The New Apple (Open)

I hadn't wanted to awaken, not this particular morning. I had been pulled out of a rare pleasant dream by the daybreak. It had come with its gentle sun, prodding me from my slumber. Slowly, I had risen. Quickly, lazily, I had stretched and even begun to rub the sleep out of my eyes, blurring the edges of my small bedroom. It was progress, a small step forward. Usually, in the morningtime, I was being pulled out of a nightmare or tugged forcefully to alertness. Truly, I had never been a morning person.

Yet the orchards were calling, as they did every dawn. I wouldn't have had to wake this early if it wasn't for school. This was spring, however, and not only was it routine for all of District 11 to get out in the fields at a much earlier time, this was the season for my routine early morning walk. It was habit, perhaps even an unnecessary one-- the last thing I needed was more time with nothing but the comfort of my own solitude-- that I found quite impossible to break. Once you began with it, once you master the art of loneliness, there was no need for company. It was a reckless way of thinking, the I don't need company attitude. It was a way that rejected relationships and would likely result in hurt. The difference is, it wasn't that I did not like company. I just don't need it.

Finally, eventually, I could feel my body heave in an attempt at moving. Once I did untangle myself from my unruly bed sheets, I rolled off my mattress, pushing up my body with my short arms, the color of caramel (a delicacy I'd only ever heard about). I could just hear Leilani beginning to stir, her husband Sir's throaty grumble of a voice in the bed beside her. I began to wander off, and then noted my sore limbs. Of course. Yesterday, they'd made certain people in the orchards haul wheelbarrows overflowing with food all the way over to the Justice Building, out from where we were desolately going about our work. The Peacekeepers stood at attention, daring to whip anyone who faltered or hesitated at their orders. I was not amongst the whip, but a girl I knew from class was. She got whipped until her back bled for defiantly dropped her wheelbarrow several times, purposely. We watched as her back ran a river of red.

Dressing in work appropriate clothing was much more simple than, say, preparing for a typical day of school. There was one outfit that males and females wore. Out in the orchards, we all looked identical. I slipped into my boots, worn with age and hours of labor. I performed tasks typical for the morning. Adjusting my hair, for example. Applying the lotion that I had to scrape the bottom of the round container to receive. Neglecting to eat breakfast, though a hearty loaf of bread beckoned. I honestly couldn't stand another instant in the house. And then, after yelling a 'goodbye' to Leilani and Sir, void of emotion, I began to trot to the orchards. For some reason, today I ventured farther than I usually would have, beyond the rows of newly planted seeds and out towards the apple tree.

There. Just beyond a particularly large tree, I spotted a shadow. It couldn't have been the Peacekeepers, who were always much too lazy to properly inspect the orchards thoroughly and only intervened when one was breaking a law. No, this was no Peacekeeper. It was someone who looked slightly smaller than me, a female, I'd infer. Or were my eyes playing tricks on me in the pale sunlight? Peering forward almost silently, I didn't dare make a sound. I just listened for several moments. There was rustling, up in a tree. I stiffened, hands still at my sides, slowly curling up into balls as I resisted the urge to climb up that tree. My mouth watered at the thought of an apple, but I calmed myself, knowing that thievery from the orchards was severely punishable and against the law. Several moments later, there was the unmistakable crunch of someone biting into an apple.

Initially, my reaction was shock. When it subsided, I was dumbfounded. Who would dare do such a thing?

[/i] I pondered, poised for a retreat. As I eased my body backwards, disaster struck. Whilst heading down, the heel of my boot snapped a twig. Every bone in my body froze. I became an instant icicle, barely having time to fix my posture before falling over. I had tripped, stupidly, on the root of the tree that rose up from the ground behind me. Ashamed, I aimed my dark brown eyes at the ground, not daring to glance upward at whoever I had caught breaking the law.
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Other: Wait, I can join, right?

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I just relax there. Not wanting to do a single thing, eating an apple, just like I felt this morning. Except, not in the luxurious comfort of my bed. Ahh, I love that bed so much, I would love to die in it. Being away from this cruel world. The peacekeepers, districts, The Hunger Games, and the moronic bag of organs, President Snow. I wish this feeling could last forever, so it would never end, just laying here on the covered in branches and leaves dirt. Seems like another place I would like to die in. Now my mind is in another parallel universe. Where there no Hunger Games, cries, wails of fear, or Peacekeepers. That universe would be amazing. But, that would never be a possibility in this universe, not in a millennium. My thoughts could go on for a lifetime, but I have to live in this one. My train of thoughts begin to go into a hault, it's wheels screeching as if it were about to crash. My sore and covered-in-bruise body tries moving itself to gather some more apples. But just as I am going to go away from my mind-slumber and move along, I hear a thunk. As if someone hit some wood. Is a Peacekeeper behind me, with a whip? Did they catch me eating an apple even though I am breaking several laws? Or did someone else gathering apples trip or are climbing a tree? My sore neck turns slowly to my right. I am already getting goosebumps and 95% of my body is rattling with fear. Now my eyes are looking around the edge, I can feel my hands shaking as if they were having a spasm. After a brief moment, I am now looking behind the trunk of the tree. My brain is trying to wrap around whats going on, as if it were processing it like what those workers for the Gamemakers use to kill the tributes in a painful, gruesome death. I see a girl, laying on the dirt. Her foot is hooked to the tree behind her. It seems like she tripped over the root. After that, I see another girl walking slowly towards her, as if she was a ghost coming to kill her. That girl then holds her hand out, seemingly holding her hand out to the girl that tripped. Now that I know that I am non-oblivious and know what is going on, I look at the chewed up and now covered in dirt apple, and fling it from my hands like a catapult into the nearby trees, rustling through the foliage in the trees, attempting to hide any evidence.

As my hand waits for a handle in the air, I start thinking about the situation. I'm her.. I've done this exact thing before. My mind starts racing as I recall the incident in the fields. I remember a boy, actually a couple of boys, and one girl. I was foolish enough to take out an apple from my pocket and offer it to one of the boys. What a fool I was. Sure enough, peacekeepers came, the boys, and me were punished, greatly. They didn't even do anything. And that other girl, she fled. I hope she made it out alright.

As I feel a hand grasp on to my own I come back to reality. I help the girl up and watch the girl in the corner fling an apple. Oh yeah, like thats going to help. I let out a small sigh and turn to the girl I helped up. She just said something... "Thanks so much." I nod, "No problem." Where do I know this girl from? We both turn towards the girl in the corner almost simultaneously.

"I can't beileve you just ate that apple." I look at the girl beside me. She can't beileve it? We are starving out here while the Capitol gorges them selfs. Its not fair. For some reason I can't bring myself to hate the girl, so I manage a few words in her case. "Can you blame her... I mean, we are all starving out here." There I go, running my mouth again. My head wips around looking for a white uniform... good, none so far.