Chapter 4: District 4 Reaping

Riley got up late; she groaned in fury as she realized that she had overslept again. She tried to do something with her red curls, furiously pulling a brush through them, but ended up breaking the brush trying to fix them. Finally she gave up and just put on her white dress and walked towards the town square, walking gingerly on her hurt ankle. She was furious with herself for getting hurt the day before the games; she had been fishing illegally for her and her sister Olive. Olive was of course the older one, but she was always working and her job didn't pay much.

She had tried to keep herself in good shape the month before the games; she was prone to stupid accidents. Falling down stairs, cutting herself when she made dinner. Stupid things, but she was always extra careful the month before the games. When she arrived at the town square she lowered her eyes, there were white banners everywhere along with giant TV screens to broadcast speeches, it made he sick the way the capitol tried to make the reapings look like a celebration when really they were the worst day of everyone's life.

Suddenly she was back in this same town square, watching as a peacekeeper whipped her father.

"No!" He mother had cried, running towards him. A small ball of electricity hit her square in the chest and her body glowed blue for a few seconds before the life left her. Riley ran to her, hugged her tight and cried. Her father tried to go to comfort her and was shot too...

Riley shook her head, trying to relieve herself of the horrid memory. She needed to focus right now.

C.J. Ratliff drew himself out of bed to find his dad in a horrible temper. He rolled his eyes and got dressed in a button down blue shirt with black pants. He then attempted to comb his blond hair to look halfway decent. He hugged his little brother and sister before walking out the door. He walked down the empty streets to his girlfriend's house, knocking on the little white door when he got there. No one answered so he used the spare key she had given him to walk in. He walked to her room and knocked softly.

"Sarah, it's Keith." She swore loudly and he heard something fall.

"Are you okay?" He asked worriedly

"Fine." Was her curt reply. He waited and then heard the sound of someone being slapped.

"Huh? What...?" Said a gruff voice

"Shut up, HE'S here you need to sneak out the window." Sarah whispered. C.J. felt his eyes fill with tears and opened the door to find a boy named Brandon lying in bed next to Sarah. Sarah sat there in shook, then the tears started to fall.

"C.J. I'm so sorry..." He couldn't stand seeing her cry; he hugged her close and soothed her then helped her grab the right things to get dressed before pushing her into the bathroom. Then he turned to deal with Brandon.

"You are...I'm going to...UGH!" He yelled, then his fist connected with the side of his face. He took him by the arm and dragged him to the front door and threw him out wearing nothing but boxers. He sat on Sarah's bed and waited for her to get ready before walking with her to the reaping. She made to kiss him, but he turned away and walked to the boys section. Hugo stood and told the capitol speech before pulling out a girl's name.

"Riley Frost." He called, a girl of about 15 with red curls walked onto the stage, limping slightly. The Hugo dug his hand into the boys basket and took a piece of paper, reading out

"Anthony Rivers."

"He died last spring of fever." a girl said, Hugo nodded and withdrew another slip.

"Craig Ratliff Junior."

Keith walked onto the stage shaking, shook Hugo's hand and then walked with Riley silently to the justice building.

Olive was there crying. "Come home for me Riley!" She yelled the second she walked in the door, flinging herself onto her younger sister. She gave her light blue barrette with a flower on it for her token, and then their hour was up and Riley was led to the train.

In Keith's room, his dad was yelling at him for being reaped and his little sister clung to his leg, begging him not leave, while Sarah hugged him tight. He shrugged them all off and walked out the door, walking to his certain death, wishing that he didn't have to wait and the games could start as soon as he walked on the train.