Jut random things I write

started and continued, story - 4

this is so random but I'm just going with it because it's one of the longest things I've ever written i think (but probably not)

prologue

The sea of people filled the Square and spilled out onto the streets nearby. On a normal day there would have been plenty of room, but this was no normal day. For one, the large stage that stood menacingly in the centre of the Square took up almost one third of the available pace not leaving much room for the tightly packed crowds to squeeze in around it. Secondly, this was the day of the reaping. The people packed tightly in like sardines were separated into four groups – starting with the youngest at the front and right through to the oldest at the back. The people on the streets behind were mainly worried parents, craning their necks to try and catch a glimpse of their children.

Four perfectly straight, perfectly long pathways lay between each group leading to the stage and four perfectly level, perfectly wide sets of steps. The atmosphere in the Square was uncomfortable and anxious and everyone could hear their hearts beating out of their mouths and was sure their neighbours could hear it as well. Many of the younger children didn't have a clue what was going on and murmured curiously at the head of the crowd whilst the oldest stood, stony faced, jaws clenched and hands balled into fists by their sides; they had seen this all before and lived every year in anticipation of the final reaping when they knew whether they were safe.

Finally, a short middle-aged man in a rather unflattering tweed suit and tie waddles on stage, his balding head bobbing up and down with every stride. When he reached the microphone at centre stage, he cleared his throat and began reading painstakingly slowly from a piece of paper gripped in his hand. "And know... let the reaping commence! The rules: ..." and so he went on. Everyone already knew the rules but still those same words were read out year after year after year. This man's name was Gordon Harrop and it was his job to do the reaping. Gordon waddled once again over to the four-glass bowls lined in a row and filled with hundreds upon hundreds of names. A bowl for each group, a name for each child.

He then was joined by two young men who carried each bowl in turn between them and over to another separate table for each. Then Gordon turned to face the camera positioned on the tallest building close to the Square which just so happened to be a hospital. He went to one bowl and proceeded to read out five names "Laura Croft" a nervous looking girl went up on stage and stood facing the camera. "Astrid Meeves" a confident girl with long white hair took her place on stage standing the same way as the girl before. And then a boy. Another boy. And finally, another girl. And they went off stage and disappeared into the hospital and Gordon moved on to the next faction. A boy. A boy. A girl. A boy. Another girl. And the next.

Cora's pulse raced as she tried to push her nerves and her rising lunch back down to her stomach. She knew there was no way on earth she would be picked out of the hundreds of other students in her group but there was still a tiny chance. At last, he got to her faction "Marcus Pullman. Oliver Ford." Cora knew those boys – they were in her year at school and from her experience very arrogant. "Dylan O'Connor" she had liked him last year. "Jade Morgan" she was the year above Cora. "Cora Crumble".

The world froze as everyone turned to look at Cora. She wanted the ground to open and swallow her whole, she blinked once, twice but she couldn't wake up from this terrible nightmare. Desperately pleading with her feet to move she felt the terror swallowing her whole. After what seemed like an eternity Cora managed to move her feet enough to start walking up to the stage. She saw the horrified stares of her friends and classmates; she'd never been popular, but she was well known and liked. But she stopped in her tracks when she heard the voice of the only person she was sure she loved crying out to her and coming rapidly closer. Instinctively Cora turned to the voice and her brown eyes met her four-year-old cousin's blue ones. Somehow, she had slipped past the guards and made it to her. Lena was crying now, and Cora's heart broke to see it, but she was conscious of the fact that all the cameras and eyes in the Square were trained on them both and this really was a moment she would have preferred to be private. "Hey, it's going to be ok, I'll come back... I promise." And then the guards were there and dragging Lena away and Cora had to begin willing her feet to move all over again.