The Calling

What happens to Listia and her family after the Calling for the next battle?

Things are about to get complicated, so listen up. Every year, every state in Retro has to chose one street in one town and send all children on that street too the capitol of Retro, Hermia, after the first queen. Anyways, all of those children are then sent to an arena and fight to the death. Only one could survive. 

Yes, it is sick. Any child over the age of three to the age of eighteen being sent to die. Nobody knows why Retro does this. But we can't do anything about it or they'll take away our luxuries. Nobody ever starves in Retro, we get three belly filling meals a day. Nobody is ever homeless either, once you marry you get a home. It's as simple as you fight, your starving and homeless. The next Calling, which is when they announce the arena and the street in that state, is in three days. My fifteen year old brother and eight year old sister are anxious to find out. Our street, Hamel, after Hermia's late son, has never been chosen before, so we don't get worried. I'm the second to the youngest, named Listia. My brother is named Hackel and my sister Pilnia. My parents named us after famous leaders of our state, Dernim.

On the morning of the Calling, Hackel and Pilina are bouncing off the walls. My mother can't get Pilinia's bun to stay in, and Hackel won't put on his suit. But, like every year, I'm scared out of my mind. I can't sleep, so I get up early and get dressed. My father tries to tell me we'll never get chosen, but I snort and tell him the odds. The odds that we could get chosen, and that he may never see us after this. But all he does is go and get dressed, he knows it's useless. I'm only twelve, so being killed right now doesn't sound pleasent. Not to mention that means I failed in protecting my brother and sister, who I always fight with but don't want anything to happen too. "Listia! We have to go!" My mother calls in her aggrevated voice. Pilinia does that to her alot. Hackel comes and hands me my jacket, then murmers assuring things. He doesn't like seeing me like this, stressed and scared out of my mind. Our TV doesn't work, so we end up going to our Aunt's house every year, and she thinks the Calling is a special event and forces us to get dressed up. My Uncle died a year ago, so she's very lonely and loves having us over. Her house is the only place I get any peace and quiet to read, too. So it's my favorite place. "Lisita, darling, we'll be fine. You know they don't chose streets named after the first rulers of Retro." My mother says to me as she backs up the car. Every one in Retro also has a car, the same car, the same color, also given to you when you marry. It runs off of gas that is free, even though money in Retro is easier to get then food. You get three thousand dollars a week, and if you run out, you just have to wait until next week. My parents have been saving half of every week's money in case of some emergency. I mess around with the white feathers dangiling from my ears until we pull up to Vickir's, my aunt, house. My palms start to sweat. Pilinia bounces out of the car, and I thought she would fall flat on her face the way she ran up the stairs to the house. My mother squeezed my thigh through the jean skirt I wore, and I followed her inside. 

Vickir already had the channel on and was putting snacks out when we came in, dressed in a slimming gown. If anything, my aunt knew how to entertain. "Hello, children!" She said in her subtle voice. Even though she was a huge party person, she was also a very nice person who was always willing to hug a stranger. "Hey, Vickir." Hackel said and accepted her tight warm hug. "Alright, the Calling is starting. We should sit." Mom said, but my aunt still managed to hug me. I sat next to my mom and Pilinia, Hackel next to her. My mom took my hand and I took Pilinia's. She would of grabbed it anyway. Sure, she was excited to hear who was being sent to die, but was terrified when it came on. "It's okay, Pilinia." I whispered to her, even though I didn't believe it. My breath came out in gasps and I sweat buckets when Gerido, the announcer of the street and arena, came out onstage. He looked bored and tired. Once, his street was called, and he had a son who was fifteen  and was killed. How embarrising that must have been. It was only one street for the entire state, so the odds of my street being picked were one in a million, but that didn't stop me from being so scared. "Hello everyone and welcome to this year's Calling. We're going to switch things up a little by calling the arena, which will name this year's battle." Last year it was called the "Aqua" because half of it was underwater. The year Gerido's street was chosen it was called, "Sizzling" because it was in the desert. That one didn't take long to be over. Gerido grabbed a piece of paper from his tuxedo pocket and read, "This year's battle is called Eco Friendly. Eco Friendly is a forest, with beautiful scenary and unknown animals. Are you ready to hear the streets?" He said with a huge fake smile. The fake audience clapped, and so did Vickir to break the tension in the air that was as thick as cottage cheese. He started on naming all of the streets, and I payed attention. Our street was always announced last, so I would take the streets I knew my family was on and see if they were called. This year, none were. "Finally, for the state of Dernim. Are you ready?" I squeezed my mother and sister's hands and they yelped but left me. "The street for the state of Dernim is." He grabbed another envelope from his pocket, which made me yell at him. He was taking forever. Finally, he read the paper.  "Hamel Street."

Author's Note

I am going to say this for every chapter. THIS WAS NOT INSPIRED BY THE HUNGER GAMES BUT FROM A DREAM I HAD. ALSO, NO HATE COMMENTS OR I WILL STOP POSTING. IT TAKES ME A LITTLE TIME FOR A CHAPTER, SO BE PATIENT. Enjoy.