Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games or the Song It's not my Time By 3 Doors Down.
The gong sounded, I turn around to find my little brother, but I can't find him. I do a 360 and still can't find him. And that's when I hear it, a scream. The scream could only belong to one person. I turn toward the noise and take off. My brother lies in a ball with blood all around him, a knife is in his stomach. I kneel down beside him, and that's when I hear a cruel laugh. I turn around in time to see another knife come hurdling at me. It strikes me in the stomach. I shriek as I throw myself over my little brother, determined to protect him, I had to save him. But there was not much I could do. So I lie there beside my brother, I close my eyes, and give my brother's hand one final squeeze as I drift off into nothingness. The last sound I hear is two cannons firing, and I know it's not my time or my brothers.
~0~
I awoke with a gasp. I had cold sweat running down my back and on my face. I lay back in bed panting as I realize it was only a dream, but it could easily become reality. I gaze across the room to my parent's bed and then to the other side of the bed I share with my brother.
"It was a dream, just a dream," I told myself, and roll over and close my eyes, waiting for sleep to over take me.
~0~
The sun streamed through the window next to my bed. I open my eyes and gently shook my brother awake.
Two bright, blue eyes shine through the morning sun as he awakes.
I run through my morning chores, as I get ready for school. I wanted to meet my best friend, Logan, before he had to go out to work in the sea.
All the boys 15 and over had to work with all the men in the ocean, instead of going to school. While the girls stopped going to school when they were 18 and they had to work in the Seam. I was dreading the day I turned 18, every day having to get up and go to work in a factory, that has very little fresh air and just about every women 18 and over working in it. I had been there once with my mother and there were just lines of machinery making lots of loud noises.
I rushed Kevin through his chores quickly and shoved him out the door.
"Why do we need to hurry?" Kevin complained.
"I want to meet Logan," I said as we briskly walked to the square.
When we got to the square, Logan was already there. He got up from where he was sitting and came over toward us. We turned and headed toward the shipyard and the school.
"See you tomorrow," Logan said once we were at school.
"Bye," I said and turned toward the school to begin my five hours of boredom.
I took my place in the 9th Graders table while Kevin went up to the 3rd grade table.
~0~
Classes were almost over when we heard it, the loud unmistakable sound of a horn blasting. Each ship had a horn, and if something were to ever happen to the boat, someone would pull it. I had only heard the horn once. Five years ago a ship had tried coming in early and the tide wasn't right, and it had struck some coral, about a mile out and had sunk. Ten out of the eleven on board survived. But the horn was louder than the last, it was a bigger boat, and that more people on board.
Everyone rushed out of the building, and ran toward the shipyard.
The peacemakers were already there; they had roped off the beach closest to the water. Everyone stood behind the rope; trying to see what had happened.
About two miles off the shore, a large boat was sinking into the water. That's when I saw it, the name of the boat. The Mediterranean. That was the boat my father and best friend were on.
~0~
All the women had arrived from the Seam. My mother ran over to where Kevin stood clutching my hand.
"Mom, it's their boat." I told her, "Dad and Logan are on that boat."
My mom nodded her chalk, white face and took Kevin from me.
After a few minutes we started to see heads bobbing up to the surface, as they started to swim toward shore.
Everyone could see there was something wrong; there were too few people swimming back, not everyone was swimming back. One person was lugging someone back, but half way to shore, they both went under, and only one re-surfaced. He looked around and dove back under looking for the unconscious man, he dove down again, but once he re-surfaced again, he was empty-handed. He started to swim back…alone. By then the faster swimmers were dragging themselves onto shore. My father and Logan were not among them.
I searched again and this time I laid eyes on Logan. He was bent over and coughing up water. I ran out to him, despite the peacemaker's protests.
As I approached him, he looked up and saw me, he shook his head. Even before he said anything I knew what had happened. My father was the one he was trying to carry; my father hadn't made it to shore.
"Aki, I tried, he was too heavy," He said looking back down at the ground.
I had kept them from coming for too long, tears started to run down my face. Logan came over and wrapped me in a hug; I hugged him back and cried on his shoulder, until my eyes had run dry.
Looking back at the beginning of this
And how life was
Just you and me loving all of our friends
Living life like an ocean
But now the current's only pulling me down
It's getting harder too breath
It won't be to long and I will be going under
Can you save me from this?
My mother, Logan's mother, and Kevin came over. They knew before they got there; they knew my dad was still out there in the water. We stood there, all together and cried.
~0~
It had been a week since the boat accident. It was the day of the reaping. I wore my pale lavender dress, the one my dad had always loved, and Kevin wore his nicest cloths.
When we got to the square, I went over to the area where all the kids who were in the reaping stood, while my mother and little brother went to the crowd of adults and little siblings.
I went and found Logan, I found him just as a fat man stepped up to the stand infornt of everyone.
"Ladies and gentlemen," He began in a deep voice. The rest of his speech flew by and before everyone knew what was happening, he began. "Ladies first," He said as he drew a name from the bucket of names, as he did so, an uneasy edge fell over the crowd. He smiled as he read the name on the slip of paper, the piece of paper that held one person's fate.
"Spears, Aki!" He boomed.
Wait! What he had called my name. Time stopped completely as every head turned toward me. My fate had been decided I was going to die in the Hunger Games, the game of death was going to claim me.