"Adrienne, love, be safe, okay?" I ignore my mother. It was pointless anyways. She knows just as well as I that I'm in no way safe. My name is in the Reaping exactly thirty-four times. The odds are definitely not in my favour. Not that it matters to me. I would be damn honoured to be chosen. My father died in those games.

See, mum and dad had me 'by accident'. Dad got mum pregnant while she was only seventeen. She still had the chance of being reaped, while pregnant with me. Her first daughter. The mistake. Dad was eighteen, his name was in forty-one times. It was drawn out, and off he went. Mum always told me that he put up a good fight, she even thought he was going to win. But in the end, he was the third last to die. Killed by an arrow, while sleeping. He'd been spotted up in a tree, and it'd taken one arrow, the tip smeared with the poison from Nightlock, carefully shot, hitting him in the spot directly below his ear.

I knew she'd never gotten over Jaymes, my father, yet she'd still married Red, my siblings' father. I had two brothers and a sister. Fell was the oldest, twenty-one years old. He was Red's son from another woman. Screwed up family, we've got, I know. Ava and Julius are twins, both nine years old, and therefore not old enough to have their names entered in the reaping.

Realising mum was still giving me an anxious look, I just hug her, trying to reassure her. I don't actually believe I'll be chosen. I mean, my mother would have to have some serious terrible luck, to first have her boyfriend die, then her daughter.

Luckily for me, I guess, I come from one of the largest districts, District eleven. So many people had so many names entered in, the possibility of one of my thirty-four being drawn isn't even comprehendible. Besides, I'm eighteen. I can make it through my one last year. The one last year my name will be entered.

Ava and Julius were usually running around at this time. Early in the morning, racing like nothing else mattered. However, this morning, they seemed to sense the air of somberness. When I walked in to find them sitting in the kitchen, both were sitting, not even talking.

"Adrienne?" Ava asked me, her high-pitched voice soft and trembling. "What if you get chosen?"

I had no response to that. Instead, I said, a bit too harshly perhaps, "Eat your bread, both of you. Wasting food now, is that it?"

Julius listened to me, took a small piece of bread and chewed quietly. Ava, on the other hand, gave me a frightened look. "Don't you want some?"

"No, of course not. It's your bread. I'll be fine." I turned and walked out, not intent on continuing the conversation. I wasn't hungry at all, which was unusual. But the knot in my stomach refused to go away, making my head spin and even the mere thought of food making my insides churn.

Suddenly, I felt completely sick. I ran out of the door, falling to my knees. My body convulsed, but nothing came out. I sat back, trying to catch my breath.

"Hey Adrienne! That was just lovely, want to do it again for us?" I turned to see two boys, my age, Luc and Mace.

I didn't have the strength to give a good response, so I just muttered, "Piss off."

"What was that? Sorry, couldn't hear you?" Mace was making fun of me, I knew, but I just turned away and stared towards the ground.

"How many times is your name in this year, Adrienne? Fifty?"

That set me off. Our family was poor, we needed the Reaping to support our family. Just because they were from snobby, good for nothing, rich families didn't mean they had the right to joke about the Reaping.

"I hope one of you guys gets chosen. I really do. How many times do you guys have yours in? Once? Oh, aren't the odds ever in your favour. Oh well. I hope you get chosen. No, I hope you both get chosen. They're bound to get confused and put one of yours in the girl's anyways. I hope you both die, you good for nothing idiots." The words were just tumbling out of my mouth. I knew I sounded stupid. Tears stung in my eyes as I realised what I'd just said. Maybe they were mean, but they didn't deserve to die because of it.

Mace and Luc just looked at each other, then shot me angry glances. "You little bitch." Luc said, just loud enough for me to hear.

I'd probably deserved that one, I know, but it still made me angry. However, I didn't respond. Once they were out of site, I sat still for another moment, letting the wind blow at my hair, tangling it around my face. Then I stood up, and walked back inside.

"What was that?" Fell gave me a nervous look. "Are you alright?"

Ever the caring older brother, he was. "I'm fine. I guess. I'm… Yeah. Fine."

"Listen, Adrienne, don't bother with them. You'll be fine, okay? There are people with their names in far more times than yours."

"Easy enough for you to say, you don't have your name in there." I muttered and began to walk away.

Fell grabbed my arm. "No, but my little sister has her name in thirty-four times."

That was the first time he'd referred to me as a sister. Fell and I were friends, yeah, but we didn't really think of each other as sister and brother. I gave him a little smile, then shrugged his arm away.

I looked at a clock, and my breathing sharpened. Forty-two minutes exactly were left until the Reaping.