thank you for reading!
DISCLAIMER: DISTANTWAVE DOES NOT OWN THE HUNGER GAMES!
ME: YET!
No. This cant be happening.
Sorry let me start from the beginning. My name is Rue Jenkins and I'm 12 years old, im old enough for the reaping. It all started on Tuesday. I woke up to the sound of mockingjays and my sisters fighting over who gets to play with their doll. Don't they realize what day it is? Do they even care? I know I do, today is the day the 12 district's of Panem will find out who will be the tributes for the 74th Hunger Games. I get out of bed and find that my mother has already made breakfast, quail eggs my favorite. This must be her way of cheering me up. Its sweet knowing she's trying but there's no way to calm me down, not today considering I might be chosen as the female tribute in the Hunger Games. To help my nerves I visit my best friend Ella Fenian. She will also be in the reaping today. When I tell her my problem she just laughs. " Rue " she says " do you realize how unlikely it is that one of us will be picked! There's THOUSANDS of other people who have had there name in multiple times! We have ours in ONCE. There's no way we'll get picked! Stop worrying Rue!" That calms me down a little bit. I stay at Ella's till about lunch time when I have to go get ready for the reaping. When I get home my youngest sister Eliza is waiting for me. When I bend down to give her a hug she puts something around my neck. When I look at it its I see its a straw necklace with a small silver star in the center. She looks at me and says " it for gud wuck wue." Its so sweet I start to cry. When I walk in the house my mother has set out a small blue dress for me. When I have gotten into it she offers to do my hair. I let her because this might be the last time she can. My family starts to leave to go to the reaping. Are family lives right next to Ella and her family so we walk down and I are taken from our family's so the capital can pick us out of the crowd easily. When we get to the the check-in spot they take a sample of my blood to show who I am and that I came. " Rue Jenkins" the machine blurts out. Yeah that's me. The capital peace makers put us in age groups and gender so I am by Ella. That crazy capital woman we've had for years steps up to the stage. She shows us a video of how horrid life was before Panem then steps up to the large glass bowls. She picks out of the guys first. "Thresh Martin!" She yells out in her ridiculous voice. As usual no one walks up on the stage. Wow he's big, I pity the tributes against him. Then she walks over to the girls bowl. I feel Ella squeeze my hand. "Rue Jenkins!" No. This cant be happening. I'm only 12! I only had one slip of paper in the bowl! Of course no one volunteers. "Come on sweetheart" the lady says. No, no, NO! I cant be in the hunger games! Who will take care of my family? When I finally get on the stage I'm shaking like a leaf. I'm almost in tears, but I must look strong. When the reaping is over the peace keeper's escort us into rooms so we can say our goodbyes. The first people to come in my room are my family. They rush to me and I'm covered in hugs and tears. When we finally get untangled I tell them, " ok mom you'll need to ask Ella for help gathering food, dad remember to report to the shelter to get extra blankets and oil, Eliza, Abby, Meg, and Taylor don't get in to much trouble till I get back ok." Then my mother starts weeping and I'm covered in hugs again. It seems like they don't think I'll come home, but I don't think I will ether so I try to not get upset. When they leave Ella comes in. "Ella! " I shout. Then where wraped in a giant hug. "Rue" she says " I want you to have this" then she takes a ring off her finger and puts it on mine. I see it's a small bronze ring that looks like vines. " Ella " I say " I cant take this! How will you get it back?" " don't worry" she says " I'll get it from you when you come back." From the way she says it she seems to think I'm already dead. Does anyone think I can make it?!
Now we are in a train to go to the capital. I have my own room for now. Its at least three times larger than my house in district eleven. I take a shower to take up some of my time. There are so many buttons I think it will take me months to press all of them, But I only have hours so I press a big pink one and I'm covered in large pinkish bubbles. When I'm bubble free I get out of the shower and change into a green top and brown pants. They remind me of the tree's I love to climb and it makes me feel better till I remember where I'm going. In a few hours that ridiculous woman opens my door and starts yelling at me to get to dinner. When I arrive I see all of the food set out and think " this would feed my family for months! " and I sit down next to Seeder. Seeder will be my mentor for the games. During dinner I find out the ridiculous womans name is Lafette kink. Why do the capital citizens have such weird names? No one talks much until the capital comes into view in the giant window's. I go to the nearest window and look at the capital and it's cheering citizens. Why is this so happy for them? Don't they realize how wrong this all is? There cheering on the deaths of twenty two kids! Its just so sick that I go to my room to watch the other reapings to see what I'm up against. Every one of them is larger then I am. None of them catch my eye untill district twelve comes up. There's A girl about my age called up. I think her name is Primrose Everdeen. Seconds after she is called up someone starts screaming " Prim! No! I VOLENTER AS TRIBUTE! " Then I see who was shouting. It looks like an older version of prim. I don't know why but I want her as an aly. I watch to see who the male tribute for district twelve is then I go to bed. When I wake up we have to get off the train to get ready for the chariot rides. I go see my team of stylus's but they dont talk much. Apparently the head stylus is supposed to help but mine has no intrest in me till i'm "de-haired" .When I finally meet my stylus Gartuk Vanloy I hate him right away. He's rude and pushy. When I see my outfit I groan. Tree's again. Cant they think of anything other than tree's for one year? When they start putting on my makeup I say " this is a lot of makeup! Don't you want the people to reconize me?" "The less they see of you the better!" he says .I want to cry but if I do I'll just look worse than I already do. When we are in the chariot I see the other tributes outfits. There all so much better than mine! Well maybe not district twelve. They just have simple black clothes on and crowns. Not much at all. But when we start to pull out I see twelves stylus's with torches. THERE LIGHTING THEM ON FIRE! then I see there not in pain. Woah! That's the coolest outfit ever! I'm so jelous! I could tell I wasn't the only one. The tributes from one where giving them really dirty looks. Twelve will definitely have sponsers. Now I really want that girl from twelve as an ally. We are half way done with the chariot ride when Thresh notices me staring at twelve. "No" he says " don't look at them like you want to be Ally's. They seem like the type that would kill you in the night." I stop staring at them.
It's time for the the interviews and I actually have a good outfit! Its blue and has tons of ruffles under it. I also have a set of fake wings. When We are standing in line its easy to tell how young we are. We act really impatient. But its not our fault that we want to get out there and impress people who might sponsor us. Sponsors can be the difference between life and death. I get very bored waiting in lines so you can just imagine what It felt like waiting for hours. When it finally was my turn I walked up on the stage on my tip-toes like I'm about to fly. When Ceaser Flickerman asks me how I plan to win I say to him " I'm hard to catch, if they cant catch me they can't kill me so don't count me out." Then Ceaser said " I wouldn't in a million years. Then my timer went out. When the girl from twelve came out I watched her talk about her sister and how she planned on winning for her. Then Ceaser asked her to spin and when she did it looked like she was coated in flames. She was amazing. When she was done the guy from twelve joked around with Ceaser and I started to get bored untill Ceaser asked him if he had a special girl at home. " uh... no?" He said " come on " said Ceaser" there has to be someone!" " well there is one girl who ive always had a crush on and I don't think she noticed me unitll the reaping." " ok" said Ceaser " here's what you do. You go out there and you win this thing and then she'll have to go out with you!" " I don't think that will work in my case because... she came here with me." Basically everyone gasped. It seemed like the odds where not in his favor!
At the training center there where tons and tons of things to do. You could throw an axe, spear, sword, dagger, or use a bow, and a sling shot. You could climb on the nets, lift weights, learn about animals, berry's, or plants. You could go on the obstacle course or you could do what I did, follow katniss around ( I learned district twelves tributes names last night) . I'm very good at hiding so I followed her and peeta around by hiding behind tables, walls, barrels, support beams, and above them in the climbing net. It wasn't untill peeta looked over at me when I wasn't ready to hide when they saw me. I don't think it bothered them that much though. Once I was done watching them I started doing things with them. It turns out that like me katniss is very good with plants. We both aced the plant test though peeta could hardly tell a blackberry from nightlock. He should probably stick with katniss. When they had finished with the berry's they went to camouflage. I don't like camouflage so I went to practice with a slingshot. As always I hit every target. Then it was time to go get ready for when they test you to see how high of a score you will get. High scouring tributes always get more sponsors but are usually targeted by the the stronger tributes.
When it was my turn for the test I knew what I was going to do. I got a slingshot and some stones and climbed the net. Then I swung through the nets and shot the slingshot at the targets. I hit all but one. When I was done the game makers looked impressed. Then I was excused. When we watched to see what scores we got it was fairly usual. 9-7 points for district's 1-4. 4-2 points for district's 5-12 but when it got to me I got a seven! A seven for someone as small as me is really great! But if I thought I did good then I saw katniss's score of eleven and thought. " Now I really really want her as an ally! She's amazing!" But then I had to go to sleep if I could because tomorrow was... the Hunger Games.
I was so scared! What would happen to my family if I died? It's not like I didn't have a chance to win its just that there where twenty two other people trying to kill me and only one of me. I guess I'll just have to put it out of my mind. I put on my straw necklace Eliza gave me for " gud wuck" and stared out at the capital. I didn't like the view so I changed it. It went to a forest scene and made me really happy. I hope there's a forest in the arena or I'm a goner. No tree's equal no Rue. I go to my dresser and get out my outfit for the hunger games. Its a shade of green that would blend into the trees very well. I put it on and wait for Laffete to call me down. Two minutes latter I hear " RUE! COME DOWN HERE!" so I do. Laffete leads me and Thresh down to where we will get our numbers and trackers. My number says F11. I guess it stands for "female from 11". When they put the tracker in my arm it stings. The tracker will show them where I am. Now they'll never lose their tributes. Then they have us sit in chairs that will go through the floor to the platforms that will go into the games. It makes me feel better that I'm near katniss for now. I plan on following her if there are tree's in the arena. Then all of the sudden my chair starts to go down. I'm scared untill I realize what's happening. But then I remember where I'm going and I'm scared again. Then I'm in a room with a platform. Then I see Gartuk and I almost instantly feel worse. I run across the room and jump on my platform. I try to tune out Gartuk's voice. Then the platform starts to rise and I freak out. Then I start to see the arena. THERE'S TREE'S! This makes me feel much better. I turn to run to the woods then I remember I have to wait a minute untill I can go. Then I hear a voice "LET THE HUNGER GAMES BEGIN!" I'm running to the woods almost instantly. Then I see a small supply kit and pick it up. Soon I'm in the woods and up a tree. I climb up a tree to look at the cornucopia. I see katniss fighting Someone for a back-pack. Then I see someone coming towards them with a knife. I want to kelp out but then katniss seems to win and she runs off. That Clove girl from two throws a knife at her but she blocks it with her back-pack. Katniss runs into the woods and I follow her in the tree's. Along the way I find tons of edible berry's and healing plants. I put them in my kit. When Katniss stops I see she got a sleeping bag and some rope along with her pack. Then she climbs a tree and belts herself in. I watch her for a while then I go look to find a spot to sleep. A few hours layter I hear a fire. I look out and see that someone started a huge fire and fell asleep next to it. The fire looks so warm and I'm about to go sleep next to it when I hear someone or several someone's coming. Then I see its the career's and peeta. Peeta? What's he doing with the careers? I hear them kill the fire-starter. I can hear them talking about katniss. I find out that they let peeta join because they think katniss will come to him and then they can kill her. After they leave katniss jumps out of her tree and grins. I have no idea why and then she walks off. This time I don't join her. After a few hours I start to get thirsty so I look for water. Then I hear the sound of a huge fire. Its right behind me! I run away as fast as I can unroll I cant hear or see it anymore. It starts to get dark out so I climb a tree and try to sleep. Once I'm almost asleep I hear someone running. It's katniss! I wonder what she's running from and then I see the careers and peeta chasing her. Katniss bolts up the tree next to me and climbs as high as she can. The blonde girl from district one trys to shot katniss with a bow but it seems that she has very bad aim. When the others start to throw things at katniss peeta stops them and says " why don't we wait her out? She has to come down eventually." I thought he liked her! The careers agreed with peeta and so they built a fire and went to sleep. I watched katniss for a while and then realized there was a nest above her! A tracker jacker nest! I started to yell out to her but then I thought " if she cuts it lose with her knife it would scare away the careers! So I went closer to her and motioned up with my hands. She looked surprised at first but then she looked up and saw the nest. Then I made a sawing motion and she got her knife out and said quietly " go." So I swung from tree to tree untill I was a safe distance away from the tracker jacker nest. I listened for the nest to drop and when it did I could hear the careers screaming "TO THE LAKE!" I started laughing. A few minutes later I saw katniss and she looked like she had been stung. She walked a few steps then fell down.I almost ran to help her but then peeta ran to her and yelled " WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! GO! RUN!" Then he pulled her up and told her to run again. Then I saw Cato and peeta saw him to and ran to stop him from killing katniss. Then I went out and draged katniss into a pit of leaves. I took care of her untill she woke up. She woke up about two or three days later. When she woke up the first thing she said was " is peeta ok?" "Yeah" I said then she started asking about if the careers where dead. I told her that two of them had died. I could tell she knew about one because she had the blonde girls bow and arrows. The next thing she said surprised me. She asked. " do you want to be Ally's? " I almost screamed yes! So we where Ally's. Of course it was only temporary but I didn't want to think of that. That night I climbed up a tree and got ready to sleep when she asked "do you want to sleep in my sleeping bag?" It was really cold out so i agreed. I curled up in the bottom of her sleeping bag for warmth. The next day katniss said " we need to do something about the careers food supply. If they didn't have food they would starve. " "but katniss, they have plenty of food they wont starve." "Well where going to have to do something about that." So we did. We made a plan to blow up the careers supplies. We gathered plants I would burn to distract the careers while katniss would blow up the food. We made three piles of grass and I thought of something. "We should have a signal to show that where ok." I said. Katniss agreed. I showed her a bird call that we used back home. "Its just a simple four note melody that the mockingjays will bounce back." I said. Then I showed her. The next night we split up. "Good luck!" I called to her. "You to" I heard. I made it to the first and second piles and was on my way to the third when I heard the boom. I swear you could hear it for miles. Then I heard footsteps and ran. I felt something on my head and I looked up. I stoped running. There was a net around me that I was getting tangled up in. I fell over. "KATNISS KATNISS KATNISS! " I yelled. I could hear her coming. I saw her just as someone threw a spear at me and I watch it enter me. I saw katniss shot who threw the spear. She ran over to me and started yelling "are there more!?" And I have to say it three times before she hears me. I roll over with the spear poking out of my side. There is a small pool of blood around the shaft of the spear. When I see how deep the spear went I know there's no way I'll stay alive long enough to win, but for some strange reason I'm calm.I rest my head against a nearby tree. I want my final moments to be peaceful so I ask katniss "will you sing?" And she does.
"Deep in the meadow, under the willow A bed of grass, a soft green pillow Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes And when again they open, the sun will rise.
Here it's safe, here it's warm Here the daisies guard you from every harm Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true Here is the place where I love you.
Deep in the meadow, hidden far away A cloak of leaves, a moonbeam ray Forget your woes and let your troubles lay And when again it's morning, they'll wash away.
Here it's safe, here it's warm Here the daisies guard you from every harm Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true Here is the place where I love you.
Here is the place where I love you.
Deep in the meadow, hidden far away A cloak of leaves, a moonbeam ray Forget your woes and let your troubles lay And when again it's morning, they'll wash away.
Here it's safe, here it's warm Here the daisies guard you from every harm Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true Here is the place where I love you."
Then I start to close my eyes and I watch katniss start crying. As I close my eyes I can hear katniss telling me to hold on, to wait until she can find some medicine or something to heal me. I know its hopeless, there's no way I can last even five minutes. As my eyes struggle to stay open I watch her cover me with flowers and press three fingers to her lips and raise them in the air I manage to squeak out one last sentence "You have to win" I wisper. "I will" she says. "I don't doubt it" I think. Then my eyes close for the last time.