I sat on an old wooden chair doodling on a paper with a pencil trying to chase away the bad feeling that settled in my stomach. I wiggled in my seat and glanced on the clock for the fifth time in the past ten minutes. I couldn't wait for the work to end.
Just 30 more minutes. I told myself in my head.
"This is the last one. Alright boys, wrap it up!" My dad shouted from the backroom. I heard happy yells from guys as they dusted their hand off.
"And I foolishly thought that you wanted to spend more time here." Dad said in a fake sad voice. I stood up from my chair and walked in to the backroom holding a clipboard in my hands.
"I am sure that all of the paper work is done. Am I right?"He asked and raised eyebrows at me when he saw me.
"Ehm…"I trailed off trying to come up with an answer.
"Of course it is done." Boys snickered upon seeing the obvious lie planted on my face.
"Oh really? Well, than let me see." Dad reached for clipboard but I quickly jumped out of his reach.
"Actually, I am not quite sure if absolutely everything is ..errr.. finished." I said in a safe distance from him.
"Mr. Mahoney, give her rest. She has been working so hard." Romar put his arm on my shoulders, squeezing my arm. I looked up in his face and sent him a small smile. I was dying on the inside. Romar was the best looking boy in our district. He had light brown hair and amazing dark green eyes. I have been crushing on him for ages. But I never got on a higher level. I was too shy to initiate conversation or, God forbid, flirt with him.
"Coreen." Dad's voice snapped me out of my daydreaming. "Bring those packages you made earlier."
I nodded and snuck out of Romar's hold on my arm. I put clipboard on the table and went to a shelf where I set aside medium sized packages. Dad instructed me to make them in the morning after we went to work. I had to put there bread, a handful of biscuits and some other pastry since we running a bakery as well. I had no idea what they were for, but I didn't ask. There were too much of them , so I grabbed a box and put them there.
I picked the box up and went to the back room. I set it on the ground and stepped away from it. I didn't dare to go back to Romar.
I leaned against wall and settled for watching boys and dad. He gave each of them a package and patted them on a shoulder when they were leaving.
Romar was the last to go. When he stepped out of the door with a package in his hand, he hesitated for a moment. He turned, walked to me and kissed me on cheek. My face went instantly aflame.
"Good luck tomorrow." He whispered and put a small distance between us.
"Good luck to you too." I replied, my eyes looked with his. Dad's awkward cough brought us back to reality.
"Yeah.. um. So…" He scratched back of his head and retreated to the door once again.
" Thank you, Mr. Mahoney." My dad nodded at him."No problem."
"See you tomorrow Cory."He sent me a wink and disappeared into the sunset.
"So, Cory." Dad drawled my name and sent me a wink too. My cheeks burned again.
"Stop it dad." I grumbled, but I couldn't keep a smile off my face.
My family belonged to those in the district that were better off. We never had to worry about that, whether we will have something to eat on the next day. Of course we couldn't afford to waste any food, but our lives were free of this fear.
Life in district 9 is hard. People are on the fields all day long, working quite often without any break. My dad had the luck to get the position of the head supervisor of the grain market, so he has all the export under his control. The mayor is his distant family, otherwise he would work on the fields like any other man, woman or even child in our district. Even though he was leading a lot more comfortable life than most, he had to go through a hard times. Few years ago there was a flood, that destroyed almost all of the wheat, barley and corn.
Our district is known for growing everything, that produces any kind ofgrain, but we don't do just that. We grow all kinds of spice and seeds as well.
I am thankful for not having to do any hard labor. As a daughter of the head supervisor, I don't have to do nearly anything. But I like to help dad when I can. That's why the section for spice and herbs is under my control.
Our situation shows off on our house. I admit, it is not the biggest house in the town, but still bigger than most.
When I step into the kitchen, a smell of sauce hits my nose. Smile formed on my lips as I watch mom stirring pasta near on the oven.
"Smells good mom."I say a walk to her. I wrap my arms around her waist and lay my head on her shoulder. Her hands pats mine as she turns the gas off.
"Could you turn on the water, Cory?" I do as she asks and then sit on a chair at the dining table.
Dad saunters into the kitchen and kisses mom on cheek as she is putting pasta and sauce on the table.
I reach for the ladle, but my mom beats me to it. "Did you wash your hands?" She asks in a stern voice. My hands freeze mid-air. I bring them closer to my face for an inspection.
"They are not that dirty." I try to object, but mom wiggles ladle in her small hands and I take that as a cue to go to wash them.
When I sit at table with clean hands, I help myself to a large amount of spaghetti.
"Coreen has something to tell us," Dad announces in the middle of the dinner. Mom looks up from her plate of salad surprised, because there rarely happens anything new here.
"Really Cory?"she asks.
"Well, I would like to tell you if I knew I actually have something new. Dad ?" I throw a questioning glance at him, but he just shrugs his shoulders.
"Coreen got herself a boyfriend." My mouth opens in a shock as my face goes red.
"I did not!" I say appalled.
"I saw you two, honey. You were getting all touchy and…" Dad waves his fork in a circular motion trying to get rid of image of me and Romar in an.. touchy.. situation.
"We did not. Dad! It was just a friendly kiss on a cheek." I declare in an attempt to calm the situation down.
"Aha!" Dad yells with victory grin."So you did get all touchy."
"Please. Touchy looks different."I reply, with a grin of my own, watching him splutter. A looked at mom, who was trying to stifle her laughter. She was looking at dad, who's ears were red.
"And it was just a peck. No hard feelings , dad."I cross arms on my chest after I put my fork down on the plate. Dad squinted eyes on me, sighed and twirled spaghetti on his fork. But before he could put it in his mouth, another idea crossed his mind.
"Aren't you a bit too young for such things?" He asked suspiciously.
Here we go again. My dad is extra protective of me and strongly dislikes any boy that dares to come close to me. Partly thanks to him, I haven't had any boyfriend. But it doesn't bother me now.
"Well, it's now or never. Who knows who will be shipped away tomorrow."I say bitterly. A sudden silence washed over the kitchen and I knew I crossed boundaries.
Tomorrow. The bad feeling in my stomach gave itself known. This was quite a taboo in my family. The Reaping was something we avoided like a plague. This whole charade of Hunger Games was disgusting to our family. Especially to my parents.
My mom lost her brother in these games. I wasn't born at that time, but from what I have heard, his death was one of those bloodiest. Ever since that moment, the theme of Hunger Games was banned in my family. And ever since then, mom's health was wavering. Even people in our district learned not to talked to my parents about it. They knew they can talk to me, but I never really had much to contribute to the conversation, because I never watched Hunger Games.
Not once have I watched them. Some people envy me, some twisted-minded don't understand how I won't watch something so great. Every time it is time of games, we never really leave house, unless it is for some unnecessary work or when we need something to buy.
Clatter of cutlery broke flow of my thoughts. My eyes flew to mom, who was gripping the edge of table. Dad was already near her, holding her in his arm, trying to calm her down. Her face had unhealthy ashen color and her skin got a waxy complexion.
I rushed to the kitchen cabinets, frantically looking for a small pouch of calming herbs and seeds. I grabbed it in my hands and ran to mom. I opened the pouch and looked for small dark red seeds that had nearly an instant calming effect. I put it in her mouth, making her swallow it.
"Can I do anything more?"I asked dad, watching mom as her grip on table loosened and her skin started to return to its normal color.
Dad didn't bother to turn his head as he answered to me in a curt angry answer.
"I think you have done just enough today."
And with that, I left kitchen and went to my room.
When I closed the door, my face was already wet from tears. I slid down the wall and hugged knees close to my chest.
Every night before the Reaping, I felt completely terrified. Tonight was no different. Even the knowledge, that I have just one slip with my name in the bowl doesn't comfort me at all. Dad tried numerous times to arrange, that my name wouldn't be there at all, thinking , that he has enough power in this district to make it happen. But it wasn't possible.
Scared to the bones, I changed into my pajamas and went to bed. I covered my body the best I could, so that nothing would peek from under the cover.
It was too hot under it, but the dark outside and Reaping tomorrow didn't allow me to feel safe and secure.
I woke up about two times during the night with new round of tears streaming down my face. Every time, it was a different bad dream.
But they had one thing common.
Me dying at the end.
And with that in mind, I woke up on the day of Reapings.
Disclaimer: I own nothing from Hunger Games. Sadly, everything belongs to Suzanne Collins.
Wow..first chapter done. I have been procrastinating this for soo long, so I am really happy, that I finally did it.
I would love to hear what you think, so leave a review if you would like. Thank you. Lia