A/N: Hello there! This is my first piece of work, so I'd appreciate any form of commentary you feel like giving! I don't have much else to say, so enjoy the story!
Chapter One: The Raffle
Lucy
"Get up, we're going to be late!"
Five more minutes. . .
"Lucy Steele, am I going to have to come upstairs?"
Meh. . . "Fine, I'm on my way. . ." I rolled out of bed, with little enthusiasm, and paced over to the dresser in my room. In the mirror, I saw the image of a young woman - nineteen, soon to be twenty - with long, light brown hair, pale skin, and chocolate brown eyes. I stared at her for just a little while before I realized her hair needed brushing, and she needed to get dressed. Today was the day of the raffle, and my parents were never late for that.
After the woman in the mirror was dressed more suitably - a light green dress with a white woolen scarf, and a pair of knee-high boots, - and her hair looked less like a jungle and more like a field, I stepped out of my room and went downstairs. "I'm ready, mom!"
"About time. . ."
"Sorry! Shall we be going?" I bowed my head to her and grabbed my bag from the rack by the door, with no particular contents. Just a few silver eagles and some make up. "Is dad coming?"
"He's already on his way down to buy our tickets before they sell out. We already waited this long!"
"Sorry, again!" I bowed my head one more time before we headed out the door, arm in arm, out into the floating city of Columbia.
The scenery was absolutely beautiful, as usual. Buildings that looked like their bases were in clouds, gorgeous buildings and streets, decorated by happy looking people. Of course, today was the day of the raffle, so there were patriotic flags strung from building to building; red white and blue everywhere. I observed the gorgeous city as my mother dragged me around by my arm, occasionally stopping to let the parade floats move through the airways.
The posters around town hadn't changed much, save a few about the raffle. The usual warnings about the "False Shepherd", propaganda about the Prophet, Comstock, and his lamb, and all of the other basic things were strewn about.
"Excuse me, miss." I was snapped back into reality by a voice to my left. I turned around to see who was speaking to me.
"Yes?"
"Oh, nothing." A man with orange hair, dressed in a green suit was the owner of the voice. Next to him stood a woman in similar attire, but the suit was replaced by a dress. "Do you think she's going to the raffle?"
"Of course she's going to the raffle." The woman spoke now. "Where else would she be going?"
"She could end up going somewhere else."
"But she isn't going to, because she's going to the raffle." They seemed absorbed in their argument. I was forced to leave them behind, as my only automation was determined by my mother's direction.
"We're almost there, dear." My mother had calmed down, and she wasn't wrong. We were walking through the numerous attractions. There was nothing particularly interesting, and even if there was, we didn't have time to stay and watch them. One in particular caught my eye, though. "The Incredible Handy-Man." I watched as it lumbered across the stage, hiding from cameras and posing as the announcer spoke.
We arrived the gate which led to the pavilion where the raffle was being held. My dad was standing by the automation that opened the gate, cursing under his breath.
"Hello, Dad!" I waved at him and broke free of my mother's grasp, running at him to give him a hug.
"Good mornin', sweetheart." He sighed with disappointment. "This little gate keeper here won't accept our tickets. Looks like we're missing the raffle this year."
"That's just like you, Harold. You didn't buy our tickets soon enough?" Mother was fussing at dad, so I decided to take a few steps back.
"It's not my fault it won't take the tickets. There's nothing I can do. Let's just head home."
Mother groaned. "It was going to be the first one Lucy'd seen, as well." She continued to grumble under her breath. "Come on, Lucy, we're leaving."
I already had an idea formulating. "You two go on ahead, I want to play some of the carnival games." I waved them off as they begrudgingly departed, and crouched by the side of the machine. I looked for the panel that would lead into its inner mechanisms, and soon enough I had cracked it open to see how it operated. With a few more seconds I had gotten the gate to the raffle open. Technology's something of a skill of mine, always has been. I don't know if there's a machine in Columbia I couldn't control.
Either way, I got into the raffle just in time. As I arrived, they were calling out the winning number.
"Isn't that just the prettiest white girl in all of Columbia?" Jeremiah Fink was the announcer, as usual. I took my spot in the crowd and stared upwards onto the stage, waiting to see what would happen. In all honesty, I'd never seen the raffle before and couldn't wait to see what the prize was. "And the winner is. . . Number Seventy-Seven!"