A/N-Hello everyone! I'm thebluelioness with a hunger games fic for you! This story has been in the works for 3 years now and I'm finally ready to publish it! I'm still currently writing it, but i'm far enough ahead to start posting. I hope you all enjoy it! I do not own the hunger games.

Chapter One: The Reaping

"We have met our first victim of the hunger games, ladies and gentlemen; and it looks like he's caught in a fire!"

Fire. It's all around me. I can't see anything but red flames that are swallowing me whole. I can barely breath, my head goes fuzzy and I start to black out. Just before everything goes black, out of the fire comes a creature; a fox.

"Gah!"

I shot up in a cold sweat and looked around in the dark of my bedroom, nothing. I sighed as I wiped away the sweat from my forehead, a bad dream…one that might come true. Today was the reaping here in district 3 the day everyone dreads each year. I reluctantly swung my legs over my bed and stumbled over to my dresser. Everyone is pretty well off in district 3, not as well as one or two, but we're not starving like the outer districts. As I get dressed in some of my nicer clothing as I let my gaze wander over at my desk that was covered in tools, blueprints, and wires from an old vacuum I was rewiring, I grinned. Since district 3 was the technology district, most everyone has to be handy with electronics and high tech machinery, but I had always had a fascination with that kind of stuff. I was at the top of my class and I could fix and re-program just about anything. I wished my dad could see me now. My father died in an accident when I was five, we were really close. I shook the memory from my head and made my way downstairs to greet my mom.

"Hi, mom, how are you?"

My mom turned around, a sad smile plastered on her face,

"Hi, sweetie. I'm okay, just a bit nervous for today, that's all," she said in a small voice.

I could tell she had been crying, her eyes were still red and puffy and she was sniffling slightly. I smiled a little and helped her make the rest of breakfast. We ate in silence, a gloomy, depressing silence that usually makes you feel worse about a situation. As we finished and started cleaning up, my mom planted a small kiss on the top of my head. I smiled,

"Don't worry, mom. They won't pick me," I said softly.

My mother stiffened a bit and breathed out slowly. She turned to me and smiled slowly.

"Let's hope so, Emmitt," she said wiping away tear that had fallen.

I looked at the floor as I felt my own tears form in my eyes. The thought that I could be chosen crept into my mind. I shivered at the thought of going into the hunger games. I'm only fourteen years old; I haven't even asked a girl out yet. I couldn't possibly win some stupid game! As if thinking about the games wasn't bad enough, the blaring sound of a horn rang out. My mother and I looked in the direction of the noise; she looked at me,

"Let's go, sweetie."

We walked over to the reaping place, my hand held tightly in her's. I'm by no means a momma's boy or a wimp, but I just get so scared that I feel like a five year old again, it's dumb, but there's the possibility that I'm going to die. I check in and go over to stand with the other boys in my age group. Soon, Riverta Bailytin comes up in stage in front of the hall of justice. Riverta has always reaped district three for as long as I could remember. She has ridiculously long, light blue hair and dark skin. She would be quite pretty if it weren't for here absolutely insane gold makeup and outfit. She looked like a walking feather dusted, with her large hat that had a long, majestic bird's feather and dress that was also made from the exotic feathers. She soon spoke,

"Hello everyone!" she said in her usual peppy yet shrill voice, "Happy hunger games and may the odds be ever in your favor!" she beamed at the crowd.

I sighed, how could someone be happy about a child killing spree? It was madness, the whole idea. After her introduction we watched the same cringe-worthy video that reminds us why we play this damn game, the rebellion. As the video ended, it was time to pick the tributes; I trembled as she announced this.

"The lady's first!" she said cheerfully and she trotted over to the bowl of name slips and plucked one out and proceeded to trot back to the mic. Everything was silent; you could hear a pin drop. She opened the folded piece of paper and said the name on paper of the horribly unlucky female tribute.

"Felicity Carriedon!" Silent whispers started as Felicity made her way up to the stage. She was a year younger than me and was quiet and had zero interest in technology. She looked terrified as she stood there.

'poor girl… nobody deserves this…" I thought to myself.

"Now, for the boys!" Riverta smiled.

My stomach lurched and I broke into a sweat. I was silent again as she walked over to the other bowl, but this time, everything seemed to be in slow motion. She again picked out another name and went back to her spot on stage. As she unfolded the small sheet of paper, I felt incredibly nauseous and lightheaded,

'Stop being ridiculous, Emmitt, it's not going to be you! What are the chances! Seriously, nothing will happen to you!' I thought to myself as she called out the name of the male tribute.

"Emmitt Radford!"

Ya'll like it so far? I hope so! Leave a review! The next chapter will be up soon!