Together [The Hunger Games Fanfiction]

District Seven || Sibling Rivalry and Solemn Remembrance

Guys, I'm doing so well! Second chapter in two days! Please, vote and comment: they're what gives me feedback from readers!

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There came a commotion from 32 Pickard Lane, a rambunctious clattering emanating from the inside of the house. Though the outside of the house was kept normal (Mrs. Grove had done her best to retain the image of a perfectly normal family), the inside was aflutter with shouts and crashing as the two Grove children attempted getting ready for the reaping. Most of their efforts, however, were directed at yelling curses and profanities at each other.

It had started off as a normal day, as most of theirs did. Ilara Grove had dragged herself out of bed, dragged herself downstairs, dragged herself to the kitchen where her younger brother Cedar was eating his breakfast. Ilara knew before she could open her mouth that the morning would not go well, the glint in her brother's eyes telling her all she needed to know. Still, she picked up her book from the side table, made her way to the table, and sat down with a satisfying thunk as she pulled her chair in. Her parents had come in then, and she had a passing thought that perhaps Cedar wouldn't be the annoying brat he always was and would actually shut his mouth.

Alas, it was to no avail, as he looked up from his plate to their father and said, "Dad, do you think they'll let Ilara into the reaping this year? I mean, I would think they would only let in kids who can actually do things in the District, rather than the weak ones who can't even climb a tree." He grinned then, turning his head so he could watch Ilara boil in anger.

Before their father could diffuse the argument, Ilara had reached over the table and was hitting Cedar with her book, pounding on him as she began to yell at him, cursing and swearing as she told him that even if she couldn't climb trees, she could flatten him into a pancake, and how even if she couldn't be a lumberjack, she could very well become the mayor of Eight and then get the Peacekeepers to destroy Cedar by cutting off his every limb one by one.

Their mother, somewhere in the background of the argument, was heard distantly yelling at the two, and she eventually walked away in exasperation, leaving their father to break them apart. Of course, Ilara had not only gotten in trouble afterwards, but her book was also ruined, ripped and torn from Cedar's retaliation. She huffed, fury still filling her veins, and stomped up to her room before the hot pools of angry tears could spill out and her brother would gain the satisfaction of achieving what many had done before.

It wasn't her fault she was terrified of heights in the District where heights were basically a requirement. And it certainly wasn't her fault that she was forced to do the job that little kids did. She could do so much more than that, and she knew it. If they would let her in as an accountant or a scientist in the forestry labs she could show them all how much she could do. Their taunts shouldn't hurt her, after all these years of it, but she still found herself slumped against her door, head in hands, as she wondered why she had to be good at everything but climbing.

If anyone asked her teachers, they would know that she was more than just a Grounder, more than just a little kid who had to pick up the leaves off the ground. She could think, she could read, she could argue and fight just as well as the others, but her hindering inability to climb a tree without shaking was what set her apart from everyone else.

She only straightened herself up when her mother called her down to walk to the reaping. Her mother was a stern woman, tall yet mild-mannered except when it came to the headaches produced by her children. She worked in carpentry, carving figurines and intricate patterns from wood for the Capitol. Her husband was bulky. Strong and large like many men in the District, he was a kind soul who worked as a lumberjack. He cared for his family deeply, though as he walked out behind his children, he wondered with gruff annoyance if they would ever truly grow up.