Standing Alone- Rue's Hunger Games
I roll the fragile object over in my hand, observing every edge, color and dent. I find it fascinating how a tube smaller than hand can make such beautiful melodies. In the trees at the orchard, I can close my eyes and imagine a land of forest and sunset. Meadows and lakes with fresh springs…
However, this is not the reality I wake up to every morning.
I wake up every morning to the faces of five starving children, and a severely ill mother. I don't tell my younger sisters, but both my mother and I know that she won't last much longer. We keep silent with an unspoken agreement to not let them suffer the same hardships I have. They will hopefully never have to work in the orchards with peacekeepers holding guns to their backs. My mother isn't working, so I'm the source of money coming in… and it isn't that much. The games could change this with the excessive prized money, but I would never go because my sisters can't earn money and neither can my mother. They would all die in less than a week.
I stare back at myself through our shattered mirror. I see a weak helpless girl, worn not by time, but by strength. My family rests on my shoulders, one slip and we are gone. The thought dwells on me, every breath I inhale of every day. But, around my sisters, I don't let it show. I pretend to be the optimistic girl they only know. But it will be hard to be like that today. The Reaping.
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