The Tales of an Avox

Chapter 1

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I knew we shouldn't have gone out without dad that morning.

But I wanted to go alone with Abby and feel grown up so badly, I couldn't help myself.

"I wish Dad could've came." I had said breathlessly as Abby and I settled on the patches of grass near the pond.

She cleaned the rabbit that we just collected as the sun started to set near the trees. I studied the orange-pink colors, wondering how our cruel world could be so beautiful.

Abby and I hunted everyday, hoping to get enough for our families. You don't make that much money in District 6.

"Me too." She replied, tucking her dark red hair behind her ear.

We were just about to leave and go home when the gray, triangular object appeared in the sky. Abby's eyes widened.

"Lilly, go run into the bushes." She whispered.

"Abby? What is that?"

"Go!" She screamed as she pushed me.

I fell into the blackberry bush and heard the familiar scream of Abby. As soon as I regained my balance, I peeked over the leaves.

"No," I said, tears welling up in my eyes.

What laid before me was Abby, entangled in a net, screaming her head off. Abby glanced at me and stopped screaming for a moment. She mouthed one thing.

RUN.

So, that's what I did.

I ran and ran, but glanced back for only a moment, though I wish I hadn't.

Abby, my best friend, the person I looked up to the most, had wires poking out of her bloodied body, and her bright blue eyes were closed. The tears I was holding in poured down my face, but after a minute, I braced myself to run. But just before I turned around, a green light surrounded me. My eyes widened in fright, and the green light then disappeared. Grief stricken, I turned around, and I did just as Abby had said.

I ran.

*****

"H-hey Samantha." I say shakily to my little sister as I close the door.

"You okay?" She asks.

I quickly nod. "Where's Mom and Dad?"

"Kitchen."

"Lilly!" My father exclaims as he envelops me in a hug. "I thought you and Abby would get killed or something!"

Sadness fills my face, and I guess Dad notices.

"Sweetie, what's wrong?"

I try to hold in my tears, but Samantha's face as she peeks into the doorway makes me breakdown.

Mom drops her dish rag and rushes over to me, stroking my dark hair that resembles Dad's. Samantha looks like him, too. We even have the same eye color as Dad's, a sharp, icy blue.

"W-w-we sho-should've stayed home." I cry.

"What happened?" Samantha whispers. She's never seen me cry; I'm the strong one in the family, next to Dad.

I am as silent as the square during the reaping every year.

"Lilly?" My father asks again.

"I-she..." I feel like I'll barely be able to utter the next few words, but after a moment it bursts out of my mouth.

"Abby got captured by the Capitol in a big net and she died from all of these wires," The sobs rack my body and soon everyone is hugging me.

"Not Abby," Samantha whispers.

I wrap her into my arms and we cry into each other's shoulders. Abby was one of our closet friends. I still remember when Samantha was a little baby and we would babysit her together, or the endless times when we would have sleepovers and share secrets in the darkness of my room.

*****

None of us are hungry for dinner, the thought of Abby's cruel death upsetting us, so we head to bed early. As I climb into the bed that I share with Samantha, we hear a knocking on the door. Samantha and I stay in bed, since my father will get up to open it. But, Dad ends up calling me to get up. His voice is shaky.

My stomach churns, a million thoughts buzzing into my 15 year old brain, as I walk to the living room. Samantha walks alongside me, squeezing my hand reassuringly. Once I reach my father, I fall to my knees. There, standing before me, were two peacekeepers. They glare at me.

"Are you..." The woman checks her notepad. "Lilly Simmons?"

I numbly nod. I can feel Samantha and my father tense up. Mom appears moments later, the tears welling up in her eyes.

"Come with us." The other peacekeeper says coldly.

"No...there has to be some mistake! What did she do?!" Mom cries.

"Your daughter was caught trespassing in the forbidden woods with another girl. This is unacceptable." The lady grabs my arm, squeezing it tightly.

"Please don't take her." Dad pleads. "We'll do anything. Anything."

"We already lost my son a few years ago. Lilly's all we have." Mom starts to sob.

I cry, too, thinking of sweet little Owen. He was the youngest out of all of us, and the only one who looked like Mom-blond hair and bright green eyes. He was the happiest little boy. Owen sadly died of pneumonia when he was 3, though.

"No." The man says. "We need to get going."

Dad grabs his arm and falls to his knees. "Please. Please. She's my oldest. I can't lose her. I'm begging you."

The woman looks at him in disgust. As my father continues to plea with the peacekeeper, the woman pulls out a gun. I'm just about to tell him to duck, for her to stop and just leave him alone, but I'm frozen with fear. Samantha cries out, and my mother screams for him, but it's too late.

We can only watch as the bullet goes through my Daddy's head.

~~~~~