OK, all finished! I did both of tribute's for this reaping, they were both really interesting. Both tributes are getting some sponsor points for this.
The room was small, but Allie's window was open, and light and fresh air breezed in. Allie liked the mornings best, her room seemed magical and clean. When Allie had been small she used to hide under her coves at night because the eerie moonlight against the dark carpets freaked her out and created shadows that looked exactly like Claudia Heart's silhouette. This morning Allie didn't have much time to look around her room and smile, to wake up slowly. Someone was shaking her awake.
"Allie! Allie, wake up! It's the morning!" Allie reluctantly opened her eyes fully to the blinding sunlight pouring in through the window. There was a small silhouette blocking out most of her vision.
"Kate?" She asked drowsily, rubbing her eyes. Kate was Allie's hyperactive, sweet little sister. Everyone loved her.
"Of course, silly! It's time to get up; we need to be at the square in two hours!" Kate was excited, but the reminder made Allie's stomach drop. Kate didn't understand. Of course, it was reaping day. "Jack told me to go away when I went to wake him up, I think he was crying" Kat confessed quietly. Jack was twelve now, and eligible to be reaped. Allie loved her little sister Kate, she was so happy and talkative, even in the harvest season when the peacekeepers had her working from dawn to dusk. "Do you like my new dress?" Kate stepped back from the bed and twirled as she changed the topic. The dress was anything but new. It had been Allie's a few years before, and before that…well. Let's just say it was very old. But it fitted her perfectly. It was pale pink with a green hem. This year Allie was wearing one of her mother's dresses, which was a bit big, but she didn't mind. It was probably the prettiest thing she'd ever owned. A yellow dress that reached the floor, it made Allie sad to know it would be ruined at the end of the day, dragging half the fields of District Eleven on the bottom.
"It's lovely Kate. You should get some breakfast down you; you don't want to be hungry at the reaping" Kate skipped off, happy in her own world and Allie lifted herself out of bed. No sooner was Allie dressed, than Jack came running into her room.
"Allie, Mum wants you in the kitchen now" Jack ran out again, not wanting to stay in Allie's tiny corner of the house any longer than he had too. Probably worried about catching Allie's 'Girl Germ's'. Allie walked only a few steps down the corridor until she reached her kitchen/dining room/living room. The room was large and warm, and most definitely Allie's favourite room.
"Oh good, you're up. Charlie and I might be late for the reaping. Kate managed to get a tear in her dress, and we'll leave at the last minute so I can sew it up. You couldn't take Jack up with you now, could you?" Her mother, Claire, pleaded with her.
"Oh yeah. Sure" Allie agreed.
Jack kept his face straight. He didn't seem to acknowledge any emotion. Allie remembered feeling like that on her first reaping day. If she cried, if she shouted, if she made any noise at all, well…she didn't actually know what would happen. But it felt right. So when Claudia Heart called out her name, Allie just smiled sweetly. It felt right.
The scratchy blankets woke Cole up, that and the crying children in the room next to his. It wasn't even his room, it was the boys room for 14-17 year old. They kicked you out on your eighteenth birthday.
Cole had to get up earlier than the other boys, he had a little brother so he had to make sure that he actually got some food at the battle which they called breakfast. Well, he said had. Cole could leave his brother Sam to fend for himself each morning, but Cole couldn't abandon him like that. Not like his mother had.
Cole and Sam's mum had committed suicide five years ago after their father had been whipped to death. Cole could never forgive her for that. Thankfully Sam couldn't remember much, he'd only been two at the time and Cole was the only one who ever really looked after him properly.
Cole walked into the younger boys room, smiling as he remembered sleepless nights playing Truth or Dare with his friends. The smile vanished as he remembered that half of his friends were dead now, that or disappeared in the night. Sam was already up and dressed, waiting for his big brother on his bed. Cole ruffled his hair with a painted smile. Today was reaping day, the scariest day of the year, and not just for the usual reasons most kids were scared of it for. If Cole was reaped then Sam's chances of survival past the orphanage dwindled into single digits.
"C'mon kid. Lets get down there before everyone else, eh?" Sam nodded and followed his brother down the cheap wooden stairs. They weren't the only ones who tried to get down there first, but Cole was bigger than most other kids, he could push his way through, fight if he had to, to get food for himself and Sam. Cole could even go as far as to call himself freakishly tall. He was 6 foot three at only sixteen and he towered over all the other kids at the orphanage, all the grown-up's who worked there too.
As a kid he'd never shown sign's of growing to this height. He'd always been an average height, until the age of ten, when he started growing at an abnormal rate. Some of the other boys used to make him stand still to see if they could see him growing.
As Cole watched his little brother eat some food, he relaxed. Surviving the first part of the day? Check. The Reaping? Cole gulped.
The swell of children was lead to the square by Nurse Hannah. Nurse Hannah was one of the nicer matrons, which meant she wasn't a cruel psychopath. It was her job to make sure that the kids eligible for reaping made their ways to their pens, and to drill fear into the rest of the kids that were too young.
Cole flashed a nervous grin at his friend, Skyrah. She was pretty, and he'd had a crush on her for a year or two now. He hoped she wasn't reaped, he didn't have so many friends now.
The female tribute was thankfully not Skyrah. It was a merchants daughter called Allie, Cole imagined giving her the finger as she ascended the steps to the stage. Rich girls like her made him sick. Although he admired her courage. Most girls broke into tears when they heard their name, this Allie girl only smiled sweetly.
His stomach filled with panic when his name was called. He made eye contact with Skyrah quickly. They'd made a deal. If Skyrah was reaped Cole would look after her little sisters, and if Cole was reaped she'd look after Sam. She gave the barest hint of a nod and Cole relaxed the tiniest bit. She walked up the stage, ready to shake hands with Allie. She was still smiling sweetly, it looked friendly, but when he shook hands with her, she squeezed it a little too much for friendliness. Her smile became almost mocking and she raised her eyebrows at him. Cole looked her over cautiously reminded himself to put her straight to the top of his list of people to watch out for in the arena. Cole didn't like the way she was almost mocking him.
Killing Allie? No way on earth was she going to make it easy.