Chapter 1
The walls start breathing, my mind's unweaving.
It Ends Tonight, The All-American Rejects
"You'll be fine, Pose, alright? You only have one slip."
Posy nods at Gale's words, knowing that the odds are in her favor. She still can't help but tremble a bit, anyway, because aren't all twelve year olds nervous at their first reaping? Over the years, Gale's attitude has rubbed off on all of his younger siblings, and so Posy prides herself on her tough exterior. And she hates that the Capitol is the one thing that can get under her skin.
"Are you ready, Posy?" Hazelle appears in the doorway. "Vick and Rory are waiting outside with the Everdeens."
"Yeah," Posy says. She smoothes down the dress she's wearing, a faded purple hand-me-down from Prim.
"Well, let's get going then," Hazelle says, trying to sound cheerful, but Posy sees right through her. Another child eligible for the reaping, another six years to worry about. This year is Vick's last reaping, while everyone else is now working. Gale and Rory in the mines, Katniss hunting, and Prim helping her mother.
"What about Vick?" Posy whispers as they head out the door. She looks up to Gale to see his expression harden.
"We'll just have to hope for the best, won't we?"
Vick has twenty three slips in the reaping bowl instead of the required seven. He took four extra slips for tesserae when he was fifteen because of a drought, and continued to take out the same amount of extra slips every year after, much to Gale's anger. But even though no one wanted him to take out tesserae, everyone knew they had no choice. Even with Rory and Gale working in the mines, and with Katniss hunting, it still wasn't enough to support everyone.
Outside, Katniss is leaning slightly on Prim, who had surprised everyone by shooting up until she was a good four inches taller than Katniss. The height difference only adds to the oddity of the pair. Katniss with her Seam look and petite size, and Prim's blond hair and willowy frame. Mrs. Everdeen looks a bit lost like she always does on reaping days, but it's a drastic improvement from the way she was up until five or six years ago. With the help of a depression remedy Prim found in the plant book, Mrs. Everdeen slowly healed, and only had the occasional relapse on significant days.
"Hey, Catnip," Gale says, looking the slightest bit cheerful for the first time since morning. Katniss scowls at him, but it soon turns into a barely concealed smile, despite what day it is.
"I'll take care of Posy. You go ahead with Katniss," Hazelle says quietly from behind Gale.
Posy hates the way they still talk about her like she's an infant, but she supposes that's what happens when you're the youngest in the family. Hazelle holds onto Posy's hand as Gale goes to stand by Katniss. Lately, even though Katniss would never admit it, her growing belly has been causing her to tire out quickly, and she usually ends up having to lean on someone for support on walks. Being as stubborn as she is, she'll only let that person be Gale and sometimes Prim.
As soon as everyone arrives at the town square, the old clock on the Justice Building reads one, so Posy is quickly handed off to Vick. He drops her off at the twelve year old girls' section with one last, "Don't worry, Pose."
The mayor stands up from his place on the stage and walks towards the podium to give the same speech he's been giving for years now. About the Dark Days and an obliterated District Thirteen, how the Hunger Games are some twisted way to make Panem a better place. Posy's heartbeat is in her ears, so loud that she can barely make out a word of it.
Effie Trinket, the district escort at all of Gale's reapings, had presumably been moved up to another district a few years back. In her place is Serina Glow, an even more irritatingly cheerful person than Effie. Serina bounces up to the microphone after the mayor takes his seat, her aqua-colored curls swaying.
"Welcome to the 81st Annual Reaping," she says jubilantly. "Time to choose the two lucky ones who will get to represent your district in this year's Hunger Games." Wasting no time, she smiles and starts to walk over to the bowl full of girls' names.
"As usual, ladies first," she says, before plunging her manicured hands into the selection of names. The whole district seems to draw in a collective breath, their eyes transfixed on the bowl.
After a few heartbeats, she announces, "Posy Hawthorne!"
All of the other girls exhale at the same time, while Posy stops breathing altogether for a moment. Then the terror hits her so suddenly that she has to fight the immediate urge to double over. Trying to anchor herself, she stares at Serina's hair which now looks too bright to exist. Her mind fogs over as everyone surrounding her slowly turns to look at her. They wear looks of pity on their faces, but relief shines clearly in their eyes.
Just as Posy takes one shaky step forward, she hears some yell her name. Gale. She glances back to see him weaving his way through the crowd. Some people part to let him through, while others try to stop him, knowing that what he's doing is futile. The fog clears slightly and Posy takes another step, then one more, until she's making steady progress towards the stage.
Gale meets her halfway, immediately wrapping his arms around her tightly. She hears Peacekeepers coming towards them, the sound muffled by Gale's shirt.
"Gale, let go," Posy says, pushing at his chest. Her voice comes out shaky, which only makes him grip her tighter. "Please, Gale, there's nothing you can do-"
She suddenly feels someone grab her sides to try to pry her out of Gale's arms. Posy feels herself resisting them on instinct. She hears Gale yell at the Peacekeepers, and a few seconds later she's falling backwards, Gale having been pulled away by several other Peacekeepers.
"Posy!" He reaches out for her. It takes every single fiber of her being to turn away from him and walk towards the stairs.
"Posy! Get the hell out of my way, you-"
Posy clenches her fists and stomps up the steps quickly. She walks briskly past the mayor and his daughter, past the empty seat that was reseved for the absent Haymitch Abernathy, and takes her place by Serina. She stares blankly into the crowd.
She vaguely senses Serina moving across the stage and towards the boys' bowl. Serina says something, but it doesn't catch Posy's attention until she thinks she hears Vick's name. Posy looks at Serina, and sure enough, there's a slip in her hand reading Vick Hawthorne. Posy thinks that it can't be real, this is too big of a coincidence, but when she hears Gale yelling in rage again, and spots Rory angrily shoving his way through the crowd, and sees her mother leaning on Mrs. Everdeen with her face down, she knows that it's all real, somehow.
After an initial moment of shock, Vick wastes no time emerging from the eighteen year old boys' section and climbing the stairs to the stage. Rory is three quarters of the way to the stage when the Peacekeepers pull him away.
When Vick is on the stage with Posy and she is swept into his arms, the only thing she can manage to say is, "You told me not to worry." He laughes, but he was never quite as good at hiding his emotion as Gale, and the sound comes out forced and shaky.
"A round of applause for our tributes!" Serina says, trying not to let the scene in front of her bother her.
A low rumble starts in the crowd, but dies out when the Peacekeepers raise their guns. The citizens of District Twelve become deadly silent and show the largest form of dissent they can manage. Starting with Prim and Katniss, everyone slowly touches the last three fingers of their left hand to their lips and holds it out to the pair on the stage. Posy recognizes the sign as the one they sometimes use at funerals. It's saying farewell to someone you love, and Posy knows it's not to be taken lightly. She wonders what she and Vick ever did to deserve this kind of respect.
The mayor stands up and replaces a bewildered Serina at the podium. He clears his throat a few times before opening his mouth and launching into the Treaty of Treason. Another speech Posy has nearly memorized. When the time for the customary handshake between tributes comes, he looks at Posy's crumpling face and Vick's arms protectively around her, and ends up signalling with trembling hands for the Peacekeepers to lead them to the Justice Building.
(A/N) Hope you enjoyed :) I know the idea's a bit odd, but tell me what you guys think.