Doubled

11) District 11 Reaping

Arielle Shaylene's POV:

My sister Marina and I walk out of the woods surrounding district 11. We go hunting everyday to help feed our family. Our mother lost her job after our father died, and we had to move from district 4 to 11, which explains our names.

We are approaching the fence, and we noticed a buzzing noise. In the outlying districts, there are usually certain parts of the fences that the electricity doesn't work. They must've fixed it. We panic and are about to run when we feel hands on our shoulders. I try to scream but there's a hand over my mouth. Two peacekeepers pull us into an ally.

"Listen, you two were caught hunting outside of district boundaries, and as you know, it results in punishment," says one of them.

"Yes. Please, don't hurt us," I beg.

"Oh, we won't hurt you, but you can count on 23 sets of twins hurting you," says another.

"Please, no, not the games," says Marina.

"It's you or your family," says one of them.

"Fine, but don't hurt our family," I beg.

"You're lucky we're not as strict here as we used to be, or you two and your family would be dead by now," says the other.

"Go home, and get ready for the reaping. Don't say a word. When the reaping starts, for the second pair, your escort will read your names instead of what's on the slip, understand," says the one in front of me.

"Yes," we say as they let us go and we hurry along.

We get home and get ready for the reaping without saying a word. Mother just assumes we had an unlucky day hunting and continues feeding baby Brandon, and little Gianna plays with a doll on the floor.

I get dressed in my nicest dress, a baby blue one with aqua flowers. I look out the window and notice that every couple minutes, a peacekeeper will walk by and look at our house, probably to make sure we don't run away.

I braid my hair into a side ponytail. My family stands out a lot in district 11. Most people have dark hair and dark or medium skin, while my family has pale skin, and Marina and I have deep red, almost burgundy colored hair and a few freckles. Our little sister Gianna has strawberry blonde hair and Brandon has blonde hair, which makes sense coming from district 4.

We get ready and hug our family tight. Knowing we might never see them again.

We head to the reaping and notice peacekeepers behind us. We sign in and head to the 15 year old section, awaiting our death call.

After the documentary and everything else they do at the reapings, Obsidian Senna, our escort, picks the first slip.

"Pepper and Piper Drisson," she calls.

The two girls walk up to the stage from our age section. They look slightly scared and one is a bit shaky. I realize that they also stand out, with bright blonde hair and super pale skin.

"I'm Pepper, and my sister is Piper, we're 13 years old," says one of the girls.

"Arielle and Marina Shaylene"

We know it's coming when she calls our names, but we're still a bit shocked. We walk up slowly, and hold back tears.

"I'm Marina, and that's Arielle, we're 15," says my sister.

We would usually get sent to another room to say goodbye, but immediately, peacekeepers drag us away to the train, without saying goodbye to our family. I say a silent goodbye in my head to my family,

Mother, Gianna, and Brandon.