I wake up to the smell of burning firewood, it smelt good, it smelt like home, a shiver of fear ran through me when I realised...it was the day of the Reaping. I hear the dull sound of chopping wood as I look around my small hut, I find my sister Chestnuts bed linen strewn across the floor. Of course she was probably going to come home in pain, being late would get you slapped but being late everyday would get you definitely whipped. I was one year away from having to go to work myself, I didn't mind, I am pretty handy with an axe... I made some mint tea and put it in a flask. I grab my axes and out and put them in a bag, ready for the half day ahead. I go into the woods far away from where they usually chop wood in district 7, where the wood was harder and more brittle, therefore harder to get the axe to stick in... I take out my first axe, small, but heavy and throw it at my first target...it hits it right on the bullseye. Second time...this time a lighter one, with my left hand. It flies at the target hitting just outside...not bad, better than yesterday anyway. I do this to keep my mind off things...things like the reaping. I hear the familiar haunting gong sounding and once I have a better view, see the smoke signals. I am scared at the reaping, but not for me...I am only 12 and I don't believe I will be picked but I am scared for my sister, she is 18 so thankfully this will be the last year I worry about her..I don't know what I would do if she got reaped too. My parents, they got reaped when they were 17 and 18...together leaving my sister, age 14 having to support us and the only way she did this was to get us tesserae...it's her I'm scared about... My Father came out as Victor but my mum being a victim of the games haunted him night and day, finally he couldn't take the torturous hours of bloody, brutal flashbacks...my sister wouldn't let me see the body but I saw it, the blank look on his face and the red/blue marks around his neck have haunted my daydreams ever since.