Chapter One:

I felt my heartbeat pulse through my body; I could feel them drawing closer behind me. Dark laughs echoed all around me. Thump, thump .I knew I had to run, but something was disabling my left leg. Thump, thump. I did my best to get away, dragging my leg behind me, wincing as sharp rocks on the forest floor dug into it. Thump, thump. Every part of me was screaming to look back, to see how much distance they had gained. Thump, thump. But I refused to look back; I knew that if I did, fear would paralyze me. Thump, thump. They were ruthless, they would destroy the world if it meant more power for them. No, they wouldn't hesitate. Thump, thump. And I didn't even know their names. Desperately searching ahead of me for something, anything that would help me, I saw what could be my salvation. Thump, thump. I saw a sparkling blue lake at the edge of the thick forest. Thump, thump. I didn't know why I was so sure that it would save me. I just knew that I had to get there. Thump, thump. My heartbeat was like a clock to my escape attempt, with each tick, fate grew closer. Thump, thump. I was nearing the lake, but unfortunately, they were nearing me. Thump, thump. I was almost to the water when a roaring pain tore through my left shoulder, shrieking, I lost my footing and tumbled to the ground. Thump, thump. In the seconds it took to get back to my feet, they had caught up with me and slammed me back to the ground. Thump, thump. I raised my eyes to look at them for the first time, but all but one were blurred. Thump, thump. I focused on the one who wasn't blurred, he was quite tall, with dark, dark hair. Thump, thump. He had hard grey eyes, and two scars on either side of this face, curved liked backwards parenthesis. Thump, thump, thump, thump. He fixed his cold eyes on me, and without a word, he drew his sword and brought it down in a swinging arch. Thump, CRASH!

My eyes shot open and I sat up with a shriek. "So sleeping beauty finally awakens," a familiar voice said "I've been knocking on your door for the last five minutes." He chuckled.

"Why?" I inquired sleepily, while rubbing my eyes.

"Sarah needs to finish your dress for the reaping, she asked me to come up and get you." I turned my head and looked at him; his wild, black hair was as crazy as always. His cobalt blue eyes had a laughing twinkle in them. But something was off, and it was rather obvious what it was. He was wearing a bright orange ball gown, it had been fit a woman's curves, not his muscular build. And might I mention that the color didn't quite complement his caramel skin tone.

"James," I said slowly, "why are you wearing a ball gown?"

"What?" he said innocently with his best puppy dog face, "you don't like it?" doing a slight turn.

"Dude, just….no." I said with a slight facepalm. A grin crossed his face as his rich laughter echoed across the room, resounding down the hall.

"Sarah accidently made a dress a size too small, so she asked me to stretch it out."

"And…That didn't offend you at all?"

"Well now that I think about it…"

"We probably shouldn't keep Sarah waiting," I said quickly "let's head down."

Back up time, so basically, Sarah is my adoptive mother, and a well-known dress maker in the capitol and District Four. I know what you're thinking, District One is supposed to make luxury items and District Four is supposed to provide all things fishing, well, I don't know how it happened. Anyway, Sarah was my mother's best friend, and took me in when my mother was killed.

But about my mother, her name was Angela Lunastella. And the thing that was quite rare about her was that she was a teen mom. I don't really know the details about how that came to be, and frankly I don't want to. But when I was three years old, and she was seventeen, her name was drawn at the reaping. You would think many people would agree to volunteer for a young mother, but her family had all died from a boating accident, and she had forbade Sarah from volunteering for her. But my mother didn't just lie down and accept her fate, she fought. She fought like hell and made it to the final three; she went down fighting the other two tributes at the same time. That was eleven years ago, and eleven years ago Angela Lunastella became one of the most famous tributes of all time.

I snapped back to reality as James waved his hand in front of my face. "Alright, let's head down then." I said as I pulled my long blonde waves into a bun on top of my head. I stopped at the doorway on the way out, and fake mournfully gazed at my room. I absolutely loved my room, the walls were all white with seashells making designs on them. I had three enormous windows on the sides of my room, one of them looking out at my beloved ocean. My furniture was made of light, worn wood and above my cluttered desk was a mirror surrounded by pictures of James and I. They showed us at all ages and stages of our lives, which, actually, is my favorite part of my room.

So, seeing no other option (are you hearing the sarcasm here?) James decides to grab my arm and forcibly drag me down the hall. Luckily for him, he knows better than to try and carry a conversation with me when I've just woken up. So, I let my mind wander off and not surprisingly, they land on the hunger games. The reaping is in two weeks, and I'll let you in on a secret, I've been having nightmares. Each and every one has been about the games, and it's making me worry out of my mind. I must have seen every possible scenario, but I'll spare you from the gory details.

Although, I really don't have as much a right to worry as some people do, Sarah's business makes enough money for us to get by, and then some, so I've never had to put my name in extra times for tesserae. Most aren't so lucky, even though we live in a pretty rich district; we still have cases of starvation. It's not as bad as some districts, like 12, where people drop like flies, but things are pretty rough all over. Except for in the Capitol, the place where your biggest worry is if you'll get invited to the biggest party of the season.

I turn to James and nonchalantly ask "How many times is your name in?"

He looks at me and looks slightly annoyed, he sighs and says "Well, now you're forcing me into doing math, seriously Jules, you should know by now that math is my worst subject," he looks up and blows his bangs up in a puff "Gosh, um, let's see…with Mom, Dad, Coco, Fisher and I, it should be, um….18, somewhere around there I think."

James's family is not as well off as mine is, though Sarah constantly offers them help, they always turn it down. So James has to put his name in extra times for tesserae. Just thinking about it infuriates me, how could they? How could they just look someone in the eye and reject the help that they desperately need? How could they push their son off, closer and closer to our world's greatest horror, when they don't even have to? Is their pride somehow more important than their son's life?

As if sensing my emotions, he stops walking and turns to me. "You're still having the nightmares, aren't you?"

I just nod. "Hey," he says gently "It's going to be all right, we're going to be fine."

Burning tears flood into my eyes as I look up at him and ask, so softly, but at the same time, far too loud "But what if it isn't?"

He just pulls me into a hug and says "Then we'll get through it. Just like we've always done." I close my eyes and think we're safe for now. We're safe.