Hey everyone! Thanks for choosing to read/participate in this story! Without further adieu, the District 1 Reapings!
I barely make it to the toilet when I begin to puke out my guts. I heave until nothing comes out but a bit of spit. I wipe my mouth and sit on the floor next to the toilet. It must be nerves. It has to be nerves, I tell myself weakly. Well of course it is, I'm going to volunteer today. I quickly wash out my mouth and head down the stairs. I smell something glorious coming from the kitchen.
"Mom!" I say. "What are you making?"
"Oatmeal. And don't you dare try and feed it to the dog again, I don't care if you hate it. It's what I made for-"
Before she can finish I slide into my seat and eat the whole bowl. I even go so far as to lick the inside, ignoring all lady-likeness at all.
"Aisling Maeve! I swear I never saw-"
"Can I have more?"
She eyes me suspiciously and puts another scoop of oatmeal into my bowl. I continue to eat as she watches me curiously and then starts to speak.
"Ash, you hate oatmeal as much as I hate fish," she says. And now you're downing it like it's the last thing you ever eat!"
She glares at my stomach suspiciously. I feel my palms get sweaty.
"Well, if I go to the Games today, I want to remember the last meal I had with my wonderful mother."
Thank goodness for my dad, because he comes in right at that moment. "Ash, I just wanted to let you know that the Reapings start earlier today, since its a Quell," he says, almost bored. I nod and finish off my oatmeal. I run to my room to get ready.
I eye the green shirt Aaron got me for my birthday but it's a really tight shirt and I feel bloated this morning. How ironic that he got you a shirt, when all he really wanted was to see you take it off, I think to myself as I feel my cheeks turn pink. I turn to the other sitde of my closet and put on a black shirt with pale purple and deep magenta roses on it. It has a lacy back and sleeves, and choose a pair of boots to match. I hear the doorbell and shout, "Coming!" before bolting downstairs. I quickly pull my read mane into a ponytail, and open the door to see Aaron standing there.
"Woah," he says. "You look hot."
"Don't I usually?" I say with a coy grin.
"You've got me there," he says.
We're about to go when Mom calls for me.
"Aisling, can I talk to you for a moment?" She says in a hushed voice. I gulp. Nobody uses my real name unless I'm in trouble. I go inside.
"This new liking for oatmeal, a food you hate, the fact that you were out all night on your birthday, and I heard you puking your guts out this morning. Is there something you would like to share?"
Aaron chooses a great moment to step in. "Ma'am," he says. "I hate to be like this, but the Reaping starts soon.
Thank you, I whisper to him mentally.
"Fine. But young lady, we will continue this when you get home."
We walk in silence for most of the way. Then Aaron speaks.
"There's something you're not telling me," he says.
I decide to tell him the truth. "I got sick this morning, and I don't want you sick." Okay, I tell a half-truth.
"Oh, is that it? Germs don't scare me." He puts his arm around me. I snuggle close before I see the square. I pull away from him. "See you after," he says. He kisses me on the forehead. Don't be too sure of that, I think grimly.
I stand with the other girls in my section, feeling uncomfortable. Ever since Aaron and I started dating, I started to stop spending time with girls my age. Now I'm just, well, there.
"HELLO DISTRICT ONE!" Our escort, Gevalius shouts in his annoyingly perky voice. "Let's have a MARVELOUS TIME!"
He goes over to the girl's bowl. It seems like he takes ten minutes to draw a slip of paper. "GLITZ DEROSA!"
Glitz is an idiot. She's been wanting to go to the Games forever, but she says she'll never volunteer, it's too 'un-pretty' (her own foolish words.) Now I see her making her way to the stage. Should I? Can I? Why not? Its better than facing my mother with that... conversation...
"I volunteer," I hear myself say weakly.
Gevalius looks around, confused. He surely heard me, but he doesn't know who said it.
"I volunteer," I say, stronger and louder. I make my way to the stage, where Glitz is escorted down. She gives me a dirty look and I send a smirk in her direction. I take my place by Gevalius.
"I VOLUNTEER!" I hear someone shout, a boy, and I squint to see who it is.
It's Aaron.
I am breathless as I watch him fight through the crowd and attack a group of Peacekeepers. One punches him in the jaw.
"NO!" I scream, and I try to run to him. Guards pull me back and keep me planted on stage.
The Peacekeepers have knocked Aaron unconscious. I start crying. Gevalius looks tomato red, probably because we are the laughingstock of Panem right now.
"Now, f-for the boys," Gevalius says, trying to regain composure. He reaches his hand into the bowl.
"Branch Prather!"
Immediately, I hear a voice say, "I volunteer!" I'm still crying because of Aaron, so I don't see the boy until he makes his way up to Gevalius and I.
And what I see is huge. Deadly. Hot. Menacing. And I'm afraid.
I grab the microphone away from Gevalius. "Hasher. Platinum Hasher." I wink at the crowd, more directly, the girls. Most of them swoon. Well, it's hard not to fall for a guy with dimples. Gevalius takes the mic back. He huffs. I stifle a laugh. And ginger next to me? She seems about as weird as a, well, Gevalius.
What a freak. And that guy, that must be her boyfriend. Well jokes on them.
The Freak and the Loon.
We shake hands and are herded inside for our goodbyes. My first few visitors are some chicks that are all like, ohh baby I'm gonna miss you, you have to come back to me, crap like that. I fill their empty heads with false promises of riches and fame when I return.
My next visitor is my Gramma.
"Oh Babouska," I say, and go to hug her. She looks up at me and runs her hands through my short blond hair. "I'm going to win. And then I'll get you the medical help you need! And I'll be rich! RICH! And then we won't need dad, and-"
"My Jedynie," she says, calling me her pet name for me. "Your father is my son. I will always care for him even if he-"
"Even if he what Babouska?" Kills you? HE already killed Mom!" I throw a vase across the room. "I NEED to win! For the money! For the fame! The glory! I'll have all I ever needed! I DON'T NEED ANYTHING FROM MY OLD LIFE!" I stop ranting and look at my Gramma. She looks hurt and I immediately feel guilty. "You will get nowhere in life with that greed, my Jedynie. I love you."
A guard comes in to say our time is up. She tries to hug me but I shrug her off. She's gone off her rocker too, I think. Money is everything. When I turn around, she's gone. And in her place stands the Loon.
This kid couldn't mean anything to me. He's about a foot shorter than me with shaggy black hair and pale skin. He looks determined, I'll give him that. Crazy, but determined. He gets right up in my face.
"I swear to you, if she dies and you come home, I will make your life HELL. You WILL protect her in the arena. Or you will face ME." he seethes.
I laugh. "What could you possibly do? poke my feet? knock on my door day and night? Taunt me? Your girlfriend isn't coming out alive, I am. Oh watch, she'll probably die in the first hour, if she's lucky. Worst case, she falls off and dies before the Games even begin." I can see his face turning red. I decide to go on.
"Look Romeo, it's not my responsiblity to keep your girl safe. I got my own ass to watch, I don't need some ginger in my way."
He's ANGRY now.
He storms out. I wait. Of course, my father never comes.
But of course, he'll see me off at the train station.
"Listen you little prick," he says, grabbing my shoulders as I make my way to the station. " I hope you die, just like your momma did."
I can smell the alcohol on his breath.
"Slow and painful, dragging on-"
He's cut off by a Peacekeeper punching him in the gut.
I really lie Peacekeepers, I think to myself as we get on the train.
So what'd y'all think? Did you like how I spliced the story? Should I do that for all of them or was it not good that way. Reviews are always welcome! I still need more tributes! GUYS ESPECIALLY!