SPOILER ALERT AGAIN! If you have not yet read Mockingjay, do not read anymore. This story takes place in Mockingjay.

I know the whole we-were-sucked-into-the-book thing has been done millions of times, but I just need to let some of my excitement out after reading the whole book in one day. (To be honest I think I started one of these after I went to the Breaking Dawn party too, but this one I'm going to finish.) I hope you guys enjoy this, because I know I will. Ah, if only I could actually live in the world of the Hunger Games.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the books in the Hunger Games Trilogy. I do not own the characters, the plot, or the quotes I took from the book.

The 23rd of August was a cold, stormy night. The sky was grey, just like the ground was in the opening scene of Mockingjay.

Not that I knew that when I took my dog out for a walk thinking Only 3 more hours and I'll be at the party! Only 5 1/2 more hours and I will be holding the book!

Before that week, I hadn't fully realized my excitement for the book to come out, but now I couldn't wait. My local bookstore was throwing a huge party for the release of the 3rd book in the Hunger Games Trilogy - Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. A bunch of my friends were going to be there, and after the party was over, I was planning on staying up all night to read the book. I looked at the luck I had that my school had not started yet, as my cousin's had, so I would be free to sleep in the next morning.

When I got back inside, I glanced at the clock. It wasn't 10:30 like I wished - it was still only 8 o'clock. What was I supposed to do now?

I wandered up to my room, threw on my "Team Peeta" shirt, and found my copy of Catching Fire, the second book in the series, sitting on my nightstand. I decided to reread it, thinking that it couldn't hurt to remember everything that happened so I wouldn't be reading the book and saying "Who's that?" the whole time.

Of course, I was only at chapter 6 when my mom called me and said it was time to go. I sighed, but figured that reading the first 6 chapters was better than having not read it at all.

I climbed into my car and sat there bouncing in my sit as my mom drove through town. "What time do you want me to pick you up at?" she asked.

"Um, 12:15 or 12:30. But I'll probably want to get out of there because everyone will be shouting spoilers... so 12:15."

She pulled up to the bookstore. "Ok, I'll see you at 12:15."

"Bye, Mom," I said and hopped out of the car.

I walked into the store and the bells above my head jingled. The lady at the door greeted me and asked for my name. "Lana Kavins," I told her.

She nodded and crossed my name off of the list and handed me a ticket. "Keep the one half, and put the other half in the box over there."

I nodded and smiled. "Thank you," I said.

"You're welcome," she replied. "By the way, I love your shirt."

I laughed. "Team Peeta rules."

She laughed too. "Down with the Capital."

I looked around the room, trying to find my friends Rachel and Lizzie. But I couldn't see them anywhere. I decided to start the word search without them. I reached over someone's head and said "Excuse me."

The person looked up and I discovered it was none other than Lizzie. "Hey, Lana!" she exclaimed. "We thought you weren't going to show!"

"Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss this for the world."

Rachel was sitting next to her. We started to greet each other, but then we noticed each other's shirts. While my shirt proudly said "Team Peeta," her's said "Team Gale." And she hated Peeta almost as much as I despised Gale. Which meant that, even though we were like best friends, we wouldn't be talking for the rest of the night.

We did the word search loudly, complaining when we couldn't find a word. My friends eventually gave up and moved onto the crossword puzzle, but I finished the word search and handed it in to recieve another ticket. "What do the tickets exactly?" I asked the owner, Franny.

She smiled. "They're for the reaping."

I laughed. "No really."

She frowned a little. "I'm serious."

Her daughter walked up behind her. "Mom," she warned and turned to me. "We have 3 prizes and we are going to pull names out of the box and see who wins. The more tickets you put in the greater chance you have of winning."

"Oh. Okay." But Franny's answer scared me and suddenly I wasn't sure I wanted to enter my name in the box.

I'm still not sure it's good that I did.

It was almost midnight. The night had been fun, full of trivia questions, rope tying, and Cinna-style dresses were drawn, but not without us thinking about how Cinna, one of our favorite characters, was probably dead. And now I was in line waiting for my own copy of the book. Rachel was in front of me and had already gotten the book. She kissed it and then stuck her tongue out at me as I anxiously waited.

When the copy was placed in my hands I finally relaxed after waiting so long for this book. I had it. It was mine.

I immediately opened up the book and started reading, standing in the corner of the bookstore while people shouted with glee as they recieved their own copies.

I stare down at my shoes, watching as a fine layer of ash settles on the worn leather. This is where the bed I shared with my sister, Prim, stood. Over there was the kitchen table. The bricks of the chimney, which collapsed in a charred heap, provide a point of reference for the -

But I can't concentrate in here. Not with everyone screaming and eating cake and some obnoxious boy who was yelling out, "The last sentence is Real!" So I walked over to my friends and we all agreed that we should go stand outside even though our parents wouldn't be there to pick us up for a few more minutes. We pulled open the door, me talking to Lizzie, Rachel talking to Lizzie, and Lizzie talking to both of us, trying to convince us to talk.

We were so busy talking about how excited we were, that it took me over 10 steps to realize that the ground was covered in a layer of ashes.

Hope you guys enjoyed!

~writergal24