When I wake up, I groan and roll over, accidentally smashing my face into the side of the dumpster I sleep in. After wiping away the tears that spring to my eyes, I sit up and look around for my sister, Dim. She isn't anywhere to be seen. I dig through the rubbish that makes up the bed we share, desperately hoping that she has not suffocated under everything.
After a thorough search, I decide to go and check on my mother, just to see if Dim is with her. My mother is lying on her bed of mouldy sandwiches; she always chose the best everything for herself. Thankfully, I see Dim with her, holding a pillow over my mother's mouth and nose. I look at the happy picture wistfully. I wish that Dim would give me such lovely presents more often. My mother's eyes flash open and look at me pleadingly. I smile back encouragingly and silently urge her to enjoy Dim's gift as much as she can.
My mother's eyes close and the hand she was holding out to me goes limp. I guess she fell asleep because of the loveliness of Dim's gift. Dim turns her head and looks at me. I smile at her and approach where she still sits, poised over my mother.
"Hey Dim, after the Creeping, would you mind giving me a lovely present like you just gave our mother?" I ask her nervously. A confused look comes over her face before she nods slyly. I exclaim in joy and rush over to hug her. Eventually, she hugs me back.
"I'd love to Catpiss." She whispers in my ear sweetly. I sigh happily. Dim is the loveliest, kindest, best sister I could ever imagine having. I love her more than anything. Well, her and Pale, that is.
"Okay, good," I shoot her a huge smile. "Now go to our neighbours' rubbish pile and steal the best rubbish you can to make our Creeping outfits."
"Yes Catpiss." Dim sighs.
"I'm going to go hunting with Pale now, okay?" I tell her. Dim nods and walks over to the cupboard, opens it up and growls in frustration. I look over her shoulder and see that our cat, Butterball, has eaten the few food items we had. He now lies at the bottom of the cupboard, patting his very fat stomach. When he sees Dim, he makes a kind 'oinking' sound, but he snorts angrily at the sight of me. I guess he never forgot when I tried to drown him as a kitten. Unfortunately, the puddle at the end of our driveway wasn't deep enough for his long, square snout to fit under. He was an odd cat, one I hadn't seen before. He was fat, pink and he loved the mud. I wanted to cook him up, but Dim wouldn't let me hurt him. When he had come trotting up to our front door, covered in mud, I had hated him instantly. The exact opposite had happened for Dim. She had never loved anything more. Well, except me and our mother, of course.
I put on my bright pink hunting jacket that had belonged to my father. When the animals saw him coming, they would assume he was a friendly being because he made no effort to conceal himself and would be killed for their trust. Unfortunately, his way with wild animals had died with him.
I reach the crappy old fence that only keeps a few of the wild animals out of Section 12. The fence goes up to my hip and is wooden with lots of loose beams and holes. I sit on it and wait for Pale, who is always fashionably late.
He arrives and, as always, takes my breath away with his handsomeness. He has gorgeous, pale skin, grey eyes, thick, wavy brown hair and he is built like an ox. I straighten up and shoot him my best smile. He smiles back and precedes to hurdle over the fence. I try to follow, and end up getting my foot caught in the wooden planks. Pale laughs and bends down to help me up. After dusting myself off, I lead the way into the woods. A few minutes after we enter, I see a gorgeous young buck. I gasp and point it out to Pale. He nods and we position ourselves, ready to kill the buck. I aim carefully, pull back my bow and release the arrow. So does Pale. Pale hits the buck in the neck and I manage to shoot an owl from a tree far to our right.
"Nice shot Pale." I gush. He nods and compliments the beautiful owl I shot. I blush and rush off to collect it. When I return, I see Pale looking into a handheld mirror, admiring himself.
"Ready to keep hunting?" I ask and step into the clearing carrying my owl. Pale nods and walks over to the buck. He picks it up with one hand and slings it over his shoulder. I sigh happily and fan my face; Pale is so strong!
When we get back to the Crack, the poor area of Section 12, we head straight to the Mob, the black market where we do almost all of our trading. I walk over to an old woman called Greedy Say and order some of her soup. So does Pale. She smiles at Pale, but glares at me. Maybe she's still mad that I forgot her birthday, or maybe because I accidentally shot her mentally unstable granddaughter. Probably her birthday. Greedy Say was probably still mad that I gave Pale a birthday present and not her.
After Pale and I trade the majority of our food, we head our separate ways. I go back home and see Dim sitting on the couch with 2 outfits next to her. The smaller one is the prettiest by far, and I decide to let Dim have it, being the amazing sister that I am. We get dressed and make our way to the Square for the Creeping.
On our arrival, I notice