I may post some more tomorrow morning, so be ready.

Quote:

"I know things are looking up, but soon they'll take us down, before anybody's knowing our name..."
OneRepublic, All the Right Moves

*YOU WISH YOU WERE THIS CHICK PICKING LINE BREAK*

Lights flashed. I rolled over and groaned. Was there no comfortable position on this bed?

"Five more minutes," I yawned when the lights flashed again. I flipped over and promptly fell off the bed I had been resting on. "Oh!" My eyes shot open, and I looked around in wonder.

The best way to describe the place I was seeing now was tin shanty. You know those houses you see when you look at pictures of Peru, the ones with the metal walls and roofs? Yeah, that's where I was.

Light was seeping in the cracks of the walls, and they ocationaly flickered. There was four beds, a sink, and a table with four chairs. On the table sat a small TV that looked like it had no reception.

I stood up and looked around. On the table there looked to be a note. I picked it up and read it.

Shay,
PK let you stay home today due to your injury. We're all out planting.
T is next door, if you find this note, check on him.
Mom

Who was T? Tyler? And mom? Mine was six feet under, there by a closed casket funeral. Only one way to find out. I put on the worn, woven shoes I saw by the door and went outside.

The source of the flickering light was an old lamp post that must have come on when the sun started going down. Even in the limited light, I could see that the tin house I came out of only had one close neighbor, so I jogged over and opened their door.

Whatever electricity connections this place must have had came on at that time, and a bare light bulb illuminated the one room house I had walked into. Lying on a bed, still passed out, was Taylor. Well, at least I wasn't alone.

"Come one," I whispered, shaking him. He just moaned. "Get. Up." Spotting a nearby bucket, I had an idea. My hands slightly shook as I tried to contain laughter, filling the bucket to the brim with ice water. I went back to the bed.

"Taylor Warsaw, if you don't wake up this instant, I'm dumping this water on you." There was no reaction. Shrugging, I poured the whole thing on his head.

The reaction was immediate. He shot up, sputtering, and spotted me. "What was that for?" he cried, attempting to dry his face off on the bedsheets.

"You weren't getting up."

"That no reason to douse me in water," Taylor said, cross. Then he grinned. "Glomp time!" He lept up from the bed.

"Don't you dare," I scolded, backing up as fast as I could.

Not fast enough. The cold, wet mass that was Taylor tackled me to the ground. I was soaked in an instant.

He laughed. "Ha! Payback is sweet."

"Thanks," I said, grumpy. Then a little bit of the shock hit me. "Taylor, where are we?"

He looked around the room. "Hippie town," he concluded, pulling another smile out of me.

"I know." I got up and flicked the TV on. At first all that showed was static, but then something came into view.

"... And we're all excited for this years Hunger Games, aren't we, Ritha?" said a blue skinned brown haired man.

Fuzz covered the woman Ritha's next few words, but I caught what the man said next. "256 years of fun, now that's more like it! The preliminary in 11 and 7 show promise, don't they?"

"Why yes, Freter, they..." Static noise covered her words again, but now they were showing faces of kids who showed promise. After a few flashed by, I shut the TV off with a click.

"I'm so confused," admitted Taylor, scratching his head.

"I'm not." The reality had already set in for me. We were in the Hunger Games world, that much was clear. I would have been shocked, but knowing where we were, I couldn't afford that. "You know that book series I was obsessed with? The Hunger Games?"

"Isn't that the one where a ton of hungry kids fight for food?" He scratched his nose. "I don't see where your going with this."

"We're in it," I told him. "And they stick 24 kids in an arena to fight to the death on TV, but you got the idea."

He scrunched up his face. "Ew. But I just think this is all a dream."

"But what if it's not?" I grabbed his shoulders. "There is a chance me and you could go in there. It could be slim, but..."

"Probably not. Calm down, Shay."

"I can't. It's..." A flash of paper on the table caught my eye. I picked it up, and realized it was a note like mine, but for Taylor. But as I was setting it down, I noticed writing on the back.

Dear Warsaw family,
Your son/daughter, Taylor Warsaw, has qualified in the preliminary's for the Hunger Games. Please be by the Justice Building by ten o'clock tomorrow for check in.
Head Peacekeeper Jintt.

I ripped my note out of my pocket and checked the back. The same note was written on the back of mine, only with my name in it.

"No," I whispered. A look of incredible terror flashed across my face, and my head and hands shook. "Hunger Games," I squeaked out, squishing up my eyes to stop tears. I looked from side to side for Taylor.

"What?" he asked, curious.

"We made it to the final drawing," I spit out, shoving the notes at him. "That means we've got a chance of being drawn. That if we didn't take out tessrae. If we did, then it could be even more likely that one of us is going to die."

"Quit being a drama queen."

"I'm not," I hissed. "Not good, not good." I sat down and put my head in between my knees. "Why else are we suddenly in another world, a new place?" I looked up at him. "I mean, we were almost hit by a car, and now were being told we have even better chances of being in the Games! What else could it be?"

"A dream?" He shrugged. "Don't be too worried about it."

"Fine. But, if we are in Panem, which district? We aren't in the Capitol, in no way, shape, or form." Then I remembered what the note said. "We're in District 11, the agriculture district."

"And how do you figure that?" Taylor asked mockingly. He reached over and snagged some nuts off the table.

"Don't do that!" I grabbed the nuts out of his hand and put them back. "This might just be your whole family's dinner, and you snacking won't help anyone."

"So, me and my two other siblings and my parents are gonna snack on a pile of nuts? Please, Shay, give me a break."

"You don't get it, do you? If this is real, and we are really here, we are dirt poor." I paced, angry. "Not even. We scrounge for berries in meadows so we will have enough energy to go. Don't eat the nuts," I growled out at him.

He held up his hand in defeat. "Fine."

"You know what? I'm not gonna help you. You can figure all this out on your own." With that, I stormed out of the house.

*EPICAL LINE BREAK HERE*

More brownie points to whoever can catch these crossovers!