Chapter 1: Beep beep, beep beep. I wake up in a jolt from a horrible nightmare. I check my clock and see that it's 6:30 am. I'm never a morning person, but I promised my best friend, Alyssa Fisherman, that we'd go down to the sea this morning because it may be one of our last chances. My name is Rosetta Catwell and I live in District 4. I have caramel glazed hair with pale blue eyes. You think that being from D4 I would have tan skin but I don't. Today is the reaping for the 200th annual Hunger Games. I've really frightened on what the twist is for the 8th quarter quell this year is going to be. (Every 25 years, the Capitol adds a twist to make the Games even more awful).

I know, everyone thought the Games were over when the fabulous girl on fire started that rebellion that got most of the people killed but after the Capitol kids Games were held, one of President's Snows relatives took over and is practically another Hitler if I say so. But I jerk off any ideas of being picked, I've survived two years of being eligible in the drawing, hopefully I can pull off a third.

I walk into the bathroom down the hall and wash my face with cold water. I put on my make-up than head back to me and my sisters' room. My little sister, Amanda, is only 8 so I'm glad she won't have to worry about any quarter quells in her life. I put on a solid green shirt, cargo pants and some boots; I pull my hair back into a high ponytail too. I kiss my sleepy sister on the forehead and I'm off.

My house is only a mile from the shore so I jog the way. Once I get there, I take off my boots and walk to the edge of the water. I'm highly afraid of water. Shockingly yes, it is true. My mother drowned when I was only 6 years old in this same ocean. The lifeguards tried to save her but the riptide was too strong and she drowned, leaving my dad to take care of us. I have nothing against him but he's been in a fog ever since her death. It bothers me so I try to keep him from being remembered of the memory. He mostly stays in bed the entire day and sleeps. I work three jobs trying to cover money. I bring home the food, and my dad somehow makes a wonderful, filling meal out of it. I don't mind working a lot though; it keeps me busy so I don't have to morn about my mother.

I start throwing rocks in the ocean when Alyssa pulls up in her bike. I run up to greet her with a big hug. She originally lived in District 5 but when she was 7 she moved here because her parents have jobs that consider them to move a lot. Alyssa is practically another sister to me. Her parents travel so much, when they are away, she comes over to my house. She has red hair and dark brown eyes; she has the figure of a fighter which I love. She's a year older than me but she acts like a year younger than me. She pulls out a blanket from her backpack, which she always carries around with her, and a brown paper bag. We go back down by the water and she unfolds the blanket. She takes off her shirt and shorts to reveal her bikini underneath.

"I still can't believe you don't know how to swim," she says

"It's not that I can't learn it's just that I choose not to" I reply. After my mother's passing, I never touched the water again because it was too traumatizing. I sit down on the blanket while she dives into the water. "What's in the bag?" I holler out to her

"Some breakfast before the reaping" she calls back. I open the bag and see two bananas, two apples, and two handfuls of grapes. A thing me and Alyssa have in common is that we are both vegetarians. She comes back out and lies down on the blanket next to me. I hand her a banana and take the other one for myself. We munch on it quickly with the rest of the fruit. We pack up too soon after but we both have to head back home so we can get ready for the reaping at noon.

She hops onto her bike and I hug her. She says "You know, you may need to learn how to swim because you never know, the arena can be held in the ocean." I shudder at the thought.

"I think I'll be fine, Liz" I hug her one last time and start to head off back to my house.

When I walk inside, I walk into my room. My sister is brushing her hair in the mirror. I kiss her forehead and say, "Morning"

"Where did you go today?" she asks

"I went down to the beach with Liz"

"You need to learn how to swim, what if you get chosen and in the arena you are stuck in a situation where you need to swim to get away from the Careers!" She continues to ramble on like that but I cut her off

"Mandy, I'll be fine!" I kiss the top of her head "don't worry about me." I smile at her through the mirror.

"I laid out some nice clothes for you for the reaping." I look behind me and see that she placed a light purple dress with black flats on my bed. I thank her than head to the bathroom to shower. I'm really afraid that if I get picked, I may not return and my family will starve. At least I'll have Liz to rely on.

I get out and towel-dry my hair. I walk back into my room and my little sister dries my hair fully for me and straightens it. I put on the dress and flats and look at the full length mirror. My sister creeps behind me and I give her an awkward hug.

I kneel down to look her in the eyes, she whispers in my ear "Please, if you do get picked to play in these awful Games, please try to come home" I can tell that she is trying to hold back tears. I pull her into me for a hug. I whisper back,

"I'm sorry but I can't promise you that. I don't make promises I can't keep. There are definitely going to be stronger, faster people in there but I will try my hardest to come back to you."

She quietly sobs on my shoulder and I try to comfort her, "If I do get picked, you can have this to remember me when I'm away." I pull away from her and get up and walk over to my jewelry box. I grab out my mothers' old necklace that she used to wear but when she died, I kept it before they could bury it with her. It's a gold chain with a silver diamond in the middle with me and my sister's name carved on the back of it. I put it on my sister and we silently stare at each other through the mirror. She looks exactly like my mother, it frightens me sometimes. I even believe their freckles are in the same spots. We stay like that for what seems like forever, our silence is broken by the bell that signals its noon and that we need to head down to the town square for the reaping. I kiss my sister softly on the head; wipe away her tears, than we're off.