A Farewell Present

     I close the bag the with a gentle pat as I stare at it. Small, so very very small, only about  the size about half of my arm. My whole life, fitting into this bag, with dirt stains and tears at the seams. I think back over the past 3 days as I take the bag and throw it over my shoulder. Since the announcement, many people from the government have come by to conduct more interviews, and more health examinations. On multiple accounts, I heard them say I was "extremely underweight", along with several other critics about my appearance. The one question that seemed to be asked to most often, was one I had been asking myself, "why is she in this?,".

     Why am I in this? I do not know. I think a more logically question to ask is, why did I get matched with the top four men of the season? When people had left, I often found myself thinking about that question, no matter what I was doing, or how hard I tried to stop thinking about it. Thankfully, with all the thinking, I was finally able to come up with a single, logical answer. They are hoping these very strong genes of the men will overtake my weak ones, and then the society will be rid on my own. However, if that is the reason, that is a rather risky bargain, because a child gets half of their genes from each parent.

     Shaking my head, I take the cook book and any other banned material setting them onto the floor. I then move a small desk, exposing a loose board underneath. Squatting, I pull the board up and reveal a small box filled with various trickets. I take the few I had laying out in house and place them into the box, and then set the cook box over the top, like a lid. My hand wavers over the book for a little while longer, my fingers tracing the view scorned letters I can make out. Bet and Crock.

     *Knock knock*

     In a flash, I cover the hole and grab a broom sweeping over the area. "Come in." I call and the door creaks open. I turn and relief floods over me as gentle blue eyes surrounded by deep wrinkles greets me. "Joe, I thought you were someone else!" I drop the broom as I hurry over and he gives me a hug. "I've had a hard time coming to see you, there was always someone here."

     "I figured so Juny." He says as he pats my back, signaling he was pulling out of the hug. "I heard that everyone was leaving today to go to the capital, so I knew this was the last time I would probably see you, for awhile at least." He gives me a smile, but his eyes don't glow with a cheery disposition, rather they look sad.

     "Joe, I don't want to go... Everyone beliefs that I shouldn't be going and I agree!"

     "Now now. Not everyone, because I think you have a right to be there, just like everyone else." His hand touches my chin, lifting my head to look at him. "Hold your head high Juny, you are a sweet girl, and I know for a fact those boys will see it." His bushy brow quivers as he gives me a wink, causing a laugh to escape from my mouth. "Promise me you will try Juny." His eyes are sad again, his lip is in a low frown, so low it is quivering. His hand shakes as it grabs mine in desperation. "Promise me, please."

     "I promise Joe." I squeeze his hand back, and I see his eyes shine with wetness from coming tears. He gives my hand one last pat as he lets go and then steps away. "You need to go before the officials come to take me to the capital." I turn around and grab the desk, move it back over the floor board. When I turn back he holds out a small rectangular object. "Joe..." I take it gently into my hands and examine it. It is wrapped in soft, faded blue paper, with small burn holes on the top. I shift my eyes to look at him, and he meets my gaze while waving my onward. I open it up and within the wrappings lies a book. Smiling I open it up and am confused by what I see. "It's blank. What kind of book it blank?"

     "It's a journal Juny." He says with a smile and I nod as I remember reading about them in a book one time.

     "Where did you find one?" I ask as I flip through it, hoping to find traces of the lost world. As I flip through it, I realize that the paper inside it not the same. Some of the pages were different colors and sizes.

     "I made the journal." He says and I look up at him as he gazes down at the book in my hand. "I found all the stuff to make it in lots of places, so many I cannot remember where exactly." He touches a page and then meets my gaze. "I got it so you can write about this grand adventure, because when it gets broadcasted, it will not always be the truth." He gives me a smile and my heart warms up at the sight. "I'll want to hear all about it when you get back, so make sure to write every last detail. Okay Juny?"

     "Okay." He gives me a big smile and I grab him for another hug. I feel his chest shake as he lets out a laugh, patting my back. "Thank you Joe."

     "If you want to thank me, let yourself have fun Juniper." He says it and I find myself nodding. My heart is happy he did not ask my to promise him that, because I have never broken a promise to Joe, and I am afriad I would break it.

After he leaves, I take my time walking around the house. The officials show up to take me away a little bit before sunset. Two men walk in, wearing white button up shirts and tan pants, and then Sebastain follows in behind them. "Hello Miss Burks." He exclaims as I give him a quick smile before retunring to my sullen expression. "These men on either side of me are hear to take you bags!"

     "Oh, well I only have this," I point to the bag wrapped around me. "so is it okay if I just carry it?"

     "Well, it is not very lady-like to do so, and these men have a job to fulfill." He says and I go to protest until Joe's smile flashes into my head. I take a deep breath and pull it off my shoulders handing it to one of the boys. He gives me a nod before leaving and the other one follows, neither ever saying a word. take one last look at my house before shutting the doors and leaving it behind who for knows how long. "Alright, are you ready to go?" I look around at the cottage, some to reminsce, some to make sure I hid everything earlier. I felt my heart begin to sink, the feeling I have been dreading all day. No, I'm not ready because I was never meant to leave this place. I was supposed to wake up every morning and sleep every night in this house, but now I am having to live in an unknown place for an unknown amount of time. I take a deep breath as I calm myself down and turn my back away.

     "I'm ready." I try my best to hide what I really feel as we walk out the door. I offer myself once last look before closing the door to my home. I follow Sebastian down the hill, silent as I look around at the town. On the ground, glitter and flowers are thrown around and Sebastian clears his throat.

     "Each town throws a farewell party for the girls that are leaving." He calls over his shoulder as we walk. "I believe there were two other candidate from your area, not counting you." I look at a storefront and see someone peeking out from inside their house. "Nevertheless, in each area, the streets are lined with people wishing their favorite girl good luck."

     "The other girls are already gone?" I ask as I see another person looking at me before quickly closing the curtain when we make eye contact.

     "Yes, they left earlier." He says as we continue on, making our way through town. "The government wanted you to leave later due to... well secutiry reasons." He let the air flow out of his mouth in a whisper as I nodded. I really don't care why they let me leave later than the other girls, I am just happy I get a little more time to prepare myself before meeting all of them. "Okay, we wait here for a little until we get the approval to move to the next spot." He gives me a smile as we sit down. "Why don't we talk and try to get to know each other a little more while we wait?" I look at him and I think he automatically understands how I feel about that. "Or we can sit in silence." This time, I gave him a smile, but I am not sure he appreciates it based on the slight shiver he had when he saw it.

     A few minutes pass by and we move to the next location, which was beyond the fences of the town and up the very steep hill where the land is flat. Up there, a large metal contraption hovers over the ground, with four huge fans out in the bottom. It's kind of scary. I grit my teeth as we get close. Sebastian holds his hand out once as a ladder is dropped from the outside. I crap a hold and slowly climb into it and pulls me into the thing. Once in, a different man wearing a big helmet buckles me into the seat and Sebastian sits beside me. I glance around the craft. The seats inside are a black soft slick material.

     "This is a helicopter?" I turn my gaze from the area as I look over at Sebastian. "No. This is a hovercraft. There is very few that survived after the war, so they took the parts and created this." I nod as I continue looking at the nice interior of the placeZ Soon, the thing lifted off the ground, shaking a little bit and my heart started pounding in my chest as I looked for something to grab on to. "It's alright!" Sebastian calls and I meet his gaze. "Just breath, it will be better soon." His eyes seem sympathetic and I give him a little nod.

     Eventually everything slows and we begin moving over the ground in speeds I could never imagine. "Now that we are up here, I need to go over the scheduale with you, as well as your personal team. So to begin..." I begin to drone him out as I grow captivated by the moving ground below. I look out and in the far distance, I see the town lights, that now look like stars. Even with the pain the town has brought, I find myself longing to be there as it grows more and more distant.

***

First, thank you all SO MUCH! We are almost to 1,000 reads!!! I never thought it would take off like it has, so thank you guys so so sooo much for this!

I really hope you enjoyed this chapter! The ball is now rolling and the true start to this story is slowly approaching! I really hope you add this to your collection, and I will see you guys next time for Chapter 7: "Mag-Lev to the Capitol".

Sincerely,

- P & P