I scoop Teagan up and slam the front door behind me.

I run down the 4 flights of stairs to the bottom of the apartment building and wave to Jackie, the woman who works in the lobby at the desk. She tosses me 2 doggy treats and paper coffee cup filled with tea. I rifle through my pockets and hand her 3 cold coins.

"What happened? This is a dollar. That's 4 of these coins, not 3."

I sigh. "Sorry Jackie. Ruse is being extra greedy, and the candy shop is going low on business. Savanna doesn't know what to do. Customers always run low during the reaping months. Technically, we gotta give Ruse 100 a month, based on our earnings. We only earn a bit more. Savanna is already behind on the rent and Robin is gonna get us evicted by the end of the month if we can't pay it off by next week. And--"

"Don't worry. Just remember, this is the 3rd time this week. You gotta realize that I have to pay the rest of this from my own pocket money if you can't pay it off." Jackie responds. The middle aged woman pulls out a identical coin from her pocket and drops all four into the cash register. She's so kind. No one deserves her.

I wave goodbye and thank you as I slowly make my way to the tunnels like I do everyday, sipping my morning tea.

Aunt Ruse is technically our guardian, but she hasn't even seen us since she signed the contracts. She spends all her days pampering her spoiled puppies and giving her 20 year old rich son a new gold watch or buying him a new car that he doesn't even drive "just because". We don't file a report against her because her son, Ridge, is Savanna's boss, and can fire her as quickly as a cheetah in a race, leaving us starving and homeless. About a year ago, Savanna turned old enough to care for us legally, but she says she needs some more time. Ruse has to give us some money once in a while, and that's what we live on. We have slim chances of being able to live on the money Savanna makes. With both their money combined, we are living a decent life. The only thing we struggle with is rent and bills, and sometimes transportation. We usually use the bus, so it's no big problem. Other than that, we live in luxury.

We always had a decent meal. One in a blue moon, Savanna would come home empty handed, but that was fine by me. Usually, it's because she gives her coins and change that we use for food and gives it to the donation bus that takes donations from the richer districts and gives it to the poor.

Max and I have been trying to sell seashell necklaces that we made using shells from the beach and leftover string that mom used whenever she sewed, but no one would buy from us. We only raised $20 in the past 6 days.

    I run in a zig zag formation with Teagan close next to me, toward the underground stairs. Since it's reaping day, every one who is 12 to 18 is already outside, some swinging swords and axes, and some just saying goodbye to their family.

When I reach the bottom, I can hear the faint hum of the train making it's first stop of the day in the subway. The only people that use the train at this time in this area of the district are Gennie Smith, Mei Ling, and me, only on school days. The girls are my age and they take the train every day to school and back. Everyone else takes cars or private helicopters. Gennie and Mei both are only children and they live in the apartments above ours. The three of us usually hang together on the ride there and back, cause no one else uses the subway. They like to visit the library every once in a while or go to the Yoga Palace a few streets down to unwind every Saturday morning. I just sit down here until I have to go and actually do something.

I always sit in the east wing of the tunnels, where dad would work. I can still smell the faint scent of oranges and cloves stained on the tunnel walls that dad constructed. Dad said that I always had the strength to carry a boulder or build a house, and I should try it one day. I wish I could. I wish I could grow up and build a house and construct a restaurant and make tons of money, but I can't.

I sit on the cold, empty, metal bench where dad would eat his lunch at work every day. Teagan sits next to me quietly whimpering. I stroke her head softly.

I sit here everyday and I stare. I stare at the bricks and I smell the orange and cloves on dad. I smell it, stained on the ground forever. I feel the carved heart that he made in the ground when the cement was wet, I run my hand over it over and over again, until I can't feel it anymore.

I come back in the afternoons on school days and on weekends as I watch as the people busily go on about their day and rush past me, returning from work or weekend business trips. I watch as the children run toward their parents getting off the train and hug them tightly, I watch as mothers bring home clothes and food for their sons and daughters waiting at the stairs for them.

And then it's gone.

All gone.

In a second.

I blink back tears and dab at my eyes. Getting up, I check my watch. I have 30 minutes to hang out with Emma, and then I have another 15 to grab some taffy candy for Max as a treat, and then I have to head home and rush the two of them to the reaping in less than 45 minutes.

I grab Teagan and get up and out of the subway, briskly speed walking back to the park. I toss my empty cup in the trash and hug Emma, my BFF.

I met Emma in 3rd grade. I walked home from school that day and handed my mom a flyer for a play my school was holding. My mom thought it would be cool, so she signed me up without my permission. I tried out for the role of "Fairy 1". I ended up getting the part cause amount of people who showed up was a slump anyway. I got the name of the fairy (Pixie) and was practicing my lines backstage during the cowboy scene during rehearsal . At one point in the script, I realized there was a "Fairy 2" named Dixie, who turned out to be played a pretty girl named Emma. We got along well and she often came over to my house at the time to practice the scenes. After the play, we became best friends.

Today, we talk and take a nice stroll and talk for a while before my watch dings.

I sigh sadly and wave bye to her one last time.

Goodbye.