Everybody Wants Me Dead

Chapter 3

*This chapter is dedicated to Lance321, the first liker of my story!*

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I grinned back at the boy on the rocks.

"Hey Wrenxt." I walked up to him and pinched his cheeks jokingly.

"How's my wittle Wreny," I said in a baby voice, laughing. He swatted my hand away. 

"Stop that," he mumbled, scowling at me. "I told you my name is Wren." 

"Fine, fine." I threw my hands up in the air. Wren was a boy I met in the woods a few years ago. He had shaggy brown hair, and gray eyes, just like most people living in District 12. He was tall and strong, stronger than most of the 16-year olds living here. He had a cute smile, the kind where dimples appeared out of no where. But he wasn't my type. There was only one boy in District 12 I was interested in like that. 

The picture at the bottom is one of the many pictures he has of himself. The Capitol liked his style, so he used to be a model for them. Until he got bored and quit. The Capitol didn't take it too well, his father died about a month later in an "accidental" mine crash. Coincidentally enough, he was the only one to have died. You'd think the Capitol would be smarter to cover their tracks. I felt bad for him, but that was before my mom died. 

There was a rustling in the leaves next to us, and both of us twitched our heads toward the sound. He slowly pulled an arrow out of his quiver, and I pulled a knife out of my belt. We sidestepped behind a large oak, and peek our heads around. There, in plain sight, was a buck. A beautiful, elegant, bold buck. His antlers were long and velvety. I pulled the knife behind my head, and launched it at his head. At the same time, and arrow shot and hit him in the eye. My knife hit his skull. I glanced at Wren, and he was looking at me too. We both laughed as he picked up the deer and slung it over his shoulder. 

"Let's take this to the Hob." He suggested. I nodded in approval, and we set off towards the market. People greedily tried to take hunks of the animal, but I pulled out my throwing knives and everyone backed off. We got it to Greasy Sae before it was ripped up too badly.

"Thank you." She said, handing us a handful of coins before taking the carcass. We both looked down at the shiny change in our hands.

"I don't think I've ever held so much at one time." Wren whispered. 

"Same," I answered back quietly. "What should we do with it."

"Stick around and buy the first bowls of deer stew," Greasy joked. We both smiled. Wren divided up the coins in two and gave me half. I sifted the coins around a little, and smiled to myself. All the more to my collection for my fabric. I pocketed them and looked up at Wren.

"We should get going, probably time to start getting ready." His smile was wiped off his face and he nodded. I took one last look at Greasy and smiled.

"See you later," I said waving at her. She threw me a smile in return. It wasn't a true smile though, the smile was full of sadness. I scoffed at her in my head.

Why is everyone nervous about the games? I thought to myself. 

"I'll see you at the Reaping, then." Wren's voice broke through my thoughts. I looked up and realized we were already at my house. I nodded a goodbye to him, and ran inside. My father was already waiting for me.

"C'mon her up Vanessa, you're later than usual." I looked at our clock, and it read 2:45. The Reaping was at 3:30. 

"Sorry dad," I yelled as I ran upstairs to the bathroom. There was already a bath drawn for me, so I quickly ripped my clothes off and jump in. I shivered, the water was cold. I scrubbed all the dirt off my skin and washed my silky blonde hair. I hurriedly wrapped a towel around my body and ran to my room. I shut the door, and found there was a dress already waiting for me on my bed. It was a deep purple, but it was creamy at the same time. I ran my hands down it the front, it was as soft as silk. I looked down and saw a pair of black shiny flats to match. I had never seen this outfit before, where did it come from? I slipped it on anyway, and the fabric fit my body perfectly. The flats were just the right size, so it was even weirder. I curled my hair into ponytail and placed a shiny gold butterfly barrett on my head. It was my mother's, she gave it to me before she died. I went downstairs and when my father saw me, tears welled up in his eyes.

"That was your mother's dress, you know." He spoke shakily. I numbly shook my head. It was hard to talk about my mom out loud, in my head it was easy. My sister came out of her room.

"Wish I was as pretty as you." She said, jealously. I smiled at her sadly. She wore a soft pink dress, her hair down and straight, and white flats. I kneeled down in front of her and pushed a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Oh no, I wish I was as pretty as you," I whispered to her, poking her stomach as I spoke. She let out a giggle, but was interrupted by a train whistle. The color drained from her face, but my heart skipped a beat. I smiled at her.

"It's going to be okay." I said, grabbing her shoulders for encouragement. She nodded at me. I stood back up and gave one last hug to my dad.

"Good luck," he hushed in my ear. I pulled away and dipped my head in acknowledgement. He grabbed my sister and held on tightly. A tear rolled down her face. I rolled my eyes and looked away from them. They parted, and we walked out the door.  The crowd of the Seam was leaving about the same time we were, so we walked to the sign-in table in a big huddle of silence. The atmosphere, was tense, too heavy for me. I'm a very light energied person. We finally made it to the table and a women held out her hand.  I placed mine inside hers, and she shocked me with the electric pen. I barely even shuddered, even when I saw a drop of blood roll down my finger and onto the paper.

"Next," she called out. I walked to my age group and stood among my classmates. None of them spoke, all of them stood in anxiety. I crossed my arms across my body and searched for Wren in the sea of boys. I met his eyes, and he nodded gravely at me. I looked away from him. That was one thing I did not like about the Reaping. It was so tense. I looked down at my shiny shoes until a microphone rung out against the hushed voices. Effie Trinket, in all her glory, smiled preppily at us.

"Welcome, Welcome, Happy Hunger Games, and, may the odds be ever in your favor!" Her bright white teeth flashed up in a smile. "Now, before we begin, we have a very special film. Brought to you all the way, from the Capitol!" She stretched her arm out presenting the video. It was the exact same video they played every year. I recited the whole thing in my head. When it was finished, she clapped happily. 

"I just love that!" She giggled a little. But she changed into very serious. "Now, let's begin with the girls." She clicked over to the girls bowl and drew a slip out. She clicked back to the podium and cleared her throat.

"MacKenza Mills," She called out. I rolled my eyes and groaned softly. MacKenza was a girl in my grade, and I hated her to the core. She grimaced at first, but I suppose she must have remembered the Quell, because then she smiled. She spoke clearly.

"I volunteer," she paused dramatically. She rolled on the balls of her feet in my direction and stretched her pointer finger at me.

"Vanessa Rivers."