Shadows fall, scattered across my crumpled bed covers. I blink a few times before finally summoning the strength to open my eyes. I wipe away the sleep a blink again. It's dark outside and I can't tell the time from my watch. I give my tired eyes another rub and sit up. If I stop moving I can hear my mothers breathing in the next room. She must still be asleep, I don't want to wake her, she'll start worrying again. I sit there for a moment before finally standing up. It's a nice warm morning so I grab my swim suit and put it on under my clothes. My boots are sitting by the door, I grab them and quickly put them in my little bag, I roll up my towel and put it in as well. The floorboards on the stairs are cold, my hand trails along the smooth wood of the rail. I've reached the living room, my steps quicken as a I reach for the front door. I pull it open and dash outside. The door clicks behind me and the gravel crunches under my feet as I trot along the path. My feet are tough and I don't feel the pain of the small rocks under them. I slow down to a walking pace, it's not a long walk to the beach so I can take my time. The sky above is still dark and a few of the last stars are twinkling. The road splits into two and I take the left path. The sparkling sea comes into view, not a wave in sight, the water looks silken and soft, just waiting for someone to set it alive with splashes. My pace quickens. Soon I can feel the sand under my toes. My bag drops to the ground and soon my clothes join it. I Roll my arms backward, stretching my swimsuit. My feet make the prints that lead to the water. My toes sink forward into the wet sand. The waves lap at my feet. The water is cool, I shiver but keep wading deeper. The water reaches my waist and I dive under. I blink open my eyes, my vision is blurred but I can see little schools of fish swimming around the rocks. They part for me and I swim past. My head floats up and I look around. He rises a couple of metres away from me and swims over. I'm faced with flawless sea-green eyes. He smiles his cocky smile at me.
"Umm, Hi" My voice comes out nervous. Finnick looks me over before replying.
"Hello.." He gestures for me to talk
"Vera Harbron, I mean, umm, that's my name..." I stammer.
"Well, Vera, this is getting awkward. I assume you are going in the reaping today?" I give a nod "Then good luck."
"Thanks" I look around, "Are you going to be there? I mean, I guess your going but I..."
"Yeah, I'm going to be there" He grins at me "I wanna know what my little tribute looks like."
"Umm, right, yeah. So i guess I'll see you later then?" I start swimming off. I just spoke with Finnick Odair. I smile and swim quicker. The water is only about waist high so I start wading. Small waved have started to form around me I lift my legs up higher and start running towards my bag. My feet are encased with sand. A pull out my towel and rub it over my face and hair, stopping the drips from landing on my clothes. I have the sense just to pull my pants and shirt over my swimsuit, I have the feeling that he's still watching me. I slip my sandals over my feet and start running over to the path, swinging my bag over my shoulder, I see Finnick start swimming over to the shore behind me. The golden and of the beach is replaced by the dull black gravel of the path. I start jogging.
"Its reaping day!" My mother cries at me, "Peacekeepers all over the place. Do you have any idea how dangerous that was!" I shrug, my mother is one of the more over-protective ones. I love her, but she can nag a bit to much a times.
"I wasn't the only one out there!" I retort.
"Who was out there with you then!?"
"Finnick Odair." My mother snorts. She doesn't approve of Finnick. She reckons he's too handsome and cocky for his own good.
"He doesn't count!" She sighs before continuing "I just want you to be safe, let's get ready." Her head tilts downward. I immediately feel guilty. I know she's just trying to protect me. I follow her up the stairs to my room. She stops just above the steps and I catch up.
She's thinking, this might be the last time she see's me before my life comes to a gory end. Blood. Death. I shiver at the visions of the previous hunger games that flash into my head. Someone's going to be on that stage later. And it might be me. I banish the thought. There are millions out there. My mums hand rises to the doorknob and she twists. We walk through the door silently. She's done my bed and a dull plain blue dress lies folded on top of my pillow. I strip and slip the dress over my body. The fabric is stiff and sightly scratchy but it's not to bad if I don't fidget. As soon as I'm dressed my mum brings over the brush. She always does my hair on reaping day. I think she purposefully takes a long time. The brush tugs on the knots in my dark hair and slides it back into a bun sitting on the top of my head. Then she brings out the lip gloss. It's supposed to make me look cute and innocent. Make the sponsors look back again. But that's when I was younger. I put my hand out to stop her.
"That won't work anymore, I'm older, I need to look stronger and more likely to win. I need to look like the career father wanted me to be."
"But it's tradition!" She won't give up easily so I push further.
"If I'm reaped today than I want to look like someone to have on your side. I don't want to look like easy pickings" I can feel the tears coming forward onto my mothers lashes. She putts the lip gloss back onto the table and looks at me.
"You're ready, lets go." We walk in silence down the stairs again. We're not a family that doesn't like to share our emotions, but we don't feel the need to tell the other things that are obvious . My mother knows my feelings even when I'm not sure of them myself. We walk out and she locks the door behind me. I look back at our house. It's expensive looking, we're one of the more richer of the people in our district, but all that money won't be able to save me from anything if I'm reaped. I begin to feel fear seeping into my veins but I push it back. We reach the center of our district. Kids are already walking into the area marked off with their age. I walk towards the growing queue to get in. We had arrived earlier than we usually do so the queue was short, I reach the front quickly.
"Next" I step forward to take the place of the person in front of me.
"Hand please." I stick my hand forward and feel the prick. I press my finger against the paper and walk forward into the area fenced off for seventeen year olds. Kids file into their groups and wait around for our escort. She's always late, she thinks it makes her look important. Honestly, it just makes her look late and slow. The doors to the Justice Building open and out comes Ezreila.
"Welcome, welcome District four!" She's wearing a bright orange dress and her hair is dyed a spectrum of bright colours. OHer clothing clashes with the deep, dull blues and greys of our district. Then I notice them, she's got cat ears. And what's more they're purple. She strokes her ears lovingly.
"Don't you just love that, a gift to me from the Capitol!" She gives a horrible sounding high-pitched giggle.
"Well, let's get on with it!" She beams at us, "As usual, Ladies have the honour of going first!" She steps toward the bowl full of names.
"And our female tribute for this year is... Vera, Vera Harbron." Shock, that's what I feel first, not terror. But then it hit's me, I need to look like I'm ready for this, like I'm ready to win the games. I sart walking quickly up to the stage and I smile down at my district. As soon as I reach the top of the stairs I quickly whisper something into Ezreila's ear. Ezreila smiles at the people assembled below.
"Vera has kindly asked for no volunteers!" She beams again, "And now for the boys!" She ends every sentence with her voice rising, it sounds so stupid. Her hand swishes delicately around the bowl before plunging deep into the sea of papers and retrieving two. She drops one back in and trots over to the microphone.
"Devon Osborn!" A tall boy steps out from the crowd of 16 year olds. He's what mot girls would call hot. Bronze hair, blue eyes and looks pretty strong. He reaches the stage quickly Ezreila gives us one o her more stupid smiles.
"Why don't you two shake hands and then we can head over to the Justice Building!" I shake Devons arm. It's strong and holds a tight grip on mine. I look into his eyes, they're kind, he's got more emoting than he would look to have. He drops my hand and Ezreila puts a hand on each of our shoulders.
"Let's go! We've got a lot to get through today!" We walk through the doors into the justice building, and as the doors slam behind me I can hear them cutting me off from my old life. From now on I'm a career, and I've got to act it.