Well… Here it is… Rue's Life. Hope you enjoy it!
PREFACE
The overwhelming scent of peaches fill my nose, and I resist the urge to pick it off the tree and take a huge bite of it. It just smells so good I can't stand it.
And then, as high up as I can be, I catch a glimpse, just a tiny glimpse, of the white flag that meant quitting time. I sing out to Sunshine- a mockingjay I named because of the way her feathers shined in the sunlight- my four note motive. She immediately catches on and passes the melody down and slowly I watch the hard workers climb down their ladders and down the tree. I start to climb down too and I hear my sister Kyleah calling my name.
"Rue! Rue, look! Mr. Matthews gave us a basket of cherries! Now we'll have food for everyone!" Mr. Matthews is a nice old man who earns quite a bit of money from his shop. Usually no one can really afford anything in District Eleven.
"That's wonderful." I smile at Kyleah. She is only nine years old. I take her hand and pull her on the way home.
And then we stop short in the town square because there are five Peacekeepers blocking our path to our home. They carry a man, an old man. They force him onto his knees.
Oh no.
"Turn around, Kyleah." I tell her. She does as I say because all my younger siblings listen to me.
The tallest biggest Peacekeeper loads his gun and shoots into the old man's temple. There's a crowd watching. I will have thrown up if there is anything in my stomach right now. And then I see it, I see a big muscular boy with his parents crying out for the old man and pleading to the Peacekeepers. They take out the mother after, and then they leave.
What they have done, I have no idea.
I can feel tears, tears of hatred towards the Peacekeepers, towards the Capitol, towards the annual Hunger Games. This year I turned twelve years old. The reaping is held tomorrow, held in the town square. My name is entered nine times, six for myself and my younger siblings, two for my parents, and the one mandatory time. The extra times are for tesserae. For free grain and oil. It's my first reaping.
"Come on, Kyleah" I try to suck my tears back in. I hold out my hand to her and I guide our way back to the house.
I leave her back at house. House may even be too grand of a word for our home. It's just a shabby little cottage that can only prevent rain from entering and we still have leaks that need to be repaired.
I need to go somewhere outside to prepare myself for the reaping.
I am so engrossed in my own thoughts and I don't even notice when I bump into a boy from my school. He's in my year, although I am sure he doesn't know that I exist. His name is William Sterlingston. I look at his chestnut coloured hair and his clear blue eyes and I blush for some reason.
"Sorry" I say. It barely comes out as a whisper.
He nods at me and touches my arm. And then he leaves.
I go to my favourite tree at the corner of the neighbourhood and I climb to the lowest branch.
"Sunshine! Lily! Caramel! "I sing out to my special mockingjay friends.
This time, four mockingjays appear in front of me. They all sing back to me, and the new one has a beautiful voice, the most lyrical one I've heard yet.
"Well, you're a new one aren't you?" I say, cocking my head to the side. "How about… I name you… Chantelle." Because she sings so beautifully.
I can tell that my mockingjays are all female. They each have that mark on their wings. The female ones have higher voices.
I stay there watching the sun set, singing to my mockingjays, and thinking about the reaping.
What will it be like tomorrow? I am so scared. Of course, there are tens of thousands of people in District Eleven, but there is still a distinct chance.
If I get chosen, I vow to try to stay alive, although I am only twelve. If I do get crowned victor which would be highly unlikely, then my siblings will not have to go through what I might go through. I will try to come back to this world full of mockingjays.