I suddenly jerked awake, startled by how quiet and dark my surroundings were. It was so pitch black that I questioned whether my eyes were truly open or not.
Where am I? What's going on? Am I dreaming?
I raised my hand in front of my face and gently pressed on my cheeks. It didn't feel like a dream. I lifted my hands up slowly and almost immediately connected with a smooth, metal surface above my head. I pressed on the ceiling, gently at first and then with increasing pressure, becoming frustrated when it didn't yield a single inch. I then lowered my hands to the side and felt outward and forward, meeting the same resistance a few inches from my shoulders.
I'm in a box.
I could barely move inside it. I realized that there was just enough room for me to sit straight up with my legs crossed.
Why am I here? How did I get in this thing?
Why don't I remember anything?
My last thought hit me hard and my breath caught in my throat. I realized that I knew nothing of life before waking up in the dark. I didn't remember parents, siblings, home, or friends. I knew that my name was Katniss. I knew that I was breathing air and that if the box was sealed too tightly I would run out quickly. I knew that the country I lived in depended on coal for power. I knew everything a girl my age should know, just not the details of my personal life.
Frustrated, I pounded on the wall of the box.
"Hey! Is there anyone there? Get me out of here!" I screamed, banging on the metal surface until my palms ached.
I began to panic and my breath grew shallow.
Have I been left here to die? Would anyone miss me? Why-
My thoughts were interrupted by a man's thundering voice announcing a countdown.
"10. 9. 8. 7. 6."
My stomach twisted in anticipation and fear as I braced myself for the end of the countdown. Would the box simply explode? Would it burst into flame? I suddenly found the idea of exploding in darkness terrifying and renewed my struggles to escape, leaning against one side with my shoulder while bracing my feet against the opposite side and pushing frantically.
"5. 4. 3. 2. 1."
Suddenly, the walls of the box fell away from me. As the metal thumped down onto the ground, I ended up sprawled on the ground and blinded by intense light. Relived that I was still alive, I felt the tension around my chest loosen.
Squeezing my eyes shut in an attempt to block out the sunlight, I tried to focus on what my other senses were telling me. The air was cool and fresh compared to the stale box and a light wind played with the loose hairs on my neck. I could hear leaves on trees rubbing together and, somewhere in the distance, cows and chickens calling.
"What the hell is going on?" I heard a young boy's voice cry out. I was startled to realize I wasn't alone. Soon, various other voices joined his, swirling together louder and louder until my head pounded.
I squinted carefully through my eyelids, not wanting to blind myself after having been in complete darkness for an unknown amount of time. Shapes slowly made themselves clear to me. I was sitting on a metal square and the shell of my box was collapsed around me, reflecting the bright sunlight above.
Turning my head toward the voices, I found that I was accompanied by at least 20 others, all seemingly as confused as I was. We were sitting in a clearing surrounded by high trees. A wooden house, three stories tall, sat between two large oak trees to my right and a red barn could be seen across the clearing. Everything appeared bright and perfect- the grass had been carefully trimmed and the trees, bushes, and flowers around us were a burst of green leaves, brown trunk, and colorful petals. I was certain I had never been in such a pristine setting before in my life.
"Hey, you ok?" a blonde boy asked me. He held out his hand to help me to my feet. "I'm Peeta."
"Katniss," I replied, bouncing to my feet with a slight smile of thanks.
"Hey, you're wearing the same number as me," he said, pointing to a 12 stitched onto his jacket.
Looking down I realized that I was wearing an identical, waterproof jacket down to the number. Exploring further, I discovered I had a watch on my left wrist, a utility belt looped through my pant loops with a small, metal water canteen attached, and a new pair of running shoes.
I looked up at Peeta, not shaking the feeling that he seemed familiar, as if from a dream.
"Are you ok?" he asked, concern lining his face. "Do you need to sit down again? Maybe get out of the sun?"
"No, I'm fine," I assured him. "I just…"
"What?" he asked, puzzled.
"Nothing," I sighed. "It's just that I can't remember anything before I woke up in the dark and it's unnerving."
"Oh good, it's you too," he breathed. "I thought I was losing my mind, honestly. I can't remember my mom or dad, where I come from, my neighbors, my childhood…nothing. It's all just a blank. But I can remember the proper technique to get a loaf of bread to rise and the proper proportions to make a chocolate frosting."
"Maybe you were a baker in a previous life," I joked which produced a short snort from Peeta.
I took a closer look at the other people in the area. They all looked to be of similar age, although one tiny girl looked particularly vulnerable. My heart suddenly ached for her and I pinched my eyes closed, trying to remember why I would feel this way. I didn't know her. Did I?
"Do you want to go introduce ourselves?" Peeta suggested, jerking his head toward the others.
"Might as well," I said, shrugging.
Just as we had reached a small group of them, an angry shout drew our attention.
"I don't give a flying shit who you are!" an imposing blonde boy shouted to a dark haired girl half his size. "What the hell am I doing here and how do I get out!"
"Get out of what?" I muttered to Peeta as the girl shouted back at him, her face reddening.
He looked at me peculiarly.
"You haven't noticed, Katniss?" he asked slowly. "We're surrounded by a huge wall. We're trapped."
He pointed through the tree line where I noticed, finally, a tall blockade, covered in thick patches of ivy, surrounding us in every direction in what seemed to be a perfect square. The wall was hidden at times by tall foliage from where I stood, but it seemed to have no beginning and no end. Peeta was right. We were trapped. The desperation that almost overwhelmed me in the tiny box slowly came creeping back.
"Look we're not helping matters by arguing or panicking," a red headed girl stated loudly. "Let's just…introduce ourselves. Everyone still remembers their names right? Let's start with the two people wearing a number one."
So we went down the line, giving our name and the number sewn into our jacket.
"Glimmer. One," a strikingly beautiful girl barked, crossing her arms and staring belligerently.
"Marvel. Also, one," her numerical partner said, smiling easily at the rest of us.
"Cato. Two," the angry boy from earlier grunted.
"Clove. Unfortunately also two," mumbled the unfortunate girl that had been on the receiving end of his tirade earlier.
As so it went down the line. The redhead who had spoken up to the group said her name was Vivien.
"Rue. Eleven," the minuscule girl chirped with a bright smile. "It's nice to meet all of you."
"Thresh. Eleven," a boy resembling a bear rumbled.
After Peeta and I had introduced ourselves, the group fell into silence again.
"So," Rue piped. "Is anyone hungry? I could get us some apples from the orchards over there."
She pointed to a grove of trees next to a paddock of animals near the barn.
"Good idea," Peeta agreed with a gentle smile her way. "There's no point in wondering why we're here. Let's try to make the best of it for now and explore what we have to work with."
Before he could go any further, however, a face appeared in the sky and a voice boomed down to us.
"Tributes! Welcome to the 74th annual Hunger Games! I'm sure you all are wondering what is going on but that is something you'll have to figure out on your own!"
He tapped the side of his nose with a cheeky little grin. I wanted to kill him. The sudden urge for murder was unexpected but not entirely unwelcome.
"We have provided you with all the sustenance you should need during your stay as well as several clues on how you may escape your current…predicament, let's say. To the audience at home, I hope you enjoy this little change to the regular pace of the Games! To the Tributes in the arena, may the odds be ever in your favor!"
The man's chubby face disappeared, leaving the other "Tributes" and I speechless and stunned.
Author's Note: This story is inspired by the novel The Maze Runner by James Dashner. It's a very good series if you're a fan of the Hunger Games. Thanks for reading and reviews are very much appreciated!