hunted • haymitch abernathy

prologue

this brilliant plot belongs to WildFireHeartx. i had told myself that i wasn't going to write anything else until a majority of my stories were completed but then i saw this plot and i couldn't resist.

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prologue; NO, NO, NO, NO.

The air was thick with tension as the teenage girl smoothed out the creases in her maroon dress with one hand while her younger sister gripped the other hand tightly and their brother stared at them worriedly.

"You're going to be fine, Em." He told her as he squeezed her shoulder in a reassuring manner, "I promise."

"Don't make promises that you can't keep, Thread." She told him as they made their way over to the line of the children that were eligible for the reaping, "Besides, you should be telling that to Paige. Not me."

Thread sighed as he looked down at his twelve year old sister who was clinging to Ember's hand so tightly that she was cutting off circulation. Ember couldn't even bring herself to tell the younger girl off for hurting her.

Instead, she just sighed and squeezed her little sister's hand.

"Your name is only in there once." She told her.

Paige nodded and her grip slackened.

"Hand." The Peacekeeper ordered.

Ember grimaced as her finger was pricked before it was pressed onto the sheet, a drop of her blood smeared in a small box on the paper.

"Next."

"Come on." She urged her younger sister gently.

Paige let out a small cry as her finger was pricked.

"Next."

"I'll see you both soon," Thread told his sisters.

Ember nodded stoically before she veered her sister over to where the twelve year old girls were standing.

"Come and find me or Thread after the reaping. Don't go off on your own." She told her sister.

Paige nodded before hugging her sister and joining the group of terrified girls.

Ember stared at her sister for a moment before moving to join the fifteen year olds.

"Nervous?" A voice questioned.

Ember turned to her left to see her oldest friend Penny whose dark eyes shone with so much terror.

She was playing with her fingers like she usually did when she was nervous or scared.

Ember, whose hand had already gone numb, chose not to hold her friend's hand in reassurance.

"Not for me." She replied quietly.

Her eyes trailed towards the group nearest to the stage, immediately finding Paige who was fiddling nervously with the hem of her light blue skirt, before she finally turned her attention to the temporary stage where the Mayor was seated alongside District 8's only living Victor, Woof.

She thought of her parents who were probably standing somewhere in the square, praying for their children to come out of the reaping safe.

She shifted slightly and looked over her shoulder and almost immediately found her brother's jet black hair amongst the many lighter shades of hair around him. He sent her a nod, one that told her that he loved her and wished her luck.

She smiled back gently in response, hoping that none of the eighty-two slips of paper held her brother's name were pulled from the bowl.

"It is both a time for repentance and a time for thanks." A magnified voice recited dully.

Ember looked back to the front as the mayor began to read out the names of District 8's victors, in total, there only being six.

Once the mayor had finished his reading, District 8's Escort, Clio pranced onto the stage, both her outfit and smile brighter than the year before.

She beamed at the crowd cheerfully.

"Happy Hunger Games!" She exclaimed in a loud voice, "And may the odds be ever in your favour."

Ember blocked out her speech which was usually the exact same every year, with a few word changes here and there, along with the same video that had played on the large screen every Hunger Games for as long as she could remember.

She only turned her attention back to Clio when Penny elbowed her and gestured towards the stage.

"As usual, ladies first," Clio spoke eagerly.

Almost immediately, many of the females grabbed ahold of one another.

Ember remained emotionless as she stared at the glass bowl.

She didn't have to worry about Paige much as she had only gotten the Tesserae once and it was her first year eligible for the games. Her younger sister's name was only in the bowl twice, whereas fifty-four of those slips had her name printed on them in neat handwriting.

By the time those thoughts in her mind had cleared up, Clio was rummaging through the bowl before she plucked a slip from somewhere near the bottom and trotted back over to where the megaphone was.

She unfolded the paper and looked up the crowd.

"Ember Tides."

The odds were not in her favour.

The girls who stood around her gasped and quickly stepped away from the raven haired girl as though they could potentially catch something if they remained any closer.

Only Penny remained next to her.

"Where are you, dear?" Clio asked.

A cry echoed through the square and Ember faintly heard her mother's sobs, muffled by the buzzing in her ears.

She had two choices.

Act as though she already knew that she was going to win or play the wolf in sheep's clothing.

Immediately, she forced the tears to come forth as she stumbled into the space that separated the male's from the female's and the Peacekeepers quickly surrounded her.

"No, no, no, no." She cried as she was led to the stage and forced to stop next to their District's escort.

"Oh, it's quite alright." Clio cooed as she patted the hysterical girl's shoulder gently before she turned back to the crowd, "Shall we move onto the boys?"

Ember buried her face in her hands to hide the fact that she had stopped crying.

She could still hear her mother's cries.

"Burton Weft."

His family lived a few streets away from her family. She passed his house on her way to school every morning.

He had three younger sisters and one younger brother, all of whom were under the age of twelve.

Ember wiped her eyes and looked up as Burton made his way onto the stage, every emotion that she had ever seen displayed on his face was gone.

"Shake hands you two." The escort ordered them.

Ember turned and gripped his hand, shaking it once, before letting it go as though his hand had somehow burnt her.

"And now a round of applause for our two tributes, Ember Tides and Burton Weft," Clio announced excitedly.

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please let me know what you thought of the prologue and hopefully, i'll have the first chapter written and posted very soon.

thanks for reading!

~r