Brendan Shell

"Oh. My. God. Brendan. Wake. Up." Kurtis growls in-between hitting me with a pillow. I give out a deep moan and pull the bed sheets over my head. He continues hitting me, "We. Are. Gonna. Be. Late."

"To what?" I whine. I suddenly feel the sheets being ripped off of me. The air is surprisingly cold for this time of year, and I instantly want the blanket to cover my again. I weakly open my eyes and roll over onto my back to look Kurtis in the eye. He rolls his eyes and throws the pillow on my bare chest.

"Reaping, stupid." He huffs, "I thought we could go to the pier before, but if you keep sleeping, we'll never have time." I squeeze my eyes close and pinch the bridge of my nose.

"I forgot..." I mumble.

"Of course you forgot." Kurtis mumbles, more to himself. He picks up his volume, "Come on, man. It's our last year. We should be celebrating. Throw on a shirt, and let's go." I nod my head and roll out of bed. I walk over to my closet and start digging around for a decent shirt.

"So, how did you get in here?" I ask Kurtis. I look over my shoulder and see him sitting on the side of my bed with his arms crossed and eyes closed. He gives a sly smile, his white teeth contrasting against his tan skin.

"I broke in." He says proudly. My eyes widen.

"Why didn't you just knock?" I exclaim.

"I did. But your uncle and dad are gone, and you were dead asleep. So, I climbed up the side of the house to your window." He explains. I look over to my window and see it is open. The air gently pushed the curtains.

That explains why it was cold... I think.

"You're crazy." I say, smirking.

"I know." He smiles.

I slip on a light blue shirt. The sleeves are just long enough to conceal the scar on my upper arm. Kurtis stands up, and starts walking out of the room. I quickly close the window, and make sure to lock it this time. I then follow Kurtis out of the room and down the stairs. When we leave, I am also sure to lock the door so Kurtis, or anyone for that matter, can't get in.

The pier is a short walk from my house, so it takes almost no time to get there. It's a beautiful day outside. In district four, all the flowers are in bloom. It really brings a lot of color to the district. In winter, it is still pretty warm, but nothing really grows. Nothing really needs to grow, we just need to be able to have fish. It is nice to have the flowers and bushes growing, however.

The pier is completely empty. Not even the boats are here. I guess everyone went out for a last-minute fishing trip. It's good for us though. We can basically do and say whatever we want without getting caught. We would never do anything illegal, but everyone in four has been nervous since this kid and his whole family were suddenly abducted. I don't know all the details, no one does, but it is still a scary thought. Some rumors say he and his family were rebels, so the capital took care of them before they put any plans into action, but that is just a theory.

Kurtis and I stand together, talking and skipping rocks over the calm body of water. We remember memories from our childhood. It almost seems like we're talking like this is going to be our time together...

Halcyon Jordan

"Are you tired?" My uncle, Finnick says, gasping for air. I only manage. If there is one thing I am terrible at, it's running. Uncle Finnick isn't the best runner ever either, but he still won the hunger games when he was fourteen, just a few years ago. I'm hoping I can win too.

A lot of people find it insane that I am Finnick's niece, since we are the same age. Well, we aren't blood related. My mom and Finnick were both basically raised by a woman named Mags, who is basically my grandmother. My mom is older than Finnick, but they always considered themselves siblings. I've always called him my uncle, and he's always called me his niece.

"Well, you still did a good job." he says, standing up straight, "You did run almost five miles without stopping. But don't think that's too great because we were going pretty slow." I stand up straight too and frown.

"I hope I'll be ready..." I say to myself. Finnick looks over at me with concern.

"Ready for what?" He asks. His usual calm voice is filled with concern and terror. His eyes are wide, and his body looks tense. It makes me a bit worried about answering.

"I'm volunteering." I say cooly.

"What?" He exclaims. I look at him a bit confused.

"Why are you so upset?" I ask, taking a step back away from him.

"Because you're my niece and you're signing up for-" He begins to yell, but cuts himself off. He looks around with fear in his eyes, like an animal being hunted. He whimpers, almost in defeat. It makes me even more confused.

"I've been training for years. I'll be fine." I say. He starts to shake his head, but once again stops himself. He opens his mouth to say something, but quickly closes it.

"Just...Promise you'll be more than careful. And promise you know what you're signing up for." He says, his eyes weak and sad. I nod and tell him I promise, but it doesn't seem to ease him at all. "Okay...Let's go home..."

As we walk, we're completely quiet. He doesn't seem like he wants to talk, he just has a bit of a scowl on his face as he walks. I'm worried he'd start yelling at me if I tried talking to him.

I notice how small I am next to him. I'm a short person, so I'm small next to everyone, but I just look even more petite next to him. It worries me. If I had to fight in hand-to-hand combat, I'd easily be over powered. That's why I've been training so hard since I was nine though. So I could try to make up for my weak spots. I'm just hoping it will work since I've been planning on volunteering this year.

Reaping

Halcyon stood with her group of friend in the seventeen year old girl section. She was pretty popular in school, so she had an abundance of friends. She hadn't told any of them that she was volunteering. The only person who knew, was Finnick. He stood on stage, looking at her every few minutes and shaking his head ever so slightly. Halcyon would just scrunch up her nose to tell him she was not changing her mind.

Brendan stood in the eighteen year old boy section with Kurtis and a few of his other friends. All of them were planning on going to a party after the reaping to celebrate surviving their reaping years, but that fear of still possibly being picked still hung over them. They made small talk to take their minds off of it. They talked about what they thought the girls were going to wear to the party and how exciting it would to not be effected by the games until they had their own children.

A ridiculous looking man from the capital came up on the stage. He gave the same boring old speech that all the older children had memorized by now.

"Now, let's do the ladies first." The man said. He walked over to the bowl and quickly pulled out a name. Brendan wondered if the man was aware of the life he was ending indirectly. "Marie Rose!" He called.

A girl from the fifteen year old section was pushed out of the crowd. She didn't look like anything special. She didn't seem like she would be much of a competitor, but she might make it through the blood bath. Halcyon quickly jumped out of the crowd though.

"I volunteer as tribute!" She called out, raising her hand. Her friends let out a few gasps. Finnick shook his head at her.

"Dude, isn't that Halcyon from school?" Kurtis whispered the the boy next to him.

"Yeah. She's a year younger, right?" He responded.

"Isn't she related to Finnick Odair?" Another boy jumped into the conversation.

"No way. I heard their family friends." Kurtis said quietly. A peacekeeper glared over at the boys, and they quickly shut up.

Halcyon was on stage. The escort walked up to her and asked for her name.

"Halcyon Jordan." She said, loudly and clearly. The man smiled.

"Beautiful name. Now, let's find out who you're district partner is..." The man said excitedly. He walked over to the boys' reaping bowl in his six inch heals, and pulled out a name. He opened the card. "Brendan Shell!"

Brendan was in such a daze, he couldn't even feel himself walking up to the stage.

Hey everyone! I'm FINALLY back. I'm so sorry to keep you all waiting, but I hope you enjoyed the new chapter. I will try to update the next chapter as soon as I can (and no, it won't take months again :P)

I'm not going to name any names, but I would like to address the person who commented on how Beck (from district one) moved between districts. I am aware that this is impossible, but the character was written for district four, so he seemed so "district four". The district four male spot was taken, so I decided I would have him move from district four to one. I think it shows how the career districts can get away with anything they want (especially if it make the game a little more interesting for the capital). I don't want to get into all the reasons why I did it, but I hope you guys can understand.

I would also like to apologize for any grammar or spelling mistakes. I kind of write this as I go and then glance over it. I hope that doesn't bother too many of you.

Please follow and review! Thanks for reading!