Reaping day
"Hey Judy wake up!" My brother shakes me awake, the bastard.
I yawn and groan "Okay dammit!" I get up and walk into the living while groaning, I'm definitely not a morning person.
My brother was right behind me. I looked at him and he had a look of sorrow in his eyes. I then remembered it was reaping day and I got a awful feeling in my stomach. I made a sour face.
"Hey Judy, try not to think about the reaping too much." My brother read my mind and put his hand on my shoulder.
"How can I not?! Two kids in our district are going to die. It could be someone we know." He takes his hand off of me and sighs.
My mother look at us "Philly! Judy! Your father brought home extra money!" She looked so happy, it made me smile. She dosent look this happy that often. Especially on reaping day.
My brother asks, "Is papa up in his room?"
My mother nods, still smiling "Yes you know he's tired after a long hard day of work." She pauses for a second. "How about you two boys go and buy some breakfast!" She quickly handed my brother the money.
"Okay mom." Me and my brother say at the same time. We both say jinx and laugh. Forgetting about what's going to happen in a few hours.
As we walk out the door my mother yells "Stay safe! I love you!"
I shout back "We love you too mom!" My brother closes the door.
I look up at the sky, it was dark and smoggy. I'm pretty much use to it, but Philly hates it.
My brother breaks me out of my thought, "What do you think we should get to eat?"
I shake my head. "Uhh.. fresh bread and eggs! Ooh and bacon!" My mouth watered just thinking about it. It's alot better then the stew or broth we usually eat.
"Alright don't get too carried away. We don't want to spend ALL the money."
I see a few of my friends along the way, we chit chat a bit and move on. I'm not as close with them as I am Ana...I've known her before I could talk.
In a few seconds we are at the little shop. My brother pushes the door in and goes to the counter, I follow him.
"What do you two hooligans want?"
I guess he said that because of our clothes. I mean we look pretty beat up and he looked alot nicer then us.
"Hey man.." My brother gets that look in his eyes that means you're about to get put in your place. I just watch. I'm a bit worried.
The guy just rolls his eyes and says firmly, "What the hell do you want?"
My brother just shakes his head and with an attitude says, "I want fresh bread, eggs, and bacon." He holds out the currency In his hands.
"That will be 50 currency son." The guy holds out his hand.
My brother quickly counts it and gives most of our currency over.
The guy leaves. I look at my brother and he looks at me. I say, "Wow that guy is an asshole." "I know. I hate the upper people. They think they are better then everyone." My brother says with hatred in his voice.
I just shake my head "Yeah.. they are pretty rude." Our conversation gets cut short because the man came back with a brown bag. He hands it over to my brother.
We walk away and he stares at us. I can feel it as we walk out the door. I'm glad too be out of that shop, I didn't like the atmosphere.
I look at my brother and touch his dull, lifeless brown hair. He looks at me "What?" "Cheer up, let's not let that dumb guy ruin our breakfast."
"I'm not mad about that anymore." He looks at the peacekeepers walking by, there was alot more of them. Then I remember again that it's reaping day and it weighs on me. I make a sour face, "I don't want to think about that." My brother just sighs.
Soon we were alot closer to home. I noticed that there wasn't many kids outside, they must be all indoors because of what's happening.
We walk the rest of the way home in silence. We walk in my house and my mother jolts around to look at us, she runs to hug us. I hug her back tightly and so does my brother. She laughs and wheezes, "I'm suffocating!"
_
My mother had finished making breakfast and the food smelt so good. She starts talking to me. "Can you go fetch your father for me?" Next she turns to my brother and says something, but by that time I was already walking away.
I open my parents door and I jump on his bed, it shakes and makes a pitiful nose. "Papa! Wake up!" I smile and hug him. He just snores and turns over while squinting.
"Papa! WAKE UP!" He jolts up and his eyes are red "Dammit Judy! What the hell do you want?!" I frown, slightly hurt. "Mom has made some breakfast.." My dad rubs his head "Ohh.. sorry for yelling at you. I love you." He kisses me on the cheek and I smile again "I love you too, papa."
He gets up and puts some pajama pants on. We both walk down into the kitchen and the table is already set. My mother and father kiss, I wasn't paying much attention though. I was staring at the delicious food.
I sit at the table next to my brother and grin. He is already shoving the food in his mouth. My dad and my mom keep talking, soon they take a seat. I'm already shoving the food down my mouth, almost choking. It was so good.. I love eggs and bacon.
My mother raises her voice at me "Judy slow down before you choke!" My brother pats my back hard and I yelp. I swallow my food and hit him on the shoulder.
My dad says in a groan.."Boys! Behave!" We both smirk and keep eating. My dad says to my mother. "This tastes so good honey."
We soon finish eating and my mother washes the dishes.
"You boys need to get your clothes out." My dad says while running his fingers through my dark brown hair.
"Yes sir." We both run to our room and search through our dressers.I pull out a collard shirt and pants, they looked old. They were my brothers hand-me-downs but I didn't really care.
"Hey Judy what should I wear? The suit or a shirt and pants?" I turn around and the clothes, "The suit." The suit didn't look that great, but it was alot better then the shirt and pants.
We put our clothes on and make our way downstairs. Our mother comes up to us and she squeezes my cheeks like I'm a baby. "You two look so handsome.." She sighs and tears up.
"I love you." I say and hug her, but it only makes the tears fall. "Don't worry about me, I'm just getting emotional.." My father comes over and wipes the tears from my mothers face.
My father soon has my mother in an embrace and he looks at me and my brother and says. "Boys, you know what time it is." He sighs.
My brother grabs my arm and he pulls me out the door, our mother and father following. We don't say anything until we get to the crowd of other children walking to get their fingers pricked.
Soon our parents separate from us and we were waiting in line, "Philly, I hate getting my finger pricked." I pout and stick my bottom lip out. He crosses his arms, "I'm not much of a fan of it either."
In a few minutes I see my brother get his finger pricked, he winces and walks over to the 16 year old section. I close my eyes and brace myself for the pain, it was over quickly but still hurt.
I look at my brother one last time and make my way to the 13 year old section. The other kids are very nervous, many of them shaking. I myself am very nervous. I try to talk to them to make time go faster so this could end already.
Soon the escort walks out of the justice building. Sunshine Pinket. It was no wonder why her parents named her that, her skin glowed. But she had awful makeup and really bright poofy pink hair. It must have to her a long time to get ready.
I'm broke out of my thoughts by the propaganda, that's what everyone calls it anyways. They play it every year about the 1st and 2nd rebellion. It was long and made me want to fall asleep.
Soon it finally ends. I'm day dreaming by the time it ends.
I'm broken out of it when I hear Sunshines booming voice. "Ladies and gentlemen! We are going to announce the lucky female tribute that gets to represent district 8!"
I hear someone mumble, "Lucky... how could this bitch think this is a good thing?" More people whisper after that. I chuckle, the way he said bitch was funny. "The lucky female tribute is..." She puts her hand in that dreaded bowl and moves around the names a bit, soon she picks one and reads it. "Ana Piscataway!"
My heart instantly sinks, I tear up at the thought of seeing my best friend die. I see her walk up to the stage, she was visibly crying and shaking. I wipe the tears from my eyes and just stare, not saying a word.
The escort smiles at Ana and then the crowd. "Any volunteers this year?!" Silence, like usual. No one wants to go into a fight to the death, that would be crazy. "How old are you sweet heart?" She grins, she was very excited. Anna looks at the ground and stampers. "14 y-years old."
She turns her attention to the crowd again, now for the lucky boy to represent district 8! I grabbed my chest. My heart was beating out my chest. What if I got picked? What if Philly got picked?!
Sunshine soon calls the unlucky boys name out. "Jute Marlee!" My heart sinks and I immediately start shaking. This can't be happening. This can't be happening! I hear my brother scream and cry, he never cries. I hear my mother sob.
The peacekeepers grab me and take me up there, since I was taking so long. Me and Ana make eye contact, we don't say anything but her eyes tell me that she had pity on me even though she was up there herself. Maybe it was because I'm small and short. I don't look like a victor.
I block out everything Sunshine says until she asks me how old I am and tells me to shake hands with Ana. I shake hands with her tightly, I didn't want to let go. The peacekeepers takes us into the injustice building, I kiss my life goodbye right then and there.
*I want criticism to try and improve my story. It would be appreciated and thank you for reading.*