Fandom One Shots

Chapter 3: At First Sight

        Things in District 4 were cold in the winter, like most places. The cold air hung over everything like a freezing blanket, covering everything in its grasps and not letting go. Annie snuggled farther into her scarf. It was flimsy and torn in places, her father insisted on buying her new one's when he was sober. She liked the maroon one she wore more better, despite it's looks it provided a proficient amount of heat. It reminded her of home and in the winter she went no where without it. 

        A lot of people thought that District 4 didn't experience winter. That was inaccurate information. Before the series of natural disasters occured that created Panem, District 4 didn't have a winter. After the disasters happened and the sea level rose and everything, winter started happening like it had before. Ever since, District 4 has had a winter. Except for a few freak years when they had one snow fall and that was that. 

        Annie loved winter in District 4. She had never seen the other Districts during winter, had never seen the other districts period, but she knew their winters would never compare to District 4's. The strung lanterns across the streets and reefs on lamp poles. Stores put up lights and trees in their windows to show that they too had spirit.

        She turned down the road that lead to her house. She was from a middle-class family and lived in the center of town. She didn't get how they were middle-class, her father never went to work sober and rarely came home sober. Her mother had died many years ago in a Hunger Games and her father had been heart-broken since. She couldn't afford to be, even if she had remembered her mother. 

        Living in the center of the town was rare. Her father and her only managed to live there because her father was a Peacekeeper and they got special quarters. She loved living in the town but the quickest way to get home was through alleys that were sketchy. A lot of homeless people hung out there. She always got a shiver when she walked down the alleys because they were always dark, even in the daylight. 

        Pulling her jacket around her tighter, Annie walked into the last alley she had to walk through. This was the worst one. It was located right in between the butchers and the bakery. Many dumpsters and old soggy boxes were pressed against the brick walls. The homeless tended to make home in the old boxes and used the dumpsters as a food source. She tried to walk through it when one of the owners of the stores brought the trash out because they shooed them away, but that was very rare. Annie hated walking through it alone, the homeless begged for fresh food and money, she was always too tempted. 

        Sucking in a breath, she made her way through it. Unfortunately, there were five people today. Annie avoided eye contact, she learned to do that at a young age. 

        If she had looked maybe it wouldn't have happened. 

        She thinks that sometimes.

        And, then she remembers what she got out of the situation. 

        That's when she is thankful it happened. 

        "Hey," said a rough voice from the group of people cluttered against the wall. They were all wearing hardly any clothes and were skinny. Somehow they all managed to afford alcohol, because bottles of whisky were hanging from their hands limply. The boy who had spoken to her was holding one that was almost empty and his hands were shaking. 

        Annie went rigid at the sound of the voice. People hanging in this alley always talked to her, but they were always begging and whining for food or money or a place to work. This guy sounded violent and she hated how much it scared her. Sucking in yet another breath, she shuffled forward at a quicker pace.