71st Reaping [D8]

Lily and Paige. Paige and Lily. Lily and Paige. It has been almost a whole year now, one whole, awful, tortorus year for me. I have still not gotten used to just being called Paige. I was a twin, part of a matched set, two individuals that could never, would never be seperated. When people say my name, I can tell that on the tip of their tongues lays a name that should never be spoken again. Lily. Never again should that cursed name be on our tongues. That is what I think. Even though I spend every day making sure that I am making her happy. Her. My sister. My deas sister. I live so that wherever she is, she will hope for me to have a good life. Hope. It is our last name, but my family and I have lost so much of it, the whole thing is ironic. Our last name should not be hope. It should be despair.

I miss her so much, so much that no matter what, I can barely even speak her name without choking on it, as if it is sacred, and maybe it is. She had gone far, farther than I could have ever made it if I were to have gone into that hellish steampunk arena. That area where I would have wilted and died, Lily had flourished like a beautiful rose as she became a queen, rising above everyone else, before being cut down by a mere knife thrown to the center of her iris.

I am sitting now, all alone. Lily had been my best friend of all, such a good friend that I would have died for her. If I had a chance, I would have given anything to go to that Hellish arena with her, meet my triplet. On the tv screen it had called the thing that was my triplet, "L1ly." It was a spin off of my sister, toturing her, defiling her name and using it to hurt, to destroy, to hide the monster that refused to be hiden inside of the gears that made it work.

I wanted to just tear it to shreds, run through the screen and assist my sister. To rip out Warren Whip's throat. To stab Charlie Garnet and laugh the maniacal laughter of L1ly as I teared her limb from limb.

I stare up at the smog filled ski of district eight from the step leading up to my house, my small legs out in front of me. I wonder what Lily would have said in a situation like this. It has been so long, I can't imagine it now though, I can barely see her smile, her laugh, her small features running through the small patches of dry brown grass here.

I sigh, and hear a noise. My head rotates, staring up from my sitting position, wondering who could have made that sound, a look of small curiosity, and slight fear formed on my small face. Maybe it is Dom Copperview, coming to finish what Warren Whip had started, terror and destruction in my family. Maybe it is a peacekeeper, coming to make us cry, to say tyat Preston had died in the Dention Center. Maybe he would laugh at me, maybe if it was a peacekeeper, he would try to drag me away. To try and take me away from my guardian angel. Eva.

My vocal cords tighten as I prepare to call out to Eva. Barely anyone tries to walk down our street anymore. Everyone stays far away from us as if we are cursed with some horrible affliction that moves like wildfire. Maybe it is, maybe I will be reaped this year, maybe I will volunteer this year to kill myself, to get away from the pain. The reaping is almost upon us, just a few small hourd away, that to me seems like an eternity, gripping the district in a state of terror. I had thought I would be the only one out of the house, brave enough to show my face around here, but the truth is, is that I am not brave or fearless. I am afraid now, of who is there, walking up near me. I am afraid.

I then realize it is Eva, walking towards me to take me to the reaping. She wants to make sure that I do not break down. That I do not fall to the ground and cry. I stand up and walk over to her and grasp her hand like my life depnded on it. We walk in silence to the reaping area, where blood is drawn, and we are seperated. I hear the commotion of the crowd turn to silence as the escort from district eight started on his long, annoying talk, amd then the moment of truth. He walked over to thr glass bowl after saying the famous, "Ladies First." He picked out a slip of paper and I could hear the crowd holding their breath, "Gina Linoone."

This is the time. I had decided on it before Lily had died, what I would do these games. My hand shoots into the air, like Lily's before she was sent to her death. "I volunteer!" I scream into the air, "I volunteer as tribute!" I rush up to the stage, peacekeepers parting to let me pass. "I am Paige Hope." I say into the microphone, "and I volunteer."