I wake up to the sound of a girl screaming. After a moment, I realize it's me. Another nightmare. About what, I don't know. I never remember my nightmares, the only thing that proves that I have them is how I wake every morning. Screaming.
Suddenly, my sister Alexia is at my side, having crossed our small bedroom to sit on the edge of my bed.
"Are you all right?" she asks nervously.
"Yeah, it was just a nightmare," I respond.
She looks worried and scoots closer.
"I'm alright, I swear!" I say, shrugging her away, "It was probably just about the games."
It is reaping day after all, so the idea of dreaming about the games isn't that farfetched. It's early, we have a few hours until the reaping, and maybe two until we need to get ready, so I decide to get dressed and go on a walk. Alexia decides to start making breakfast. She enjoys cooking, even if it's just a few eggs from the chicken and a small loaf of tesserae bread. I check on my little brother Troy and my parents quickly before I leave. Troy is still fast asleep, as I assumed since he's only eleven and doesn't have to worry about the reaping quite yet. My parents, on the other hand, are awake and softly arguing about something as always. Mother most likely never fell asleep last night, she never does before the reaping. She's lost multiple people to the games and is always worried about losing one of us.
"I'll be back soon," I yell to Alexia as I grab my jacket and step out the door.
It's a beautiful morning. The sun just rose, and the air is cool, with a light breeze and not a cloud in the sky. At least we won't have to stand through another rainy reaping day, like last year, I think to myself. I'm only optimistic when something is making me anxious, and today is especially bad.
I head out to the edge of town, to the big oak tree near the chain link fence that separates our district from the meadow and the wilderness beyond. It's our usual meeting spot, my girlfriend and I, and even though I'm not going there to see her necessarily it's still a good place to sit and think. I walk underneath the shade of the tree and begin to climb up a little bit to the thick, sturdy branch that we usually sit on, and find someone asleep.
"Lily, hey, Lily wake up," I say gently, rocking her slightly, prepared to grab her if she starts to fall.
She jerks up, breathing heavily. I scared her.
"Hey, hey, hey, it's just me, it's alright. Have you been out here all night?" I ask her gently. She slowly sits up, putting the palm of her hand against her forehead.
"Yeah, actually," she says, "I couldn't sleep so I thought I'd come out here for a little while. I guess it calmed me down enough to let me get a few hours in."
"What are you nervous about?" I ask, sitting down next to her, "You're not even eligible for the games this year. Your brother turned 19 a couple months ago."
Lily's only living sibling, Cole, recently turned 19 and is already working in the mines. At one point, Lily also had a younger sister, Rose, but she ran away a few years ago, the night before her first reaping. She was never found.
"I'm not worried about me, Margo, I'm worried about you," she says bluntly, "How many times are your and Alexia's names in the bowl this year? Thirty-three, right?"
Since this year, you are reaped with your sibling, they add together the amount of times each of your names would have been in the bowl and put both of your names on that many slips of paper. I never allowed Alexia to take tesserae, but I've taken 5 each year.
"Yeah, thirty-three," I say solemnly.
We sit quietly for a moment, until Lily starts to cry.
"I can't lose you Margo," she says, staring out into the field.
I don't say anything. Instead I grab her hand and give it a reassuring squeeze. We sit like this, quietly, hands intertwined, staring at the meadow, for at least a half an hour. Then she says that we should both probably head back to our houses and get ready. I agree. We climb down the tree and walk to her house, still holding hands.
"I'll see you after the reaping, OK?" I tell her, brushing a tear off of her cheek.
"Yeah," she says, not really believing it, but just hoping.
We kiss quickly, then she heads into her house. I walk the rest of the way to my house alone, left with only my thoughts.
YOU ARE READING
The 175th Hunger Games
Fanfiction"On the 175th anniversary, for the rebels to remember that the war was fought against their own brothers, the two tributes selected from each district will be siblings, both between the ages of 12 and 18 as per usual." One hundred and one years aft...
