I wake from my sleep in a cold sweat; I have an agonizing feeling of fear. The thing is I don't even know why, I walk down the hallway to see my mother, her hands covering her face. I can see small droplets of tears and I jump to her side "Mom, what's wrong" I say in a worried voice. She looks at me with eyes that tell the pain she feels.
"You're my only son, my only child. I just... I just don't want to lose you Aspen".
"Lose me... What are you talking about...?" That's when I realize what day it is. Today is the day that everyone district 4-12 dread the most. Reaping day, the day that a male and female tribute are taken from their district, in my case district 7, and sent to the capitol and eventually to an arena. They are then given time to say their last goodbyes, they are taken to the capitol, which is the place that controls all the districts, in the capitol they will be presented in costumes, given interviews, and then based on how well they train in combat they will be given a score from 1 to 12, 12 being the best score possible. After that they are taken into an arena where all 24 tributes will fight to the death until there is only one left. Twenty-four go in, one comes out I think to myself.
The chance of being reaped also depends on something called tesserae, you can sign up for one year's supply of grain and oil in exchange for your name being put into the reaping bowl as many times as you sign up for tesserae. Another factor is age, at age twelve your name is put in once, originally unless you sign up for tesserae, once your thirteen it is put in twice, fourteen it is put in three times, so on and so on. I am fifteen plus the fact that I sign up for tesserae three times as to cover for me and my parents, so my name will go into the bowl seven times.
"Mom, it will be fine. There are much older boys than me plus most of the guys at my school take out tesserae for their family too".
"Aspen you know that that doesn't matter, your name will be in that bowl seven times"!
"Mom its fine"!
"I know how hard it must be on you to think that you would lose me, but think about it. I'm the one going to have to starve, or be brutally murdered, not you"!
"But I will have to watch you die"!
"Mom…"
"No Aspen, it's fine. I'm sorry for being worried for your life". This strikes me deep, my mom is always emotional before reaping day, but I've never really yelled back before.
"Mom, even if I am reaped who says I don't have a chance at winning"?
"It doesn't matter if you win or not"! she quiets down to a hushed voice and begins to talk "You are a child, you shouldn't HAVE to murder another human being for your own survival because some old guy says it's punishment, and even if you do come back, the games could change you, break you, they could psychologically scar you for life. I couldn't live with myself knowing that it's partly my fault".
"How exactly would it be your fault, I take tesserae because I love you and dad, it's a risk I take and if it means I have a greater chance of being reaped, oh well. It's much better than starving". I wrap my mother in a hug because to be honest I don't know how it would feel, no matter how hard I try. Nothing has ever died that is mine; I've never really had anything to call my own except for my room, my clothes, my body, and the food I eat.
"I love you Aspen" she says as a tear is produced from her eye.
"I love you too mom" I say back to her. "Your father is at work, he said if you wanted to go help, you could. You don't have to if you don't want to though" she said in a caring voice, I could tell she didn't want me to do much. She still thinks I am a child, she think that just because It's reaping day I can't handle helping my own father carry logs at his work.
No matter how young she thinks I am, she's my mother, and I love her. I grab my black coat, put on my boots and leave the house with a swift farewell to my mother. I walk down the road and go to my dad's workplace where I find him chopping at trees with four other men. "Hey dad" I say as I grab an axe from the toolshed that is full of tools sent from the Capitol so District 7 may chop trees to produce the lumber that is then transported to the capitol, it's really messed up when you think about it, the men of this district work close to all day and for what. So the children grow up with breathing problems from the wood chippings brought home? They could at least give us sufficient funds to make it easier for us to put food on the table. But of course I shouldn't be complaining, I'm sure the other districts have it much worse and I don't exactly have a house full of family members, just me, my mom, and my dad.
"Timber!" I hear as I look in the direction my dad's coworker has yelled. It's at that moment I hear the clang of the axe I hold fall to the cement. I hear cracking of the branches as the tree falls, but it is accompanied not only by yells of terrified men, it is accompanied by my father's screams of pain. I shiver as I hear not only branches cracking but my father's bones as well.