The Game Plan (a Hunger Games Fanfic)

Chapter 1.

I woke up to the sound of my little sister's cry. Since Avery just turned 2 a few months ago, I'm the one who's supposed to take care of her (her and my other two little siblings). So, I got out of bed and walked down to Avery's room. Avery and my other little sisters, Ari and Audrey, share a room, and so do the boys. I have three younger sisters total: Avery, Ari, and Audrey. I also have three brothers: Aylor, who is one year older than me (13), and my 16 year old twin brothers, Ace and Arkin. All of our names started with 'a'.

My parents died just a year after Avery was born, and, ever since, I've been the stay-at-home sister. I'm the middle child. I'm the oldest girl in the family, but still I'm stuck in the middle. My brothers work in the forest, but not today.

Today is the reaping.

I came out of my train of thought and continued to walk down to Avery's room. I walked in through the doorway and strolled over to my 2 year old sister. She couldn't really talk perfectly yet but she could say a few words that I had taught her.

"Awicor!" She yelled when she saw me. She meant to say 'Alycer', but she wasn't the best at saying her 'L's'. I picked her up and held her in my arms. I sat down in the rocking chair that dad had made me before he died and started rocking her to sleep. I started singing a song mom and dad used to sing to me when I would get scared or couldn't sleep.

Deep in the meadow, under at the willow.

A bed of grass, a soft green pillow.

Lay down your head, and close your eyes.

And when they open, the sun will rise.

Here it's safe, here it's warm.

Here the daisies guard you from every harm.

Here your dreams are sweet, and tomorrow brings them true.

Here is the place, where I love you.

Also, I was the only one in my family, besides my parents of course, that had a good voice.

Avery was out before I even got to the chorus. So, I got up and put her back in her crib that Ace and Arkin had made just a few weeks ago from some wood that they'd bought from the Bootleg. The Bootleg was a place where people would sell, buy, and trade things illegally. For example, a bottle of liquor could be traded for a rabbit, or a blanket could be traded for a piece of jewelry. Ace and Arkin had saved up enough money to buy their own tools that dad didn't already have, and that's how they managed to make a baby bed.

I covered Avery up with her blanket (one of my old skirts I had sewn into a small blanket) and started to walk out.

"Ali?" I heard Ari say. All of my siblings either called me 'Al' or 'Ali', but rarely by my real name. I turned around and saw my 7 year old sister sitting up in her bed. I smiled and said 'yeah, Ari?'. Then, my 10 year old sister, Audrey, sat up in her bed, too.

"Please don't leave." Ari said, stumbling out of her bed and running to me, embracing me in a bear hug. I closed my eyes and set my chin on her head, squeezing her hard.

"I won't," I pulled away and bent down to that I was face-to-face with her. A tear rolled down her cheek and she wiped it away as her lip started to quiver. I placed my hand on her flat chest where heart is and smiled. "I'll always be with you, in here. Always."

I pulled her back into a rib-crushing hug that lasted a few seconds before Audrey let go and smiled up at me.

"You'll be back, right?" Audrey asked, making my eyes dart up to hers. I tried to keep the smile on my face, and my eyes watered.