Revealed-Personal Narrative

“Wow, she's talkative, you got a good one this time, cuz.” His voice was grinding on me and all I wanted to do was smack him.

"Can't you just sit somewhere else?" He said. Okay this guy was pissing me off. Well, he didn’t really do anything wrong, but when you have as short of a temper as I do, it doesn’t take

He stopped laughing, but still smiled. “She is, but you being angry is hilarious,” he said.

The revolting expression he had on slowly switched to demoralized one. His shoulders dropped along with the rest of his body and I could smell a victory in the air. “You’re still pissed about that?”

It has been a long time since the people of Corrigan were evacuated. Every one of us had either been relocated or went to stay with family. It is as if the fire burnt the relationships between everyone. That fire was started in the forest and spread through the town like the devil possessed. Houses were burnt, homes were lost but apart from a few minor burns and scratches, no one was seriously injured. Some came back including us but I couldn’t bare bare the bad memories and feeling stirring me up.

My lips curved into a lopsided grin and my hand scratched the back of my neck as I replied. “Sorry Chief. Little tired this morning. You were saying?” while staring down at the common room floor.

"Oh, would you care to explain why? I mean it wouldn't be the first time." It was silly to get upset over but I felt that there was something else to it.

The drive to tennessee was too long. I don’t enjoy sitting in our sedan squeezed between my two younger siblings for 8 whole hours. As we enter the downtown area, my mother asks me to give her directions to aunt Jane’s house off of our map.

I watch him intently as he enters my room, walking to the middle as if he owns the place. My teeth sink deep into my bottom lip, and even though this tall dressed-to-impress lumberjack is standing only a few feet from me, my mind is elsewhere—focused on the night ahead. How am I, daughter of the most hated man in the Capitol, supposed to convince people (not just one!!) to give me gifts while I’m fighting for my life? This is the question that has made camp in the back of my head, gnawing at me since the moment my name was called at the Reaping. I wasn’t worried about the imminent death, or living in a confined space with dozens upon dozens of past victors who hate my guts, no; I am most worried about being thrown to the wolves with absolutely no weapons. I can fight, but everyone needs a little help. And now, clad in an outfit that reveals every part of me I am used to hiding, I’m supposed to what, charm people into giving me free things? The tiny Cordelia in my head throws her head back in strident laughter and I curse her silently, my teeth scraping even harder at my lip.

Tears rolled down my eyes as I read the message on my phone. People are so heartless these days. I tried so hard not to let the harsh words affect me but they stung. I’ll never forget them. I wanted to know who was doing it. I wanted to know why. It was too much for me to handle. I threw my phone onto my bed and went to take a cold shower and get ready for school.

A group of us candidates were all in perfect formation. For me, it felt like my fate was in the hands of those who were judging me. We stood in the humid musty gymnasium, our parents, our siblings, our friends watching, hoping for the best. Other than the few murmurs overheard from the back room, the building was silent: nobody dared to break it. I remember reflecting back on all of my hours training in the studio with red and blue foam tiles, one wall covered in mirrors, and the words leadership, discipline, and respect plastered above. I thought of the weekly grueling 2 hour sparring sessions in which we would engage in hand to hand combat with red foam head, chest, hand, and foot protection. My goto move against my friend was always a spinning backfist to the head followed by a punch to the chest; I am not sure how, but it worked every time.

One day, my brother was playing the game on the xbox 360 console in which I did not know of. Me being me, I made a joke about him playing the game, then I watched him play and thought it was pretty cool. Back then I was around 10 years old and at the time I was not into that ¨kind of stuff¨ cause I did not see no use of it. But seeing him play and not being good at it made me interested. I felt as if he can do it I can do it. I asked my brother can I play and he responded anxiously yeah. Since then I played the game non stop. In addition, I only played Grand Theft Auto V on multiplayer mode which was an action adventure video game series.

I sat in the very back of the classroom shielding my face with any book that was in sight. That way wouldn’t get called upon to read, but I guess my camouflage of books wasn’t good enough. I was assigned a part in the book to read and I could tell you, I was not happy. As we began to read I could see that my character’s part was starting to inch closer and closer. My heart started to beat out of my chest and the more my throat started to knot up. I was having second thoughts about even coming to school that day, but as I began to read, I started to get more into the book. It began to catch my interest and from that point on I started to realize it was more than just reading a book word per word. There was more to the story than what the paper full of writing would

I have to get him now. I don’t know if I can touch him though. I mean, he is a kartoal. He is leading us somewhere. This is bad. Now that he knows that we know, he is going to try extra hard to kill us. I have no other choice but to follow him though. We turn into a forest. This is bad. He drifts behind us and pushes us forward. Kaylee shoots me a terrified look. I brought her here. I have to keep her safe. I try to smile to tell her that it is okay. That it will turn out okay in the end. The Beast guides us into a group of trees.

‘’Wait...you know this man?’’I asked. Professor Blainey sighed and dropped his head. We all exchanged looks every now and then, but nobody spoke.