A/N- thanks sooo much for reading, commenting, or favoriting! It really means a
lot to me, this is my first story I have published. Thanks and enjoy :D
I woke up early, around 5 AM. Still groggy, I looked at the calendar on my wall, and saw the date: August 30, Reaping Day. Well, nothing will wake you up in the morning like realizing you might be sentenced to death that day. I didn't have a huge chance of getting reaped, since I was only entered 10 times: 4 times because it is my fourth reaping, and 3 for tesserae .District 5 wasn't the poorest district in Panem, but it definitely wasn't the wealthiest either. Thankfully, the reaping doesn't start until noon, so I had about 7 hours to do whatever I wanted. My parents won't be awake until 8, which gave me 3 hours of complete freedom of running around as a fox.
I quickly put on a pair of gray cargo pants, a black t-shirt, and black combat boots. I wolfed down a piece of toast before leaving the house. After taking a few steps outside, I ran back in, realizing I had forgotten something: my hat. I have to be sneaky walking around the district in the early morning, as it would look quite suspicious for a teenage girl to be out this early, especially on reaping day, and my bright red hair stands out like a unicorn amongst a herd of threstals in our district. The streets, the buildings, the power plants, even the sky, are all shades of black and gray, hence the importance of my gray, knit beanie, even though it is summer.
I slink along the silent streets, avoiding the few patrolling peacekeepers. I end up at an old power plant at the edge of District 5, in front of the fence separating the district from the wilderness. It hasn't been used in years, which makes it the perfect place for my early morning escapades. I walk around back, to the fence, and move one of the larger rocks next to the fence, revealing the hole I had dug under the fence a few years ago. It is somewhat narrow, but deep. I've nicknamed it the foxhole. I won't fit in my human form, so I transform into my fox animagus. I feel my nose and mouth area elongate, my arms and legs become shorter, tail and fur grow, and my senses become sharper. I crawl under the fence, careful not to touch it, because it is almost always electrified. I quickly transform back to human, and carefully reach under the fence to put the rock back, then transform back into a fox. It is unlikely anyone will notice the hole; no one comes here anymore, but I'm not taking my chances.
I ran around for a while, eating plants and berries that I know are edible, ones I've seen real foxes eat. A few hours later I made my way back to the foxhole, getting out the same way I got in. I wasn't sure what time it was, and I didn't want my parents to realize I was gone. As I approached our house, I saw my mother through the kitchen window, making breakfast. I couldn't just walk through the front door; she would know that I've been out. Thank Merlin our house is only one story tall. I crept around the house, and climbed into my room through the window. I changed back into my pajamas and messed my hair up a bit, to give the appearance of having just gotten out of bed, before going into the kitchen.
"Good morning" I said upon entering the kitchen, faking a yawn. "Ooh! Pancakes!" I exclaimed, staring at the warm blueberry pancakes my mother had made. She always makes a special breakfast on reaping day. She never said it, but I think it's because it might be the last meal the three of us eat together. My father comes in shortly after, and we eat and talk. Talk about anything, how school will go, dad talking about work. We talk about anything, carefully avoiding the subject of the reaping to come.