Hunger Games

The Reaping.

I stood in the crowd with my thumbs twiddling in front of me. As much as I tried every year it was hard to stop the nerves from crawling into my body. I looked down at the plain white dress I had on. It was the best of the best for District 11. My grandmother had worn it through her reaping and so must I wear it through mine. Every year I wore it. Not like I had many other options. Most girls wore similar things, dirty dresses that had been soaked days before to seem some what new. I had covered myself in my grandmothers perfume and had pinned my hair so it sat on top of my head like a massive ball that couldn't moved if you tried yanking it. I looked around in the crowd. The women had been seated on one side and the men on the other while peoples families sat in the back. Of course my grandmother didn't come. She was too old for this shit. I watched the peacekeepers as they pointed their guns towards us when they walked by. There were so many of them. I had heard that district 11 had the most peacekeepers, probably because they realised when you treat people like the shit beneath your feet...they're bound to rebel. The noise in the crowd died around me and my head snapped up to look at the platform in front of me to see a capitol woman coming from behind a curtain, it was quite easy to tell a capitol person from someone in the districts. Their outfits were horrific. But hey they had every right to have horrific outfits...they were rich after all. Wasn't like they had much else to do, that's what the districts were for. I watched as she looked over at us before her eyes zoomed in on the two glass balls. Ciri Cello was her name and she was District 11's own escort from the capitol. She was dressed in some weird yellow dress that from the waist up looked quite normal but then there were the honey combs that hung from the waist down I watched as the bees swarmed her as they climbed in and out of their homes that were now used as a fashion accessory. She still looked young, she had always looked that way but today her face was bleached so that it was in the shape of a love heart, her lips were bright red and her eyeshadow was a dark purple. Her hair hung in a high ponytail that was styled in a way that it looked like she had balls joined together leading down towards her waist. To finish off her look was a giant purple hat that served no purpose being on her head as it only covered her right half. She took one of the seats on the right of the balls her eyes never left them and I saw the pure joy in them. She was happy. Happy that she got to pick names of children who would more than likely be dead when this whole thing was over. Afemo Omilami the District 11 mayor sat next to her, he was older man with dark skin and grey hair covering all over his face. He was skinny and looked as if he was going to die any second. On the other side of him sat the previous victors of district 11 Keek Brightburg she was a beautiful woman who must have been in her early 60's now. She was smiling and her dark skin shone against the sunlight. She looked happy to be outside but maybe that was because she lost here mind ages ago. Well, so said the rumour that went around District 11. Lastly sat Devis Septal, the last winner known to district 11. He was quite young considering he won the 68th hunger games at the age of 14. He was beautiful for his age, he had strikingly handsome features and the body to back up the role of a victor. The captiol loved him but Devis kept to himself. Most people hadn't heard of him since last year. He only came out when he was forced to mentor tributes in the games. So far neither previous victors had been successful in having winning tributes since Devis game. I watched as the clock hit noon and finally the mayor stood up. He cleared his throat when he reached the microphone and gave us a tired smile as he began the same speech he did every year. The Dark days, predisdents snows bullshit of an excuse as to why the games needed to happen you know all the fun stuff. I watched as he played a video that showed the brainwashing stuff the capitol wanted us to see and then finally when it finished, Ciri stepped towards the microphone with a wide grin on her face. 

"Ladies and Gentlemen look at the wonderful day we have before us. A perfect day for the reaping!" she cries before clapping her hands together flimsily. Her fingers were long. Longer than the average and I knew she must of have them surgically placed on. Her smile was so bright it was clear they were fake too and the way her tiger teeth were sharper and longer than the others showed she had some work done on them. "Now we sha'll start with the reaping and remember may the odds be ever in your favour. Let's start with the girls" she cries before stepping towards the glass ball and I watch as she dug around with her long fingers. She played with the paper for longer than necessary before she finally took out the name of that poor soul and placed a hand to her lip in surprise before she giggled, acting as if she knew anyone in this district, lets be honest we were all dirt beneath her feet. "May Cinder Willburg please step forward" she cries and I let out a sigh of relief, god that name sounded so familiar but I- Holy shit that was me. Before I could even register my feet began moving towards Ciri, I couldn't fucking hesitate there was no time. If I hesitated I looked weak and I couldn't look weak cause I had just been fucking chosen to participate in the fucking hunger games. The Silence was deafening as I made my way onto the stage and Ciri looked over at me with a bright smile "Our first tribute from District 11, Do we have any volunteers?" she asks and I nearly burst out laughing. Volunteers? For me? Nobody knew me. I was a nobody. I had tried not to talk to anyone since my parents died. I kept my head down when I worked, I only went out to get food or supplies for my grandmother. My grandmother. Who would care for her? Did she even know what just happened? "Put your hands together for District 11's tribute Cinder Willburg" she cried and I heard the unenthused claps sounding from the crowd. I tried not to look at anyone as far as I was concerned they meant nothing to me. I watched as Ciri looked me up and down one more time before she moved towards the other bowl. She longed the process of grabbing the name again before she finally picked one out "Lane Dawnshire" she cried with pure joy and my whole body froze. I knew that name from a very long time ago. He was my whole world once. My best friend. I watched as he emerged from the crowd. He looked nothing like what he did back then. Now he was tall with brunette hair that was so close to being black. His skin was tan from days of working in the sun and he looked clean with a plain black top and pants. He looked confident and cocky and nothing like the boy who would run away from butterflies and bees. His eyes flew to mine and he let a grin form on his face. What the fuck was his problem? Was he that excited to kill me or was he just acting for the millions of cameras that must be on both our faces right now. When he got up to the stage he stood beside me confidently. His head held high as he stared at the crowd. I could hear his mother sobbing in the distance but either he was ignoring it or he was too happy about being chosen to care. "What a dashingly beautiful pair. Now do we have any volunteers?" Ciri asks as she looked between us with a grin. Once again the silence was so loud that I could hear my own heartbeat in my ear. Finally Ciri clapped her hands together and I couldn't stop the way that I jumped at the sound. I felt a hand grip mine and I looked over to see that Lane was holding my hand, when I looked up at him he smirked before facing the crowd again "Very well! The tributes for District 11! Shake hands" she states but as I go to hold out my hand I feel Lane grip my waist and before I know what's happening his lips are pressed against mine and I was too shocked to move away Lane Dawnshire was kissing me? Why was he kissing me? Finally he pulled away from me and I looked up at him with wide eyes and parted lip,  he smirked and I heard the cheerful cries of Ciri besides us before he leaned down towards my ear 

"Go with it Cin, It's all part of my master plan" he whispers with a chuckle "but if you keep parting your lips like that Cin well I might just have to find a way to close them again" he breathes out and I shook my head trying to shake whatever the fuck just happened.