It was a beautiful summer day. The grass was green and the flowers were blooming. The bees were out and flying from blossoming flower to flower. She had her fingers intertwined with mine as we walked out of the school yard and home to our houses in the Seam. I held her books with mine in my right arm as she swung our hands back and forth. She was the prettiest girl in all of District 12 and I was lucky enough to have her. It was a perfect day that we both knew wouldn't last long. We knew tonight was the annual announcement of the Quarter Quell. This could either rip us apart or bring us together because we knew we only had two more years until we were 18 and too old to be put into the reaping.

She turned to me and asked me a very simple question. "Have you ever noticed the most beautiful days are always the most unnerving?"

I turned to her and looked her in the eyes and said "Every day is beautiful when I can spend it with you". She looked at me and I saw tears were coming to her eyes but she quickly whipped them away and we continued to walk.

"Oh Haymitch if we could just run away from all this and live together and have our own kids and ensure that they will not be in the reaping that would make me so happy," She said.

When we finally reached the Seam I walked her all the way to her door even though my own house was on the opposite side of the Seam. When I gave her, her books back I kissed her and told her to not worry tonight only told us what to expect during the reaping not who was going to the Quarter Quell. After I told her this she seemed much happier and less nervous.

I ran home because my mom had to go and work and I had to watch my little sister Tulip. I ran as fast as I could and when I got the door my mom was about to leave. She said food is on the table eat when you are hungry and Tulip has a bad cough and needs a little cough medicine before she goes to sleep. If she still can't sleep give her some sleep medicine but just a little bit. I told her okay and hurry before she was late.

After my mom left Tulip saw me and was happy to see me."Haymitch can we please play something I feel much better and don't need to rest like mother said I do I can play really look I am not even," she was interrupted by a very bad coughing fit. I told her to lie down and tell me when she was hungry so I could heat up the food.

I went to the table to do my homework and saw that all we had for dinner was broth again. I heard Tulip call for me and she said she was really hungry so I started the food. When I was just about to serve it my mom came rushing in and told me to turn the T.V. on quick that President Snow had an announcement before the Quarter Quell announcement.

"Hello Panem and I would like to take this time that all of you are tuned in to remind you of the dark days. We have a reporter in District 13 live right now and would like you to see what the Hunger Games and the Quarter Quell are really about," beamed President Snow.

The reporter talked about how the uprising led to the destruction of one district and the punishment of 12. Every year we send two tributes on female and one male between the ages of 12 and 18 to the Capitol to go into the Hunger Games and battle to the death. But every 25 years we have a Quarter Quell which has an extra special twist. This year it is 50 so that means the second annual Quarter Quell. The first Quarter Quell the District voted on what tributes to send into the Quarter Quell.

The reporter was done and President Snow came back on the screen this time he had a box in his hand. He opened the lid and pulled out the little envelope that said 50 on it. He opened it and read it for all of Panem to be shocked.

"On the second annual Quarter Quell there shall be twice the number of tributes offered up for reminder of the dark days," President Snow said. It took me a minute to think about this then realized there will be 2 boys and 2 girls from each district going in. That meant twice the chance I would be going in and twice the chance I would never get to see Lilac again. I ran out the door so fast I didn't realize my mother yelled that it was raining till I was half way to her house. I saw it a few feet away and then the door opened and she was standing there waiting for me. I got to her picked her up and kissed her till I needed a breath and stared into her beautiful gray blue eyes until we couldn't take it anymore and kissed again.

"If I go in I will come out and I will come back to you," I told Lilac. She looked at me and started to cry. I whipped the tear away with my thumb and then we sat there. She was in my lap and we sat in the rain for hours until it was late and almost curfew. I kissed her goodnight and ran home. I told myself if I go in I come out for her and I will not die and leave her to live here alone. For the first time I am telling the truth I will kill for her.