Silence [The Hunger Games]

Chapter One

And still, my father gazed at her. I think he may have been wondering what had become of his life. He used to tell me that a higher power was keeping us safe, that somewhere along the line, we had done something good to deserve our pleasant lives in the days of darkness. This belief died along with my brother and my mother's soul.

I suddenly couldn't stand the silence anymore. I slammed my fist onto the table in anger.

"Somebody speak! You're both driving me insane! I miss him as much as you do, but you wouldn't know that, because you haven't spoken to me in over a year!" I snarled. Still, neither of them muttered a word. I thrust a piece of bread under my mother's nose, hoping for a reaction.

"Don't you remember? It's reaping day! If I went into the Games today, would you give a damn?" The silence continued. I threw the bread back down on the plate and stormed out of the house without saying goodbye.

I didn't know where to run, but my feet seemed to. I ran along the fence that keeps the District 10 citizens trapped and under control. Over the sound of my heart, I could hear the sounds of the animals reared for meat by most other families in the District. I was glad of the noise, after the mournful silence of the house. I realised where I was going just before I arrived. 

To the weak point in the fence...

I was thirteen years old. I stood at the edge of the other teenagers that huddled together by the fence. Right in the centre of the group stood the most popular boy in the year, Eddie Grey. He was a tall, muscular boy with handsome features and a sharp tongue. We didn't get along well, probably because we were too alike, so I had been surprised when he invited me to meet him and his friends by the fence that night. He grinned around the sea of faces.

"So. I thought it would be fun if we crawled under the fence. See what is on the other side," he said with a gleam in his eye. The others chatted excitedly amongst themselves. I said nothing. Then Eddie caught my eye.

"Trouble is...I don't know whether it is safe. We need someone to test it out." He winked at me, and I realised the reason he has asked me along. I gave him my best scowl.

"It was your idea. Why don't you test it?" I growled. He smiled in an irritating way and ran a hand through his perfect hair.

 "You wouldn't want me getting stuck there, would you, Raven?" He walked over to me and gave me a shove in the right direction. I stumbled a few feet, and then planted my feet firmly on the ground, refusing to move. The others sniggered.

 "Scared?" Eddie breathed in my ear. I smiled slightly. I wasn't going to let the little creep win. I could do this.

 "You wish, Grey. You wish. Get out of my way."

The sea of kids parted and I crouched to examine what I was dealing with. The barbed wire was torn apart at the weak point. I suspected an animal did it and the Peacekeepers never bothered to fix it. I knew the fence wasn't live, as there was no buzz of electricity filling the air. The hole wasn't very big, but I figured someone as small as me could slip through it if they were careful. Cautiously, I knelt and crawled forwards, before carefully sliding my head under the fence. A gasp of approval came from the crowd when they realised I was actually going under. But the thrill of my small victory didn't last.

"Peacekeepers!" a girl cried. Before I could take in what she had said, everyone was scattering. Panic ate at my brain, and I struggled to reverse out of the hole in the fence, but my hair snagged some wire.  I was trapped. I felt strong hands grip my shoulders and yank me backwards. I yelped as the hair caught on the fence was ripped from my scalp. I looked up to see a menacing smile of a Peacekeeper greeting me.