𝐀𝐔𝐑𝐎𝐑𝐀 𝐏𝐎𝐕

I lay stiffly in bed, listening to the sound of my brother's ragged breathing. It's early, not even 5:00 in the morning, yet I haven't even gotten a wink of sleep.

You know that feeling? The one where you just know something terrible is about to happen, yet you can't do anything to stop it? That's exactly how I've been feeling, ever since last night when my best friend, Eliza Ferris met me behind the old warehouse, the one where they make things used for transportation. 

I never really knew why we create the transportation if no one ever gets to use it. The only time I've ever ridden in a car was when my younger brother, my dad, and I were ushered to my older brother's funeral. 

It doesn't matter how many times I try to forget the day when my brother died on national television, in front of thousands and thousands of people, it just doesn't go away. Like when you get a stain on your brand new white shirt and no matter how hard you scrub it, it stays there, forever. But that was five years ago, back when Dad was still alive.

Everyone who has talked to me about said it was just a tragic accident. I know better than to believe what I hear. 

My father, a wonderful man, and one of my favorite people in the world, had gone into work one day just like any other day. That day I had also woken up with the same feeling I was experiencing now. 

Even though it happened two years ago, the picture is still clear in my mind. It plays like a video on repeat. The banging on the door, the Peacekeepers standing on the front step, stating briskly that my father had died in a warehouse accident. Warehouse accidents were quite common where I lived, several happening within a week or so, but the news of my father hit me like a brick. Someone had to have put something into the transportation piece he was working on. He had been the only one who died. My father had been too good for this world and someone had finally noticed it. Of course nothing good can ever exist in the world of Panem.

There was no one left to take care of me and my brother, Everett. All of our family had either died in the war or participating in the  fight to the death that has happened every year since I was three. The day after that was the first time I had ever been in the mayor's office. It was also the last day anyone saw me cry.

Mayor Addams, a thin lady with a stone cold face and even colder gray eyes, told my brother and I that we would be living with the Gulls, a family that lived about two blocks away. I had never met the Gulls and I wish I never did. 

Persephone and Willis Gull were the cruelest people I had ever met. Persephone was tiny and thin, so thin you could see several bones pointed out. She had the lightest eyes I had ever seen, they looked almost as if they were white, as I would've thought so if I didn't see the black pupil in the middle. Her black hair was piled onto the top of her head, the kind that took hours on end to complete. Her husband, Willis, was frail too and had a thick mustache that looked like some sort of bug crawling across his face. Looking at the thin couple you would've never expected the things they would do.

Called them anything besides 'Ma'am' or 'Sir'? Slapped. Being even a second late? Slapped. Didn't serve dinner (mostly of which consisted of the smallest portions, anything they could muster, most of which going to Persephone and Willis)? Slapped. Didn't do everything perfectly every second of every day? You guessed it, slapped. 

I took most of the hits for my brother. Some were worse than others but the bruises stayed. I didn't care. It was almost as if showing off battle scars, something to keep me going, rather than discouraging me. 

The only good thing that ever came out of living with the Gulls, was moving in next to Eliza Ferris. Eliza was 13 years old then, I was 11. That didn't seem to matter to us though. We met on the front step of her house. Persephone had ordered me to go retrieve a single egg from next door, threatening me before I could even respond with a 'yes'.  I knocked firmly on their blue-gray door, one that was incredibly worn out and dull. A small black haired girl had answered the door, peeking out curiously from the other side. When she had seen me she opened the door further. The rest is history.

We've been best friends for two years now, helping each other through the worst of times. We had our special meeting spot, being the old warehouse, which was where we were as of last night. 

It was late. About, 10:00 or 11:00 at night. Her parents knew she was out but didn't really care, they thought I was a good influence on her. Don't know where they got that idea. My guardians on the other hand, thought I was asleep with my brother in our hard, lumpy bed. Little did they know, after I tucked Everett into bed, listened to make sure he was fast asleep, I slipped out the window and into the night. 

We were in our usual spots, her on the right,  tapping her foot anxiously and braiding her hair over and over again until it couldn't be braided anymore, and me on the left, my knees tucked to my chest, staring at the cold dirt. It had been a comfortable silence, just the sound of crickets chirping and the whirring of mechanics inside, the night workers working on cars and trains. Eliza suddenly shattered the silence.

"I have something to tell you," she blurted out, like she was holding it in the entire time we had been there.  

"Hmm?" I responded, barely looking up from where I was tracing my hand in the dirt. I would wipe it away later, leaving no trace for the nosy Peacekeepers to find. 

"I overhead my mother and Persephone talking this morning," she said, hurrying her sentence as if not to get caught saying it.

"This has to be good," I muttered under my breath sarcastically. Eliza bit her lip, in between the stages of deciding to tell me or keeping it a secret. 

"Persephone has been putting your name in the bowl," Eliza blurted, immediately covering her mouth with a hand and her cheeks turning pink.  My finger slowly stopped tracing in the dirt. Of course she has, I thought to myself. 

"Did you hear why?" I asked quietly. Eliza nodded and gulped, her eyes watering. 

"She's getting money for it," she said. "Every time your name goes in it's like- I don't know,  50 dollars for her? Oh, Rora, she's so terrible." Eliza buried her head in her hands. As if she could do anything about it. Persephone was a terrible person and always had been, no changing that. I moved over next to her and wrapped my arm around her tiny form.

"Hey, it's okay El. There is nothing you could ever do that could change the way she acts. It is what it is. Just promise me one thing." I waited until she looked up at me, tears staining her cheeks. "If I get picked-"

"No! Stop! You won't get picked, you can't!" Eliza cried. I quickly shushed her as I glanced nervously around. Good thing for us was that no one ever stayed up late in District Six. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I just can't lose you."

"And you won't," I said, not even caring that it was a lie. "Now listen to me. In the very small chance that I do get picked, you have to take care of Everett, don't let them treat him like they treat me. Please." Eliza nodded softly, sniffing. 

I stood up from where I was crouched down next to her and offered a hand for her to grab onto. She reluctantly grabbed it and I pulled her up and into a hug. "It will be okay El."

"We should get back," she said, pulling away after a few minutes. "It's getting late." 

"Happy Hunger Games," I mimic Azalea Harwell, our district's escort. This makes Eliza laugh softly.

"And may the odds be ever in our favor," she smiles. We both laugh and start the short journey back to our houses. 

"Hey Rora?" This voice doesn't belong to Eliza. My eyes flutter open and I realize I've been sleeping. Not for long of course, a measly ten minutes of sleep. Oh well, good enough. 

"Yes, Ev?" I reply, turning so I'm face to face with the eleven year old boy. 

"How many times is your name in the bowl?" he questions, his voice soft. I bite my lip.

"I don't know Ev," I settle for a reply. "I don't know." Surprisingly, I am telling the truth. With this new information Eliza gave me, I honestly don't know how many times my name could be placed in there. 

"Rora?" Everett says again. 

"Yes, Ev?"

"You promise to stay with me, right?" he says, his eyes watering.

"I'll do my best Ev. I'll do my best." I sigh. 

I hear Persephone's heels clacking down the hallway and mentally prepare myself for what is about to come. 

If only what was about to come was something you could prepare for.

⋆. ݁⭒ 𝘚𝘖𝘗𝘏𝘐𝘈 𝘚𝘗𝘌𝘈𝘒𝘚 ⋆. ݁⭒

HEYYY GUYSSSS!!! Here is the first chapter for y'all. This chapter is basically introducing Aurora and how she lives but next chapter will be about the Reaping and all that. I hope everyone is liking the book so far and feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts!