[88th] The Reaping - District 6

sleep —

In her head, anything was possible. You see, that's the problem with that phrase. Everyone only ever thought of the positive side of things. They thought of rainbows and sunshine and living up to your parents' expectations, but the phrase wasn't 'anything positive' for a reason. And listen, she would be the first to tell you: the mind is capable of dreaming up some dark, terrifying stuff. And the real kicker was that she was trapped within her own, a victim of her own dreams.

Right now, she was standing in the quiet of a forest. The trees were green and the wind whistled through the tops way, way above her. Her bare feet dug into the moist soil. A white nightgown stopped just below her knees. But something was wrong- something always was. Maybe it was her mind's way of trying to wake her up from the coma, but every time she dreamed, impossible things happened. Like now, when a bird dressed as a squirrel flew down, hovered in front of her face for a moment, and then fluttered away.

She took a step, fingertips touching the bark of the nearest tree.

Where am I? she thought, and then, is this mine to bend and break?

She paused to test herself, to force the trees to snap in half, or the wind to lift her from her feet and carry her into the sky, or a talking deer to climb out of the dirt and lead her home. Nothing happened.

No, she thought, I am not god. A moment's pause.

Which must make me a prisoner.

Could that be true? She didn't feel like a prisoner, after all. She clearly wasn't caged in- at least not in any way she could tell- and yet that sounded like the most sensical thing she could have thought: I am a prisoner. The ground began to rumble at her feet, the sky began to quake. Tendrils of darkness snaked around her ankles and beams of light yanked at her wrists and she thought she might have been pulled in two for a brief moment.

Then, as if she had been holding it, she caught her breath.

---

awaken —

The first thing Willa Copeland saw when her eyes fluttered open was a young man with a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead and an apparent aversion to eye contact. She was in white room, quiet and tranquil, on a bed that was impossibly comfortable- or maybe she was just so tired that it could've been a sheet on the stone floor and she would've wanted to fall back to sleep. The boy held a clipboard in one hand, and a contraption with a red button in the other. He still had the button pressed down and she noticed some sort of tube connected to the button was fed directly into her arm.

"W-" she tried to speak and realized only then how sore her jaw was when she went to open it. All of her was sore, in fact. Stiff. Petrified, as if she hadn't moved a day in her life.

"We don't have much time," the boy said. He didn't seem pleased about the situation, but neither was she.

"Where am I?"

He forced her into a sitting position, and she was vomiting on the presented bile bag an instant later. Everything ached, everything yawned, everything begged her to lie back down, but when she tried to, he pushed against her back and refused to let her.

"I'm too tired." she said. It was all she could do to keep her eyes open.

He replied by pulling a syringe out of his pocket and feeding it into the same line the button was connected to.

"You've been reaped."

It took her a long while to even understand what he meant. And then she smiled lazily.

"The reaping isn't until this summer."

"It is summer."

Whatever he dosed her with was starting to kick in and she could feel herself waking up more and more by the second. Enough now that she knew everything he was saying made no sense. She was on the verge of tears, frustration starting to take over where sleep had once been. Where was she? Who was he? What was wrong with her? What happened to her?

"It's December."

"You were in an accident. It's June."

How had she forgotten six months of time? The last thing she remembered was that she'd gone out for ice cream with her sister, made it back home by eight, and was in bed by nine. This didn't make any sort of sense, in any sort of way. But before she could ask any further questions, four people dressed in white marched into the room- peacekeepers- and awaited further instruction.

"Can she walk?" one asked. The man with the button didn't answer right away, too caught up in whatever he was scribbling onto the clipboard.

"Please tell me what's going on!"

The all acted like she wasn't even in the room.

"Yes. She can walk."

Without any further comment, the two peacekeepers closest to her each took an arm and forced her to her feet.

"You're late," grumbled the one who'd spoken before. She felt blood filling up places that had been running on empty for too long. It didn't make any sense. The doctor had said she was in some sort of accident, which she supposed made sense, given that she had woken up in some sort of hospital. And he said it was June. Which meant she had either forgotten half of the last year, or she hadn't been there to remember it.

"Please!" Dizziness overtook her and the peacekeepers holding her arms were also holding all of her weight. Her feet dragged across the floor, attempting- and struggling- to keep pace.

"Where are you taking me?!"

"We gotta film your reaping. Edit it in so we can get the broadcast out before the other district mentors start sending in requests."

She struggled against them.

"I don't know what that means!"

He lost interest in the conversation.

---

reality —

DISTRICT SIX REAPING

[ The filming starts with the Panem anthem, showing a montage of the District Six tributes throughout the years, highlighting TEDDY URSA as he struck down his final target in the 76th Hunger Games, and ending at last with FLYNN GARNER doing the same in the 87th Hunger Games. After this, cameras pan over the audience of reapables. Most are quiet and shy looking, not many who look impressive. Cut to the main stage, where an eclectic person walks onto the stage, joined by the victors and the District Six mayor. The eclectic person comes to a stop between two bowls full of names, their mouth hovering in front of a microphone ]

          STAR:
"WELCOME!"

       (Pause for applause)

"IT IS TIME TO ONCE AGAIN SEND TWO OF OUR OWN CHILDREN TO THE CAPITOL TO COMPETE IN THE HUNGER GAMES. LET US BEGIN THE REAPING!"

[ As the eclectic person - Star - reaches into the first bowl, the camera pans to the audience again. This time, they look even more frightened than the last. ]

          STAR:

WILLA COPELAND!

[ A strange, choppy sequence of clips shows various closeups of a very tired, terrified-looking girl as she is escorted onto the stage by peacekeepers. She is not shown in the audience. No recordings show reactions from family or friends. The peacekeepers seem to be holding her up, as if she might fall if they let go. For the rest of the reaping, the cameras seem focused mainly on the audience, and only show closeups of the escort when they begin speaking again. No one volunteers for the
girl. ]

          STAR:

MOVING ALONG, THEN-