It was the day of the reaping, my last reaping, I was 18 and living back home in district 8 with my dad and 2 sisters. My mother died when I was 3, we were never told how, she was found dead in the woods, or that's what they told me. Staggering through the town at 6am, I looked up at the smoke filled sky, the factories had always made the air a dark, murky grey, so the woods were our only escape from the fumes. We went there - the woods- often, me and Nick, not like the world famous 'Katniss Everdeen' but we picked berries and went to the lake, we never hunted - I was too scared and not skillful enough to hunt, Maria does that, nor am I smart and creative enough to make clothes - Helena does that. I wasn't special or talented, I was nothing, never going to make it in our vicious little world. Nick jumped out from behind a storage warehouse and yelled, 'Day of the reaping! Oh such fun!' I groaned at him, he had always been jumpy and enthusiastic, 'Oh, looking out colourful district 8.' did I also mention he's a sarcastic little shit? 'How many tesserea?' I ask him, '105, I had to take it for everybody else,' he had 12 siblings, 'You're fucked!' I shouted - a bit too loudly. 'It's fine, you never know the odds, they've seemed to be in my favour for the last 5 years.' he shrugged. 'Better get home and ready, see you there,' I say with a wink and a casual salute, strolling away. Life was hard, but Nick and I only used that as a chance to ridicule it further.
