Bloodstained Lilies

Chapter One

Yup. Another new story. But this one is about the Hunger Games, since I recently got back into this fandom. :3

Oh, and two other things before we start:

1) I'm most likely going to change Lillian/Lily's name. To me, it seems too... I don't know... Out of place maybe? And the whole "let's name our Hunger Games OC after a plant" thing is somewhat overused. So I'm probably going to change the name before I update.

2) Okay, Kai, Atlas, or whatever his name really is- Is now officially Rory, named after a character I created after this was posted. But this Rory is different from the OTHER Rory that was entered in LadyAstor's Hunger Games thing... It's very loosely based off of him, though. Sorry for the confusion.

Now that we got those minor details out of the way, I hope you enjoy it! :D

----

Sunlight.

That was the first thing I noticed once my family stepped out of our dark and damp apartment building. Seeing the sun was a pretty rare thing here in District 3, since the factories always covered the sky with their smog, so I literally gasped once I stepped outside. On a normal day, not matter where you'd look, you'd see all the kids, including me, (even though I'm not exactly a kid anymore) running around, laughing and playing. 

But today, there were no kids playing or laughing or let alone smiling. We all walked right through the beautiful weather without saying a word about it, as if it was as normal as the dreary clouds that constantly loomed over everything.

Because it was the day of the Reaping.

Not a single living thing could be happy today. We were all too busy worrying over who the tributes would be. Would it be this person's son? Would it be that person's daughter? Maybe it would be my older brother, Spruce, or maybe the odds would not "be ever in my favor", and it would be me.

If I was chosen, I know I'd be squashed like a bug as soon as possible. It's natural for the tributes District 3 cranks out to die almost immediately in the bloodbath, but I know for sure I'd set a new record for the earliest death. Oh, I can just see the papers now! "Tribute dies one millisecond into the game!" But on the other hand, if my older brother, Spruce, was chosen, I'd say he'd have a pretty good chance at winning.

Standing at a towering five foot eleven, (which is considered tall in our district) with dark hair and dark eyes that could be considered black, he could easily intimidate most, if not all, of the non-Career tributes. It's a good thing he's a pretty decent actor, since he'd need to work super duper hard on scaring away the tributes. After all, Spencer was quite the sweetheart, and he can't help but try to make everyone happy.

"Lillian Belrose!" my mother snapped, and shot a disapproving glance at me. "I know that look. You're thinking about you or Spruce being chosen, aren't you?"

I shook my head and lied. "No, mother."

"Good. We just can't afford to think like that. So keep your chin up, head high, and no slouching, sweets. The odds will be in our favor today, I just know it." My mother grinned down at me as she patted my shoulder. She would be absolutely devastated if one us was picked, so she always stayed positive, since she always said, "If you keep believing it, eventually it will happen!"

"Don't worry, short stuff," Spruce chuckled. He ruffled his hand through my hair. "You'll be fine."

"I know," I said, forcing a laugh as I fixed my hair. "Both of us will be!"

"Good, that's more like it." My mother said.

Truth be told, I had a nagging feeling somewhere in the back of my mind that one of us wouldn't come home tonight. That one of us would be reaped. That we'd be dead in a matter of weeks. Maybe even days.