Chapter 1
I clasp my fingers tightly around my reins, and I dig my heels in. Oliver is galloping in no time. A cloud of dust is being kicked up by his hooves. It is at times like this I feel at one with the world. Care-free and not worrying whether or not the odds or not going to be in my favour this year. Like every year, the day before the reaping, I meet up with my twin sister- Mia. We meet up in the densest part of the forest. I travel by horse, Mia travels by foot. She has great stamina. Even though she is my twin sister we look nothing alike. She has light-brown hair, deep brown eyes and a slim figure – perfect for her incredible stamina. Whereas I have brown hair, eyes with different shades of blue and hazel and a more muscular frame- perfect for my speed. After about 10 minutes of continuous galloping Oliver slows down, his eyes sparkle; mirroring the sparkling lake which splits the forest of half. As I dismount I see that Mia isn't here yet, so I gather some roots and shoot down some game with my bow and arrows. When I take down my last rabbit I return to Oliver and the lake; not noticing Mia.
"Hey! World to Pineapple!" she shouts as I turn round suddenly, my bow loaded, aiming for her heart.
"WOA! Calm down its just me." she says with her hands up in the air.
"Sorry I wasn't expecting you here yet, I've just got some roots and game from the hotspot." The 'hotspot' is where all the game seem to live, so I can take loads out without damaging the population.
"Awesome. I'll skin them now. You make a fire so we can cook them up." She replies holding out her hand so I can give her the game which is hanging loosely around my waist. I pass it over to her and head out into the woods to collect some firewood. When I return, Mia has skinned the game and is washing it in the lake. She notices me and smiles weakly. Its then when I realise why she is smiling with such a sad expression –today is reaping day. I have opted for tesserae only 5 times this year, whereas Mia being the oldest, has opted more. 50 times more to be exact. Tesserae means you get more food than usual each month, although, there is a catch – your name will be entered more each time you opt for tesserae, therefore the odds become more and more less in your favour. By the time she's skinned the game and washed it, we put it on the fire along with the roots. We are silent for a while, lost in our own thoughts. After five minutes Mia breaks the silence, "So, how's Oliver? I noticed the other week he had a gash in his neck." I remember about how it happened, I was galloping home from a hunt but our path was blocked by a fallen tree. So we jumped it, not noticing how big the drop was on the other side, he lost his footing and fell on top of me and my bow and arrows spilled out on the path, the point on one of the arrows punctured his neck and it stayed in there for at least ten minutes before I noticed it. By the time I had noticed it, his brown neck was drenched in his deep crimson blood. He quickly recovered when our mother made some healing ointment.
"Oh he just fell and landed on something sharp" I say casually cleaning my arrows from the games blood.
"Oh right." She said sounding relieved.
The silence is killing me and I can't take it anymore. I grab her hand and raise it in the air and shout.
"May the odds be ever in our favor!"
Mia's expression reads clearly that she is confused and slightly shocked about how enthusiastic I must seem. I quickly let go of her hand and continue eating my tough textured game, awkwardly.
SO GUYS; WHAT DID YA THINK OF THE 1ST CHAPTER? IF YOU COULD LEAVE A REVIEW FOR ME TO READ THAT'D BE A REAL HELP! :-)
THANKS FOR READING, LOOK OUT FOR MORE CHAPTERS COMING SOON!