Hello loyal readers! It is I, TearsofPain! This is a story that I had on my other account (it was my more happy-go-lucky one that I don't use anymore) that I wanted to put on here because it is my favorite. It is obviously a Hunger Games story, so it is not going to have a happy ending. Sorry about that... But anyways please read it and review to let me know what you think! Also, if you leave a flame, it will be used to roast marshmallows for my smores. So there. No go, go read the story!
The plate below Harli Fhord's feet slowly began to move upward, taking her closer and closer to the field of the dreaded Hunger Games. As she waited for the platform to reach the top, she felt something in her pocket rub against her leg. She slowly and hesitantly reached her hand into the pocket and her fingers brushed against an envelope that was sealed and had a message saying "Do not open until May 10th" As she fingered the fold that covered the opening of the beloved envelope, she felt everything around her blurring and shifting as she was drawn into the recent past…
She had on her very best dress that she only wore on Reaping Day, and her hair was styled into an intricate bun that was formed by three braids that were pulled together and then circled around each other. She didn't stick out in anyway and you probably wouldn't have singled her out in the crowd. She stood nervously in the huge clearing in front of the stage wringing her sweaty hands and wiping them on her dress every couple minutes as she waited for their representative to draw the names of the two unfortunate souls who would have to compete against 22 other people in the dreaded Hunger Games, not to mention each other, out of the 2 crystal clear bowls that sat on the stage.
"And as we all know, the ladies go first!" The representative chirped in his silly sounding Capital accent. He reached his hand into the giant clear bowl on the right, rummaged around for a couple seconds to draw out the suspense, and then he drew a tiny slip of carefully folded paper and slowly opened it and ran a hand along the creases to smooth them.
"And the lucky lady participant that will represent District 6 in the 74th Hunger Games is…Harli Fhord!" He screamed into the microphone excitedly while wildly waving his hands around his head. Harli froze in complete and total fear; she couldn't have moved a single muscle even if she had wanted to.
"Well come on up!" shouted the representative encouragingly, curling a finger towards her in the universal signal of 'Come here'. Slowly Harli jerked her muscles into movement and she stumbled into the pathway between the boys and the girls. She waited numbly as 4 Peacekeepers marched up to her and escorted her up to the edge of the stage. Harli stumbled up to the stage and hesitantly climbed the steps, wincing as she tripped a little at the top due to her extreme nervousness.
As soon as she was close enough to him the representative grabbed her thin shoulders and jerked her in front of him so that she was facing all the people in the crowd. She barely registered her two 12 year old brothers hugging each other tightly and holding back tears, her older sister collapsing to her knees with grief, and her parents sagging and weeping in the back through the haze of her confusion and despair. "Let's give her a hand everybody!" The representative shouted into the microphone. There was a smattering of applause but mostly it was silent. After the uncomfortable space of silence the representative reached into the other bowl and took out a folded piece of paper that was identical to hers and had the name of her district partner on it.
He asked again for applause after reading the name and after another long silence he discreetly gestured with his hand to the Peacekeepers that were stationed on the side of the stage, and they strode forward and ushered Harli and her 'partner' through the doors that lead to the Justice Building.
They brought her to a small room where she was told to wait until her visitors were brought in and then she saw them put the boy in a room that was completely identical to hers. She uneasily twiddled her fingers as she waited and as she was doing this she realized that this would be the very last time she would see her family unless fate decided to be really nice and decided to let her win. This thought alone made Harli's eyes water, and then all the pent up tears finally spilled over and she was powerless to stop them.
That was how her family found her, with bitter tears of defeat in her eyes. Her little brothers rushed to sit close beside her and insisted on snuggling into her side, her sister kissed her on the forehead and whispered comforting words in her ear, and her parents pulled all of them up and enveloped them in an emotional group hug. Nobody's face was free of tears. In what seemed like a couple seconds, their 3 visitation minutes were up and they were forcefully dragged out of the dreary room.
One of the last things her mother said to her was, "Always remember that we love you and that we will always be with you." Then she broke free of the Peacekeepers' steely grip and rushed back to Harli to hand her a carefully sealed envelope.
"Please Harli; use this as your token. It's a special something to remind you of us. Promise me you will keep it with you at all times." She pleaded right before the Peacekeepers marched up, clamped their hands on her upper arms, and literally dragged her out of the room. The last image Harli had of her mother was her with a desperate look in her eyes, mouthing, 'Promise me.'
Harli was suddenly lured back into the present moment by a sudden lurch as her small platform finally reached the peak of its short yet deadly track. She blinked rapidly as her eyes watered from struggling to adjust to the sudden burst of light that caused multi colored dots to swim across her vision.
As soon as the annoying dots blurred and then finally disappeared, she was able to make out the distant figures of the other 23 tributes standing on plates identical to hers which were arranged in a circle around the golden structure that was the Cornucopia. Her eyes then darted to all the piles of food, weapons, and packs that surrounded the giant structure and were scattered everywhere.
She vaguely heard the 60 second countdown start as she tried to decide whether or not she should go towards the Cornucopia and get something that would help her survive longer, or whether she should run straight into the dense woods and hide from the terrifyingly fearsome Careers.
By the time she had decided, her precious 60 seconds were up and the tributes darted from their plates and sprinted to the Cornucopia. Harli on the other hand, only ran to the very edge of one of the piles, snatched a loaf of bread, a canteen, and a tiny sheet of plastic, and then she scurried towards the edge of the woods and only hesitated a second before plunging in.
She didn't stop until she found an unnaturally thick clump of bushes that would be good for hiding in because it matched the dark green hue of her clothes that were assigned to every tribute. Harli decided that she would finally open the mysterious envelope and read her letter first and then she would camouflage herself better by crushing plants and staining her skin the same color as them with the juice that was sure to leak out.
With trembling hands Harli tore open the creamy envelope and slid the thin sheet of paper out.
"Dear Harli," it read in her mother's spidery handwriting. "Due to you being chosen for the Hunger Games, we realized you would not be home for your birthday this year." With a start Harli realized it was indeed her 14th birthday today. She had been so scared about having to compete and filled with the dread of potentially having to kill people that she had completely forgotten. A happy smile graced her face as she continued reading. "Your brothers were the ones who came up with the idea of making a very special birthday card this year to show you how much we support you. So happy birthday, and here are the others". From then on there were 4 different types of handwriting which Harli knew meant that everyone had written their own section. Seeing that made her understand just how much she cared for her family and wanted to return to them and how much they cared for her and wanted the same thing.
"Hey little sis! I just want you know that I'm rooting for you and so is the rest of the family. Whenever you feel lonely or you feel like giving up, just remember, we all believe in you and we all want you to come home safe and sound. And now the boys are fighting over who gets to write first so I better let one of them go now before they try to pull me off the chair. Bye!" Harli was touched that her sister thought so highly of her, especially since Harli had looked up to her for basically her entire life. She laughed when she reached the part about her brothers fighting over her, but then she quickly slapped a hand over her mouth hoping no one had heard her.
"Hi Harli! Guess what? I won the fight so I get to "talk" to you first! All I want to say is that I don't think I told you I love you enough, so I'll just say it a lot here. I love you, I love you, I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you…" and on and on and on it went. It touched her that her 12 year old brother would be sensitive and mature enough to say that and it actually brought fond tears to her eyes. She skimmed the rest of page and continued reading when she saw her other brother's bold and blocky handwriting.
"I miss you Harli! I can't wait until you come home and I want you to know we all love you so much it almost hurts. I also wanted to let you know that I love you just as much as Garret does I just didn't think I could say I love you as many times as I should without taking up the rest of the card and not giving daddy a chance to write to you. Do good! Do it for us." By now Harli was silently weeping in the bushes. She hoped her family could see her so they could see how touched she was. She hadn't thought that her brothers could be that sensitive. She wanted to thank them, but she didn't know how. She made up her mind to give them a big huge sentimental hug when she got back home to district 6 and then she turned back to the letter to read her daddy's part. "
My sweet and gentle angel, I want you to know that I-" She didn't get to read anymore because the rest of her daddy's part was suddenly covered in a thick red liquid. It took Harli a moment to figure out what had happened to it. Her last thought as she stared down at the sharp blood covered knife that was sticking out of the middle of her stomach was that she would never get to give her brothers that sentimental hug, and that they would be so disappointed in her for not winning for them. Then her vision started slowly getting darker and more menacing and the blood splattered card slipped from her now limp hand and floated gently to the ground.
So yeah. Like I said, it's kinda sad, but hey! It's the Hunger Games. It's suppposed to be sad. Please, please, please let me know what you think! Also if you see any grammatical errors or plot errors be sure to let me know. And remember...
A happy author writes better and faster, so review and make me happy! ToR out!