Lavinia opened her eyes, for the first time. She immediately squinted as the bright lights of the sterile white room flooded her field of vision. A few seconds later, her crystal blue eyes beaded up with tears as she began to cry. Her plump, violet skinned mother pulled her closer to her chest and tucked the blanket up to the baby's chin. "Lavinia" the baby's golden-tattooed father smiled faintly as he looked at his child. The new parents had decided on the name before the girl was born. The boy's name they had decided on had been less interesting anyway, so they were quite happy that the baby was a girl. The girl gurgled and smiled at her father, reaching out for the hand that was reaching out for her. The two parents saw this as a sign of affection, but the little girl was just fascinated by the golden birds and flowers that were inked over the hand. She soon closed her eyes and drifted into her first peaceful sleep.

Seven years later, her father's tattoos fascinated Lavinia less, but birds didn't. Their delicate wings and beaks, beady eyes, and beautiful plumage. She would climb onto the roof of the inner city house that her parents owned and watched in awe as birds dived and corkscrewed and plummeted above her. On the day of her seventh birthday, her parents held up something covered in a crystalline cloth, shaped like atube with a rounded end. Lavinia stared at it curiously, trying, in vain, to see what was under the sheet. "Darling," he mother began, her voce sounding almost too sincere, "we've seen you climb up onto the roof everyday and watch the birds go by, and so we got you this," she finished, her eyes growing shiny with barely contained tears. Her father raised a hand, and with an overdramatic gesture, ripped the sheet off of the top of the object, which turned out to be a glistening silver cage. Inside the cage, with it's beak tucked under its wing, was a bird she hadn't seen before. "What is it?" she asked her parents quietly, eyes growing wide in awe. "That, Lavinia, is a mockingjay," her father whispered.

"A mocking-what?" Lavinia exclaimed, tearing her eyes away from the bird to frown at her mother and father. Their eyes had grown wide and terrified and they both shushed her desperately. "A mockingjay, a very special bird, never tell anyone where you got it," her father hissed. Lavinia nodded and took the cage gingerly from her mother's hands. She gently wiggled her finger in near the bird's perch and it raised it's head, tilted it to the side before hiding it back beneath its wing again. She giggled and ran up to her room to get ready for her party.

AN: Hey guys, please tell me what you think, this is my first fanfic. I'm already working on a second chapter!