"Peeta Mellark!"
The shrill voice of the neon woman on the stage called out into the silent crowd before her. I look around for the unlucky sap who's just been reaped for the 74th Annual Hunger Games.
I notice nearly every pair of nearby eyes on me, a maelstrom of emotion. Some sympathetic, some jealous, some angry. And I think, some happy. Oh. That's right, it's me. I'm Peeta Mellark. The son of a baker, from District 12.
As I find myself walking towards the stone stage, I feel myself slowly coming back to reality. The fact I have just been chosen to die for the entertainment of people I don't know or care about hasn't exactly sunk in until I realise who I'm stood on the stage with. Aside from the… colourful, to say the least... woman who sticks out like a sore thumb here in District 12 – Effie Trinket, I think her name was – there was the girl I'd spent my life watching and loving. Katniss Everdeen.
Oh, right, she'd just volunteered herself for the Games to save her little sister. The first volunteer from District 12, too. Thoughts and memories were crashing through my brain, and I ignored the world as I tried to make sense of them. Before I knew it, Effie was taking my hand and leading me into the Justice Building along with Katniss. The heavy doors slammed and bolted shut behind us, completely ruling out the possibility of ever returning to normal life. If I die, that's it. If I win, I have to spend the rest of my life helping other tributes and keeping up appearances for the citizens of Panem.
My fate was now set in stone.
