Here, in District 8, we produce textiles. This was common throughout the District, as almost everyone aside from the mayor and peacekeepers lived in small, rundown tenements, expanding outwards from the city center, which was home to the Justice building. It made it feel like we were all one family, and it was customary to refer to many of your neighbors as your aunt or uncle. If only one apartment on our floor had heating during the winter, there were no objections when everyone else would come over and make themselves at home. If someone’s stove wasn’t working, they could just knock on a neighbor’s door and use theirs. As a result, we shared a lot with other apartments. You could never fully rely on any of the appliances being in working order. The same thing happened with the water and electricity. Often, the whole building wouldn’t have either for days at a time. Sometimes only one side of the building would have heating, or only certain floors had AC, or only specific apartments. Each apartment had a heater and air conditioner, but they were never guaranteed to work when you needed them. There were 5 apartments on each of the 4 floors- all one room- with one bed, a stove, a sink, a small table and chairs, and some shelves for storage. We didn’t have our own bathroom- there was one toilet and one shower per floor, which could be shared by anywhere from 5 to 20 people. If she’d just been born a few days later, she could’ve been spared for another year. How unlucky it was that her twelfth birthday had only been three days prior. This would be my 4th year participating in the drawing, it was Maeve’s first. Today was Reaping Day no wonder I had that horrible nightmare. I glanced over at the digital clock next to me, SUNDAY: JULY 4. I took a deep, shaky breath and stroked the top of her head, moving away some of the stray hairs lying across her face. I looked down at the bed to see my sister still sleeping soundly beside me. My body was covered in a sheen of cold sweat. I rubbed my eyes and tried to slow my racing heartbeat. “Stupid cat.” I grumbled as I lifted him up and let him jump to the floor. The cat looked up at me from his new place on my lap- those big amber eyes practically staring into my soul- and meowed loudly. I sat up quickly, and the ball of fluff leapt off my face. All I saw was fur, and something was blocking my breathing. The last thing I saw was my own hand, holding the knife, droplets of blood falling steadily from the tip of the blade. I looked down to see the front of my dress already soaked in red. My vision started turning black around the edges. I instinctively brought my hand up to the wound. I started to choke, the blood pooling into my airways. The other me winked, and I felt the blade drag deep across my neck. Suddenly, I felt the cool touch of metal against my throat. I heard the clownish woman’s disembodied laugh echo through the flat, “What a pity,” the voice said, “you could’ve saved her! But now, I’m afraid, you must face the consequences of your actions.” The clone slowly raised the hand still holding the knife, and pointed directly at me. In its place I saw myself, a satisfied smile on my face. I looked back up towards the shadowy figure, only to see it was no longer there. The glass squeaked as my hands dragged down over the exterior.
“NO!” I screamed, sinking down to the ground. The dark figure suddenly slashed the knife across her throat, her cries stopped and she slumped down into her seat, eyes still half open, blood now seeping into her blouse.
#Disable particleshop notifications cracked
“MAEVE.” I cried out my voice cracked as the salty tears streamed down my cheeks. Maeve was panicking now, her chest rising and falling rapidly, tears running down her face, her muffled pleas penetrating through the glass. “LET GO OF HER YOU FREAK!” I cried, banging my fists against the dome.
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