Welcome to the new story!
Suzanne Collins owns these characters, but I'm proud to say that I own this plot.
Enjoy!
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There are thirteen houses in Wolfstone, Alaska, but there are twelve families.
Yes, we're a tiny town. Our population comes up to about forty-three residents (twenty-one kids, twenty-two adults). It was even a few years ago when Millet Mellark was eighteen (and I was a little thirteen-year-old).
Wolfstone is located on the very top of Alaska, in the Arctic Circle. We don't really get a lot of heat. The hottest it's ever been was seven years ago, reaching to about seventy degrees Fahrenheit in the middle of July. By the time October rolls around, we're putting on our winter coats and mittens. Snow begins in late November and continues until mid-February.
The village is situated in a valley. The mayor and the administrative offices are located in the middle. The other houses form circles around the center, starting with the Mellarks and ending with my family, the Winters. There are three circles. The inner circle is composed of the Undersees, the Mellarks, the Masons, the Crestas, and the Everdeens. The Sequoias, the Bronzemans, the Blacks, the Hawthornes, and the Odairs make up the middle circle. They're all relatively close to the inner circle. The outer circle is a quarter mile away from the middle circle.
Ms. Twill lives with about fifteen minutes to the east of my house. She teaches seventh through twelfth grade. Mrs. Bronzeman teaches first through sixth.
As for my house, we're the either the protectors of the valley or the herb growers. My mother makes herbs year long. We're the last resort for the village, since my mother makes enough basil to feed a family of three for two months. Most people turn to the Mellarks (bakers) and the Hawthornes or Everdeens (hunting) for food. If the fish in the nearby streams have been abundant, the Odairs (fishing) are the family to go to.
If you're smart, you'll have realized that I've named twelve houses in the village. If you're not, then learn to count.
The thirteenth house isn't technically occupied. It was abandoned about twenty years ago when the Abernathy family moved to Point Barrow. None of my friends remember it. Millet Mellark was only two when it happened. Eventually, a bunch of kids started popping up around the village. Cato Thorne, Finnick Odair, and Johanna Mason were the first bunch. A ton of the kids (including myself) started doing homework and hanging out in the abandoned house.
When I turned thirteen, I started a group called Arctic. Basically, it's a club for thirteen through nineteen-year-olds. We meet every Saturday night from seven o'clock to ten o'clock. Only one representative per family is allowed. We each give a report on how our individual families are faring. After that's done, we discuss the weather. Since nobody likes being the center of attention during the reports, we're usually done with the home reports and the weather review by nine o'clock, giving us an hour of whatever.
We use our whatever time to play games, chat, and on rare occasions, eat some snacks (usually some stale bread from the Mellark Bakery or a bit of dried fruit from my mother). Whatever time can get out of hand, though. I've seen too many spin-the-bottle games for my liking. After an incident involving Marvel Bronzeman, some dried apricots, and a rather angry Glimmer Sequoia, I'm happy to say that I'm able to disappear as soon as I hear the word 'bottle'.
On the first Saturday of every month, everyone spends the night at the house. When Arctic formed, Johanna Mason and her family cut down a massive load of trees and made them into bunk beds. Annie Cresta and Glimmer sewed some blankets, and I worked with Finnick Odair, Peeta Mellark, Katniss Everdeen, and Gale Hawthorne to get a decent supply of food.
Admit it, you're getting bored out of your mind.
Well, I don't really care. If you can't tolerate some tragedy, horror, and suspense, then go back to reading your stupid fairy tales.
Let's throw in the worst love story ever, just to be fair.
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Thanks for reading the first chapter…
More to come!