Chapter One
" Always forgive your enemies- nothing annoys them more."
-Oscar Wilde
Will
It was cold. I had just ran away from my “house”. My dad and I had just moved to this small island off the coast of Washington called St. Peters and the only good thing about it was it had a beach. I’ll admit I was lost in this dense forest just on the other side of the backyard, but I was mad at my dad. He and I move out here from Poyen, Arkansas, even though I turn eighteen in ten months and it was halfway through the school year. I was telling him that the second I turned eighteen, I was running back to Poyen. He said,”Uh, no you aren’t.”
“Yeah I am. I already talked to my friends and we decided to buy an apartment when I get there. Besides, when I turn eighteen you have no legal right over me.” This made him mad. He knew I didn’t like the move. He says I haven’t been the same sense Mom died when I was thirteen. I just think that’s a load of crap.
“I don’t care if you talked to your friends or not, you’re still my son!” We had been fighting so much lately I just couldn’t take it. I went out the back door, hopped the fence, and ran. Now I was so close to the coast I could hear the waves. Some part of started telling me I should go back home. The other was saying I should run for good right now.
Then I heard this singing that knocked me out of my revere. It was so beautiful I thought I was going crazy. I started running toward the voice. I could now tell it was a girl and I could pick out some of the words, something to do with a hanging tree. The voice was so beautiful, but the words sounded terrible. I saw the break in the trees end at a cliff and there, sitting in a tree right on the outside, was the girl singing. I walked closer trying not to disturb her but, as luck would have it, I stepped on twig.
She whirled around so fast I thought she was going to fall out of the tree. It was dark and I couldn’t pick out her face. She jumped down from the tree and ran across the edge of the tree line. ”Wait!” I called and ran after her. I caught her by the arm just as she was about to cut into the trees. She turned and punched me in the gut. “Ow! Hey,” I said.
“What do you want,” she asked me. She was trying to wiggle out of my grasp but I had a pretty tough grip.
“I want to know the song you were singing.” I could now see her face. She had curly brown hair and green eyes. She was short and looked only about fourteen.
“Hanging Tree, from Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins,” she said still struggling against my grip. “Now will you let me go?”
“Yeah, sure.” She turned and ran off into the trees. “Thank you!” I yelled as an afterthought but she was already gone.
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The song is Hanging Tree from Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins.
