Sing Little Mockingjay
Chapter 1
The Reaping
Thump. Thump. Thump.
In District Twelve all the people's hearts were beating as one. They all shared the same paranoid thoughts. They all were scared for their lives and their family's lives, too.
Caprice Xavier stood at the back of the seventeen year olds, her breath was rigid from running all the way to the Reapings from the Hob. She had been with her father selling meats and goods. He had only just remembered that she had to get to the Reaping. Caprice had quickly needed to run home and hop into her Reaping outfit then back to the town square for the event.
"I can't believe you almost missed the Reaping!" Brea Anders squealed.
Caprice could only roll her eyes, Brea was the queen of gossip at the local school and Caprice knew to avoid her at all costs.
Brea was about to say something else, but fortunately the escort, Effie, came onto the stage. She was sporting the usual obnoxious, neon hair color. Caprice tried not to laugh when she spotted the mayor wrinkling his nose in disgust. District 12 people were not fans of the crazy fashions the Capitol people insisted on wearing.
"Hello everyone!" Effie greeted the crowd with her usual bright smile.
Caprice had to hand it to her, Effie might've been getting old, but she still successfully tried to keep the perky attitude of a twelve year old each year.
The mayor cleared his throat subtly telling Effie she needed to sit her butt down on a seat. She blushed embarrassedly and sat down, crossing her legs. Obviously pleased with shutting Effie up the mayor grinned and began the speech he said every year, how there was a rebellion and how the Capitol quickly got rid of the problem, but this year he added onto the speech with facts of the latest rebellion. The crowd grew hush and listened seriously to the man's voice.
He clearly knows how to make people be quiet, Caprice thought to herself.
She too was listening contently. The events that happened last year interested her, she was always the one in school pestering the teacher to tell them more about the rebellion, but she never got her answer. She had to evacuate District 12 and even then no one explain anything. Now Caprice was getting the truth, but of course in a way that the Capitol would approve of.
"Now it is time for the tributes." The mayor said with a nod at Effie.
She practically leaped up from her chair and made her way to the two orbs standing on the stage, "Ladies first!" She smiled.
Caprice heard Brea hold her breath. The other girls around them did the same. Again Caprice could only roll her eyes.
Effie extracted a slip of paper and looked down at it, "Caprice Xavier!"
Now it was Caprice's turn to hold her breath.
Brea squealed with joy, but then seeing Caprice's pale face she bit her lip, "Sorry." She muttered before encouragingly pushing her towards the stage, "Go on then."
Caprice let her shaky legs lead her up to the stage.
"Congrats!" Effie smiled then she skipped over towards the boy orb.
Caprice looked around the crowd. Finally she spotted her dad. His face was unbearable. His dark brown eyes were filled with a pain, she could only remember that look in his eyes once before and that was when her mother died from child birth. She knew that he was begging for someone to take my place, but he also knew that no one would step forward. For the rest of the Hunger Games Caprice knew that her father would be blaming the others for her placement. The truth was it was all Caprice's fault. She should've stayed away from getting tesseras. She could've been safe. Now she was leaving her father alone. She couldn't bear it.
"And now the boy!" Effie said picking a piece of paper from the orb, "Chance Wister!"
Caprice's body went still and her eyes widened.
Oh please anyone but him, she silently begged.
Chance strolled up to the stage looking like he didn't have a care in the world. His dark hair carelessly fell in front of his eyes. He brushed it away probably so Caprice could see the proud look in his eyes.
"Now shake hands!" Effie instructed, her eyes lingered over each of them like she could see the hatred burning between them.
Caprice had hated Chance ever since he let the Peacekeepers know that a certain girl was saying certain things about a rebellion. She had almost gotten hanged for it, but thankfully her father saved her neck. He too began to hate Chance, but the hatred didn't stop there, it leaked into their families. When her mom was alive she had a growing rivalry with Mrs. Wister. The two of them owned small shops for trading and they would compete for the most customers.
Caprice grudgingly shook his hand. His hand was strong and he nearly broke all of Caprice's fingers. She shot him an angry look before turning to walk to the Justice Building. She could already hear the whispers of the people saying, "Oh why did the two of them have to get put together. We'll never win now!"
"You over in that room and you over there." A Peacekeeper ordered.
The two of them both nodded and headed into the two separate rooms. As soon as she walked in Caprice was ambushed by her father.
"I can't believe this!" He cried out hugging her just a bit too tight.
"Dad! I'm not going to be able to even make it to the Capitol if you don't let go! You're suffocating me!" Caprice laughed.
He loosened his grip and grinned sheepishly, "Sorry, Cap." He ruffled her hair before taking a step back, "I'm sure going to miss you, kid."
"Dad, don't act like I'm already dead." She sniffled.
"Why would I act like that?" He said defensively.
Caprice shook her head and buried her face in his shoulder. Slowly she started to cry. He gently rubbed her back and soothed her.
"Relax, Cap, relax. We both know how strong you are, you're going to win this." He softly said.
She nodded and tried to calm down. Her dad continued to talk softly to her until the Peacekeeper came saying there was more visitors for her.
"Good luck, Caprice." He smiled before walking out of the room.
Next came Thea. Her face was streaked with dry tears. Caprice sighed at her best friend; she felt the tears coming back.
"Please don't cry, Caprice, because that's just going to make me cry. I just came to wish you luck. All of us are rooting for you," She smiled slyly, "and not Chance." She added in a soft voice before walking out.
The Peacekeeper came back in once more this time with a surprising visitor, West. West was a small boy who worked with Caprice's father sometimes when Caprice was off doing other work. His fist was holding something very tight.
"Your father wanted me to give this to you, Caprice." West explained. He opened his fist to reveal a silver necklace with a single pendant hanging around it, a feather.
It was her mother's Caprice realized quickly. She smiled gratefully at West and took it, "Thank you so much."
She hugged the little boy before letting him run back to his family. He smiled and nodded at her.
"Any more visitors?" Caprice asked the Peacekeeper.
He shook his head and motioned for Caprice to follow him out the door, "You will be boarding the train now." He said.
Caprice sighed. She looked over her shoulder out of the window at the crowded square. She managed to smile weakly; she would miss her home, but she knew that the Hunger Games were going to be different this year with her attending.