You only know what I want you to
I know everything you don't want me to
Oh your mouth is poison, your mouth is wine
You think your dreams are the same as mine

-Poison and Wine by The Civil Wars

Katniss

I wake before anyone else, in the wee hours of morning when even the mockingjays do not sing.

My father used to sing to me, when he took me out into the woods to hunt.
But he is dead now, killed in a mine accident with some of the Dauntless miners, helping to get the others to safety.

The Dauntless faction values bravery, but our faction, Abnegation, values selflessness.

But there's not much that me, my mother, and my sister Primrose can do to help. Our District, District Twelve, is one of the poorest districts, and my family isn't very well off, either. My mother says that we should still share what we have, because there are some who have even less than we do.

I try to be selfless like she is. I try.

I slide out of bed, careful not to wake my mother, who sleeps on the other side of the room, and Prim, who must've had nightmares and climbed in with her.

Well, of course she did.

Today is Reaping day.

Every year, one girl and one boy between the ages of 12 and 16 from each district are chosen to fight to the death on live TV. They can be from any faction, but it's usually the Abnegation and Dauntless who volunteer to show their selflessness or bravery.

The catch: the tesserae, extra grain and oil for a year in exchange for having your name in extra times. I have had to do this for myself and each member of my family. And the entries are cumulative. Now, at the age of 16, I will have my name in 20 times.

I'm not worried for Prim, of course. Her name's only in there once, since it's her first year and I wouldn't let her take out any tesserae.

It's me I'm worried about. And I am selfish for doing so.

I slip on a simple gray outfit and my soft, worn leather boots, shouldering my game bag. It is selfish, I know, to kill wild animals for eating, but it is more selfish to let my family starve. Ever since my father died in the mines, five years ago, I have done what I had to do to keep my family alive.

Here, you must take care not to go against the rules of your faction or the Capitol.

I leave the house, ducking through alleyways and streets, until I am running like I would never be allowed to on my own quiet Abnegation street. I reach the Meadow and pause, taking a moment to listen for the hum that means the fence is live.

The fence that surrounds District Twelve is supposed to be electrified 24/7. it was placed here to 'keep the wild animals out'. It's true purpose is to keep us in. But since we're lucky if we get a few hours of electricity in the evenings, it's as silent as the gray stones that represent Abnegation at the Choosing Ceremony.

Every after the Hunger Games are over, each 16 year old has to choose which one of the five factions they will spend the rest of their life in: Erudite, the intelligent, Candor, the honest, Amity, the kind, Dauntless, the brave, and Abnegation, the selfless.

If I don't get reaped, I will have to Choose in about a month. I'm not looking forward to it.

I slide through a hole in the fence, retrieve my bow and arrows from a hollow log, and head further into the woods, where my best friend Gale awaits me.

"Hey, Catnip," he says, using his special nickname for me. I grin. "Hey, Gale."

He says I never smile except in the woods, and that's because there's not much to smile about outside of them. In the woods, we don't have to be District Twelve. We don't have to be Dauntless and Abnegation.

We are just Katniss and Gale.

That's all we've ever been and all we ever will be.

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