I cut my finger while chopping mint leaves. I'm not surprised that this happened because I have been shaking the entire time I have been cutting. I am still shaking as I put a cloth on my finger to clean the blood that comes from my wound. It hurts but that pain isn't anything like the numbness. The numbness that comes because this very day could decide whether I live or not, the reaping, and the truth is, I don't like my odds.
It is one year after the end of the dark days. One year of going to back to slaving for the Capitol. One year after the announcement of a Hunger Games. Nobody knew what the Hunger Games were when President Carr announced them but I knew. I knew it would be like this, that there would be more death even after the fighting. So when they explained what the Hunger Games would be, how two children from each of our twelve districts would be forced to fight to the death on live television, I was the only person in my district that wasn't surprised.
When I clean off the blood and wrap my finger in a bandage I decide to take a break and go outside. When I exit our house I see my mom sitting in the corner of our room and knitting. She smiles as I pass by. My mother has never been the kind of person who talked much but wherever she went; she brought an aura of warmth along with her. I'm a bit like my mother in the silent way, but more like my dad when it came to my personality. My father is always more interested in serious things and doesn't have time for emotions like the way my mom invests her time in making sure I'm happy. Even though my dad can be cold, he always filled up the silence in our home. When I leave I tell her that I want to go for a walk and she doesn't insist that I stay and sit with her the way she normally does. I guess it's because weight that my mother feels, that every district in Panem feels, of the reminder that there was a chance that a love one could leave and never come back.
I walk out and breathe in the fresh District 7 air. Normally I would be working in the woods today, but I get the day off because of the reaping. I head over to my friend Cara's house and as usual, it is filled with life, even on a day such as this one.
Her mother wraps her arms around me and lets me in. I walk into the kitchen, where Cara's twin brother, Lauren is slicing cheese. As I walk over to great him, I take a piece of cheese and he frowns, "That's not for you, it's for tonight," he scolds me, but then smiles to let me know he wasn't serious. I place the piece in my mouth and squish it with my tongue and the roof of my mouth.
Cara walks in with her usual bounce in each of her steps and pulls me into a hug. I've known Cara all my life because her father is friends with mine. "Hi Ivory," Cara smiles at me.
"What's going on tonight?" I ask.
"A party!" Cara tells me.
"Why would you have a party today?" The idea of having a party on a day like today, when two children from our district were going to be sent out to possible death was ridiculous; in fact it was the exact kind of party that only Cara would want.
"I told you that Ivory wouldn't like it," her brother rolls his eyes. Cara responds with a "If you two really don't like this idea, then you two can spend the night together, moaning and being sad. I just want to cheer people up, to remind those who haven't been chosen that they should be happy."
"There's always a next year," Lauren says, which makes Cara hit him. After that we help her with the food for the party and decide not to comment again because there was no use in fighting with Cara, she always wins arguments.
I leave their home and head to my own. When I walk in, I discover my father is home. He says hello to me and then goes back to reading something.
The reaping is in an hour so I take a bath and put on the clothing that my mother bought for me for this day. On my bed lay a pair of dress pants and a shirt made out of silky white material, my best clothes. I put them on and I smile to myself when the silky luxurious fabric touches my skin. I imagine what it is like to live in the capitol, where they get the best food, the best materials, the best everything. Over there a shirt like this would be considered cheap. But in the districts, this costs an arm and a leg. Even though living in the capitol is tempting, I would never want to live in riches while the rest of my country starves. I walk into my mother's room to show her my clothes. When she sees them, she smiles and pulls me into an embrace. She then takes a gold expensive-looking hair clip and places it in my hand.
"This can be yours now," she tells me. I take a couple of minutes to carefully examine the beautiful hair ornament. It is in the shape of a rose. I give it back to my mother and she clips back my hair with it.
My father walks into the room and tells us that it is time to go to the Justice Building for the reaping. My mother's smile is replaced with a worried look. We walk outside and head towards the Justice Building, which is not too far away from my home. While we walk my mother takes my hand and gives it a squeeze. I continue holding her hand but when we reach the Justice Building I separate from her.
I see a friend of mine from school, Brynn, and I head over to her. She walks up to me and tells me that we're supposed to line up based on our age and gender so Brynn and I go to where the other seventeen-year-old girls are.
On the stage in front of the Justice Building sits our mayor, Mayor Walden. He bears his usual straight face. Beside him is a Capitol woman. It's easy to tell that she's from the Capitol because she has these hideous green tattoos and is sporting the oddest outfit. There is another Capitol person, this time a man, with purple skin. Brynn gives me a look and it's obvious that she has also noticed the oddness of our Capitol guests. Surrounding these people are about a dozen peacekeepers. There are tons of them everywhere today, more than District Seven has ever seen.
Mayor Walden steps up to a podium with a microphone and starts talking about the history of Panem. When he gets to talking about the Dark Days, the crowd stirs. They are probably acting out on unresolved feelings, either anger or sadness. They don't say anything but it is awfully obvious that the people are bothered.
After that long and boring speech, the capitol woman with the tattoos stands up and heads towards the podium. "Hello District Seven," she says, "Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor! I'm Cass Van Cecily, and I will be District Seven's escort. All of you have your names in these two jars, one jar for boys and one for ladies. I will choose one name from each jar and those of you who are chosen, you will have the honor of competing in the very first Hunger Games."
Cass walks up to the jar for women. "Ladies first!" she literally squeals. She places her hand and lets it shift through all the names in the jar. Then she takes one piece of paper and reads it. I feel my stomach tangle itself in knots. "Ivory Portshore," she says looking into the crowd.