Reaping district 8

Girl: Shift Jones

Shift awoke to the clattering of plates in the kitchen down the hall from her shared room. She could feel the smooth fabric of her blanket on her cheek and wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep. Reshutting her eyes and blocking out the sounds of her large family Shift fell back into a peaceful slumber.

She dreamed about the reaping. In her dream, her younger brother Maxwell's name was called by the colorful escort. Shift could see his sandy brown head bobbing up and down as he climbed the stairs up to the stage. She could feel the warm teardrops on her cheeks that matched his as she heard him state his name with a thick teary voice. Shift wanted to do something, but she was helpless. Then, the capitol woman dipped her thin white hand into the girls globe, unfolded the crisp white paper and read clearly, "Shift Jones"

"Shift, Shift, wakeup." She heard as she opened her eyes and then blinked them shut again against the harsh light that permeated the room. She still felt herself shivering from the dream and when she looked up into the smiling face of her eight year old brother Maxwell, she felt a shudder go through her.

"It's ok, he's safe. He's only eight." She repeated in her head to reassure herself.

"Shift," Maxwell said a little more harshly this time "You have to get dressed, we're going to be late for the reaping. Everyone else is already in the square." It was just like her family to forget her. Shift was a run of the mill child with inconspicuous brown hair and green eyes. She was also the middle child of eight and that didn't help her stand out at all.

"Shift!" Maxwell exclaimed in exasperation and finally tugged her out of bed. "I'll be in the hall and you better be out there fully dressed in five minutes or so help me." He said trying to be serious.

Once Maxwell had departed and the door was firmly shut, Shift got up and waded through the piles of bedding and pillows lining the floor to the closet in the corner of the room. Her busy mother hadn't bothered to lay out an outfit for her as most mothers did but Shift didn't mind. She reached into the small closet and pulled out a light yellow sun dress, almost a shift she thought with a slight smile. Pulling it over her head, Shift smoothed down her unruly knot of hair pinched her cheeks and headed out to meet Maxwell.

The two siblings walked so fast that they were almost jogging in order to get to the square on time. Their entrance disrupted the flamboyantly dressed escort's speech and she looked flustered when everyone turned to look at them. A trio of peacekeepers quickly marched over to escort Shift to the fifteen year old section and then returned to their positions. After a few moments, the fuscia haired escort found her place and began the video.

Shift scanned the fifteen year-old section for her friend Harry and quickly shifted over to him. From there, she looked around for her family. There in the front row was Ron and a couple rows behind him was David. Although she dared not look behind her, she could feel that Calista was one row back glaring hotly at the rear of her head and behind her, she could hear the snickering of the twins Louie and Dewy who were probably sharing some joke about the escort's white makeup and violet lipstick.

The movie blabbed on and on about the rebellions and how great the capitol was until suddenly, it ended. The escort clapped while trying not to ruin her outrageously long nails and coughed awkwardly. Hurrying to say,

"First, we'll pick a girl." She gently lowered her delicate hand into the bowl and waved it around tauntingly a few times before diving in and pulling out the name. Harry quickly grabbed Shift's hand and squeezed it once reassuringly telepathically saying,

"It won't be you, don't worry." Slowly, she unfolded the pure white paper and read off the name. Shift looked up at Harry and smiled stupidly, knowing that it wasn't her.

The whole square was silent; Shift looked around waiting for a girl to come forward. Then the escort said the name again into the microphone,

"Shift Jones?"

It was her; Shift looked up at Harry to see the tears streaming down his face, and slowly stumbled forward along the walk-way. It seemed to Shift as if she would never make it up those stairs and to the stage where the capitol woman was smiling down at her, but eventually she did and was congratulated by the escort with a quick pat on the shoulder.

"And now for the boys." The escort said dismissively.