Today is reaping day. I have spent the past weeks waking up screaming, thoughts of the games terrorizing my nightmares. But the day has come, and there is not a thing I can do to prevent it.
We have already signed in. Today, Katniss has helped me get ready, mentally and physically. She keeps telling me that there is nothing to worry about. "Your name is only in there once," she says, "you'll be fine." Because Katniss helped me calm down, I am not as nervous. I'm safe this year. It is Katniss and Gale I worry about most. Her name is in there many times, and Gale's forty-two. Gale and I are not related, yet to me he is like a brother. And Katniss can't be picked. She is the reason I am still alive. These are reasons I have been dreading this day. It seems impossible that it is already here.
"Come on, Prim," one of my friends nudges me. I go to stand with her and the other twelve-year-olds. It is our first time being in the bowl. If we get reaped, we hardly have any chance of winning. Actually, the entire District Twelve is at a disadvantage. Our sole victor, Haymitch, certainly isn't the best mentor to tributes. So we must hope that we can be spared another year. However, the odds are, really, in our favor, as we only need to be put in once, unless we sign up for tesserae. Katniss wouldn't let me sign up, though, so that I wouldn't have as much of a chance as being picked. She would do anything to keep me safe, and I'm grateful, albeit being terrified for her safety.
Effie's speech catches me off guard. She shows the video like every year, and says her catch phrase, "May the odds be ever in your favor." Then she walks over towards the bowls.
"Ladies first!" she delicately reaches in and plucks a small strip of paper from it. She pauses a second to read the name, then glances out towards the crowd. I look up at the stage and wait patiently. I know the name can't be mine; my name was only entered once. Maybe if I repeat that enough, it'll stop the echoes of worry in my head. Effie finally speaks the name in a cheerful voice, even though no one is as enthusiastic as she.
"Primrose Everdeen."
Did I hear her right? I couldn't have. My name was one in thousands. But the effect on the crowd is sudden. Every eye turns to stare at me as I numbly take a step forwards. The buzzing in my ears is so loud I can hardly hear anything else. Time seems to stop for a second as I stiffly travel to the stage. All I can hear is the pounding of my own heart, and that annoying buzzing in my ears. Suddenly, time starts moving again as Katniss comes forward. She is trying to reach me, wanting to save me.
"I volunteer as a tribute!"
Katniss desperately calls out these words, and as trivial as they sound, they mean so much. Our district hasn't had a volunteer for a long time. She can't. She won't. I am frozen in place, unable to move or think. Katniss is rushed forward up to stand next to Effie Trinket in my place. I am petrified, refusing to let her go. My sister, in the Hunger Games? My head starts whirling. She must win, for my sake, and for hers. She will win.
I feel sort of relieved, but at the same time scared for Katniss. At least it isn't me. Now I am echoing words of the other people in the district, mostly caring about their own preservation. At first, it disgusts me. But then I see the logic behind it. Katniss definitely would be far better in the Games. Where I would be killed in a minute, mostly because of my size, she would prosper. There are only twenty-three other people she will need to beat, as it is. She has had more practice than most other tributes. Besides the Careers, who really has trained for the Hunger Games? Katniss can hunt, gather, and create snares. She's smart and persistent. She will make it out. Of that, I feel certain. The odds, well, are in her favor. But then again, the odds were in mine too. And this happened.
May the odds be ever in your favor.