It only takes one slip of paper to end someone's life. In that moment, I felt as if my life was slowly being drawn out of me. This couldn't be right, her name was only put in there once. There were thousands of other names and they picked her. The chances of her being chosen were close to none; the odds were in her favour. I heard the low murmurs from the crowd and i saw her. My beautiful sister standing lifelessly, he blood drained from her face. She looked at me with an emptiness i had never seen before. She began slowly walking up to the stage which brought me out of my daze.
"Julia!" A strangled cry escaped my throat, and my body began to move after her. The crowd of kids made a pathway for me to reach her. I caught up to her and grabbed her arm spinning her around to face me. Her face was covered in tears and she clung to me, her body trembling. A group of peacekeepers came and grabbed us and started dragging Julia up to the stage.
"I volunteer! I volunteer!" I cried, thrashing around in the peacekeepers grasp.
The square became silent and we were surrounded by faces filled with shock and confusion. I hadn't even registered what I had done before my sister was being dragged away and I was being escorted onto the stage. The world around be all blended into one and my mind was racing. What have I done? I am going to die! But I had to do this for Julia - I couldn't live with myself if she died. I numbly walked up the stairs and towards the bubbly woman.
"What's your name dear?" She asked standing me in front of the microphone which was slightly too tall for me.
"Abby Moore," i blankly replied staring off into the distance.
"My my let's give a round of applause for our first ever volunteer," She announced, but nobody clapped it was complete silence.
I didn't really register anything after that it was all a haze. The only thing I saw was the pained look in my brothers eyes. He was standing at the back of the crowd with Julia in his arms - who was still crying uncontrollably. I saw a single tear drop down his cheek; I hadn't seen him cry before. Not even when mum died.
I was brought back to reality when I was made to shake the hand of my district partner. He was a tall boy - almost twice the size of me - with short brown hair and ocean blue eyes. His blue eyes had a sense of sympathy in them, most likely directed towards me.
We were then directed into rooms by ourselves where we would say goodbye to our families. I slumped onto a couch and let the ocean of tears fall. What was I going to do? I can't kill anyone - I've never even touched a weapon before. Before I knew it, the door bursted open and my brother and sister appeared before me. They both ran towards me and squeezed me as tight as they could. I didn't want leave their embrace. This is the last time I will see them before I die. My brother was the first to pull away - he was full on crying now because he knew i wouldn't make it.
"Why would you volunteer for me?" Julia asked in a whisper which i could barely hear.
What was i supposed to say to her?
"I couldn't let you go into that arena, you don't deserve it," I replied my voice wavering as I spoke.
We pulled out of our embrace and i looked to my brother who was kneeling in front of me.
"Listen to me Abby, your best bet is to hide and learn about survival," he firmly stated.
"B-but all the other kids are going to be so much bigger than me," i stammered, my eyes filling with tears once again.
"You're a great climber, make sure to not run to the cornucopia it's a bloodbath. Try your best to find clean water and-" he was cut off by the peacekeepers entering the room.
"Times up." they said grabbing my brother and sisters arm and dragging them out of the room.
"I love y-" my sister shouted before the door closed.
That was the last time I was going to see them. I closed my eyes and tried to remember every feature of them.
Before I knew it I was being dragged out and onto a train. This is where it all starts.
