Emulation

I tiptoe outside into the crisp winter air. A cloud of my breath hovers in the air in front of me. I can’t see anything other than the few dim streetlights that barely illuminate the black street. I’m not supposed to be outside; it’s 1:00 P.M., which is way past the government's curfew.

My name is Emily, and I turn 19 tomorrow. I was 15 when the government’s experiments blew up our sun. Since then, the world has been cold and dead. We are allowed 30 minutes a day outside at “Sunrise”, when the government turns all the streetlights on to maximum brightness. The faint hum of electricity is the only sound for miles. I continue down the sidewalk, making sure to stay out of the light.

Every month, the government takes 4 children from each neighborhood, 2 boys and 2 girls. They experiment on them, trying to create our savior. Out of the last 160 children to go missing from my neighborhood, none have returned. I will find out what happened to them. I hear a twig snap behind me. Someone's following me.

“Who goes there?” I call out, my voice shaky.

No one responds.

I continue walking, making sure to walk on the outside of my feet first before carefully rolling inward to walk as silently as possible. Someone's following me. It could be anyone. I start to wonder who it could be. I’ve heard of people who disappeared past curfew. My hand instinctively reaches for my knife. I grip the familiar handle that my father carved out of an oak tree in our backyard. My father disappeared when I was 8, and this knife is the only thing I have to remember him by. I take the knife out of my waistband, and I stop walking. I wait and listen: the wind dragging dirt across the frozen landscape, the familiar hum of electricity, slow footsteps. I ready myself by bending my knees. I wait until I’m sure the person is near. I leap out in front of me, tackling someone big, and I ready my knife at their throat.

“You knocked the wind out of me,” the man grunted

It was a familiar voice.

Explanation Of Emulation

Setting: I spent a long time describing the cold, desolate world after the sun's explosion, and I mentioned the government's attempt at creating a sort of artificial nature, mirroring the dystopian style Collins often writes in. The darkness in the area around Emily creates suspense when she hears the footsteps behind her.

Characters: Emily serves as a strong protagonist who is unafraid to break the rules. She is trying to figure out what happened to her dad and the kids in her neighborhood. The government serves as an antagonist. The mention of it taking kids for experiments and blowing up the sun makes that very clear.  Her dad isn't alive anymore, but he serves as one of those support characters that give the main character their morals and good will. The mysterious person following Emily is an immediate threat that serves to add action and take the readers mind off the overarching threat, just like how Collins used smaller characters to make her readers forget about the Capitol.

Literary Elements:  I utilized a lot of imagery to hook readers and build suspense like when I described the darkness and the harsh conditions of the world. Little details like the description of all the sounds and the knife being from her dad create an emotional attachment and build even more suspense.