Chapter One-Nightmares

I pulled the ribbon on my dress tightly behind my back. I let it fall, and my hands flitted back to my sides. I glanced at myself in my half-shattered mirror, lifting my chin slightly upward.

There I stood, my five nine frame, in my dress. It was grey with a dingy green leaf print, very well worn. It went to my knees, and the ribbon hung down to my mid-back. This was my reaping dress; after all, today the reaping would take place for the 52nd Hunger Games. I slipped on my white flats and put my sister's twine necklace around my neck.

I took one last look at myself in the mirror before I began hearing sobbing from downstairs. I slowly creeped down the stairs as my dress bouncing behind me. I walked down the hallway and peaked my head through an archway where my mother stood huddled over.

"Mom," I said, my voice echoing through our almost silent living room.

She turned to look at me, revealing a picture of my late sister, Brinn, cradled in her arms. My memory was sent back to the reaping of last year's 51st Hunger Games.

"Happy Hunger Games!" our district's escort, Mia Powers spoke to the crowd, in the quite ridiculous Capitol accent. "And may the odds be ever in your favor."

She looked out into the crowd of solemn faces and as usual, was expecting some kind of enthusiasm, which she never got. Everyone stood awkwardly for a few seconds until she began to open her mouth again.

"Now for the video on the Dark Days!" she exclaimed, pressing down on a button on a remote.

A video appeared on the screen and told of how the Hunger Games came to be and the Dark Days. We had to view the video every year, and every year it was the same. Once it came to an end, and our entire district still quiet, as usual.

"I just love that video!" Mia exclaimed, cutting through the dead silence. "Now for the selecting of the tributes. Ladies first."

Mia plunged her hand into the glass bowl, and her hand seemed to swim through it for several hours when really it was barely two seconds. Her hand emerged with a slip of paper folded and taped in half. She broke the seal and opened the paper up.

"Brinn Wilmington," she spoke clearly in the microphone.

My heart just about stopped. What were the odds that in my sister's last year available to be reaped that she was? She had almost been in the clear, yet, sadly, not quite there.

My sister's brilliant body stepped out of the eighteen year old girls holding area and onto the soft dirt path to the stage. She held her head up head up high, and her long body seemed to exude confidence. However, I knew that it wasn't real. She turned her head towards me, and I felt her emotions somewhat take over my entire body.

I had never seen Brinn look scared ever; she was always so strong for my mother and me, always. Yet now, she wasn't scared; she was utterly terrified. Fear and shock danced in her blue eyes as she walked to the stage with her blonde hair blowing behind her.

I glanced around, and nobody had seemed to notice her fear except for me. That was Brinn for you, always being strong, even if she was weak on the inside.

"That a girl come on up," Mia said, lending a hand to my sister.

My sister was brought to center stage. Her hand was raised above her head as if she had won some great victory or honor.

"Erika? Why are you up so early?" my mom asked me, setting the picture back down on a table.

"Do you think I could sleep? The reaping's today…" my voice trailed off.

"You don't think I know that," my mother began, softly. "I've been worrying about this day since last year's Game. You just can't go Erika; you can't. I won't allow it! I just won't."

I hugged my mom, and a bell rang through the town, signaling the reaping's beginning. My mom picked up my little sister, and we all headed to the Justice Building for this year's reaping.

I had my finger pricked and joined the girls of my age, fifteen. The sky got dark, and Mia appeared from the ground. Out of nowhere, everyone else was gone. Nobody was left except for me.

"Erika Wilmington will be going into this year's Hunger Games," she said, smiling deviously, rubbing her thin little hands together.

"You didn't even pick from the bowl," I stammered out, waiting for her reaction.

"Well, we want you for the Hunger Games. It's either killed or be killed Erika. Come on the Games are right through there."

Before I knew it, I was falling through darkness. I then landed on some grass standing with a knife in my hand. Twenty-two teenagers were lying haphazardly in the grass with knives in their backs. I then realized I had killed them all; I felt my heart begin to hurt. Before I could react anymore, two huge arms grabbed my and started to choke me.

"Stop…. Can't….. Breathe…" I began to sputter.

Then, I awoke in my bed, hyperventilating and holding my chest.

I heard a scuffling of someone's feet, and my door was thrust open.

"Erika, what's wrong?" my mother asked, running into my bedroom.

"Nightmare," I said, breathlessly flopping back onto my bed.