Here is (you guessed it) the beginning of a new project I've been wanting to start. Enjoy this little introduction! I'll probably update more when my SYOC is finished.
My mom is the first to burst into the room, embracing me in her long arms. Her hugs are just like her: warm and comforting. She brushes my hair with her free hand and says, voice muffled because of my shoulder, "I am so proud of you, sweetheart." She pulls away and I see the beginnings of tears creeping out onto her eyelashes. My dad appears then, my younger sister right behind them. As big as an ox, he is much more reserved than my mother.
He steps forward and I straighten up immediately. He pauses a moment, then says "Give 'em hell, honey." My smile grows and I see the corners of his mouth raise up too. They rarely give me these words of encouragement, these reassurances in my abilities. Not that I need them all the time -I'm just not that type of girl- but, right now, they're special. Then it's back to business.
"Make sure you're the first to the Cornucopia-"
"Don't make friends; make allies-"
"Sponsors love a fighter not a-"
"Oh, stop it," my sister interrupts. "She already knows everything."
I grin. Opal can always make me smile with her gentle prodding. Just two years my junior, she's almost as tall as I am at 18. Slender and gorgeous, with the same dark hair and almond-shaped eyes as the rest of the women in our family, she pulls me into a tight embrace too.
"You better win, Pearl," she whispers into my hair. "I won't let you live it down otherwise."
I release her, but she keeps a hand on my shoulder. Her words, a dark joke yesterday, are all too real today and we know it. Then it's my mother's turn to hug me again, and a Peacekeeper appears to escort them out.
All of them shout out last minute advice as they leave, but I just wave them away and nod. My sister was right: I do know everything. And the thing that I know above all else is that the games have finally begun.
Well there you have it! Leave some reviews! :)