Chapter 1.
Darkness. This darkness, it surrounds me like a thick, musky cloak. I feel it tighten around my innocent neck, a snake slowly pleasuring in my pain.
But where am I? I try to turn my head, but my body restricts me. Reluctantly, I unclench my fists, which have turned white from tension, and slowly feel the surface on which I am crouched on. It feels crumbly, soft against my hands, which are rough from years of working in the orchards of District 11.
I clasp a handful of the strange material. It feels familiar. Bringing it close to my nose, I inhale deeply. This is a mistake; I can tell as it floods my nostrils it's earth. Coughing and wheezing, I expel the muck from my body.
Brushing my hands on my equally dirty trousers, I try to move my head again. Failure. Panic returns, rising within me like a blazing inferno. What is happening to me? Where am I? Am I alone, or is there someone – something – out there, stalking me?
I break through the restraints that bind my neck to its place, and stand up. Too quickly. Too quickly, I realise, as confusion floods my brain, clouding my eyes and muddling my thoughts. Almost blindly, I stumble around in the mysterious darkness, like a zombie in broad daylight, trying to find any sign of life.
And that's when I come face to face with a pair of eyes.
Surprise. Sly satisfaction. Deathly poison. That's what I discover when I look into its – their? – eyes. The figure moves its face so the moonlight – which I hadn't noticed before in my blind panic- illuminates its face so I can see it clearly.
Glimmering green eyes. A cunning mouth, slit open with a mischievous grin. Hair the colour of death, falling to the shoulders. It's a girl, I can see that now; she must be no older than 14 in age.
Yet she seems completely at home holding a pointed knife in her small hands.
"You scared, District 11?" her hateful, no; fatal words pierce the frosty air. "You scared of what I'm about to do to you?" she lets out a laugh, not a childish laugh which I should know better than to expect, but a laugh of an assassin. A murder.
A Scream. I don't feel it leave my mouth, but I hear it ring out in the dense gloom. The girl pins me down using her pointed elbows. My teeth attempt to sink into her pale flesh, but she simply lifts her foot to my face and grinds down.
A bloody mess. One eye forced shut, the other drowning in blood. Blinded, arms moving wildly in an attempt to save my life. Another foot, this time on my wrist. A crunch of a bone. A tickle of a knife point tracing around my lips. A small trickle of ruby-red blood, slipping into my gaping mouth, down my chin. Another slash. My nose no longer recognisable under a mass of ripped flesh and fresh sickly blood.
But I feel nothing but fear. Fear of what the girl will do next, fear of who else may appear, fear of where I am.
"Goodbye, district 11." The girl shrieks into what used to be my ear, and I feel, but not see, the movement of her hand as she brings a knife up into the air, aiming directly at my pulsing heart.
A flow of air. A burning pain. A judder in my heart. A scream. A laugh. Another single scream leaves my lips, begging for anyone, anyone to help me, anyone-
I gasp as my eyes fly open, sitting up in my bed. My bed? I reach down and stroke the rough blanket that I am entwined in. Yes, this is my bed, in my home, in my District. It was all a nightmare.
I'm still stroking the rough fabric, attempting to calm my racing heart, when a figure bursts into my room. I look up in instinct to discover it's my Mum, Evelyn.
"You ok, pumpkin?" her old nickname for me sooths me a little.
"A nightmare." I state bluntly, not wishing to go into details. Understanding, she rushes over and embraces me in a hug, the kind only a mother could give.
"It's ok, sweetie, it's ok…" she whispers into my ear, rocking me as I sob into her arms.
I don't know how long passes. It could be seconds, minutes, possibly hours. However long it is, it isn't enough. Not today.
Because today is the day of the reaping.
The door creaks once more, and my Dad comes in. He smiles sympathetically when he sees me curled up in my Mum's careful grasp.
"Hey, you two." His green eyes aren't shining like they usually are; today they only have one emotion – fear.
He slowly wanders over to the teary mess that is mother and daughter, and joins in the embrace. Today is the one day where families have to stick together.
"Get dressed." Mum detaches herself from my grasp and gives me a quick kiss on my forehead. "We have a special breakfast today."
She takes my Dad's hand in hers, and they walk out of my room, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
Of course, they aren't my 'real' parents. My biological mother and father fled their district a few weeks after I was born. My father, who I have been told was called Aish, had been caught hunting illegally in the forests surround District 12. He had been sentenced to Death, but somehow managed to evade the Peacekeepers and flee along with his wife, Sebina, and me. My birth name was Rose, but my adoptive parents, Autumn and Felix, disliked that name. President Snow is known for his roses, and they wanted as little to do with that name as possible. I was re-named Verbina, a name I love and treasure.
Sighing, I force myself out of my daydream and make my way to the oak dresser that hides shamefully into the corner of my box-like room. Pulling open the rickety draw, I discover my Mum has kindly placed a special reaping outfit on top of my normal clothes. I l pick it up carefully, examining it with my grey eyes. It's a smart dress, cream with a floral pattern decorated on the fabric.
Sighing, I begin to undress. There's no point in trying to drag it out so I can be late; my family and I will just be punished.
Soon, all too soon, it's time to go. As I step out of the safety zone that is my shack of a home, I can't help but wonder, who will the Capitol claim as their victims this time?