I walk home slowly after a long, tiring day at school. Rye, my younger brother, walks a few steps in front of me along with our little sister Prue. I don't really feel like talking to anyone today to I just tag behind them.
"Willow, wait up," I hear someone shout from behind me. I turn around and notice Finley Odair running up to me, he looks so much like his father, Finnick Odair. I have seen pictures of him, Finley has his eyes, his hair and my mom tells me that he has his fathers charm. I wonder what it is like to grow up without a father, my moms got killed in a mine explosion when she was only 11 and Finley's died before he was born. I couldn't bear the thought of loosing my dad
"What's up Will?" He asks.
"Nothing," I reply shaking my head.
"Come on Wills I have basically known you all my life, I think I can tell when something is up with you." I
I have known Finley all of my life, he is only 2 years older than me and he is one of my closest friends, our moms are extremely close as well. A few years after the rebellion Annie and Finley moved to Victors Village in district 12, well it isn't called 'Victors Village" anymore, it's just a fancy set of houses that anyone can buy but they are much pricier then normal houses. Im not entirely sure why they moved, I think it was because Annie wanted to be near people she knew and she and my mother had a great bond pulse she was still grieving over Finnick.
"Just stupid school," I say.
"Is that girl still causing you problems?"
"No, my teacher has chosen me to present a speech to the class about why I thought the rebellion was necessary. I know she chose me because of my parents but why couldn't she have chosen someone else, I hate speaking," I rant.
"I suppose it would be an absolute shame if you fell sick on the day," Finley suggests laughing. I smile and laugh a little,
"Haha very funny, that's the oldest trick in the book," I reply.
"Well not the oldest, I think the 'my dog ate my homework' is one of the oldest," Finley begins, "also no one has ever heard of a 'my cat ate my homework'."
"I think the only person you would get to believe that would be my mom, but she hates Buttercup already so it wouldn't be that hard for her," I laugh. Mom mom and Buttercup aren't the best of friends, she tried to drown him in a bucket once, I mean they weren't the best of friend before that but I think that was the cut off point for the alliance.
"Fin, do you have a girlfriend." Prue blurts out from in front. I have to bite my cheek to stop myself from laughing, unfortunately it doesn't work.
"No," fin begins, "but I met this girl and I think she is the one for me."
"Who is it?" I ask intrigued.
"Just some girl who goes to school, no one you know," he replies.
"Is she pretty?" Prue questions.
"Yeah, very pretty."
We stop outside my house,
"Well I guess I will see you tomorrow then, good luck with your speech," Finley says.
"Bye Fin." And I watch him run across the road to his house. I walk inside and go up to my room to get started on the speech, it's better to just get it over with then it won't bother me as much.
I am walking past my parents room to get to my room when I notice my mother sat on their bed staring at a picture, she is upset. I know this because she always does this.
"Mom are you okay?" I ask her as I walk into their room. She looks up at me, her eyes are puffy and red so I know she has been crying. I look down at who the picture she is holding is of, Aunty Prim.
I sigh, mom talks about her all of the time with such passion, I have seen millions of pictures of her and even though I didn't know her personally, I feel like I know her enough to miss her. I sit next to her on the bed,
"It's okay to miss her, I know this sounds kind of weird but sometimes I kind of miss her myself, even though I never knew her," I say to my mom. She looks at me and slightly smiles,
"I know, and she would have still been here if it wasn't for me."
I look at her, confused,
"What are you on about, it wasn't your fault."
"It was, when I decided I would become the Mockingjay I wrote down a list of agreements which consisted of rescuing your father Johanna and Annie, Gale and I being able to hunt, Prim being able to keep her cat and me being able to kill Snow," mom begins, "I was so caught up with your rescuing your dad and the rebellion I forgot to focus more on my mom and Prim, I mean we spent some time together but they were in the hospital most of the time and I was usually down in command or doing propos. I thought Prim was safe and I was blind to think they wouldn't lay a finger on her so I didn't make one of the agreements about keeping my mother and Prim, especially Prim safe, if I did then maybe Coin wouldn't have sent her to the Capitol."
I don't bother saying stuff like 'it wasn't your fault' because it won't change her outlook on it all so I just pull her into a hug and say,
"It will be okay."
Rye comes into the room to tell us that dinner is ready, so we all go downstairs to eat. People have told me that I have both my mothers and my fathers traits, I like to hunt with my mom, not that we need to because we are wealthy enough to buy our own meet but we all like fresh meet. I learnt how to use a bow and arrow when I was around four or five, after months of begging my mom to teach me she finally did. It didn't take me long to pick up the technique and everything and I can now gladly say I can shoot as good as my mom. Like my mom I also hate speaking, I'm not the best with words and I absolutely hate speaking in front of people. I love to paint and bake though,mid I'm not hunting with my mom I am either baking with my dad or painting. People have also told me that I am a spitting image of my mom apart from my eyes, I got them from my dad. Rye is fourteen, he has my dads hair and my moms eyes. Rye likes to hunt with us and he likes painting, he isn't much of a baker though but he is better with words than I am. Prue is 12 and her full name is Prudence, like Rye she has my dads blonde hair and my mothers grey eyes. My mother comments on how she is exactly like Prim, her pure innocence and how she wants to become a doctor in later life, like Prim wanted to. I mean Prue likes painting and baking but she loves caring for people. She wouldn't hurt a fly.
Our father dishes out dinner, which is pasta bake, my favourite. It smells delicious. At dinner we usually chat about our day, what we have done and everything. We always eat dinner together, my parents say it bonds us together as a family and I couldn't agree more. I am so happy and lucky to be a part of this family.
"How has everyone's day been at school?" dad pipes up, breaking the silence.
"It was okay but Mrs Parker was ill again so we had a substitute," Prue says. Our dad turns to Rye,
"What about you Rye?" he asks. Rye shrugs his shoulders,
"Eh, it was okay I guess, nothing much really happened other than Mr Wilson not showing up for most of the lesson."
"Willow, have you got anything interesting to tell us?" Mom asks.
"School was pretty boring, it always is. Anyway, my teacher is forcing me to do a speech about whether I thought the rebellion was necessary. I hate speaking in front of people and I hate him."
"You will do great Willow, don't worry," dad says.
Just then I hear a sound coming from the living room, we all do because everyone stops eating and stays silent. We all stare at each other, confused. What is going on? Rye gets up to go and check what it is. He comes back a few seconds later,
"It's the television," he begins, "it's been turned on and there is a message that reads 'mandatory viewing' across the screen." We all immediately get up and wonder into the living room. No one is saying a thing, I notice my parents exchange glances mixed with worry and confuse.
It's a few seconds before the screen changes to a man, he looks to be in his late forties but with all the plastic surgery the Capitol does he could be a lot older than he looks. His eyes look intimidating, he has a sharp nose. He just looks so bitter. He begins to speak,
"People of Panem, it is my duty to bring you some very sad news. Your president, President Paylor has been killed," we all gasp in shock, "We are currently investigating who the murderer is. I, Lazarus Bourdon, have been elected as the new president and I have made a few changes on how Panem is going to be ran," I look over at Rye and raise an eyebrow in confusion, "There are a few changes that I do not need to announce but there are two important ones, I and my advisors have all agreed that every district runs better when it has peacekeepers. They will keep you in place, make sure you attend work, school, do not cross the district fence and just help every district run more smoothly and follow the law laid out for them. The next change I, I mean we have decided to make has been a bit of a bigger topic, hours of debates and voting have taken place, we have weighed out the pros and cons and have come down to a final decision," I notice my mom take hold of my dads hand in fear, whatever it is I know it is not going to be good, "we have decided to bring back the Hunger Games. Exact same rules as before apart from both tributes from the same district can win, the reapings in each district will take part tomorrow at two in the town square in each district. Failure to attend the reaping is punishable by death."
The television switches off. Everyone is in complete shock. I notice my mom beginning to cry, my dad tries to calm her down. Rye goes over and hugs a crying Prue, and I am just stood here. I am so confused at the moment, so many things are running throughout my head, I don't know what to think. This can't be, it just can't. Then I run out of the house to the only spot I can think of, the meadow.
Well what do you guys think? I'm enjoying writing this and I have some great stuff planned for it *evil laughter* It would mean so much to me if you could possibly let me know what you think and what do you think is going to happen within the story.
No im also going to do this "thing" I got the idea from ArthursCamelot, they have written an amazing Everlark fanfic series so I suggest you check it out! Now this "thing" is very simple and I just give you a quotation from the next chapter. Again this isn't my idea, all credit goes to ArthursCamelot!
Sooo for the first quotation, let me see, let me see ...hmmmm...Finley!
"I have been trying to find a way to tell you but I never knew how, then that speech was aired and I then knew I had to tell you."
What could he possibly be on about?
See you guys in the next chapter, or on Twitter if you follow me (which is NightlockTHG)!