As she drifted slowly from dream to consciousness a heaviness slipped on to her chest and into her breathing. Anxiety encased her as soon as her eyes opened. She started racing through her mind. What's making me nervous? What am I dreading? Is someone mad at me? Did I mess something up? If anything was going to cause Annie Cresta stomach churning dread, it was the thought that someone was upset with her. She would do anything to avoid a raised voice or a disapproving look. Perhaps she hadn't finished cleaning before she went to bed last night…Maybe she had forgotten that she had had plans with Hawthorne and had accidentally ditched him…Maybe she…..And then it her. The reaping.

The reaping was today. Last year, last year, last year, last year… She repeated it to herself like a mantra. But it did nothing to ease the fear that was threatening to consume her. Images from games she had seen were flashing through her head. The images were getting increasingly graphic and she couldn't decide if she was going to throw up or pass out. She frantically chose a world to retreat to in her mind. Hawthorne and I married and living on the beach. She tried as hard as she could to keep her mind occupied with her fantasy life of quiet domesticity. Finally the images of the games ceased to come crashing in and she spent the morning living in her beach world.

Even as she was making breakfast and doing chores, she didn't leave her imagination. She knew that if she did she would start thinking of the games and she couldn't take the anxiety. Thankfully her morning would be free of any interactions that would pull her out of her head. It had been about a week since her Aunt and Uncle had even spoken to her and as it was reaping day there was no way she would see them until this evening. What had been frightening and isolating as a twelve year old she had grown to see as a gift. They could pretend she didn't exist and she could pretend she lived in a world where the games didn't exist. Everyone's minds were safer that way, protected from reality.

Once time came to start getting ready to go to the town square she was unable to ignore the purpose of her outing. She chose a green cotton floral dress that reminded her of her mother's eyes and pulled her hair half back just as her mother had always done. Even though she knew it made no sense, she always thought that maybe if she could look more like her mother she could begin to possess more of the fiery strength her mother had. Her mother had been a tidal wave. Strong, unpredictable, willfully directing everything it touches. Temporary. But as she stared at herself in the mirror, she felt more like a feather, sea foam, a reed in the wind. She sang about the waves as she walked to the town square.

The boats they toss about about

The gulls and men they shout and shout

Today the waves and tide they turn

Are sand and men to save or burn?

She received a few strange glances as she normally did when she walked around singing. But as usual, she didn't notice them.

In wrath the wave today shall lash

On rock and ship and man shall bash

Her anger foams and bubbles white

Then softly slows into the night

When she arrived at the town square she took her place among the girls. She spotted several girls she knew but said nothing. No one talks to each other at the reaping. An eerie silence overtakes the whole village. It doesn't leave until everyone's back in their homes. And then, in every home, a quiet chatter starts to bubble in a heavy relief. Except that in two homes, every year, the eerie silence stays and never leaves. Riayeez Bevakoof took to the stage and the standard proceedings began. Riayeez wore a skirt that was made to resemble waves breaking. As Annie stared at it she started thinking of the waves again.

Her mind took her under the water, where you can see the white of the waves breaking above but only feel a gentle sway. The rhythm of the waves and the cool of the water were filling Annie with a too familiar longing to live life as a fish in the comfortable embrace of the ocean. She was imagining her legs as a fin gracefully guiding her through the salty tides when suddenly she felt as if she was very exposed. She stepped out of her day dream and realized it was because everyone was staring at her. She was confused for a moment but she realized why she was the recipient of the attention before she even heard the sound from the stage…

"Ehem, I said Annie Cresta."