Sharp Objects

chapter two

I go back upstairs to the dorm to fetch my bag, and then head back to the front door,picking up some money from miss cointoyke on the way out. Then we're out on the street,heading down town the hill into the square of district 2. The Capitol people and peacekeepers are already  beginning to set up the stage for the reaping . The square Is quite nice on market day, with it's big stone archway entrance and the walls with jutting bricks that the little kids like to climb over. Today though, there are no children playing:every spot is occupied by the watchful eye of the peacekeepers.

Harper and I head past the square into the shop streets. We go to the grocers to pick up some veg, then to the butchers for a chicken,and,finally,we stop at the barkers to buy some lovely bread and a selection of pretty - thought expensive-cakes. Once happy with our load, we trudge past the square and back up the hill towards the home.

Miss cointoyke thanks us both, then tells us to go and prepare for the reaping.its 10 o'clock . The repeating is at 11, which means I only have an hour to get myself and my entourage of siblings and cousins ready.

"Clove?" Says Harper as we're on our way back to the dorm to get changed
"What do I wear for the repeating?"

"Well" I began " you have to wear something pretty and smart,your best clothes. Dont worry,I'll lend you something this year, next year will get your father to send you something ".

"Oh OK". She says, rushing off down the hallway into he direction of the dorm.in the corridor, we pass Mercedes and saffron . They stare at me will equally  dual hazel eyes,then,soon as they think I'm out of earshot,they collapse into flowing giggles that drift down the hall from their retreating backs.if only I could throw my knives at them instead of my tree, then I might get kicked out of the training at home. Kill two birds with one stone. And that could be translated in a multitude of different ways relating to this .

Harper pulls me back towards the dorm and I reluctantly follow.then I walk over to my closet for the second time today, and select for myself and Harper. I find a pale and blue and white striped dress at the back of the closet,one of my first reaping outfits. I remember my father telling me that the dress didn't suit me,but I wore it anyways. I haven't touched it since that repeating,it's been hidden in the back ever since we moved house to the Home .but it will suit Harper:the pale blue colour of the stripes Manches her eyes perfectly.

"I like it!" She say,measuring the dress up against her and staring at her reflection in the mirror. It reaches just past he knees and has a pretty blue flowering buttons and frilly sleeves. Just one look reminds me of why I didn't like it. i looked way to girly. and that is not my style

After searching for a while.i find my own dress. It's the same one as last year: an emerald green,strappy  one with gold buttons on the chest and a skirt that just reaches my knees. I find my matching shoes, a pair of emerald heels,not extremely high,but they make me seem a little bit taller then i actually am, which is always a good thing.

Harper and I both change without a word, not mentioning the terrible event taking place in less than an hour. I don't want to scare her, and it seems like she doesn't want to talk either. I think the fright is hitting he now: she is completely different to this morning,her bright cheerfulness lost in the wave of silence.

I give her a pair of blur flats that match her dress, then I braided her wild curls into two fishtail plaits.it tidied up the mass of light brown that usually flies around her head. By the time I am Finnished, she looks completely different, older yet younger too. I cannot explain it,but my thoughts make sence to me. The dress,the hair, it makes her older. But her face shows nothing but terror, and you tell me, just from her 'rabbit in the headlights' expression that it's her first reaping.

"Aren't you doing to do your hair too ?" Asks Harper,in the timid,small voice that I hardly recognise as hers.i look into the mirror and stare at myself:the pretty green dress, The heels. They don't match up to my lopsided. String-tied ponytail . Which means that I'm not going to fix my hair.

"Yes" I say to Harper, and then I go over to my night stand and take out a few hair pins.i braid overlylong 'fringe' into a plait, and the I twist the rest of my hair into a low bun on the side of my head. Entwining the plait into the knot.then I secure it with a few pins,and look back at the mirror.there we go,now I look like I'm ready to go to the reaping.except, something is missing. And I know exactly what it is.

I go back to the nightstand, and open the second drawer, taking out my mothers golden,emerald-jawlled her slide. It's the one thing I own of my mothers, the other is locket,which I take from my drawers too. I slot the hair slid into the bun and clasp the locket around my neck. And then I noticed them: tucked in the corner, dog-eared and cramped,looking like they have been haphazardly shoved into the drawer-
Which they have. But I still recognize them.

I have always loved drawing,from an early age,I was talking pieces, of my  father's paper work to sketch onto. Then,of course, I would like to draw simple things:my house,the flowers in the garden,my mother,sitting in the living room,holding her parties with all her posh friends.then,later on, when i started at the academy, and I found that drawing wasn't my only talent, I began to sketch out shapes of my new best friends: my knifes. When  mother and grandfather died, I lost myself in drawing and training almost completely. I took paper from my fathers office,And would sit in my bedroom for hours and hours,letting patterns and shapes flow from my pencil on to the sheet white. I liked to draw Harper: she was a good model Albert couldn't sit still, so he never made it into my drawings.when it came to the first reaping, and father said that my dress didn't suit me. I ran upstairs and, without thinking, angry strokes flew on to the page,taking shape. I didn't realise till I had Finnished, that I had drawn myself, with one of my trusty knives, and a dummy with my fathers face. I was discussed with myself: I screwed the drawing and tore it to shreds,and I distanced myself from pen and paper. Then father left, and I retreated into it again, drawing people from home, Harper again,and,at one point, and two headed monster. One head had blond hair and the other brunette. When I showed her, Harper laughed at my monstrous adaptation of our new room mates. My last drawing was quit a while ago. I don't remember what it was,I remember some of the others quite clearly.and some of them stand out in my mind, and will do always. Like the one with the small figure, clutching half a dozen knives in her hand,arm poised to throw one of them Into the heart of the couger, while a boy with golden hair and bright blue eyes cowered before it.

Why has he come back to me again? Its reaping day, why do I have to be mentally stalked by a boy that I would never know the name of ? Unless of course,if he thanks me one day,like he did in my dream last night. Although I doubt that: he's popular, future victor type career. And they don't know the meaning of thanks.

One last look in the mirror shows me everything I need to see: I look like my mother. The likeness is uncanny, and undeniable, I make my decision then. I take of my locket, but keep the hair slide, and instead, I reach into my draws and pull out a drawing of the couger scene.i fold it up into a small square, and tuck it into my pocket, concealing it from anyones view.then I take Harpers hand and leave the dorm, and abandoning my last remaining piece of my mother on my bed.

I'm having doubts on leaving mothers locker now, seeing as it could be leaving it forever, but miss cointoyke is calling us all for a house meet, and my first response is to and run downstairs In my heels.

Albert is there when we arrive,dressed in smart blue shirt tucked into black suit trousers. So are Mercedes and saffron, In identical red dresses. There honey blonde and brunette hair curled into perfect ringlets. Seeing them together reminds me of my two headed monsters, and I almost let at a small chuckle at thought.

Miss cointoyke stands at the front addressing us with solemnity. "Good luck today everyone, I hope that you are all spared for another year. It has been years since a tribute was last reaped from this home,and I would rather it stay that way. But,I connot predict the outcome. So,may the odds be ever in your favour, and I will,hopefully, see you all later for a feast."

Then the siren sounds,and we're all headed out the door towards the square,where our fate lies in the hands of the Capitol.