Chapter One
I'm sorry if this story seems sort of wacked up or confusing. Or both. It's been a lot to take in.
The story starts, I suppose, on the day the Capitol won the war.
The president announces, on the huge screen in the equally enormous square at the center of District Eleven, that something called the Hunger Games would begin in a few weeks, and the drawings to pick the "tributes" would be held on May 8th, a week from today. He explains the rules, that there would be one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen, tesserae, blah blah blah.
I'll tell you the truth; I turn around toward my family's newly built shack and run home, sobbing. My older sisters, Lilyanne and Dandeliss, the latter carrying our baby brother, William, hurry after me.
"Rosie! Are you all right?" my mother asks as I run through the door and lie, face-down, on my mat. She's cooking something meaty over an open fire. It cheers me up, but not much.
"No, of course I'm not all right! Didn't you hear about the new thing the Capitol's doing? Two kids from every District sentenced to death every year! HOW COULD I BE OKAY?" Now I really can't stand to be near anybody. I sprint out the door, into an orchard, and jump up into an old apple tree. I rearrange the thin branches so that nobody could possibly see me, even if they were standing directly below me.
After a few minutes, I start to hear Lilyanne and Dandeliss's voices coming closer. "Rosie...Rosalyn...ROSIE! MOM WANTS YOU BACK INSIDE!"
I chuck an apple at them. Hey, what would you have done?
Lilyanne climbs up, picks me up by my armpits, and drops me down to the ground. Dandeliss picks me up and carries me like she did William earlier. When we get back, my mother thrusts a bowl of stew in my face. Lilyanne hands her the apple I threw at them from the tree, as well as a pear from the way back.
"So we'll have dessert tonight," My mother whispers, a small grin forming on her tan face.
