Into The Waves // Book I

Chapter one

CHAPTER ONE
-In The Ruins Of North America-

A hazy morning sun broke over the cold waves in a brash hue of orange and red. Cawing birds cut through the white sound of the surf lapping against the beach, interrupting the stillness of the morning.

The rise and fall of Laneya's chest was barely noticeable within the rocking of the waves. Tan fingers wrapped around the edges of her surfboard. The knuckles turned white. The nails were uneven. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. She could just feel.

In the depths of the sea sat jagged stones. Some broke through the surface like inclined mountains. Others were more gradual, rising up in slopes. The ocean twisted around them like a snake suffocating it's prey.

A cold chill began to spread through Laneya. It started from multiple places; the tips of her toes, the palms of her hands, the nape of her neck, but they all met up at one spot.

Her gut.

Rising and sinking like a buoy lost at sea, fear floated in Laneya's stomach. Looking down, she couldn't see the bottom of the ocean. All that stood in her line of vision was dark liquid crawling over itself, curling around her legs and hanging on like she was it's newfound toy. She wanted to shake it off. To somehow rid herself of the impending feeling of doom. But she stayed still upon her surfboard, rocking with the waves.

It wasn't very difficult to find moments of calm within District 4.

If you were an outsider looking in, you would be able to see the glow of lights illuminating the dirt paths trailing from the wide-windowed houses to the large trading imports in the town square.

You would be able to hear the sound of shutters being opened in the outposts and see the residents unclipping their garments from the clotheslines.

A stray ukelele chord found it's way over the crashing of the waves, dancing out into the cloudless sky. It sounded happy, but as the tune went on, a darker outline traced the hopping melody.

Foreshadowing, perhaps, for the day known as Reaping Day.

By the time the sun set, each district will be missing the presence of two more kids, chosen by random to participate in the annual Hunger Games. In that moment, their privacy will be stripped from their selves, broadcasted to the entire country of Panem, before being dolled up by the beings in the Capitol.

After all the frivolous activites have worn themselves out, the kids are sent into an arena and sentenced to fight to the death.
Twenty-four kids and only one survives.

The victor of the Hunger Games will then be showered with glittering prizes back in their home district. For starters, they get to live in Victor's Village, a street lined with houses only to be occupied by the winners.

In all of Panem's sixty-five years of game creation, District 4 only had four victors. Mags Flannagan, Cliff Matron, Marshall Catagrow and Jade Bleir.

A loud voice cut clean across the sea. That voice belonged to Marina Walker, Laneya's adoptive mother.

Laneya's real mother had succumbed to a deathly virus that had spread throughout District 4 many years ago. District 4 was home to what the Capitol liked to call 'career tributes', otherwise known as tributes from a wealthier district supported by the Capitol. It was true that none of them could ever live as lavishly as the Capitol citizens did, but they weren't battling starvation or poverty unlike District 12.

Career tributes were also tributes from districts who trained their kids in illegal schools specializing in weapons and survival skills to better their chances of winning the Hunger Games. Laneya attended one herself.