Disclaimer: Still not Suzzane Collins, check back next week.
~District Six Reapings~
Toth Attaway's P.O.V.
My feet feel numb as it touches the ground.
Allif lands right beside me. The smell of pine trees and alder smoke wafts off her jacket and I'm stuck reliving the simple and happy moments of my life.
The tree we just hopped off is so tilted it looks like it's going to fall over top of us.
"Come on." Allif ushers me over to the fence. "Zzzzzz!" She says under her breath while twitching violently.
I only ignore her fake death and climb up the fence. The power is always down with the fence.
But it's the tracker-jackers that keep our district people trapped in this mini hell we call home.
Together we sit on top of the fence, the tree shading any sunlight coming our way.
We watch the sun slowly rise in a salmon pink background.
The Reapings will be at noon. I have six hours until then. That gives me four hours to sleep, thirty minutes to get ready, another thirty to help Wren get ready, and at least an hour to reach the Town Square.
"Hey Tooth?" I look at Allif. "How many?"
I check my surroundings first because I feel like a pair of eyes are watching my every move. "Only four this year." The sun has completely made it over the distanced mountains. "How many?"
"Seven. My mom lost her job remember." Little puffs air form into a small cloud when she speaks. "Well, then. Happy 20th Birthday Tooth."
"I have to go get ready for the reapings." There's nothing more to talk about anyway so I just leave.
When I jump off the fence a rain puddle I've landed in splashes everything around me.
It's hard not to give in and buy Wren a small pear. He's always had a sweet-tooth for them.
A lady in raggedy brown clothes walks up to me with a sympathetic face.
She's as skinny as a stick and has blue eyes that goes against everything in her appearance. She holds up a hat with only a quarter in it.
Behind her is a small child who looks close to dead. The little boy looks around Wren's age. His brown eyes are in Bambi form and the tears he's crying just barely wipes the dirt off his face.
I give them a small dime and walk off.
XxXxXxXxXx
The home is warmer than usual, which means that father has started the fireplace.
Wren runs around the house with his shorts and t-shirt on making zooming noises as he goes.
My bedroom is colder than any other place in the house, maybe because I had closed the door before I left.
Plopping on my bed, I let out a long sigh and pull the pillow over my head to block out all the random and useless thoughts in my head.
It takes only a few minutes for me to fall under sleeps spell.
~District Six Reapings~
Reed Pokey's P.O.V.
I straighten my bow tie and calmly meander around the house looking for my mother.
I catch a glimpse of father working in the kitchen stressing with his work. No matter how hard he tries, he's never satisfied with what he's done.
"Reed." Mother calls my name and I rush off towards the sound of her voice. "Oh, you're all ready for the Reapings." She tugs my polo a bit so it looks less snug.
I nod and look at her black dress. It's been a while since she's worn makeup. Her eyelids have that Smokey look and her lips are plumped and pink.
She pats the top of my head. "We're going to walk around the town for a while. Do you want to come Hon?"
It takes me a while to realize she's not talking to me, but to my dad.
He turns in his chair and looks at the two of us. He removes his glasses and looks at both of us. "Maybe I'll just meet you at the Reapings." He suggests.
Mother nods and we start for the door.
For a long time we just walk around the suburbs of parts of the district's merchant area. Shops are ignored until our walk back around.
Mother and I chew on apples from the market and walk around in our new shoes thankfully given by Mr. Schutte whom owns the shoe store.
Our district is like chocolate.
The outside is thickened but still very delicate.
The middle is creamy and so much richer than the outer layer. It's no doubt the Reapings will be held here again.
"What do you think district six will be put into for this year's Opening Ceremony?" I ask gnawing at the core of my apple.
My mother shrugs. "I don't know. I guess we'll just have to see, won't we?"
We're quiet for a while. There's nothing like reaping morning to bring someone down.
"How much do strawberries sell for?" I suddenly wonder aloud.
"Why?" Mother laughs making her words barely audible.
I bite my lip. "I was walking along the fence yesterday and on the other side I saw a strawberry plant. Maybe we could plant it in our garden and-"
She interferes with my sentence. "Plant it in our backyard? Reed." She looks at me sternly. "We can't waste time planting fruit that will never grow. For all we know, it could have something poisonous added to it?"
"Poison added to a strawberry?" I ask silently, furrowing my brows.
"Actually, I was thinking the front yard." I say trying to change the subject a little. "Then everyone could see it you know."
"What were you doing by the fence any way's Reed?" She asks me her eyes a little shiny from tears.
I look behind me. Then both ways as if I'm crossing a street. "There was a girl who hunted back there. I saw her. She hasn't come back yet though." I say almost worried.
"Look. Reed. I know you want to be known for something. But it's not going to help following people around. You have to go you own path." She ruffles my hair and I can't help but the tips of my mouth turn into a smile.
"And Reed," I look up at mother's tall figure. "Good luck."
I walk alone to my section nearest to the stage. Nobody is really here except for a couple newbie's.
For a while I hum the song my mother tried teaching me when I was little and trying to get the last few nibbles of apple out from between my teeth.
I never did learn the words to the song. Something like-
"Don't worry, it's alright. Let it go, to avoid a fight cause' it's right here, right now, is what really matters. Sometimes you feel so alone. But. Do. You. Know. That?"
Or something along that line. You get the point.
~District Six Reapings~
Toth Attaway's POV
"Huh?" I murmur to myself lifting my head off the pillow.
The clock above me says it's around 11:30 AM.
Slowly I twist my body so that my feet just barely touch the freezing cold floor. They're numbed up like when I jumped from the tree in Allif's backyard.
I grab the brush on the side table next to my warm bed. The clothes I'm in seem fine.
Worn out jeans and my new-ish black blouse are fine right? I think fumbling for the light switch as I leave the room.
I wouldn't be caught dead wearing the dress the Capitol would expect us girls to wear.
Wren has his jacket on and his nice, tan colored pants on.
My mother waits at the door with a dress on. She's not surprised I'm not wearing a long dress. At least not as surprised as last year when she went ballistic.
"Your father's outside." Mom says as if reading my mind. Her arms are fiercely crossed.
Nodding I grab Wren's hand and we begin to walk out the door.
Dad joins us after he's finished weeding the garden and catches up to the three of us.
It's the only place I really see him, in that beloved garden of his.
No one bothers to talk really. A dreaded day like today is never worth wasting you time talking about.
I place my hands in my back pockets and keep walking without a word trailing after me.
Wren playfully jumps around and leaps into the air like he were some type of dancer.
Sometimes when Allif and I took Wren to the market, we'd see people dancing or singing trying to pick up some merchants who may think it's creative. Only a couple times they'd get a coin or two in return. I guess Wren picked it off of them.
It's the only thing that pleases him.
Our house has never been far from the Town Square, so it doesn't take long for us to get to the foot of the stage.
Sixteen year olds seem to be prone to being drawn out. Maybe it's because we're at that age for tessarae or we just have that faith in us.
Any way's, our rope off area is always the closest to the stage. No ones ever known why and no ones ever really cared.
Allif greets me with a hug. Something I don't get much. She smiles and brings me to the other side of the section.
We have to shuffle through people to get their. Occasionally tripping over feet.
"Attention." The mayor, Alyson Rust, taps the microphone. Allif and I stop dead in our tracks.
Alyson clears her throat one last time. "I'd like to welcome this year's mentor- Daphne Willinson!"
Few claps arise out of the crowd, making me try to hold the laughter in.
Daphne waves with a small glare on her face. She's never really been fond of being a mentor as you can tell.
"And of course, our mentor, Jetta Gibson." Alyson yells out.
So that's her name. I usually referred to her as, "the girl with the endless pink curls".
"Thank you my all." She says her voice cracking while she screeches over the amplifiers.
There was no claps you idiot, I sneer in my mind.
Jetta reaches her small hand into the bowl of endless children. She takes her time ruffling through the bowl. "And our female tribune is... Toth Attaway?" Jetta says this in question.
Aliff pats my back a little before I start working for the stage. People make a clear path for me once they realize I'm Toth. I'm the girl who she's drawn out of the glass bowl.
I sternly look at the cameras to my left in right.
In the background you can hear my mother whimpering quietly. Wren is "sniffling," as he would call it.
I seat myself in a chair with a deep purple fabric. It's armrests are rounded and the cushion is very low and almost touches the floor. It's quite hard to explain.
"And for our male tribune... Reed Pokey!" Jetta yells out, popping my ears.
The boy steadily makes his way onto stage. His hands shake violently and you can see the small shine in his eye.
Hands shaking. I think while he sits next to me. Carnivores have shaking hands.
My head shakes off the memory. It's always the middle of the day when the bad thoughts come out to play.
But I'm starting to think that it's not going to be just the daylight that's going to be stirring up messed up thoughts in my head from now on.
