59Hey, this is the first chapter of my story, I hope you all like it. Just so you know, I'm sorry if the first two chapters are a little slow, I just wanted to introduce all of the charecters before I jump right into the story, so bear with me! Either way, heeeeere we goooo!
Raven
Ravenclaw Carlyle woke up to the sound of her mother's fists rapping against her bedroom door,
"Up! Up! I swear to god, if I have to come in there…Get up, child!" Raven snapped her eyes open and sat up on her bed. Once she realised where the noise was coming from, she sighed. As much as she wished it wasn't, this was generally how she woke up in the morning. So Raven rolled herself out of bed and dressed as quickly as she could, because she knew that if her mother had to come back, her fists wouldn't be hitting the door.
Once she was dressed she left her room for the bathroom to brush her hair and teeth. She looked at herself in the mirror, and her blonde hair was in tangles all the way down to her waist, so she brushed it out until it fell evenly again. She looked at her face and it was pale. However her face was always pale. Much unlike other girls in her District, Raven's hair (ironically) was long and blond, while other girls in her District had either auburn or occasionally black hair. Her father had always told her it must have been a trait that belonged to someone higher up in her family tree, because neither of her grandparents on either side of the family had it. Her eyes were dark, almost completely black. She often found it made her look rather devilish, not that she considered herself a bad kid, however. So when she was finished with the basics she headed out to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for herself and her mother.
She entered into their small living room/ kitchen, and quickly busied herself making breakfast. She began clearing away the beer bottles that had been left on the counter from last night, and probably some from the night before too. She hated how her mother drank. It was sad, because not once in her life could she remember a time when she was sober, and if she wasn't drunk, she was hung over and cranky.
She moved over to the fridge to get some bacon and some eggs, only to find out that they were out of bacon. So she decided that eggs and toast would have to do. She began frying some eggs in the pan, and while she was at it, made 5 slices of toast. As she busied herself in the kitchen, her mother sat on the couch on the other side of the round wooden table they ate at watching television. A loud laugh, almost like a bark, came out of her as she sat in front of the television. Raven was never allowed to watch. Raven stayed quite, but not long afterwards a smash came from over where her mother sat. She had broken another beer bottle. It didn't take long for her mother to start shouting,
"Welllll", she slurred, "what are ya waitin fur stupid! Come pick it up!"
"Yes, Mom." She replied quietly. Her mother then stood up and stumbled towards the table,
"Hurry upp with breakfast, stupid kid…" she mumbled as she sat herself down into a chair. Raven tried not to look at her mother very often, but she could imagine her mother's overweight figure plopping itself down onto a chair while her dark auburn hair bounced around on her head and her green eyes watched the table hazily. Raven was so glad she looked nothing like her mother. She dumped the eggs onto a plate and set it on the table, then did the same with the toast. Before she sat down to eat, she grabbed the broom from the closet behind the door and swept up her mother's broken beer bottle, disappointment welling up inside of her with every sweep. When she was done, she dumped the shards in the garbage can, and put the broom back in its place. She then sat down at the table to eat her breakfast.
"Did ya clean it upp?
"Yes."
"Did you put the broom back?"
"Yes"
"Good…" And they ate the rest of their meal in silence. Ravens mother finished first, and stumbled out the back door, probably to continue drinking from the cooler her mother leaves out there. She doesn't go into town, because shop owners won't deal with her (except for the guy who runs the liquor store, he loves her), so she sends Raven to do everything for her. She quietly began to clean up the dishes, and as she did so she thought about her father.
Raven's father worked for the Capitol; however she never did understand what it was he did. He was never around during the year, and they really didn't keep in touch (his job wouldn't allow it). He only ever came home at Christmas; to what he thought was a loving family. Every year before he would come home for the holidays, Ravens mother would go crazy and make the house clean and would try to stay sober enough so that he wouldn't notice. It wasn't difficult, considering he was only home for five days. Even though she hardly saw her father, she loved him more than anything and liked to keep a countdown in her head until how long it would be until he came home. After that he left for the rest of the year. All she knew about his job was the name that was carefully printed on the checks (Anderhill Insurance) he would send to them every month because her mother didn't work.
It was ten when Raven was done cleaning up the house, so she left the house and headed for the one place of refuge she knew, the training center. But, as she was leaving the house, her mother came around the corner and shouted at her,
"Child! Get your asss back over her nouuw!" So close, Raven thought. She walked back over to where her mother was standing. "Thought you could leave the house without letting m' know, huh? Well, jackass, that's not truuue. Idiot Child!" She screamed, and her hand connected with Ravens face, leaving an ugly red mark. It wasn't the first time her mother had hit her, and probably wouldn't be the last.
"Sorry Mom…" She said in a high pitched whisper.
"Whatever! Get'cher sorry ass back in that house, get some money, and buy me fifteen candles!" She slurred out at her child.
"Candles, why-"
"CUZ I DON'T PLAAAN ON PAYIN THE ELK'TRIKLE BILL, HEAR ME?"
"Yes mom," she whispered with her head down. Afterwards, she scurried inside to take a look at her face in a mirror, which was already beginning to bruise underneath her right eye, and then she fetched some money from the jar above the counter for the fifteen candles her mother wanted. She hurried down the driveway and down the road into town.
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
It was the satisfying sound of her blade making target with the dummy. She quickly hurried over to the dummy to pluck out the knives before anyone could see her work. She didn't want people at the training center to know how good she was, It was her own little OCD thing. She checked around to make sure no one was watching, and landed three more knives. One between the eyes, in the throat, and in the center of the chest. She prided herself for her work with knives; although she desperately hoped she never have to use this skill. Despite being from what some would call a "Career District", she wasn't super excited about the games, and never planned on volunteering. Although 13 would be young to volunteer anyways. Personally she found them rather sickening, but seeing as there was nothing she could do about it, she didn't say anything.
She looked around the training center. Most people were casually going about their business, some with crowds, and others without. However, in one corner, by the spears and tridents, there was a very large crowd gathered around one boy with auburn hair and tanned skin, who was throwing tridents and wrestling with people. He was tall; she guessed maybe he was 15. He appeared rather cocky, and pleased with what he was doing. She could hear others around him shouting praise. Raven never liked large crowds. She glanced up at the clock, and cursed herself because she realized many of the stores would be closing soon.
'Shoot!' she thought to herself, 'I still need Candles!" and she hurried out of the training center.
"That'll be 16.43" Said the lady behind the counter. She had looked oddly at Raven when she had asked for so many candles, but gave them to her none the less. Raven paid the woman with a wrinkly twenty dollar bill. The woman on the other end of the counter looked at her sympathetically, and offered her a basket, to which she graciously accepted. She loaded the candles into the basket and started to trudge home. The basket was very heavy.
There we go, Chapter uno is up! I took a break from all of my other stories for a while to write this one, I've got a few chapters written already so I hope you like it. Yes, first chapter is a little slow but I just want to introduce you to the characters in the first two chapters before I launch right into the story. I've wanted to write one about Finnick for a while, but had never gotten around to it! And yes, Ravenclaw is a character I created because I never like Annie. Anyways, happy hunger games, read on, Imma go get some cookies and chocolate milk!
~LinneaPike