Chapter 2
While my mom pours tears all over Annie and me, the horn rings, signaling all eligible tributes to go to the Justice Building. I force my mom off of me and tell her to stay calm. She won't listen.
"I just don't want to see you go like this. Not here, not now." she says as she wipes the remaining tears from her eyes.
"I'll be fine, mom. We're safe, Annie and I." Annie and I look at each other and smile, knowing there is no way either one of us could be reaped.
"Well just in case, here." my mom says before hugging me and squeezing me so tight that I almost lose consciousness. Then, the horn rings again. It's time for us to go.
"Thanks for having me, Mrs. Copperwood." Annie says as we walk out the door.
"Love you, mom." I say, looking back at my mother. She's still working away at her wet eyes with a tissue.
"Love you too, sweetie."
Annie and I arrive at the Justice Building very shortly. It's a two-minute walk from my house, which is much closer than most other people I knew. All we have to do was go straight down the main street and we are there. I always think of how funny it was that we have streets and no cars. I guess cars are only meant for the luxury and beauty of the Capitol.
There are about three hundred boys and girls in each waiting area. Annie and I step up to get our fingers pricked by a Peacekeeper, and then we walk into our waiting area. It isn't long before Miranda Finkle, our district's escort, arrives on the stage to announce the tributes for this year's Hunger Games.
"Welcome, everyone." she says in her disgustingly thick Capitol accent. "Today I will be selecting the male and female tributes for the 62nd Annual Hunger Games. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor!" Miranda prances over to the female reaping bowl and sticks her hand in. She has dark skin and black, flowing, straight hair that flies in the wind. She is perfect, a little green dress that cuts by her knees, tall green heels that look near impossible to walk in, and a perfect pink flower in her hair. Her makeup is overdone, but that is nothing unusual since she comes from the Capitol.
After fishing around through the bowl for what seems like an eternity, she struts back to the microphone, where she flattens out the slip of paper and read the name aloud.
"Atala Copperwood."
Everyone looks around. I feel somewhat bad for the poor girl who was chosen, it must be horrifying to know that your life will be over in a matter of days.
"Atala Copperwood." Miranda says again, a bit more firmly this time, adding a bit of a pause between the first and last name.
Still, no one goes up to the stage. "Where is she?" I think to myself. Then, Annie nudges me in the side with her elbow.
"What's your problem?" I snap at her. But when I look into her eyes, she's crying. "What has gotten into her these days?" I think to myself again.
"Atala Copperwood, please come up to the stage, wherever you are!" Miranda says with a little nervous laugh. That is when I finally realize. Atala Copperwood. That's my name. Wait, I was reaped? I look around again and see everyone staring at me. It must be a dream. "Wake up." I say to myself. But nothing happens; I don't wake up.
I begin walking up to the stage, hoping this nightmare will end soon. Reality hits me. It isn't a dream. I have been chosen, fair and square. And after all this time, I've been kidding about it and joking like it was funny with Annie. Boy, do I feel stupid now.
When I step on the stage and see everyone watching me, I can't help but want to cry. Soon I'll be sent away, far away, where I can't talk to Annie, or sit and eat popcorn with my mom. No, I'll be dead in a matter of weeks. My fate is inevitable.
I hold my tears in while Miranda speaks into the microphone again.
"Now for the boys." She does her same routine of fishing for a name for a few minutes and then finally strutting back to the microphone with a slip of paper.
"Billee Abernuckle."
I have no idea who he is. I recognize his face from school; perhaps he's in a higher grade than me.
"Your tributes," Miranda exclaims, raising our arms violently. "Atala Copperwood and Billee Abernuckle." She then proceeds to lower our arms and rush us into the Justice Building.
We are allowed one minute for each of our closest friends or family members. Usually two or three people can visit you before you were sent off to the Capitol. I suspect my mother, Annie, and my father to visit me. First to enter my separate room is my mother.
Before even saying a word she grabs me and hugs me tight. She sobs and sobs and sobs until she can finally manage to spit out a few words.
"I can't lose my baby," she cries. "I love you too much!" Because she says this, I cry even more. I let it all out now. All that I held in on the stage in front of the Justice Building is now on my mother's shoulder. Nothing can describe what I feel right now. Absolutely nothing.
All we do is cry in each other's arms. We were so close to one another, it's too difficult to let her go so quickly. But the Peacekeepers had no regard for love and relationships. One quickly hurries in after a minute, on the dot, and pulls my mother out of the room. I sit for a moment and think of the pain my mother must be going through. I think to myself how I'll never have a child of my own. I won't have a wedding either. Not even graduate high school. Tears come to my eyes, which are now sticking together with the partially dried tears from before. Then, Annie runs in.
"What is wrong with you, I thought we were a package!" I say to her, trying to lighten up the mood with a little joke even though I still wipe the tears from my eyes. This only makes her cry harder.
"I'm so, so, so, so sorry!" she whines to me, her head buried in my shoulder. We are inseparable, best friends forever. It's so awful to end our friendship so suddenly like this. But, once again, a Peacekeeper comes in to pull us apart forever.
I wait expectantly for my father. Minutes pass, but still, nobody shows up.
"It must be taking a while since he was at work." I think aloud.
Finally, when the door opens, I stand up.
"Dad, I—" I start. My smile fades when I see it's Miranda.
"Come on, darling, we have to catch the train!" she says, disregarding what I said when she walked in.
My father never showed up, I should have seen that one coming. Still, I cannot wipe the empty feeling I have inside. My own father could care less about his daughter being reaped.