Author's Note: Hey guys! This is ScarletRavenwood as Emma Peterson! Me, Celeste, actually wrote this but she helped a lot! Enjoy!
As Emma strides into her house, she wipes her dirty shoes on the rug before peeling them off and heading inside. She spent the first half of the day in town with her friends. They played ball in a court, one friend of hers was finally allowed to get her nose pierced like Emma, and they all went to the local guitar shop to look at the new ones recently shipped in. Emma spent the second half of her day out in the backyard picking weeds for her mother and shooting at targets. Ever since that summer at the camp where they did archery Emma has been shooting with a makeshift bow at a cardboard target.
And it didn't help that one of her favorite characters of all time is a pro at the bow and arrow. That just increased her obsession.
Emma passes her mother who is busy typing away on her computer, and her father, who is engrossed in a book.
Her father looks up, and with a serious voice says, "Emma, did you practice your guitar?"
"Come on, dad, I practiced for three whole hours yesterday!"
"Emma..." he says dangerously, but stops at the look his wife gives him. "Fine," he says, but then buries his head back in his book.
Emma bounds toward her room happily, and flicks her phone on. She checks her email, then her texts, then fanfiction. No emails, no texts, no updates, no PMs. That's strange. Usually she'll get home and there will be hundreds of messages waiting for her.
Rolling her eyes, she sighs happily. If she can't read a fanfiction story, then why not read the original The Hunger Games?
She decides to get comfortable though. She changes into her pajamas and then scrutinizes her face in her mirror. She's not the type to stare at herself dreamily or brag about her looks. She's just wondering.
She wonders what other people think about her. She's only sixteen, but very tall at 5' 10". She has long wavy brown hair with golden highlights, and piercing blue eyes with specks of brown in the left eye. People are amazed at her eyes because they think the blue changes to gray and to green, but it's actually only the lighting. She has pale, ivory skin, and must be one of the most athletic people in her class, as well as one of the fastest with her long legs. Her dark red dewy lips stick out, her small nose blends in, and her three pierces in her ears (2 on lobs, 1 in left cartilage) shine. She also has a pierced nose.
Then there's the scar on her right cheek that no one but family and her closest friends know how she got.
It hurts to think about it. It hurts a lot.
Breathing heavily, Emma grabs her book a little roughly. She starts reading, but somehow forgets what she's read after every few sentences. Her mind is becoming foggy, and it seems as if the room is foggy. Like that foggy day...
But this is worse. Because now the whole room is sticky, and humid, and gray clouds swirl around her. She peers around, confused. What the heck is happening?
She feels a stinging in her hand. It doesn't hurt. It's just the type you get when your hand falls asleep. She shakes it hard, but the numbness just gets worse. Then it spreads. Emma can feel it seeping through her and her whole body tingles as she blinks rapidly. Even her eyeballs are tingling.
Suddenly she gets very tired. Exhausted. Drained. She feels as if she's falling asleep, and it feels blissful. The tingling is disappearing and the room is becoming clear once again. She feels tugging at her feet and it feels like she's being dragged across the floor. That's alright, the tingling is gone... Dragged across the floor?!
Emma twists and turns and slaps at where she assumes her legs are but there's no one there and she has to stop because the slightest movement makes her worn out. She finally slumps, as darkness obscures her vision and her mind succumbs to nothing.
"Wake up! Wake up!" Emma hears the urgent voice and feels shaking and her eyes immediately flick open. She stares at the man frowning down at her, and panic strikes as she looks around confused. Looks like a gym. There's punching bags hanging from the ceiling and dummies set up as kids throw spears through them.
What?!
Suddenly the man is pulling her to her feet and is yanking her toward a station.
"If you want to sleep sleep at home, missy! Here we only train! You should be grateful, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the rowdy ones would've ganged up on you had I not been there!" he hisses at Emma. She bites her lip as he storms away to go direct some kids who are... sword fighting. They're damn sword fighting! What is this place? she asks herself.
She also notices her outfit has changed. She is no longer in pajamas. She wears a knee-length, black, leather skirt, a red, silk blouse covered in tiny pink flowers, and black flats. Her hair is pulled into a tight ponytail that is so tight that it stings.
Emma looks in front of her and sees that she's standing on the side of what looks to be an archery station. With a heavy heart, she decides to play along with this sick, scary game, and grabs one of the lighter-looking bows off the rack. Her makeshift bow was pretty light, and this one feels about the same. And the bows tightness feels similar. However, this one is much... prettier? Hers was dirty wood with frayed, black rope. This one's sleek, silver metal that catches the light of the lamps above and glints.
"Are you going to shoot, or just stand there?" yells a boy to her, snidely, as he snickers and releases two arrows. One hits bulls eye, right in the center, and the other hits close to it in the next section of the target. Keeping her temper, Emma smiles at him and he just laughs at her.
"Let's see what you've got!" he yells, motioning her over.
Emma walks over and positions her bow. Out of the corner of her eye she sees the boy making childish faces at her as he tries to distract her, but she just chuckles and focuses.
Release.
Release.
Bulls eye.
Bulls eye.
Emma then faces the boy and feels immediately guilty. He looks so down-trodden, and sad, that she just has to help.
"It was really just pure luck!" she says, as his eyes narrow and harden at her.
"I don't need to be babied," he says, with a dangerous edge to his voice.
"Oh, no! Of course not! I didn't mean..." she says, a little strained. "I could help you.. if you'd like? Give some pointers?"
"Oh you're not all that! You're not high authority, not the trainers! In fact, I've never seen you here before! And.. it was beginners luck!" he says, and in a rage runs off with his face tomato red in anger. Emma stares at him, a little surprised. Then she feels sour. That boy has no right to be so angry about that. She didn't even do anything wrong. She was being perfectly nice.
Then she decides she wants to leave. Immediately. And when she sets her mind on something.. well, it happens. She's strongheaded.
She puts the bow away and then practically sprints toward a large glass door. She pushes on it, but even with her strength it doesn't budge. Frowning, she notices a slot where someone would presumably slip in a card.
A card she doesn't have.
But.. if she doesn't have a card then how did she get in? She notices a pocket on her skirt, and digs her hand into it. She's rewarded with a small, plastic card. On the top it says Emma Peterson, and on the bottom is one of those design-like things machines scan.
She swipes the card, and grins when the door slides open. As soon as she walks through she almost falls backward. Inside the gym it was relatively quiet, aside from the occasional grunts of fighting people, the clang of swords, and the rip of dummies being severed. But now her ear-drums and eyes nearly split. The streets are decorated with blinding lights, streamers of all colors are littered all around, people walk around in brilliant formal clothes (fancy dresses and colorful suits), and music booms from everywhere.
Emma has to fight the urge to cover her ears as she stares at people dancing beside her. Out of no where, she gets sucked into the dance and is being twirled by a laughing middle-aged man. She is beginning to enjoy herself when the song ends and she walks away, confused. She follows a clump of teenagers who are all monkeying around and being rough, and ends up in a square.
She looks around, confused. A teenager comes up to her and starts speaking very slowly, as if she's dumb. "Do.. you.. need... help... finding... the.. sign-in... tables?"
"Yes, please, oh thank you!" she says, relieved there's someone the least bit nice here who will willingly help her. The boy scoffs, and points at a line quite near her.
"Over there," the boy says, as he shakes his head, laughs, mutters to himself, and walks away. Emma reluctantly starts toward the line, and ponders the situation. Where could she be?
Oh! She feels like punching herself and it all sinks in. She's in damn Panem! She must have fallen asleep while reading the book. Today, after all, had been a tiring day.
But.. why does it seem so cheery, colorful, and happy here? This must be a district, since she assumes she is at a reaping. But aren't districts supposed to be color-less and deprived? But, that doesn't make sense either. She was at what must have been a training center earlier, so this must be a favored career district. But District 1, 2, or 4?
Probably not 4, as there are no beaches. But she won't know if it's District 1 or 2 until the mayor makes a speech.
Emma can not believe she's in one of her favorite books, even if it's just a dream, so she just smiles at everyone. Even at the peacekeeper who takes her blood. The process seems a little different than how the book explains it...
"Emma Peterson?" the peacekeeper asks as EMMA PETERSON appears on a screen on his little machine. Emma walks away, puzzled. How does this district have her name... if she doesn't actually live here? Well, maybe in the dream she lives her, she decides.
She goes to a section labeled "16F," which she assumes is the 16-year-old female section. It's in the middle-front of the square.
A man with an elaborately curled mustache and a large, round stomach, strides to the microphone in a mere two steps because of his long legs and height. He casts a large shadow, and his voice is what you would expect. Gruff, and almost unintelligible because of a scruffy black beard.
Emma tries to make out what he says, but only catches some words.
"Hello, District 2!" So it is District 2. Like what she got on all of her quizzes! "Panem... 167th ...Hunger Games! Today... a girl and a boy... chosen... volunteer... fight... great District 2 skills! The home of masonry, eh! Strongest... win against 23 others! ... live television! Now... brilliant... slide show... horrible... Dark Days!"
The mayor steps to the side and on the screens around the square there's a slide show showing what Emma guesses was the first rebellion, or the Dark Days. She also noticed that the mayor mostly talked about the games and not the rebellion. Probably because it's a career district...they love the games, don't they?
The slide show ends and then a women steps up. Emma basically shouts with bubbly laughter. She's always wanted to see the Capitol's absurd outfits. The movies showed the outfits spectacularly well, but they weren't real Capitolites. This isn't exactly real, as Emma suspects it is a dream, but it's her real.
The District Escort is dressed in a bright red fox suit. She doesn't have a fox head, but her sleek red hair is pulled back and there are whiskers coming out of her her cheeks. The suit is covered in brilliant purple sparkles, and it doesn't look like a suit at all. It look like it's the womens very skin and fur. Which is actually very creepy. The suit stops at her waist, and to cover her legs she wears a bright purple hoop-skirt covered in flashing red lights. The women even has a long, skinny red tail with a white tip that waggles back and forth.
"Hello, I am Alda Amitty! I am here to represent the Capitol in the acclaimed District 2, and I am here to reap the tributes for this year's Hunger Games!" Emma notes with glee that Alda has the signature Capitol accent, and smiles to herself.
Alda reaches forward and picks a slip out of a bowl.
"Emma Peterson!"
Oh shit...