174 - A Hunger Games Fan Fiction

Chapter 1 - Reaping

The days tick by slowly. So very slowly. Thorne gets more and more nervous, and I find myself constantly thinking about it. The Games. My name's in it 34 times this year, Thorne's is in 5. Just once. This is Honey's first year being eligible, and if she's scared she certainly doesn't show it.  Ebony has a few years yet. A few years to stay young, a few years where he won't have to worry about the threat of the Games.

"Miss Dawnbry?" Mr Polliston's voice cuts through my dreamland.

"Seven times seven is 49, Sir!" I instinctively call out, standing up from my seat. A ripple of laughter spreads across the room and I turn a bright shade of red, carefully sitting myself back into my seat. "Sorry..." I mumble.

"Miss Dawnbry, if you would care to answer my question?" His smile is snake-like and harsh.

"Please could you repeat the question?" I venture, but he shakes his head and widens his smile. I glance over at Holly, and see her mouthing the words 'The Games'. "The Games, Sir." I announce, staring at my shoes. I don't need to look at his face to know that his snake-smile has gone.

"Yes. That is right.." He stalks back to the front of the classroom and does a quick re-cap before dismissing us, "And I wish you the very best of luck." He calls as the bell rings. I see Holly and mouth 'thank you!' but she makes no effort to reply and I'm not sure she even realised. Tomorrow, the Reaping. Mr Polliston doesn't have enough heart to sincerely wish us luck. I'm sure it was aimed directly at me. Luck that I will be picked. It would fit right in with his dark character.

"Wake up, Honey." I shake her gently awake.

"No!" She yells and jerks awake, sitting immediately upright.

"Bad dream?"

"Sorry..." She mutters and pulls herself out of bed. After a couple of failed attempts to wake Ebony up I just pull back the curtains and let the sunlight stream in. Mum has laid my Reaping clothes out on my bed for me. The weather here in 14 is reliably unpredictable. Last year, even though it was the same date, I was wearing a shorts and T-shirt. Now I am bundled up in 6 layers and shivering to the bone. Thorne serves us some beautiful cooked ham for a breakfast treat. We don't make it a habit to celebrate after the Reapings, somehow it feels too much like we're celebrating 25 deaths. I like to think that only the Capitol are that low. We walk in a line to the Town Square. Me, Mum, Dad, Ebony, Thorne, Honey and 'The Bump' in an unbreakable line. To the other districts, our family must look huge, but everyone around here is like this. Our family is relatively small. Chances of survival are slim. We are forced to tear our hands apart to go to our different areas. Ebony wraps his arms around me and won't let go. Mum has to pull him out of the hug and drag him to the zone simply marked 'Family and Friends'. Thorne and Honey stay right by me and when we reach Registration I volunteer to go first, to show Honey it isn't all that bad. I grit my teeth as they stab it through my skin but its over quickly. Honey goes straight after me and doesn't seem to mind. It's Thorne who causes a problem, grabbing my hand and clinging tight as they stab him with the Registration Needle. He lets out an agonised scream and panics the rest of the queue. We recieve many an angered glance from the peacekeepers.

I point to the area marked 'Male 13.' and give him one last smile. I wander over to 'Female, 14.' and shuffle in, watching Honey skip down to 'Female, 12.' with her friends. She's a little too young for this, a little too innocent. I find myself next to the Marble twins from my class, Katie and Lauren. I always thought their names were pretty weird, but they insist there's some sort of historical meaning. I thought Katie was short for Katniss at first, but the name was banned when Newt took over. Just another step in destroying the Mockingjay legacy. I stand on tip-toes to see the stage. Ember and Oak are sat on two chairs in the corner of the stage, the Mayor right beside them. Oak is well into his 70's now. Ember is the same age as my mum - 32. She sits awkwardly, her eyes darting around the stage, twitching at every sudden noise. Mum's right. She could never repay a debt so huge. The large doors at the back of the makeshift stage swing open and an odd looking lady steps out. It's not Polliette from last year. This is someone different. Someone with shocking red hair flying out in a confident manner. Someone who literally screams 'Look at me!'. She steps up to the microphone and waits for the crowd to silence.

"Hello, ladies and gentlemen." She pauses, as if waiting for a reply. When she is met with nothing more than grim, pain-stricken faces she decides to continue, "Welcome... to the 174th Annual Hunger Games!" Another pause, presumably for applause. When she is met with the same response she begins to clap for herself, and the Mayor has to remind her what she's doing. The representatives get worse every year. "Let us watch the Hunger Games from last year!" She can't hold back her excitement and begins to jump up and down, clapping non-stop. The Capitol disgust me. 5 minutes later the clip ends and she returns to her position.

"Now, as promised, the special announcement!" Muttering grows in the crowds as she says the words. What announcement? We weren't told about anything. "This year, as it is the anniversary of the last Non-Quell games, a special treat was given to the Capitol..." Cue more muttering. It is apparent nobody is too keen on this, "This year, the Capitol citizens voted for the tributes. The top two tributes from both male and female are in these glass bowls." She points to the bowl and tries to ignore the angry yells from the crowds. Non-Quell anniversary? What sort of anniversary is that? "When your name is called, please join me on stage." She reaches in and takes the two male names out. She unfolds the first.

"Rocklyn Newgreen!" A gasp ripples through the crowd as his name is called, "Come and stand here, please." We all watch in shock as the Mayor's son is forced onto the stage. She unfolds the second name slowly and cautiously,

"Thorne Dawnbry!" Her voice cuts through the crowd like a knife. Silence falls down over us, the only sound is coming from the Capitol lady as she squeals with excitement and the overwhelming thudding sound in my ears. I stop breathing, my heart pauses. Why him? Why my brother? How is he special? I can understand the Mayor's son, but whats so special about Thorne? I know what's so special about him. The son of Allydia Dawnbry. The girl who the Capitol loved, the girl that everybody knew. The girl so special that Ember was willing to give up everything for her. All my anger builds up and my mouth opens as if I'm going to scream but no sound makes it out.

"Thorne! Thorne! No!" A voice cries out from the front. Honey. I balance myself back on tip-toes to see her and watch in horror as peacekeepers tackle her to the ground.

"Stop it, Honey!" I yell. Here, you don't retaliate against a peacekeeper. There's one, devestating consequence - death. At the sound of my voice she seems to calm and curls herself into a ball. The peacekeepers escort her to the side, roughly grabbing her by the arms. Thorne receives the same sort of treatment and is dragged onto the stage, shivering all over. The boy who's never understood the world. The boy who can't see things the way everyone else does. The boy who is the oldest son of District 14's most-loved resident The boy the Capitol voted for.

"Now, ladies." I stare angrily at the Capitol lady. She represents everything the Capitol stand for, and I hate her for it. She unfolds the first piece of paper, and I already know what's coming."Rayne Dawnbry!" She grins and I hobble onto the stage, pulling Honey into a hug as I pass her. The second they called Thorne's name I knew they would do this. I can hear Mum screaming out and a few members of the crowd cursing at the Capitol. Nobody knew this was coming. Nobody knew that there would be double tributes, nobody knew that the Capitol would be voting. Nobody knew that Mum wouldn't be getting us back.

"Now, finally..." She seems ruffled by the commotion caused by the District 14 crowd, and its all I can do to stop myself from punching her, "Honey-Amylia Dawnbry!" Either the lady is too dumb to realise that we are siblings or the Capitol really don't mind that they just tore a family apart. A few seconds later, Honey is stood on the stage next to me, gripping tightly onto my hand. I wrap her into a hug and close my eyes, forcing myself not to cry. The other tributes would think I'm weak. I open my eyes briefly and find Mum in the crowd. She's in floods of tears and so I pull Honey closer to me, trying to send her a message. Trying to show her that I won't let Honey or Thorne die. That we will all be returning home.