"Margo and Alexia Hawthorne!"
Shit.
I freeze. Alexia freezes. Everyone turns and stares at us. From behind us, I hear our family crying and Lily screaming my name. A group of peacekeepers come and grabs us and pushes us onto the stage. I take Alexia into my arms as Vita introduces us to Panem.
"So, girls, can you just quickly say who is who and how old you both are? Right here into the microphone," Vita tells us.
"I'm Margo, I'm 16, and Alexia's 15," I say quickly for both of us before stepping back.
As Vita says her closing remarks, a different group of peacekeepers bring us into the Justice Building. We are told to sit and wait in a room together, so we do. Alexia sits down on a small couch with her face in her hands, and I pace back and forth from the door to the window.
After a couple of minutes, the door opens, and Troy and our parents come stumbling through it, with a peacekeeper outside saying something about a time limit. Alexia jumps up and I run over to hug them all. Mother is crying so much that she's having trouble speaking. Father is in utter disbelief. Troy is in shock, and the way he's acting he must think this is a dream. After a moment I break the hug. I bend down to look at Troy.
"Troy, listen to me. Promise me that you will never take any tesserae. It isn't worth it. Promise me!" I say to him, cupping his little face in my hands.
"I promise," he says, scared and confused.
I stand up and grab my parents' shoulders.
"You two have to stay strong. Keep living just like nothing is different," I tell them.
"I can't lose you two," Mother says through tears, "I've lost so many people to the games I can't lose you too,"
I look her straight in the eyes.
"You are not going to lose both of us. Do you hear me?" I say.
She nods, and we all hug again. The peacekeepers come back in and say that our time is up. They have to drag Mother out of the building, literally kicking and screaming. Alexia sits back down on the tiny couch and begins to sob, and I resume pacing.
"This is actually happening," I say, looking out the window.
"This is actually happening," Alexia repeats, quietly, to herself.
We stay like this for another few minutes until one of the peacekeepers come into the room.
"There's someone waiting for you in another room, Ms. Hawthorne," he says looking at me.
At this Alexia starts to panic, she doesn't want to be alone. I kneel down in front of her and look her in the eyes.
"It's alright, Lexi, I'll be right back. I promise," I say softly, trying to calm her down. She hugs me tightly.
"Please don't leave me," she softly cries out.
"I swear to you, I'll be right back," I tell her again, softly smiling.
After a moment she brings her knees up to her chest and nods. I stand and the peacekeeper takes me out of the room. I hear Alexia begin to cry again. I walk down the hallway and am pushed into another room, a little bit smaller than the first, with another person inside.
"Lily," I say softly.
She rushes into my arms, sobbing.
"You can't leave, this can't be happening," she says into my shoulder.
She takes a step away from me, looking me over quickly.
"Do you not have your token with you?" she asks.
"No, I never bring one to the reaping. Makes me feel like I have less chance of getting picked I guess," I say, "But that didn't exactly work out,"
She takes off her necklace, a silver chain with a small moon pendant, and places it around my neck. She puts one hand on my chest.
"You better bring this back to me," she says, smiling once through the tears.
I embrace her once more, whispering, "You'll get it back, don't worry,"
We stay like that until the peacekeeper comes back to drag us both out of the room. We are brought down the hallway in different directions, and as she is pushed out the main door of the Justice Building, I hear her scream,
"I love you Margo!"
As the doors shut and I am brought back to the room with Alexia, I whisper something else.
"Goodbye,"
YOU ARE READING
The 175th Hunger Games
Fanfic"On the 175th anniversary, for the rebels to remember that the war was fought against their own brothers, the two tributes selected from each district will be siblings, both between the ages of 12 and 18 as per usual." One hundred and one years aft...
