This is my first fanfiction and I am very excited! I have always wanted to write something so here it is. I hope you guys like it! :)
The reaping isn't until next week but I don't care. I'm still too young to enter. I'll enter next year. I stay in my "bed". Not even, this bed is not comfortable. It's made out of hay and then there is just a sheet that covers it. Then I just look at my walls, old and dirty. I bet the people in the Capitol have it all, throwing away all their food. All of the other districts used to be like that until the uprising, which is what made the Games. My district is planning to stop that.
The people of District 10 are planning to put poisoning into the meat that they are going to send to the Capitol. My parents own a butchering shop around our house but they do not want to take part of this. If the Capitol finds out, then the whole district will be punished. I finally start to wake up and get off my bed. I grab my glasses and I put my work clothes on, old blue pants, a black shirt and a jacket. I then put my hair into two braids. When I walk to the breakfast table, my parents and brother are talking.
"Gael, can you please pass me a cloth." my mother asks.
"What cloth are you talking about, it's not like we have a real one." answers Gael. My mother gives him a stern look.
"Gael-" she starts.
"Just give her what she calls a cloth." commands my father. Gael grabs the cloth, which is really just a piece of an old dress, and hands it to her.
"Thank you." she answers. "Good morning Ginger." my mother says while handing me a plate and a spoon to eat my food.
"Good morning."
I eat the same thing every day and every time, this badge mushy thing. My older brother, Gael, got it from last year's tesserae. The tesserae is when you are entered once more than you are supposed to, in the Games, in exchange for one year's supplies of food for one family member. Gael did it every single year to keep our family alive and it helped us a lot. I was so happy when Gael wasn't picked at all but I don't know if that will happen to me. I'll be entering next year since he is too old.
Gael says not to enter the tesserae but I need it to keep our family alive. Gael doesn't really have any friends. His best friend, Buck died in the 67th Hunger Games. Buck and Gael were only thirteen. Now Gael doesn't really care about him but when Buck was killed, Gael didn't talk for a week. I thought that I would never hear his voice again but when I did, I was the happiest little girl in the district. After breakfast I ask,
"Gael can we go around the Hob and the district?" The Hob is a store where anything and everything can be bought, usually the poorer districts have them.
"Sure Ginger, whatever you'd like." he replies. Before we leave, we each say our good byes and say that we will be back. My mother always says
"I love you and have fun!" but my father says,
"Be careful." Of course, as always the protective one of the family, next to Gael then my mother then me.
"Leave them alone, have a great day!" my mother says.
"We will!" I say.
"Don't worry we'll be safe." Gael says looking into my father's eyes.
Gael and I start walking to the Hob. The Hob around our house used to be an old barn but now it's a tiny little store. When Gael and I go inside, I see the same old things, animal skin, animals, clothes, and some cooking items.
"Come on, there's nothing in here for us." Gael tells me.
"What about this animal skin?" I ask while holding the skin of a yak. "Mom can make some clothes."
"No, it's not really cold now and if it was cold then we would have to buy thread. Which we don't have money to buy. Let's just go back home and then we can go hunting. Then if we have time, we can go and trade food."
"Okay." I say sadly while I put the yak skin back. Gael and I walk back home to get our weapons.
"Did you find anything useful?" asks my mother once we walk in.
"No." I say looking at Gael.
"No," Gael says looking at me. "But we are going to go hunting find food." he says looking at my mother. "Do you know where the weapons are?"
"They're in the door to the left." my mother says.
"I don't want you to get hurt." says my father.
"Hey, that was only once." I say. Gael goes to the door and he grabs a spear and he gives me throwing knives. We then leave the house to go the hunting area. I have gotten pretty good with the throwing knives but I wasn't always like that. Once when I was about ten-years-old, Gael was teaching me how to throw the knives father then I ever have. When I went to go and grab a knife, I accidentally grabbed the knife the wrong way giving me a pretty scary cut. Gael then tried to help me by he taking the knife, hurting himself as well. Ever since that day, we had to be extremely careful when we were hunting.
There is a certain area, every couple of hundred miles, where the citizens of District 10 can hunt for their family. There is a catch, as always, most of your food, and of course the best, must go the Capitol. To make sure that none of the good meat goes away, there are Peacekeepers, soldiers, everywhere to check you and your findings. Gael and I hunt for our family and for our butchering shop. Not all of the citizens can hunt at else no one will make money so there are only fifty hunters per a town, who have to train themselves. Hunters are only in the towns that don't have any farm land around them.
Gael and I live in such a big district, with such little towns, fifty people per a town is about one percent of the population. Gael and I are lucky to be one of those fifty. I kill nine, almost ten, squirrels and Gael kills the nicest deer I have ever seen. A Peacekeeper, about five feet away stares at the deer like it was, his own.
"I really hope that they take all of the squirrels and let us keep the dear." I say while removing the knives from the squirrels and Gael taking his spear back.
"So do I. If we do keep the deer then mom can make one of the biggest deer stew with some vegetables from District 11." Gael says.
"But if the Peacekeepers do take the deer, would they at least give us enough squirrels for all of us?"
"Possibly, I mean this is a really nice deer." he answers. "Let's get going."
"Fine." I say. Gael carries the deer like a baby and I spilt the squirrels evenly, four on one hand and five on the other. This is the part that I hate, carrying the food to the Peacekeepers. Not because the animals are heavy, because all of the hunters come with a lot of food and then leave with so little. Gael and I wait in line along with all of the other hunters.
"Place your food on the table." says the Peacekeeper once we finally get the front of the line. Gael then nervously puts the deer on the table and I put the squirrels right next to the deer. Please don't take the deer. Please don't take the deer. I think once all the food is on the "Hum." The Peacekeeper grunts and then he says while looking through the food. "Take four squirrels. Well take the rest and the deer." I grab two squirrels and Gael carries the other two. We then leave the Peacekeeper with the deer and the other squirrels.
"I can't believe they took the deer!" Gael says angered once we are far away from the hunting area.
"Neither can I." I say. "I thought they were going to let us keep the deer and then take everything thing else." I turn to take the path back home.
"We're not going home." Gael says.
"Then where are we going?" I ask angered as I get out of the path.
"We are going to the bakers to see what your squirrels can give us."
"We're not giving away all of the squirrels right?"
"Of course not, we need some for ourselves. Let's see if we can get home before dinner." We then start walking to the bakery. We do this every year. One week before the Games, my brother and I try to find something good to trade it for something better. That is if there is something better to trade. After we trade in the food, we save it for after the reaping and have a little party to celebrate that none of us were hopefully reaped.
"So what do you think we are going to get this year?" I ask as we are walking to the bakery. Gael thinks for a while and finally answers,
"Maybe we'll get four loaves of bread. One for each of us."
"I'm so happy." I say joyfully.
Gael looks confused. "Why?"
I say with a big smile. "None of us are going to get picked! I'm too young and you're too old!" Gael smiles and we just keep walking.
When we walk inside the bakery, all I smell is the best bread in the district. Gael then asks "How many loaves of bread for four squirrels?" Then Fora, one of the nicest ladies in the world, is a baker who used to take care of me when I was little. That was only when the whole family was busy.
"Eight loaves of bread." Fora says nicely. Eight loaves may sound like a lot but it really isn't. The loaves are about the size of squirrel's head. "Just because the squirrels look fresh and they are in a good condition."
"We'll only take four." says Gael. I'm happy that now each of us will have our own tiny loaf.
"So then that will be two squirrels. I'll trade it in the butchers and get a fair amount of money for it." she says. I sometimes see Fora trading the squirrels in our family's shop.
She then heads to the back of the bakery to get bread. When Fora comes back to the front of the bakery, she comes out with nice fresh loaves of bread. Three are plain and the fourth with nuts and raisins, my favorite type of bread. "Here you go twins and tell your look alike parents I said hi." Fora also calls our family the quad family because we all look alike, dark brown hair and eyes and tan skin. "Also here is something else." Fora then sneaks in some cheese.
"We can't take it." I say.
"Why not?" Fora answers.
"We don't have enough money." Gael says.
"Don't worry, I own you." She then puts the cheese in Gael's hands. Onetime, a when I was five, when the district was scarce in food and my family stole from their own store, Gael gave Fora two nice looking squirrels and she only had one loaf of bread to give us. Fora then promised Gael that she will own him. While I was helping my mom around the house, Gael and my father went hunting and found nothing. It was tempting to steal but my parents didn't want to get in trouble. Eventually my mother and father stole from their own shop. My mother was so worried. Every day she used to ask my father,
"What if they catch us? They will kill us all and Gael isn't old enough to go and take care of Ginger! They are going to find us and kill us!" This used to worry me every day. Ever since that day we didn't take a single slice of meat. Gael and I start walking home as soon as we get the bread. He gives me only one loaf.
"I'm not that weak, you can give me another one." I say.
"Okay here you go, it's heavy." He says joking around.
"Ha ha. Very funny." Then we both really start laughing. We don't just walk, we make jokes to cheer each other up from this long walk.
"Okay." I say. "Let me think."
"What about-" says Gael.
"No, no. Don't you dare. I've got one. What does the leaf says to the other leaves?"
"Leaf me alone."
"No- wait how you know?"
"I am the one who told you that joke."
"Oh, right." He starts laughing at me.
"It's okay. I've got one. What part of the body is the Capitol?"
"Oh come on. I hate this joke. It reminds me of the uprising."
"Just answer it"
"I can't, I hate it."
"Come on, please."
"Fine." I sigh. "The head."
"Yep. I hate that joke too."
"How did she remember?" Gael looks puzzled. I sigh. "How did Fora remember that she owned us something."
"Oh right, I guess good memory." We are finally home and Gael opens the door. I see my mother crying and my father comforting her.
She is saying "Why? Why? It's not our fault!" Gael puts his stuff on the table. He spots a letter on the floor, walks up to it and reads it.
"This can't be happening." Soon there are tears in his eyes.
Thanks for reading! This is how everything starts off and how the story will unravel. I will try to explain any parts of the chapter that didn't make any sense and I will also try to give away some fun facts about the character(s).