A/N Hey guys! Sunshine here! I don't know if y'all remember my SYOT…it got removed and I got banned for like 6 months. But I'm back and here's my story! I'm so excited to be writing this! Just FYI, it's in the POV of my char, but she will be interacting with all of yours so no worries. Enjoy, cuz I've had a blast writing it.
I'm not Suzanne Collins; I just own Gwyn and her peeps.
Morning sunlight pours in through my window and onto my face. The yellow light bathes my skin in a warm glow and my eyes flutter open. I groan when the bright light hits my eyes and throw up my hands to block it.
I briefly wonder how on earth I've managed to sleep in so late; my shift starts at eight every morning. By this time I should be up and dressed, hunting around in the forest for herbs to bring to Aunt Bet.
Then I remember.
I don't have to work in the forest today; I don't have to spend the day chopping down trees. Today was one of the few days besides Sunday that I got off. It was a national holiday! The Reaping for the Hunger Games.
The Hunger Games is a sadistic game the Capital of Panem forces its citizens to play. They chose two children between the ages of twelve and eighteen, a boy and a girl, from each one of the twelve districts.
Those twenty-four children are then placed in an arena and forced to fight each other to the death while being aired live on TV. The last one remaining is crowned victor, winning a year of supplies for their district.
It's the Capitals way of punishing the districts for the uprising twenty five years ago. They can't kill us all or else there'd be no one left, but they can control the lives of the children. Today was the day those unlucky twenty-four kids will be picked, the Reaping for the Twenty-Fifth Annual Hunger Games.
I'm seventeen. This is my sixth Reaping and my name still hasn't been chosen. If I can make it through this one, I'll only have one left. Then I can be free of the ever nagging fear of being forced to enter the Hunger Games.
Blinking those thoughts from my mind, I sit up in my bed, stretching, reaching my hands up to the ceiling. I rub my neck and yawn, studying the room I'm in slowly. It's not big; I have my bed against one wall under the window, and a dresser opposite it. There isn't a door, just a hole in the ground with ladder rungs sticking up out of it.
This is all there is of the second story. My house is tiny, barely more than a shack but it was built by my father and is so dear to me. He died seven years ago when I was just ten, leaving me to work alone in the forest.
My mother died when I was born so I never got to know her…but it was very different with my father. He was the only person I had in this world, my best friend, my protector, everything. When he died I had been crushed, but I had to move past it, and I did. I miss him, but I can now live without him.
A sharp tap on my window jars me out of memory lane. I turn around and glance at the glass, watching another stone fly up and smack it, producing a loud tap. I grin to myself and reach over to slide open the window.
Poking my head outside I look down to see the grinning face of a young man no more than twenty. Dark curly hair covers his head and deep brown eyes stare up into mine. His handsome face sends a surge of pleasure down my spine.
"It's about time, sleepy head!" He calls, his voice attractively husky. "I thought you were never going to get up."
"It's my day off, Jayvyn!" I laugh. "I deserve a chance to sleep in."
Jay waves his hand at me.
"Maybe," he says, "But we've got to go get Aunt Bet her herbs before the Reaping today. You do remember that today's the Reaping, right?"
"Of course!" I tell him. "How could I forget something as awful as that? Anyway, let me get dressed then I'll meet you outside."
"Hurry up!" He yells before I pull my head back inside my room.
I hurry over to my dresser and pull out one of my two pairs of pants. These are dark brown and roomy, comfortable for both a walk and a day chopping down trees. I also grab a shirt, one of the four I own. It's my favorite, dark green like the color of pine needles with long sleeves to keep me warm in the chilly morning air.
I tug off my thin nightgown and pull on my clothes. Although it's the middle of the summer, District Seven is high in the mountains, so it's chilly all year around. I always dress warm for a trek into the forest during the morning.
I take a moment to stare at myself in the tiny mirror above my dresser. I'm small, around 5'2, and slim. My size is perfect for my job, I climb to the top of the trees and chop off branches before the whole tree is cut down, making it safer for the people below.
My eyes are gray-green but right now because I'm wearing a green shirt, they look greener. My skin is lightly tanned from my work outside and almost smooth. I wish I had perfect skin but that's impossible when I'm constantly getting beaten by tree branches.
My hair, well, it's an unusual color for District Seven. It's dark red, like the color of the sky at sunset. My father always told me I got the color from my mother, whose hair was the exact, same as mine. Hers though, was curly while mine is as straight as a board, flowing undisturbed until my waist.
All in all, I'm not hideous. Not stunning or anything, but I am what some would consider pretty. Jay tells me I'm beautiful but he's biased.
I quickly run a wooden brush through my hair then pull it into a high ponytail. I now braid the ponytail so nothing will snag or get caught it my hair. It's also a very useful weapon; a spinning braided ponytail can deliver a lot of force.
I climb down the ladder into the kitchen/dining room/living room. A worn sofa and ancient TV stands against one wall with the stove and refrigerator against the other. The table is right smack dab in the center of the room.
Next to the door is my pair of light brown leather boots. They were given to me when I started to work in the forest; all the people who work in the forest have a pair.
I put my hand against the wall to balance myself as I pull the boots on. They're soft and flexible, yet sturdy enough to protect my feet from stones or protruding branches. Perfect for climbing trees.
I don't bother with breakfast; where I'm going, I know I can get a snack. I open the door and slip outside, giving the door a tug to close it again behind me. I don't bother to lock it, there's nothing worth stealing in my house.
I take a deep breath as the cool morning mountain air hits my face, savoring the tangy scent of pine. I glance around, looking for Jay. Where did he manage to disappear to?
My house is located in the Mount. It's the lower income part of District Seven, up in the mountains near the edge of the forest where all the lumber gathers live. In front of me is a dirt road heading down the mountain to the town build around the paper mill. That's where all the wealthy people live, the people that own shops or work in the safe paper mill.
Most of the population are here in the Mount, poor and facing death every day. District Seven has the most work related deaths every year, more than any other district. It's because of all the accidents that can happen trying to harvest trees. We have the biggest orphanage, full of kids whose parents were killed by falling trees, poisonous snakes, or a missed axe swing. It's a miracle when people from the Mount make it past 40 years.
Not to mention all the kids that die going into the Hunger Games, but that's the same for all the districts. Unless you're from One or Four…they're the ones with the most winners. Four each out of twenty-four years, going on twenty-five.
I'm surprised when a pair of arms encircle my waist and I give out a little squeak, breaking out of my gloomy thoughts. Jay chuckles in my ear, his breath hitting my neck and making me shiver.
"Took you long enough," he whispers, "It's almost time for the Reaping."
I roll my eyes and laugh, pushing away and turning to look up at his 6ft. frame.
"The Reaping for One doesn't even start for another thirty minutes, you psycho," I say, grinning up at him, "And we're three hours after them. We've got time."
Jay shrugs, "I guess you're right."
He winks at me then grabs my hand and we walk away from my house and up the road, heading into the forest.
The beginning of the forest is filled with teenage trees. We, the tree harvesters, work our way out, towards the district boundaries, planting baby trees where we've cut down an adult one. In around ten years, we start over where the baby trees have grown into adults, that way we never run out of trees and the Capitol never runs out of lumber and paper.
We weave in and out of the trees; occasionally I bend over and pick some berries or dig up some roots, placing them in a bag Jay is holding. I'm the apprentice of the Mount's healer, Aunt Bet. My father set it up for me so I wouldn't have to work all day in the dangerous forest, I only have to work half day and the rest is spent with Aunt Bet.
She's too old to collect her own materials though, so she has me do it. She's been like a Grandmother to me, raising and taking care of me ever since my father died. She's taught me about the forest and the plants and animals that dwell in it.
"Do you need anything else?" Jay asks after about an hour of me picking random parts of plants to put in his bag.
I run down the list in my mind, making sure I wasn't missing anything important.
"No," I say, "That's all for Aunt Bet. Now I just need to check the traps."
The traps are actually just two traps my father had built and taught me how to run. He wasn't a hunter, not by any means, but he did know how to catch squirrels and rabbits for the occasional meat. I know how to skin and cook them, using the skins for mittens or hats for the winter.
"Oh right," Jay says, following me as I lead the way, "We can't forget the meat."
I smirk.
"I'm surprised it slipped your mind, isn't meat the only thing you boys think about?"
"Not when there's a Reaping," he responds quietly, wiping the smile from my face. "I don't want to have to mentor you, Gwyn."
I turn around and look at him. His eyes stare into mine, full of fear and worry. I move forward into his waiting arms.
"It's ok," I say quietly as he buries his face in my neck, "I'm not going to get chosen."
Jay was the winner of the 20th Hunger Games when he was fifteen, five years ago. We weren't even friends then, he was just the cute older boy from school and I was the awkward twelve year old who had a hopeless crush on him.
He was placed in an artic arena, where it snowed and was snowy the whole time. Half were dead from the bloodbath and five more from the chill of the first night. The only reason Jay survived that was because he knew what to do when stuck in snow. It's something all of us know because we have some serious blizzards here in the winter.
He won with an axe, the boy from the Mount no one thought could make it. Cutting down trees since he was eight had saved his life. He and his family, the Masons, moved into the Victor's Village where the winners lived. He was number two.
We met when his mother got sick and she refused the fancy Capitol medicine. She wanted Aunt Bet so Jay came knocking, asking for medicine. Aunt Bet sent me to help him.
For some reason I don't understand, Jay saw me as someone he could talk to, pouring out his experiences from the Hunger Games. We became best friends that year, we even worked together in the forest (he had refused to stop working, even when he had won), me at the top of the tree and him at the bottom.
Three years later, Jay told me he loved me. I was so surprised, I had never stopped loving him but I had thought he saw me more of a little sister then a possible girlfriend. He sure did show me. We've been together ever since.
Every year, Jay has a panic attack, worrying that I'm going to be chosen and he'll have to watch me die. He doesn't want me to have to go through the very thing that made his life a living hell. I tell him I won't, but he doesn't believe me.
"Trust me," I whisper, stroking his hair, "I'm not going to be chosen. I'm going to be there to say bye when you leave and I'll be here when you get back. I promise."
A/N Well? What do you think? Review and tell me! If I get three reviews I'll post the second chapter. I'll be waiting!
~ Sunshine
