Instigators {Ghosty}

It was early morning, and it was a weekend. The two of these things together, Joule really liked. She didn't like the rain, however, it it was raining rather heavily outside at the moment. She had to awaken rather early in order to run an errand for her mother, however, so she would be going outside anyway. Heading downstairs, she greeted her mother, who was already up. They each gave each other a smile, as well as a hug, and then headed into the kitchen for breakfast. Joule's large family was mostly not yet awake at this point, as it was just she and her mother, but they ate breakfast together, regardless, as Joule did have to get going.

As they ate, they spoke a bit about the reaping that had happened just recently. No one they knew had been picked, which was reassuring to them. Joule was even more glad that she made it through her first reaping unscathed. She hadn't been picked, which meant that she had at least another year to live.

Finishing breakfast, Mrs. Spark and Joule both rose from the table and took care of the dishes. Due to the smaller amount of food that the family had, they rarely had anything leftover, eating all of what they were served at each meal.

Getting food was just what Joule would be doing today, too. She had to be sent out this morning by her mother to purchase some more food near the district square, and since her other siblings had all gone recently to do that job, it was Joule's turn. She headed over toward the front door of her home, and due to the rain outside, decided it was best to put on her boots, as well as the coat that she had. Perhaps the rain would melt some of the snow that had been there for so long. That would be nice, Joule thought.

Zipping up her coat, Joule said goodbye to her mother and opened the door, heading outside into the cool, rainy weather. She walked for a while, as she was going somewhat slow, despite living rather close to the center of the district. As she walked, she passed a bench where she remembered that she had fallen and hit her head not too long ago. A boy, Tommy, had helped her then. He assisted her in getting home. Not too many days later, her head was still hurting, and they concluded she had a concussion. Joule was grateful that Tommy had helped her.

She was almost to where she needed to be, when she noticed the rain was stopping. Indeed, some of the snow had melted, and there were puddles on the sidewalk in some places where the snow had been cleared off. Then, Joule was shoved from behind very forcefully. She almost fell when she was pushed forward, but managed to catch herself. Then, she turned around toward the person that had shoved her. There was a boy, very tall and who looked very strong for his age. He appeared to be perhaps fifteen or sixteen years of age, and was joined by two rather pretty yet intimidating looking females.

"What're you doing out here, midget? Looking for another kid to take home to your already pathetic family?" the boy teased her. Her family had taken in two orphaned children before and adopted them as their own, but that didn't mean she was looking for someone off the street to just drag to her house with her. This made her mad, and the instigators could see the redness in her face. They all laughed, and Joule was too afraid to speak up.

"Listen, kid. No one likes you or the rest of your family. You're all pathetic, and I honestly don't see why you even dare leaving the house." one of the girls teased. Joule appeared at this point like she was going to cry, and had no idea what to do. Her body was shaking, and she wanted someone to help her.