District Eleven, Saffron North, 15
Morning in Eleven is so predictable.
Wake up. Go through the people wash (basically, take off your clothing and hope to make it where you can get warm water. I'm told it resembles a car wash, for rich people in the Capitol, except the people of Eleven screw their eyes shut and stay stock-still as a conveyor belt moves them along. Tubes squirt soap and shampoo onto you, and then you are dunked into a tank for ten seconds. If you do not get your hair clean within that time, it does not matter. You're out.)
After the people wash, you dress and eat a small tart for breakfast, except most of the time all the early risers have gotten there before you and have taken the good ones such as apple or strawberry, so you are stuck with rhubarb or- shudder- peanut milk. I have had it once, and it made me vomit. Ever since, I've gotten up at five and gone to breakfast by five-forty-five.
After your breakfast tart, you down it with a pint of milk, issued every day to members of the no-tesserae club. If you make the year without taking any tesserae, that's what happens- you're issued a pink of cold, fresh, frothy, white milk to drink. My brother, Vine, can no longer be part of the no-tesserae club because he recently turned 18. But my little sister, Heather, is yet too small at only 10. So I am depended on, I am needed to get milk for our family every day. If I sneak off to take a few bundles of tesserae, somehow the club would know. So my slate has to be completely clean, and we each get a couple gulps of milk per day.
My father puts all of his milk into black coffee to sweeten it a bit. My mother gives half of her milk to the cat, and the other half to the neighbor kids next door. By then it's almost nothing, but they always seem very excited when she gives it to them so I do not complain.
Vine simply downs his milk, as do I. But Heather, the stupidly fascinating creature, Heather gives most of hers to a plant she is growing. She hopes it will be able to be grown in mass, and feed more people per plant than anything we grow in the orchards here. Heather says that this plant will have a sort of crisp, cold texture and the outside will be a pale yellowish-green. She planted an apple seed, a blueberry seed, a pear seed, and a banana seed all in one. I only hope that her plant actually takes off- although I doubt so, as she is just ten.
When I wake up today and begin heading over to the people wash, Heather stops me. "Saffron," she says quietly.
I peer over at her. She is wrapped in a brown blanket and is gloomy. "What do you want… punk?" I ask.
"If I get Reaped, will you volunteer for me?" she asks.
I blink. "You're ten. You have two more years."
She shrugs, her black hair coming out of its loose ponytail. "Well, I know that… but I mean in general."
"I suppose I would," I consider this for a second and then ruffle her hair playfully. "Mum would kill me if I didn't, hah!"
"This is no laughing matter." Heather adjusts her thin glasses and pouts at me. "You have to understand the importance of this, Saffron."
I wrinkle my nose. "Since when are you my mother?" I say smarmily before slamming the door behind me, not wanting an answer.
The people wash is packed. Most people have already awaken. I inwardly scoff at myself for not arriving sooner. This place is filled with bodies reeking of sweat, dirt, and grime. I gag and my stomach is glad I ate no tart yet, otherwise it would be a puddle on the floor.
I undress quickly and stuff my clothing into a small locker reserved for our family. I wait about a half hour until I get a chance to hop onto the conveyor belt, then I dash onto it before the next group. I curl up into a ball, covering my eyes and face in general. Soap and cold water streams down my bare skin. I shiver. Most people only know the feeling of medium amounts of soap and a gentle showerhead sprinkling water down. This was flat-out buckets of water poured down, and the soap was slimy. It had to be scraped off if I wanted to be fully rid of it.
Finally all the wretched soap was rinsed and chipped off, and the belt went through the dryer. It blew my hair back into a silky tangle of black fur, and made my skin dry. Once the belt dumped me onto a wet tile floor, I raced for my locker and then headed over to the cafeteria of Hemmingway, the neighborhood I lived in. I snatched up a blueberry tart from the counter. Next stop: home.
Heather is in the same position. I look around, but Vine is nowhere to be found. "Where's our brother?" I ask my sister.
She gives a low sigh. "He's in the banana trees again. Says he's trying to earn a little extra money. We have about a pound of fruit left, which will last lunchtime."
I avert my eyes from the kitchen. The tart is finished. I'm ashamed to still be hungry. My belly will rumble at the most inopportune time, I just know it. Perhaps now. Terrified at the thought, I dart out of the room to my bedroom.
Reaping outfit- black pants and a silky navy shirt? Check. Makeup, which is dirt brushed over my eyelids? Check. Breath? I breathe into my hand. Yuck. The tart did nothing for my breath. I pop a dried mint leaf into my mouth and suck.
I am ready to be Reaped, if that's the way fate goes.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
The boy, from his spot onstage, looks terrified. I know that we're a sorry couple to be Reaped. I must admit, I was shocked when our escort projected my name out. But here on the stage, sitting quietly, this is all becoming reality. Will I die? No. I am determined to make it out alive.
My belly rumbles. It serves as a reminder that I am too weak and fragile to win.
Darn.
A/N: Questions! DO YOU HAVE A QUERY YOU WANT TO ASK? I will answer every few chapters. Here's answers to some questions that were previously asked!
(On Cloe Berry from 12) I am as confused- was her sister called or is she a bit you know...crazy?
Cloe is a bit mentally unstable. She hears things that others do not.
(On Lilicon and Kenji from 3) These are a sweet team although I am confused to what she meant with the 'I will watch Kenji die'… does that mean she wants to kill him or she will be with him when he dies?
Lilicon was thinking that since Kenji refused to take weapon lessons from her mother, he will have no chance and therefore she will watch him die in the Hunger Games as she believes he will die before her.
Those are the only questions for now. Any more? I'll answer reviews and reviews only if you have ? about this story.