Clove's POV
Chapter 1
I open my eyes and reach for my blanket. I feel it's not on my body. I get up and look around. The white, torn-up rag is on the floor.
I feel my face. It's drenched in sweat. Oh great, another nightmare.
Of course, I would have a nightmare. It's my district's reaping day.
Being in District Two, you'd think it would be fun to get reaped for the Games. But no. Some of us who are in training think otherwise. The trainers tell you it's a huge honor to get reaped, even more of an honor if you win.
That's why we train. We train practically our whole lives. You choose a weapon, I chose throwing knives, train everyday, turn eighteen, and you volunteer. Good thing I'm only fourteen, and don't need to volunteer for another four years. Unless, the odds are in my favor and I get reaped. But I can't think like that.
I sit on the bed, and breathe. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale.
When I have the strength, I get up and head to the kitchen. I walk up to the sink, turn on the faucet, and wash my face. The cool, cool water splashing on my face feels nice on my heated, sweaty skin.
My mom comes out of her bedroom, as well as my brother. They sleep next to each other, you see. My little brother, Caleb, is too scared to sleep on his own. He is only 12 years old, and I love him ever so dearly. Him being twelve, this is his first reaping.
Caleb has blue eyes, like my father. I have hazel eyes, just like my mom.
My dad died from a fire in the Nut, which is a huge building where we store all our weapons for the Capitol.
"Good morning, sweetie," Mom greets me.
"Not that good of a morning, but, morning," I sigh.
"Clove, aren't you scared?" Caleb asks sleepily.
"Caleb, I've already been through this twice, I'm not scared," I say, when in reality, I am scared.
"Oh."
I open the kitchen cabinet to see if we have any food left. There's only a little—canned soup, a couple of mint leaves, and some stale bread. Being close to the Capitol, you'd think that we'd get some kind of special treatment, but we really don't. We only get canned food once a week, every other week. The other kinds of food that we have, like bread, we either steal or trade.
I take out the stale loaf of bread. I walk to the stove, light it, and heat the bread up, so we can have some kind of enjoyment to this horrid day.
When it's done heating up, I take it, put it on a cloth, and set it on our kitchen table. I rip it up equally so we can each get a fair ration.
When we're done eating, mom tells me and Caleb to get ready.
I take a bath first, in a small tub with cold water. I rinse my whole body, including my hair.
When I'm done, I dry myself with a rag. I go into my room, and look in my small closet. I pick a soft pink dress, that falls to the knees. I walk over to the cracked, full-body mirror, and look at myself. I grab a hairpin from my bedside table and pin my hair up into a bun.
"Beautiful," my mom whispers from the door.
"Thanks, mom," I say.
I walk out of my room and sit on our dinner table. I see Caleb walk out of mom's room.
"Wow," I gasp. "You look so handsome!"
And he truly does look very handsome. He's wearing his school shirt, which is a white collared shirt, along with gray pants.
"Thanks, Clove," he blushes.
"Anytime," I say, and kiss him on the forehead.
Both mom and Caleb join me to sit at the dinner table. We sit in a moment in silence, and try to prepare ourselves for what's to come.
After about 10 minutes, my mother breaks the silence. "Let's go. Better not be late."