To whom it may concern: As of 11/07/2014 this story will be going under chapter by chapter revision (faults in the story, logicality, errors, etc.)

Chapter One: A Pleasant Day.

-One year ago.

June 14th, 2140. Day 9.

Year of the 66th Annual Hunger Games.

A small thirteen year old girl by the name of Dawn Mayflower carefully watched the forest floor below for any signs of the other kids trying to hunt her down. She had flowing white hair that fell past her back, pale skin and deep blue eyes. You'd think that she was from District One of all places, but she calls District Eleven home.

She was tired of the fighting, the bloodshed, she was tired in general. As she was resting on her branch, she heard voices and quickly rose higher into the tree line. Dawn quickly noted that the voices belonged to the pair from District One, the same pair who killed her partner Lucas.

"Poor Lucas..." she thought to herself. Lucas is the only reason why she's still breathing right now. Five days ago, he stalled the careers as long as he could while she escaped into the trees as he instructed. If she somehow got through this, she promised to plant a daisy in his memory.

"Did you see the eleven girl Silas? If you find her I get to kill her! How the hell did she make it so far without that Lucas kid?" snapped the girl Dawn knew as Rebecca Steele.

"Quit fretting over her... She's only thirteen she'll be the first to die out of the four of us." Silas groaned as they stood below the spot Dawn was hiding in.

Dawn took out her hunting knife and looked down below her, observing the two. She knew she couldn't hide like this forever or the gamemakers would flush her out, if she worked quickly she could take down the two of them without knowing what hit them. She took a couple deep breaths and kissed her blue monarch brooch for good luck.

"Final four! I could do this...This is for you Lucas!" Dawn whispered and took in one more breath.

"YAH!"

Dawn took a leap off the branch she situated on and toppled down onto Silas pushing Rebecca out of the way. The two careers including Dawn toppled to the ground dazed from her weight crashing down on them. Silas's battle axe slid out of his reach after he hit the ground.

As he slowly recovered he tried to reached for it, Dawn quickly recovered and held Silas's reaching hand down as she stabbed him in the midsection multiple times. Silas desperately tried to stop Dawn by pushing her head away with his free hand, only to make her bite down on his fingers drawing blood. Dawn winced and rolled off of Silas as Rebecca kicked her in the ribs and engaged Dawn with a throwing knife while Silas wallows and chokes on his own blood.

Dawn clutched her side and let out a gasp as it bruised up then ducked as a throwing knife tossed by Rebecca sailed past her head. Before Rebecca got another chance to unsheathe a knife, Dawn made a beeline towards Rebecca's mid section, tackling Rebecca into a tree making her grunt in pain.

Dawn felt a sharp pain as Rebecca's elbow connected with her tailbone, she fell back giving the two space. Instead of taking out her sword, Rebecca picks up a nearby log and tries to bludgeon Dawn with it.

Quickly, Dawn rolled out the way as the log collided with the ground. Dawn pounced from off the ground and tackled Rebecca to the floor, making her drop the log.

As they both hit the ground, Dawn fed punches as hard as she could into Rebecca's face. Rebecca countered by placing a foot on Dawn's chest and pushing her off. Dawn rolled to the ground, then slowly got up and held against a tree, clutching her side. Dawn smiled as Silas's cannon boomed in the distance.

Rebecca did a kip-up and brushed herself off as she laughed at Dawn mockingly. The two began to square off, not letting one another out of their sight for a second.

"Who would have thought a PIPSQUEAK like yourself would have made it this far..." her voice was as hot as smelted iron.

"You're despicable for enjoying these games!" Dawn retorted tearing up. "You killed Lucas! and I'm going to make you pay.."

"Make me pay...? hmph." Rebecca shrugged then rolled her shoulders as she kept pacing,

"I guess I could toy around with you for a bit...My victory could wait for a minute," She jeered as she quickly unsheathed her longsword from her back and made quick swings towards Dawn.

Dawn unsheathed her hunting knife and proceeded to dodge her swings. When she saw an opening, she slashed Rebecca's forearm with her knife and swung at Rebecca's nose with her right hand, Dawn heard a sickening crack as her fist connected with Rebecca's nose.

Rebecca strode back a few steps in surprise and glared at Dawn, she wiggled her nose and held her head outwards as blood trickled down. She let out a "Heh!" then glanced at her bleeding forearm making her wince in pain. After a split second she let out a cry and charged Dawn making a sideways chop with her sword. Dawn dodged that but got smacked with the hilt of Rebecca's blade a split second after.

As Dawn spun from the punch, Rebecca grabbed her by her windbreakers' collar, and impaled her with her sword, making her rise midway into the air. Dawn made an ear piercing cry as blood exploded from her midsection, she crumpled to the ground as Rebecca peeled her off the sword with her foot. Rebecca stood over Dawn in triumph as she gasped for air.

Rebecca giggled as she raised her sword to finish her off. "Victory Tour here I co-"

Dawn watched as a figure came out of the bushes and slammed Rebecca's head into a tree then held her by the hair as he made a quick slicing motion with his knife across her neck, her cannon boomed before she touched the ground. Dawn identified the person as Ryan Flux of District Two, she knew that he wasn't like the other careers, so full of hatred and bloodlust. He defended her while the other careers picked on her during the first day of training sessions because of her knife skills. On the second day of training he even showed her some techniques on how to better her skills, unfortunately, him showing care for her got him kicked out of the alliance.

Ryan held his knife in a defensive position waiting for anyone else to jump out and blindside him, until he heard a slight whimper coming from behind him. He slowly walked to the little girl on the ground before him. He instantly recognized her as Dawn Mayflower from District Eleven.

"Oh Dawn..." he gasped in shock as Dawn clutched her wound and shook violently, he quickly laid her head on his knees.

"R-r-r-Ryan, I don't feel too good." Dawn sobbed as she took a sharp breath, Ryan chuckled softly, feeling her long white hair.

"That's because you got stabbed Dawn..." he musters a friendly smile, "O-oh yeah.." she coughed violently and began to sob.

"Erm, its okay Dawn! I swear, I-I ca-hold on!" Ryan sifts through his bag and frantically tries to find his medical supplies. He usually didn't feel sorry for other tributes, but Dawn was so took them out until a bloody hand guided his hand with the supplies back towards the compartment he took it from. He looked back up to find Dawn smiling at him weakly and shaking her head "No.". After a couple of minutes Dawn spoke for the last time.

"Ryan..".

"Yes Dawn?" Ryan heard his voice break and tears run down his cheek,

"I-I feel oh so cold…I see a light...and Lucas and my dad are waving for me to come to them…should I go?.. I wanna go...", she frowned as he nodded.

"Yes Dawn you can go..." Dawn nodded vigorously and smiled as a tear ran down her cheek, the smiled faded slightly as did her breathing. She sunk down into the grass as a cannon boomed in the distance.

Present day.

June 4th, 2141

I was in an arena, how did I get here? I'm not too sure for certain. A girl with tan skin sprinted towards me. She looked like an Amazon warrior, her features muscular and lean. Her long black hair flowed through the wind as she ran with precision. She tried lobbing a spear at me but I dodged it, only for her to take out a hunting knife a split second after. Her evil grin held nothing but mischievous intention as she casually walked towards me.

I ran for my life from the unknown girl closing in on me, only to get a nasty uppercut from a boy in front of me. He had blond full hair and blue eyes full of hatred. He lifted me by my jacket gave me another punch. I noticed he had a bloodied ax in his other hand. I spat blood onto the floor, dazed. The girl I was running from laughed hysterically and circled me, like wounded prey. I gasp for air and desperately clutch my chest as she kicked me into a tree trunk. I grunted as I slid down to the base of the tree. "Please! I-I'm sorry!" I yell in pain as the boy and girl laughed in unison at me. The boy lifted me off the ground and slapped me across the face, a tear runs down my face and onto my stinging cheek. I hold my cheek and let the tears flow from my eyes. How the hell did I get here... "Sorry princess, your time is up!" he drops me as he prepares to cut my neck open with his ax, "NO!" I yell as my sight goes white.

"NO!"

I yell waking up. My body was covered in sweat as I jolt awake. I feel as if I were going to have a heart attack. My father rushes into my room as I hold my chest gasping for air. He grabs me lightly and holds me close, hoping that his presence would help me calm down. I struggle until I realized . . .

It was a dream, it was only a dream.

Almost every day for the past year and a half ever since I lost my best friend to these "Games" I have these 'freak' episodes of me being in an arena and that same evil girl with the devilish features would be waiting for me.

"It's okay Emmy, Daddy's gotcha', " he gives me a kiss on the cheek and grooms my hair.

I'm lucky to have a father like this. Most families in Panem, or at least in Eleven from what I can tell, don't have it like I do.

"Bad dream again..?"

"Mhm.." I nod as he holds me close again.

He ruffles my hair and gets off my bed. "Don't you worry child. C'mon, we have two hours to eat then get ready."

"Okay Daddy..." I chime as he walks out of my room. Yes, I still call my father Daddy. So what? I still got like . . . What? A year to mature a little bit. I might as well make my last few months of childhood last.

I let out a groan and sit up. The sweat on my body felt like a heavy rain, sticky and uncomfortable. I glance around my bedroom checking for Magnolia my twin sister. She was nowhere in sight, most likely downstairs with the rest of my kinfolk.

I take off my nightgown and walk into the washroom to take a quick shower. A working washroom with utilities is a rare sight within Eleven, not a day goes by where I don't take it for granted. Once I was done with my shower I slip into some khaki shorts and a black tank top with a white Panem seal on the left side of the chest.

I take a moment or two to go over my appearance. For a twelve year old I looked fairly mature with a modest, growing figure. I currently stand at five foot. I hope to at least be taller than my mother by at least sixteen. I have a plain face, but that's canceled out by my smoky grey eyes and long eyelashes everyone I know is fond of. I have dark, ebony skin and silky jet black hair, it's exceptionally long and goes all the way down to my lower back.

Having gone over my appearance,, I walk over to my wall of assorted paintings and sketches. Everyone in the area says that my drawings are 'exquisite' and that I have a real knack for it. My paintings are so 'exquisite' even, that Mayor Fleming recently paid me to make a portrait of him, a little extreme for a twelve year old but still a great opportunity nonetheless. Especially for an Eleven girl.

After browsing my paintings, I take the largest one off of its hinge and study it. Out of all the pictures I painted this one stood out the most to me. It was a portrait of my best friend Dawn, sitting on one of those fancy thrones you would see at the Justice building. Her hands were placed on her lap as she tilted her head and smiled straight ahead. She looked like an angel with her long flowing white hair and deep blue eyes sporting a daisy between her left ear. I dressed her in a white empire style dress, the type of dresses you would see in a merchant store in town. I sigh and play with my hair as I reminisce in good times.

She's the one who...died in the Hunger Games last year.

At least she died a dignified death and made it to the final four by staying high up in the trees. She took down a career tribute with her hunting knife before she was violently impaled with a sword. I had the unfortunate pleasure of watching it all unfold. Everyone crowded town square thinking that she had a chance of coming back, most of us thought she was a bloodbath tribute. She proved us wrong.

The girl who killed her, Rebecca Steele of District One, got her throat slit open by District Two's Ryan Flux while she was about to finish off Dawn. Ryan comforted Dawn until she died and for that I'm thankful for his empathy. Dawn was thirteen when she passed away. I remember when Ryan came to our District to give a speech on behalf of our tributes. He broke down and cried, shouting that he was sorry and that it should've been him, and that he should have killed himself. I knew he meant what he was saying. I respected him a little bit more, usually tributes from two are no laughing matter.

Anyways . . . I walk down to the family room and towards the kitchen. I stop and sniff the air smiling at the scent of cinnamon and apples. . .

Apple cinnamon porridge . . .

Mama makes the best porridge In all of District Eleven! I thank my Nana for that, since it's her original recipe. Nana would make a giant batch of porridge for everyone in the area, even Peacekeepers. She died two years ago due to natural causes. It's not everyday adults make it until their hair begins to gray.

I miss her so much.

I snap out of my thoughts as mom kissed my cheek. "Good mornin' Emery." she gives me a warm smile as I walk to an open seat and sit down.

I didn't notice I was lounging in the hallway, I was probably too deep in my thoughts as per usual. "Good morning, Mama.".

Mama is a happy go lucky person who wants nothing but the best for her children. She never has a frown on her face regardless of her current situations in life. She had bouncy jet black hair that flowed neatly to her mid back and had a heart-shaped face with gray coloured eyes.

"G'Morning Emery!" my twin sister Magnolia chirps as she helps herself to the porridge in her bowl.

"Hey Magnolia." I smile brightly at my identical twin sister.

Magnolia is one of those soft girly types, she goes out of her way to make sure everyone is happy and content. I'm more of the quiet shy type and carry only some of her characteristics while she has her own set different from mine. She looks exactly like me with the messy jet black hair, gray eyes and dark skin. I lean over to the right hand side of our table and pinch my twin eight year old brother and sister's cheeks, to their dismay.

"Hi Sage, hey Rose!" I say in a babyish tone as they try to struggle to get free of my grasp on them.

"Get away! Get away!" Sage and Rose say in unison as they try to bite down on my hand playfully.

"Hey Emery!" Rose chimes with Sage's mimicking tone accompanying her. This causes Rose to slowly turn towards Sage with a scowl across her face.

"Hey! Stop copyin' me!" Rose whines, flicking Sage's forehead. Sage bites down on his lower lip as he slugs Rose in the shoulder. This causing the eight year old girl to let out a gasp and then, sends a punch of her own towards Sage's chest, causing a loud thumping noise to resonate throughout the kitchen.

"OW-ah! Mama! Rose hit me!" Sage whines, rubbing his chest.

"Shut your yapper! He hit me first!" Rose retorts, glaring her younger twin counterpart down.

"Liar! I'll knock you into next week."

"Sage! Stop copyin' your sister." Mama trills as Rose lets out a defiant cackle, "Rose, quit thumpin' on your brother." her cackle is cut short with a grumble as she goes back to her food.

Sage and Rose are your typical hyperactive little brother and sister. They tend to play fight a lot and can be quite mischievous if you don't keep a good eye on them. I tend to keep my distance from them, as they might team up on you when you least expect it. Sage was a male version of me and Magnolia. Signature gray eyes, his hair was short but full, curly and silky due to mom adding moisturizer to it. Rose's hair was neater than mine and Magnolias. It was straightened and sported a white headband.

Finally I turn to my mothers somewhat swollen stomach, "Hi baby brother or sister," I whisper and lay my head on my mothers stomach as she lets out a laugh, she's six months along, I'm happy for her! We don't know the gender yet because she wants to keep it a secret. I don't know how mom handles all of us sometimes...When I heard that daddy and her wanted at least two more children after this one I couldn't believe my hearing! I guess the breeding center picked out the right pair.

After greeting everyone I help my self to a bowl of porridge as mother played with my messy hair. "I'll fix your hair up before you go," she whispers to me as I nod my head in assent.

I find a need for my hair to be presentable while most people in our District don't. People here in District Eleven don't dress up or get pretty unless it's for a wedding or the reapings. If we got prettied up all the time, it would probably get ruined by working a day in the orchards.

I quickly eat my porridge and sit in front of the TV as my mother brushed my hair with care, handling it like a fragile package. Our furniture was decent and our television was one of those fancy holographic ones. We wouldn't see these luxuries in our lifetime if our parents never had their high ranking jobs. Magnolia sits beside me as we glue our eyes to the television.

As we watched the TV, the flag of Panem moved gracefully on a flagpole as the Horn of Plenty played. The camera then moves to different districts, such as District 7's forests, District 4's seas, our Districts orchards with workers picking produce, then lastly District Twelve's mines. The camera moves to the Capitol with a hovercraft zooming over it near the anthems end. There's something about the anthem that I love so much, I'm not too sure what though...maybe the amount of power behind it, the large amount of patriotism, a sense of pride.

Should I feel this way? I'm not sure myself. The camera then focuseson Caesar Flickerman and Claudius Templesmith, co-hosts of the Hunger Games as they came onto the screen.

"Hello Panem! We are less than twenty four hours away until the 67th annual hunger games reaping begins!" Claudius roars as Ceasar let out a chuckle.

"That's right Claudius, twenty four hours until adolescents from across Panem get to chosen to represent their District and make their way down to the Capitol! Where they will be showcased, prepped and interviewed. Then eventually sent off to the arena, where they will fight until one remains!" Caesar cheers as he pretends to box the air.

"I can't wait Caesar, I'm overflowing with happiness!" Claudius makes fists out of both his hands, Caesar sighs then smiles,

"Aren't we all Claudius? Aren't we all . . ." Caesar rotates his chair, "And with that…We leave you a re-run of last years games . . "

The interview room changed to a forest arena, with twenty four tributes rising to the surface, Dawn being one of them. As soon as the gong went off Dawn dashed to the cornucopia picking up a trident. Another tribute tried to stab her with a sword, but she side stepped and cut his legs from under him and raised her trident to finish him off. Before I could see him get run through, mother shut off the TV as she shook her head in disgust. Tears ran down my cheek as I comforted a saddened Magnolia.

Mama cuts the tension by rubbing our backs. "Emmy, your hair is done!" she cheers as she hands me a mirror. I smile in amazement, quickly forgetting about Dawn's games. My hair was made into a jet black cross braid, what would I do if I didn't have a mother like the one I had now. e

"Thank you mama." I exclaim as I give her a quick hug to the midsection.

"No problem sugar." she returns the hug as me and Magnolia get up walk towards the door to meet up with Daddy and begin a days worth of hard work.

Daddy was wearing a white dress shirt tucked into tan jeans and black suspenders. He put on his stetson and opened the door as we finished putting on our shoes. "We'll be back soon!" he yells towards the family room as he closes the door behind us. I take a moment to take in the house which I lived in.

We walk outside to the backyard, or backfield I should say. The field was divided into acres of wheat fields, peach trees, mini cotton fields, and many other crops we grow. The workers that were near us gracefully bow, curtsy or lift their hats towards my father as we walk deeper into the orchard. He smiles politely towards them as he went to talk to another warden. The clothing they wore was somewhat stained by the dirt from the fields they worked. Most people that work on this orchard hail from Zone 5 or Zone 6, the more impoverished areas within Eleven.

Although I do the same job, I seriously have it way better than most of these people. My mother is the mayor's chief of staff, so we get extra from that plus Daddy is a warden at one of the biggest orchards in our District that just so happens to be my home. My family and I are basically shielded by most of the distress and anguish that most people in Zone 4 aka 'Macon' face.

The only time when our kinfolk knew the words 'Distress and Anguish' on a first name basis was when me and Magnolia signed up for tesserae a couple of times due to a District wide crop failure two months ago, when our soil that was once fertile and rich turned into dust. No produce processed equals no rations or pay. Our names are in the bowl seven times, plus one because it's my first year in the reaping so that makes it eight times altogether.

We're not that rich or poor but somewhere in the middle. You could say I'm a sheltered child that has just enough necessities to make it from day to day to live a 'normal' life. I wish I could say the same for the other unfortunate people that reside in this District. I wish they could make ends meet on a day to day basis like my kinfolk manage to do.

As we walk towards the equipment storage, we meet up with one of our closest friends Lily. She gives both of us a warm smile as we huddle into a circle.

"Hey, Maggie. Hi Emery!" Lily says hugging me,

"Hi Lily!" I exclaim returning the hug, Lily quickly moved from me to Magnolia giving her a hug as well.

Lily was thirteen years old, pale skinned with long blond hair and emerald coloured eyes, a visible minority in this District. She wore the same tan shorts and tank top as I did. She's outgoing most of the time and when things require no-nonsense she was your girl.

"Ready to get started?" Lily asks as Magnolia and I both nod our heads.

"Okay let's get started. Do you have our quotas for today?" I say as we walk along with the rest of the workers towards our designated usually in school, but due to it being harvest season the Mayor wants all available hands to help process produce. I'd rather be in school studying than doing adult jobs. Maybe I should walk up to a Peacekeeper and tell them that and see where it takes me...

"Peacekeeper Forge says at least over a hundred, with reaping day coming along and whatnot."

We walk up to an equipment rack to get the equipment needed to do our jobs. I quickly take a scythe off a row while Lily takes a number of baskets and stacks them up on top of her head. Me and Lily were assigned to thresh wheat, climb and pick fruits and to signal workers when it's time to take a break or when the work day is over. Magnolia picks up her clipboard and a first aid kit as it's her job is to help administrate and keep track of attendance, our workloads and she's also trained to help with injuries varying from severity. Everyone that works these orchards knows some form a standard first aid.

I found the scythe pretty easy to use. Lily and I quickly made twenty bundles of wheat each and moved on towards the peach trees to get a start on our assigned quota.

These peach trees were nothing like the average peach trees you would see. They were injected with serums that made them grow as large as an oak tree. We look up at the tree we were going to pick and see a small sized tracker jacker nest. It's best to leave bees alone before its too late.

"Let's move on to another tree?" I murmur, taking Lilys hand in my own as I forcefully move her along with me.

"No! I'll be right back." Lily scowls and laughs mischievously as she heads back over to the equipment rack. When she comes back with a smoke machine in hand is when I let out an uneasy groan. The wild look in her eyes screamed she was going to do something drastic.

"I'll weaken the jackers, when I do, you hold the basket while I drop some peaches." Lily hisses as she quickly climbs up the tree.

". . . Shouldn't we wait for Hector and his team to clear out this tree?" I ask nervously as she waves her hand at me dismissively as If I said something crazy.

"Forget about Hector! I got this." she exclaims inching up the rest of the trunk.

"Try not to get stung! Remember last week?" I jeer as she stuck her tongue at me. She remembers last week. She stupidly tried to break a branch that a nest was situated on and got stung twice. Afterwards she thought everyone's faces were melting.

Lily sprays the nest as a dozen bees drop out of the air, lifeless. Luckily the nest wasn't too big for us to handle.

"Coast is clear Emery!"

I grab a basket and hold it out as Lily tosses peaches out of the tree with lightning speed. I bob and weave side to side as the peaches made their way into the basket. We made sure we had over one hundred peaches, if we don't the punishments vary in severity. Cut wages, rations . . .

"Do you have the time?" Lily asks as she lay on the part of the branch closest to the base of the tree we were on.

"It should be break time." I say sluggishly looking at the sun, its noon judging by its position in the sky. Dad taught me that one. I drop the basket as I climb a series of branches to the trees highest point.

Ah-Ih-Oh-Ah!

A split second passes as a group of mockinjays flawlessly play back the tune I hum, signalling to the workers below that it's time to take a break.

"Peach?" Lily mischievously tosses a peach into the air before catching it again.

A thin, devious smile twitches across my lips as a peach finds its way into my left hand. I quickly dig into mine, savouring each sugary bite and get rid of the core before a Peacekeeper spots us. Eating the produce is illegal in District Eleven. If they catch you it could land you in a puddle of trouble.

As we eat, I look off into the distance and sighs. Our District is so beautiful. If I had time, I'd sit down and paint my surroundings. The sky was colored in a light blue hue, covered with clouds. I look towards the wheat fields at a beautiful youthful girl who carefully strolls through the field without a care, that girl apparently is Dawn. Dawn was clad in a bright white dress that made her look like a goddess, her white hair flows with the wind and was accompanied by green olive branches. She prances gracefully in the field as bluebirds follow happily behind her.

"Emmy! Emery! Snap out of it!" Lily yells as she pokes my side with her fingers.

"Huh? Wha-!?...Oh right. Sorry." I say letting out a sigh and rubbing my eyes. I have visions of Dawn on occasion. I don't know why though. Maybe a part of me doesn't want to let her go just yet, while the other part accepts she's in a better place looking down on us.

"Over there, near the river!" she points and says intriguingly "Is that Clancy and his brother?" I look where she points and raise my eyebrows.

I see the person who appears to be Clancy, another friend of ours, swiping the air with what appears to be a machete. He tosses it at a wooden target as his brother nods in approval.

"He's training for the games again . . . " I sigh shaking my head, earning a giggle from Lily. Training for the games is illegal also, why he does it? I don't know. Mainly around when the games are starting to come around, he gets nervous and starts to prepare. If he ever got chosen for the games, he'll easily take care of anyone who tried to cause him harm.

"Let's get a closer look..." I say trying to hide the excitement in my voice as I slide down the peach tree. Lily followed suit. We sneak closer to where Clancy was situated and hide in the foliage as we peer over them, listening to the ongoing conversation.

"...Decent throw Clancy, next time try to be firm." Clancy's nineteen year old brother, Elm Carmichael says patting Clancy's back, happy with his work.

"..Thanks Elm." he mumbles quietly as he and his brother hide the weapons they were using in the brush out of sight.

Me and Lily come out of our spot and hold our hips accusingly. "Hey Clancy? What's all this now?" Lily asks as the brothers jump still in their place.

"..Nothing." Clancy says turning around, his face blank, expressionless.

"Training for the games is illegal you know . . ." I say giggling as I study him, being careful not to gawk too much.

Clancy was fourteen had short wavy hair and dark skin with light brown eyes. He's a very reserved person. He saved part of our educational building from burning down last month and got a medal from the mayor. He's so strong and handsome... I have giant crush on him but he's kind of oblivious to it. I think he's that way with me because of the results from the government breeding test.

The government usually regulates marriages for people of reaping age for the sake of a bigger population. They take a sample of your blood and mix it with a person opposite of your gender to get the best matches. They paired me and Clancy together, apparently me and him have a high chance of conceiving more than one child at once. Good news for me, but not so much for him. I guess he wanted someone his age. If you have three children or more, the government rewards you with a bigger home.

"I only started a couple days ago, not like it'll make a difference...", he frowns and pats Lily's back, then turns around to help his brother clear away the weaponry only to be stopped by him.

"It's fine Clancy, I can handle it from here, go on.", he says happily. Clancy nods in acknowledgement and points towards my home,

"Let's go back to the orchard." he says holding our backs and herding us back to the compound. I wonder why Clancy thinks it's necessary to train up, the odds of him getting picked are somewhat low. Okay, well he did sign up for tessarae on multiple occasions . . . twenty eight times to be exact, I guess that's more than enough reason.

We walk towards the wheat field, stopping as Peacekeepers drag a middle aged man into the middle of the orchard and tie him to a pole. I think that man was Carter Connally, from the slums Zone 6. We quickly follow after the crowd that follow after the Peacekeepers.

The District's Head Peacekeeper, Commander Maximilian Ponder, undid a whip from his belt and cracks it as a sinister smile twitches from the corner of his lips.

In general, Ponder was a very harsh person. To me and my sister he made an somewhat of an exception. His hair has a grey, sophisticated feel to it as his right eye was covered with an eye patch. His eye patch alone screams "I've been to hell and back." while his left eye was cold blue, like ice.

Everyone quickly gathers around the pole and noise of people chattering among themselves was loud. Me, Lily and Clancy meet up with Magnolia and Julian another long time friend of ours.

"Hey Emery." he nudges me, earning a nudge back.

Julian his brown hair buzzed and his pale white skin dirtied by a days hard work, he's somewhat like Lily personality wise, outgoing with a hint of outspokenness. He's Clancy's age and also happens to be paired with Magnolia as I am with Clancy.

As everyone was muttering I manage to tap Magnolia to get her attention,

"What's going on?" I whisper to her, she shrugs.

"I don't kno-"

"QUIET!" the Commander barks as he withdraws a handgun out of his holster and fires two rounds into the air. Everyone quickly shut up and listens attentively.

Ponder extends his hand as a Peacekeeper hands him a speakerphone and steps back at attention.

"The stealing of produce . . . Forty lashes!" the Commander barks as the crowd begins yell in protest. Ponder feigns a look of sadness and shrugs sarcastically. Then after a split second takes out his handgun and discharges three rounds into the dirt, making us tumble back a couple feet. That shut us up for good.

"THIS!" he barks as he proceeded to whip Carter on the back,

"-is what happens if you steal produce from the Capitol's land!" Ponder grunts as he strikes Carter. I wince as large welts in the shape of a thunderbolt appear on his back. Mr. Connally screams in agony as he was whipped multiple times.

Not wanting to see anymore, I frown turning around and burying my face into Clancy's chest.

His chest is really solid . . .

"Um, Emery?" Clancy asks confused with my random gesture,

"Hm . . .? Oh!" I say and quickly getting off his chests and fidgeting with my hair absent-mindedly. I blush lightly and make a mental note not to do something like that again.

After the commander was done, a group of workers quickly untied Mr. Connally and rushed him away from the scene. Commander Ponder turns to the crowd as we quickly takemultiple steps back in fear. He clears his throat and brushes his shoulder as the same Peacekeeper gives him the speakerphone to address the shocked crowd of workers. As he speaks his voice sounds seriously ominous yet authoritative.

"I'm positive you people know that all forms of stealing in this District is punishable by death. That man is damn well lucky I didn't put a round in his head! Now get back to work, all of you. I don't want anymore problems . . ."

and with that, he grabs hold a support beam on a humvee door closest to him as it drives off with him casually leaning on the side. We silently head back to our jobs as the humvees drove down the road into the mid-afternoon sun. Julian and Clancy went off to help lift bags of barley onto a truck as me and Lily returned to picking peaches. Once we thought we picked enough peaches, we went back to wheat fields and threshed wheat. Peacekeepers patrol the rows with their fully automatics hanging off a strap, ready to strike if someone makes a wrong decision.

A few hours have passed and it's near black out, probably eight thirty. We manage to make one hundred and twenty-five bundles of wheat, and pick two hundred peaches. Double our assigned quota.

"I think it's about time we go home . . . " says Julian.

We all put our equipment back on the rack it came from and walk towards my house among the packs of workers heading home. Once we reachthe front of my house we all stand together in a loose circle.

"I guess that's that." Clancy says putting his hands on his waist as Lily and I nod happily in approval.

"Welp! See you guys at supper." Lily says as she, Julian and Clancy start back to their homes, only to be stopped by my voice.

"Wait, you guys are coming over?" I ask kicking the dirt on the ground. "Yeah. Didn't your parents tell you?" Julian asks , rotating his shoulders, sore from working most of the day.

"No?" Magnolia replies.

"Well . . . We are." Clancy says picking up a scythe making practice swings as if he were going to strike someone, which threw me off a little bit. Maybe his focus on the games are a little bit too much.

"Okay! See you guys then." I chirp as I and Magnolia happily wave goodbye as our three friends walk down the dirt road into the setting sun.

-.-.-.-

Despite all the stress and despair in our lives we still band together as one and come together in fellowship . . . This is what I love about my District most, togetherness and the willing to lend a hand to another person in need. No debt goes unpaid around these parts.

I've never seen so much food in my life . . .Salad, a medium sized groosling, and a small amount of potatoes, although it isn't much . . . No wait, what am I saying!? This is the closest anyone gets to a full meal around here. Everything we produce goes into the bellies of Capitol people. Regardless, I'm still thankful I get to come together with my friends and family.

"Mama , Daddy? you never told us why we are all gathered around tonight." I say sticking my fork into my bowl of salad. I'm a hundred percent sure I know exactly why we're here tonight.

Mama smiles warmly as she grips my hand tight. She then looked around and smiles at everyone sitting at the table, she took in a breath and sighed happily.

". . .Life, we're here to celebrate life...", "Just in case you . . . yo-" she chokes on her words,

"End up gettin' reaped." Daddy says and calmly drinks a glass of water.

"No, none of us will get reaped." Magnolia says in a belligerent tone and rubs Mama's back. She looks visibly upset with the conversation as am I. Everyone went silent for a handful of minutes until Julian let out a laugh.

"It'll be fine!, after the reapings we'll all come back and celebrate, as per usual." Julian chimes, breaking the silence and putting a shoulder around his mother and father. They along with everyone else, give him a warm smile.

As everyone is content and happy, Clancy looks down at his plate glumly. I carefully put my right hand underneath the table and entwine my hand with his and squeeze gently. He looks at me and shakes his head, he then gently puts my hand down on my thigh. I cast him once last glance before focusing on my own plate.

"Well in that case..." Julian grunts standing up, clearing his throat.

"Good afternoon boys and squirrels!" He say's in a Capitol accent.

"Happy Hunger Games!" Lily joins in cocking her hips sideways slightly, mimicking our Districts escort, Minnie LaFontaine.

"And may the odds be ever in your favour!" Magnolia and I say in unison standing up as we all burst into laughter.

Clancy gives a small smile, he knows he wants to take part in our teasing, but he doesn't. He's physically showing what all of us are trying to keep down until tomorrow, anxiety, restlessness, fear . . . And until these reapings pass, those feelings will stick with you like glue.

After the dinner I spend one quarter of the night lying awake. Knowing that maybe, regardless of this being my first reaping, that this might be my last night at home.

So? what'd you think!?, this is my first Hunger Games fic :P, The next chapter is pretty much done. I value everyone's opinions bad or good, It makes you a better writer in the future.

I own nothing of the Hunger Games...but I do own a chewed pen cap and a nickel if that counts as anything.