This is my first attempt at writing a story on FanFiction, so please give a review!
"Ouch, mom!" I say as my mother piles my hair atop my head. "There, done." My mother says as she gives a final tug. I look in the mirror. My hair is beautiful. A bulging bun rests on top of my head, with several silky braids coming out of it. There is also a barrette that looked like a sparkling orange that is clipped into the side of my bun. I wear a bright red silk dress and red shoes. Also, I wear golden eye shadow to bring out my blue eyes, and some pale red lipstick.
We leave the house soon after I am ready to go and walk to the town square. Our family finds seats and we sit down just as the reaping is about to start. The mayor gives regular speech and reads the long Treaty of Treason, but I can't listen. I'm too nervous. If I get picked, I'll surely die in the games. I stare off into the distance to the orchards of District 11, hoping that I'll be able to work in them for another year. When the mayor finishes, our escort, Starling Sun, walks up to the microphone.
"Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor!" She says energetically. Starling crosses over to the two big glass balls at the left of the stage, one for the boys, one for the girls. "Ladies first!" She says. She pulls out a slip of paper, and I cross my fingers, toes, arms, and legs, hoping that it won't be me. Starling walks back over to the microphone and opens her mouth to say the name.
"Zera Nirao." She says.
I freeze.
I know all the cameras are trained on me. I hold my breath, knowing that if I let out even a single breath, I'll burst into tears. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. At home, I spend hours in front of the mirror, putting different emotions on my face. I can make myself look sad when I'm happy, and excited when I'm bored. I put away the sad emotion and try to think of happy things. I stand up and put a small smile on my face as I walk toward the stage.
My eyes are brimming with tears, and I try not to blink so as not to let the tears loose, because if one drop of water drips down my face, it will be my downfall in the games. The crowd gives applause, as they do every year, and Starling goes to draw the second slip of paper. "Cameron Knight." She calls. I could faint.
Cameron is only three years older than I am, but, being 16, it's like he is from an entirely different world. Lost in thought, I am taken back to a night when I was 8.
I had decided to gather berries in the forest. I had been there for hours plucking the round, shiny berries, and filling my basket with them. Darkness had fallen by the time I had plucked berries from every bush there was that I could find, and the forest was an entirely different place. I was lost, and scared. I ran in circles trying to find an exit. "Well, what do we have here?" A voice said from above. I looked up into a tree, and there was a boy, not much older than myself, climbing down. It was Cameron. He showed me where to go to get home, and escorted me to my house. After that, we became great friends.
Reality snapped back to me as I was told to shake his hand. I did, wanting nothing more than to run into his arms and be shielded from what was happening. We are the same height, even with three years difference. I am tall for a 13-year-old, but I'm almost 14, so I guess there is only a two-year difference between us. The Peacekeepers drag us away, and I catch a glimpse of my poor mother, her face red and blotchy, my father, who looked as if he just wanted to wake up and have everything be the same as it always was, and my baby sister, Rose, who, even as an infant, seemed to understand what was going on, and had started to cry.
