A/N: Okay, so I know I have a couple of other stories going on, but I really wanted to do one for The Hunger Games. So basically, what I'm trying to say is, I won't update as much as I normally do (which is, like, once every two days) so I'll probably update each one once a week or something like that.

I got the main premise from reading The Medusa Project by Sophie McKenzie (it's really good, if you like kind of Sci-Fi ish stuff)

Okay so here's a full summary:

Shadow is fourteen, living with her sister, Sun and her father, in District 11.

Her mother was killed by the Capitol.

When reaping day comes, Shadow gets an unexpected surprise.

She's a Tribute.

But she has something up her sleeve that none of the other tributes have. Something she inherited from her mother.

She had telekinesis.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Hunger Games, if I did, Mockingjay would be out now.

CLAIMER: I own the plot, and all the characters you do not recognize (My first OC's!)

ONWARDS WITH THE STORY!

My eyes flickered open and I rolled out of bed, groaning.

Today was the reaping.

I had my name entered 12 times, I was fourteen, plus tesserae for my family. My father, and my twin sister Sun.

Sun and I, we're nothing alike. Never have been. There's a reason my name is Shadow. I take after my mother, with her shiny dark black-brown hair, dark chocolate brown eyes fulled with mystery. You could never quite figure out what was going on in her head. Sometimes I wished I could've known her better, but other times I was just glad I had a photographic memory. It made remembering her so much easier.

Sun was an entirely different story. She had long light blonde hair, and sky blue eyes. Like my father. It was funny when we introduced ourselves as sisters, let alone twins. No-one ever seemed to believe us. It was easier when people could look at both of my parents, see the resemblance. Now people who don't know us wonder if I am even a part of the family.

What normally gets people, even those we've known for years, is the difference between Sun and I. I'm shy and reclusive. Secretive. At least until I get to know someone. Sun is bright, open and charismatic. Friendly. Yin and Yang, someone once told us. I still don't know what he meant.

But Sun isn't like me. Sun doesn't have telekinesis. I do.

I got it from my mother. I remembered days when she was still alive. Sun and I were small, and she'd manipulate random objects. Send them flying through our small shack of a house for our entertainment. My father always seemed so fascinated by her abilities. He never had anything like that himself. He's lucky in a way. The Capitol hunted my mother down. They knew.

It killed her.

I rolled out of bed and grabbed some plain clothes, the reaping wasn't until later today. Good. If the Capitol is going to make us go to something as horrible as the reaping, I'd hate to have to wake up early for it. I strolled through our tiny house swiftly, grabbing a bucket as I went. It was my job to collect water every morning. No running water in the house. Thankfully, it was a short walk to a small stream running behind the row of tiny homes.

"Hey Shadow," Fynn called from the other side of the river. Fynn was one of my best friends. He knew pretty much everything there was to know about me, which was a feat in itself, considering I didn't normally tell people anything about myself. Guess it goes to show that I'm not just this person who keeps everything to herself. Fynn knows about the telekinesis – which was really by a fluke in the orchards one afternoon. He knew what really happened to my mother, not the Capitol's cover-up story that she died peacefully in her sleep. Everything.

But in return, I knew almost everything about him.

He was fourteen, my age, and he had three other siblings – all younger than him. His brothers: Fabian a twelve-year-old prankster extraordinaire, Theon, a quiet, smart eight-year-old. And his little sister, Storm, who was six, and quite possibly the sweetest little girl you could ever meet.

I knew his views on everything, but then again, everyone did. It wasn't as though he kept it a secret.

"Hey," I called back, smiling.

"Reaping today," he commented, trying to keep his tone light, but still obviously a little scared. It was Fabian's first reaping, and he'd had to get tesserae, so his name was entered seven times. Fynn was entered 21 times. I really hoped he didn't get chosen as a tribute. I really didn't know what I'd do without him.

"Yeah," I gulped, but managed a smile. "Happy Hunger Games."

We stared at each other for a second and laughed. It was easy enough to laugh about while we were both so petrified. For each other, for our siblings, for ourselves. Joking about it instead of wondering if the last part of District Eleven we'd set foot on would be the train station.

I pulled my bucket out of the water, which had long been filled. I called a "See you later," to Fynn, and trudged back home, trying to spill as little of the water as possible. Also trying to get home quickly. Despite the fact that it was hours away, Sun always demanded a few hours for makeovers before the reaping. We were expected to be dressed and presentable, and Sun took it as an excuse to dress up. Not that we had much to dress up in.

I pushed open the door.

"Morning Dad," I called, placing the bucket of water on the table. "Morning Sun."

"Morning," Sun looked up from where she assembled breakfast. Dad just nodded, engrossed in one of his puzzles.

My father was obsessed with puzzles. Mind games. He liked the old ones, ones that were played before the Capitol took over. I walked over to him and waved my hand in his face.

"Good morning Dad," I shouted at him jokingly.

"Sorry. Morning, Shadow."

"What's this puzzle called?" I asked.

"Sudoku. Dahyon said it's really old. Back to when Panem was called North America!" He babbled excitedly. Sometimes I wished Dahyon wouldn't give him so many puzzles, just so he'd pay more attention to what was going on around him. But it stopped him staring off into space, thinking of my mother, so I didn't complain.

"Great, Dad," I said rolling my eyes, pretending that his obsession with puzzles was nothing more than a hobby mentioned too often. I turned to Sun.

"What's for breakfast?" I asked.

"This was all I could get," she said, pointing to five apples and a small pile of berries on the table, along with the crescent rolls made from our grain rations.

"Better than nothing," I shrugged. We'd definitely had worse. "What time to we have to be in town?"

"Eleven. And It's eight-thirty now."

"Plenty of time then," I grinned at her, knowing full well her plans. As different as we were, we still knew each other as well as any pair of identical twins would.

She nodded, smiling as well.

I pulled on one of my mother's old outfits, a pale blue blouse and a chocolate brown skirt. Sun was wearing a plain white dress. We'd spent hours on each other's hair. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a complete girly girl, but Sun had the sense to talk me through her hairstyle, so she ended up not looking like an idiot.

"C'mon girls, we can't be late!" My father called. He didn't need to tell us twice. You miss the reaping, the door is knocked down and you're shot, hung, whipped, or whatever punishment the Peacekeepers cooked up for you. You could be sure it wasn't pleasant.

Without a word, we followed him out the door.

The walk to town was uneventful and short. We were walking in a crowd, but no-one talked. No-one really liked the Hunger Games, in the ten years we'd been forced to watch. Some districts were all wrapped up in the glory of being a tribute. But in District Eleven, we saw the games for what they were.

The brutal murder of twenty-three children.

We left our father and went to line up, moving into the roped-off area for fourteen-year-olds.

"Hey, Shadow!" Skylar waved Sun and I down, so we quickly moved to join her. Skylar was one of my other close friends, which made the list of my friends at three. Her, Fynn and Sun. If you can count your twin sister.

"Hey," I replied, catching up to where she stood.

"Markus says hi, I saw him before," she said. Markus was my boyfriend, but was fast on the track to losing that title. To be honest, I didn't even know why we were dating, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Date Markus, who everyone knew was a complete player, make the guy I actually like jealous. It wasn't my plan, but rather the brainchild of Skylar and Sun, but it was still a plan.

It was a plan that would fall apart in a matter of minutes.

"Attention everyone!" A voice piped up from the stage. I didn't know her name, but I knew her job. She was here to take two children to their death.

Nice job description, isn't it? I could just imagine her at parties:

"So, what do you do for a living?"

"Oh, nothing much, just take children off to die."

Charming.

"Happy Hunger Games! May the odds be ever in your favor! Well, let's not waste time. I will now draw the names for the 11th annual Hunger Games!"

She gave the crowd a smile, walked over to the girl's ball, and stuck her hand in.

"Shadow Freeman!" she called out in a clear voice. It took me a moment to register my name in the Capitol accent.

I gulped, and worked my way up to the stage, in a kind of trance. Still not quite registering what it meant that my name was called.

A/N: So, do you like? Yes? No? Need more chapters?

And yes, I do realize Fynn is kind of like Gale, but that's not the point.

Please review if you liked, disliked, whatever. Just getting a review makes me feel good :)