Chapter One- Reaping Day
Walking to the Reaping, holding one of my brother's hands, I dropped him off with my father. My mother died about two years ago, so now it's only me and my dad. He does the best he can, but it's really up to me to keep the household going. I have four brothers, Ryan, Jesse, Avery, and Abercrombie. Avery and Abercrombie are old enough for the Hunger Games and Jesse starts next year. This year is my last year, and that means that the tesserae leaves me and goes to them. It's my worst nightmare, them having to go to the games. I've seen what it has done to our only victor, Haymitch Abernathy. I'll die before that happens them.
This is Avery's first year, and he's scared to death. It took both Abercrombie and I to calm down. That's what most of the first years are like. I won't make fun of him later, though. It would be too harsh. It's a natural thing to be scared about.
I go to the girls' side and look for the other girls my age. "Madigan!" I hear someone call my name. I look and see my friend from the town, Arial. She's beautiful. Blonde hair and blue eyes, like the rest of the town population. I don't know how we started hanging out; the people from the Seam and the people from the town don't usually mix. And believe me, I am a poster child for the Seam. I have the grey eyes, the black hair, and the olive colored skin. It's actually darker than most people's.
"Hey!" I say and squeeze through people to stand by her.
"Hey! I saw Avery, is he going to be okay?" She asks. She's really just one of those precious girls, Arial. She really cares, and it's not in the snotty way some town people can be.
"Yeah, yeah, he's going to be fine."
"Madigan…" she whispered, "How many slips do you have in this year?" I don't even know why she started whispering. Everyone from the Seam gets tesserae. But like I said, she's precious.
"Oh, I think about twenty, I don't really know," It's actually about thirty, but I don't want her to know that. She's also the type of person you sugar-coat things for.
"Oh my word, I'm so sorry, Madi,"
"Don't worry about it, Arial, there are other people who have it worse," I whisper that part. Some people can get pretty defensive.
Arial and I sit through the whole speech by the mayor with sudden bobs of heads to reassure us to get up. Then it's time for the Reaping.
"Ladies first!" A cheery Capitol voice thunders. There's a few seconds before she calls a name out, "Madigan Forrester!"
I look at Arial, and she already has tears in her eyes, "Oh, my gosh," she whispers and stands up. I stood up after her, and she hugged me. I could feel her tears on my shoulder. I gently pushed her off and then started walking to the stage. I walked up the stairs, and made eye contact with Mr. Abernathy. He had that same blank, hazy look from alcohol he always has on his face. I smile at him and genuinely mean it. I would be messed up if I was him, too. Then I look at District 12's new escort. I think her name is Quarter, or something weird like that. I smile at her too, even though it kills me.
Now it's time for the boy tribute. "Jared Worthy!" I recognize Jared, and I'm pretty sure he's in the same grade as Avery, which makes him only 12. Jeez.
"Ladies and gentlemen, your 55th Hunger Games' tributes!" Quarter still has her cheery voice on. I'm starting to see things from a new perspective now. I always found people like her despicable, but now it's just crazy. Now she is terrible. Now she is disgusting. Now, she's talking about me in that terrible, sour-sweet voice.
People clap for us, mostly out of sympathy, and then we go to the Justice building. All of my family comes in first. Avery is freaking out, Ryan has no idea what's going on, Jesse is freaking out because Avery's freaking out, and Abercrombie and my dad just look dumb-struck. They all hug and kiss me, and say good-bye. Except my father. I honestly think he has no idea what to do. He stares at me for the whole time, until he has to leave and then gives me a tender pat on my shoulder. I don't blame him for his reaction. The only living responsible person in the household is now going to die.
I hope he doesn't break like he did when my mother died. Because now he has to take care of four boys all on his own. The Peacekeepers come in and practically have to rip Avery off of me. I make a promise to him that I'll come back home soon, but I know I won't be able to keep that promise.
Then Arial comes in. And she just hugs me for a couple of minutes and cries. I don't. I can't. Not because I want people to think I'm strong, but I literally can't cry. Arial leaves and a couple of my friends from the Seam come. This is more like it. The boys start making witty comments, and I laugh. I make sure I savor this moment. For all I know, this will be the last time that I laugh. I see that Elly and Nicolette have tears in their eyes, but they don't cry. Probably because they don't want me to feel uncomfortable. I thank them in my head, and home they get the message.
Then I have to go for real. Peacekeepers lead me on the train, and I slowly watch my home get smaller and smaller as the train pulls out of the station.
I turn around and find Quarter. She scares me with her unnatural smile. I slip a swear word for the first time, and don't feel bad about it. "Time for dinner!" My word, I'm going to kill that lady.
A/N So that was the first chapter! Yay! I really like this story(: I hope you do too! Review!
Tridents and Sexy District 4 Men :D, Madii