiping some tears off her face with a Kleenex. I hand her the paper and she takes it gingerly as if it would explode. "What's this?" she asks shakily
"I don't know, I was hoping you'd have a clue" I reply, but Epsilon just shakes her head and hands it back to me
"No idea" she says "Anyone could have written it, and there's no further writing on it, but keep