Ashe slid under the fence the same way she left the district. The snow was moulded from where she climbed under it a few hours ago. 'How could I be so stupid' she thought to herself, knowing that if somebody found out people snuck out of the district borders, they would be publically executed. She quickly scrambled under the fence, keeping as dry as possible so nobody got suspicious. When she was back inside the boundaries, she kicked the snow under the fence and flattened it out so it looked like nobody had ever been there. Looking around to make sure there were no peacekeepers around, she snuck back along the path she came and back to the main road where she wouldn't arouse any suspicion.
Ashe made it back to her house, if it could be considered one. The roof was made of rusting iron that looked like it was about to collapse and the walls were made of rotting wood. Inside the shack isn't much better; it has three rooms for the entire family of three, although it used to be four. There is the bedroom for the entire family, with burlap sheets lying on the floor, a bathroom with a huge wooden bucket that would be filled with cold water when someone wanted to bathe. The final room is the main room, which Ashe stepped into now.
She looked around, sighing at the state of the room, it was relatively clean compared to most of the time, but it was still a coal-dust coated mess. It always amazed Ashe how even the inside of her house was covered in the black powder. She threw her coat off, which had gathered a new layer of water from the snow covered ground under the fence. It landed on a heap in the floor but she didn't make a move to hang it up, she was starting to get cold and she was nervous, her mind being preoccupied about the reaping tomorrow.
Annie skipped into the room, but for once she wasn't smiling. She dived into Ashe's arms.
"I'm scared," Annie said, her voice shaking, "about tomorrow."
"So am I," Ashe replied, "but nothing could happen to you, there are only 2 chances for you to be picked because your name is only in once."
Ashe always wonders how Annie is so warm all the time, even now she feels like she fell asleep in front of a fireplace, even in this weather she stays warm, Annie doesn't even seem to notice.
"Did you catch anything today?" Annie asked, using the word 'catch' rather than 'kill' because she never liked the way Ashe would get food for the family.
"Oh!" Ashe exclaimed, standing up quickly and making Annie jump and scrabble to stand up before she was thrown off.
"What was that for?!" Annie squealed.
"Sorry," Ashe replied. She walked over to where she had dropped her coat, picking it up by the collar and noticing how wet it actually got. She took it to the front door where a wooden spike had been rammed into the top of the door. She hanged her coat up and thrust her hand into one of the deep side pockets and withdrew the wheel of cheese that Graves had given her, making Annie gasp in awe.
"How did you catch that?" Annie asked, staring at the cheese with unblinking eyes.
Ashe laughed, "I didn't catch it, Graves bought it for me."
"You've got a booooyfriennnnd," Annie sang, she always mocked Ashe about it.
"He's not my boyfriend," Ashe responded quickly, sounding a bit annoyed.
Ashe's mother walked into the house from outside and collapsed in another chair opposite Ashe.
"Graves gave me some food," Ashe declared, holding up her cheese and smiling.
Ashe's mother's eyes widened as she saw the food. "Want me to take it?" She asked, her voice had a rough dry tone.
"No, I can do it," Ashe responded, "you sound like you need your rest."
"I'll help!" Annie screamed.
"Thank you," Ashe's mother said, falling asleep almost instantly in the wooden armchair.
Ashe got up, and taking Annie's hand, walked to the kitchen. She opened the rotting wooden doors to a small group of shelves. The shelves had barely anything on them, with only a few vegetables and some stale bread. Ashe sighed and withdrew the bread, separating it into slices and pulling apart the cheese sparingly, making three slices of bread with a few chunks of cheese on each. As Ashe walked back to the main room, she felt a slight pang of sadness as she realised how quick the cheese was used up, but she still knew it would be a tasty meal.
"Here," Ashe said, waking her mother up and smiling as she handed over a slice of the bread.
"He's a good thing for you, Graves" She replied.
"Graves is her boyfriend!" Annie cheered.
Ashe's mother's eyes widened, but then she relaxed after a second when she realised Annie was just being childish, luckily for Ashe, she didn't notice her starting to blush while thinking about Graves.
"You two should go and get some sleep, you have a big day tomorrow," the mother said to the two.
Ashe went to the bedroom, eating as she walked. She noticed a light blue dress laid out on her bedroll, noticing that it was her mother's wedding dress she smiled, and folded it, laying it on the end of the bedroll for the reaping in the morning. She laid down; Annie sat on the opposite side of the small room and smiled at her, still eating her bread and cheese, which had started to melt in her small hands.
"I told mother you should wear it," Annie said and smiled. Ashe smiled too.
Ashe realised just how tired she was after the day caught up with her, and she fell asleep thinking about Graves, but then drifting to the reaping, knowing that it is her final year, as the girls only get drawn up to 17, where the boys will be drawn all the way up to 18.
She felt like she had only just fallen asleep when the sound of the siren blared into her head, calling for the district to meet in the courtyard for the dreaded reaping.
That was chapter two of my fanfic, I hope you enjoyed, although even I admit that this chapter was a bit dull, Please feel free to leave reviews as it would help me greatly, not to mention it would bring a big smile to my face. :D
Also, it will be updated regularly, so check back every now and again, or even better, favourite or add it to your alert list!
