I wake up with the sun shining on my face. I smile a little at the chorus of birds outside. Why did the Capitols have to have their stupid holiday on this beautiful day? On my birthday!?
I push myself out of bed and walk outside into our garden to grab a mango from our "secret" little mango grove for breakfast. Our neighbor looks up over the fence-nosy much? - and shudders at the sight of me. I must look like a monster with my usually smooth hair in a messy afro this morning. I just had too much trouble sleeping last night. I sigh and take a bite out of the mango. Sweet but a little bit too sour. Like me.
I smile at this thought and head inside to get ready. Elia is waiting for me in my bedroom with my Reaping AND birthday dress she bought me with her savings. She smiles at me and greets me with a silent nod.
This is what I loved about our sisterly relationship. No words were needed. I liked that. I didn't like to talk much anyways. I could usually hear her thoughts any ways…
She raised a red dress with a lovely flower pattern adorning it. It was simple.. not to elegant. I loved it. I flashes Elia a grin and gave opened my arms to her. She accepted my hug and we just stayed in this position for a few moments listening to the others breath. She gripped me closer and I looked into her eyes which were pleading and fearful. They said "Don't get chosen" I nodded while giving her a motherly look saying Be careful little lamb. She rolled her eyes before leaving to tend to herself.
I pulled the dress over my head and walked over to the mirror where I wrapped my hair into a side bun. To add a nice touch I braided some of my hair with a piece of grain, which I pulled back into the bun. I put on my favorite shoes-some black boots- and pull out a small journal from its hiding place inside my pillow. I pull it open and begin to write. Blank pages fill with words my pen scribbling a way at an unnatural speed. I was writing a story based on a fascinating book I had read.
Mother interrupts my moment by banging on my door. "Its time to go!" I hear her shuffle away and I close my book and hide it again. I get up, look around my room and leave –for the last time-. I walk down the hallway tracing my hand along the wooden wall. My heart begins to pound as the door came into view. My pulse froze and my blood began to get hotter hotter as I continued to advance to inferno. What demons awaited me?
I wrapped my hand around the doorknob and closed my eyes when I opened; not wanting to see the horrors outside my door. All was quiet and when I finally opened my eyes I saw no monsters. Just a clear sky, a field of grain, and a huge crowd walking towards the plaza.
I lock the door and walk quickly hoping to catch up with Elia. I spot her dark hair for a moment before she blends in with the crowd. "Elia! Elia!" I cry in fear. It felt like the night I lost Darren…
"Aria!" Elia cries and grabs my arm. I jump in surprise and give her a hug. "I thought…the night…Darren.." I whisper. She pats me on the back "Its okay Aria" before grabbing my hand and dragging me to the plaza.
After the whole check-in thing Elia and I walk to the 17 year olds area. Most of the girls give us weird looks-duh we are the outcasts the "weirdoes" of district 7- while most of the boys salivate just at the sight of us. Gross.
The announcer, Tallia Green gracefully dances onto stage making us all wonder how she can do that with 12-inch heels without falling on her face. Her rainbow colored eyes sparkle in excitement as she straightened her blue beehive wig. " Welcome ladies and gentleman! This years reaping is going to be VERY different because the tributes have been specially picked out by President Snow himself!" The crowd begins to buzz everyone whispering to their neighbors in hushed tones. "Silence!" she snarls and the crowd falls into a stunned silence.
"This tributes are all being punished-for what crime I cannot say for the risk of breaking the laws of privacy" She smiles at the crowd; her happy demeanor once again in place. "Ladies first!" she pulls a paper out of her purse and announces " Aria Miles!" I pale and walk slowly up to the stage. What was I being punished for?
I get on stage and she throws me a journal. I grab it and look at the cover. This was my writing journal I thought I had lost a month ago! In cursive I wrote on the cover 'Aria Miles'. How could I been that stupid?! I should have made up a code name or something! Tallia smirks at me as I stare out at the crowd. The crowd turns into a blur and the noise a buzz. I didn't hear the name of the boy that was chosen.
This all seemed a like a dream. Of course it was a dream! This was just a sick twisted nightmare of mine! I was going to wake up in my bed and none of this would have happened. Just a dream…..
Some of the credit goes to WhiteLightersEatCookies. Even though this is my own character she wrote a SYOT story called The 25th Hunger Games: We Are The Rebels. Read it! I just wanted to write more of my character since she wasn't in the story a lot (but she was one of the most popular ones! Out of all the dead peeps of course) IF I MENTION YOUR CHARACTER FROM WHITELIGHTERSEATCOOKIES STORY I GIVE YOU CREDIT! Luv y'all