AN: Thank you for choosing to read my story, I really hope you like it!

Just so were clear, this setting is from years before Katniss and Peeta were chosen for the Hunger Games…

Reviews are VERY MUCH appreciated :D.

Enjoy.

Chapter 1: The Reaping

I was shaken out of my sleep.

"Holly, wake up! We're going to be late." I recognized my sister's urgent tone when I gathered consciousness.

For a moment, I didn't realize what day it was…

Reaping Day.

I sat up in a rush, black dots covered my eyes for a moment, and then sight came back. "What? Late?" I looked over to the clock beside my bed.

Seven: Forty-Two AM.

Shit!

I jumped out of my bed as quickly as I could. I threw on the same clothes I used yesterday, which where luckily beside my bed, a simple green dress with a yellow flower pattern, and ran to the kitchen. Juniper and Aspen, my two little ten-year-old twin sisters, looked at me with exact annoyed expressions, each of them holding a hand with my big sister, Ash.

"I'm so sorry!" I said with an apologetic smile.

Everybody had to be exact on Reaping Day. It starts on eight o' clock AM sharp. Everyone has to be at the Square by then, if not then… bad things… Peacekeepers… that's all you need to know to hover in fear.

I don't know how they do it in the other Districts… but that's how they do it here, in District Seven.

Either way, it was a good thing we lived near the Square…

Ash looked at me with a tired expression. She works too hard for a twenty-year-old… but she does it for us, her family. "Just eat the toast I made you on the way to the Reaping, okay? I don't want any trouble with the Peacekeepers."

We all flinched at the last word.

"Okay," I replied while rushing to the table where the toast was.

We all walked out of the house. While we started walking, I looked back at it. It was a small grey house. It needed painting, and probably a thousand more things… but it was perfect… it was our home. I kept staring at it until it disappeared as we turned to the corner.

It seemed we weren't the only ones who were late. As we walked, some more people rushed to the Square. I got even more nervous with every step I took.

It has been like this for four years of my life. It started when I was eleven, when the rebels surrounded and the rebellion against the Capitol ended. Yeah, I was that lucky.

In four years, the odds have been in my favor. I haven't been picked. My sister was a lucky person too, she never got picked once. But now, since she's twenty, she can't get picked anymore… which was good, since she was the head of our family.

Our mom died first, when a tree fell on her while she was cutting it. Years later, dad died on a small forest fire… but he lived long enough to show me some skills.

Now, my sister works at the paper factory, with me as an assistant, and we both have plenty paper-cuts to prove it. Never in our life will we work on trees… it is our pledge after both our parents died in the profession.

I was distracted from my thoughts when we reached the town Square. It was full with people… the whole District, in fact.

My sisters looked at me. This is where we part.

My big sister hugged me tightly. "It's going to be okay, Holly, the odds have been in your favor until now… they will be in your favor today, too," Ash whispered in my ear.

I nodded, trying to control the fear within me as her dark eyes peered into me. "Yes," I whispered back.

I pulled on an assuring smile to my family and hugged them one by one.

"See you after the Reaping," I whispered to them when I finished. They smiled encouragingly… but as I walked to my respective group of kids, I sensed their nerves and fear kicking in.

I really didn't pay attention to what the white-haired woman said. I paid more attention at her exotic outfit. She looked like a cockatoo. Her pearly white hair looked like a wig (which probably was) because of its glittery appearance and it was spiky in all directions, but in the middle, it had giant spikes to the direction of the sky that I swore could kill somebody. She had an aqua shirt with an orange long skirt and brown high-heels… and I mean HIGH high-heels. She also had enough make up on her face for the whole district, but what really stuck out was her purple lipstick and green blush.

It's always the same, she says, "Welcome to the (in this case, fifth) Hunger Games." Then, they put the song of the Capital, they throw a few jokes (which are never amusing), tell the story of why the Hunger Games were created, and the Reaping starts.

I hadn't realized they were already bringing the two circular vases with the thousand little papers.

Somewhere in that vase… there are four little papers with my name in them.

"First, the female competitor!" the woman said, while reaching a hand into the vase. "Let the reaping begin!"

Her hand lingered in there for at least half a minute. My heart thumped with every second that passed.

She took out a diminutive piece of paper and yelled, "Camillia Roses!"

I sighed in relief and looked at my sister on the other half of the crowd. She too was flushed with relief.

"Oops, wait," the woman said as a man whispered in her ear, "this girl recently died in hunger… well, lucky girl that Camillia… okay, then, second try!"

My heart gave a few more loud thumps. She did the same as before, except this time, she yelled, "Holly Wood!"

My whole world crumbled into inexistence. My heart started ringing in my ears and I reached for some sanity to handle this moment.

A thousand things crossed my mind, but right now, I had to stand proud. I had to walk up to that woman, I had to show courage, or I would be labeled as an easy kill. A target.

I couldn't feel my legs, but somehow, they brought me to that small stage. I stared at the crowd, petrified, but hiding behind my unemotional façade.

The woman smiled perkily at me, "I love your name!"

I gave her a small side smile, just for the camera. "Thanks," I said.

I remained inattentive, my mind was in a thousand places at once, so I only heard it when she yelled the boy's name.

"Oliver Green!"

The boy had long dark-brown hair and a bored expression. As soon as he walked to the stage, I looked into his shocking deep-blue eyes, and I knew I would never make friends with this guy. He probably was thinking of ways to kill me already…

I could feel his cold eyes on me the whole time, and I even had some urges to snap at him, but I remained cool. Mostly because he scared me to death and my fear was such, I would squeak instead of yell if I even said, "Moo."

After this, they separated us into small rooms so our families and such could say their goodbyes.

As soon as I saw my sisters walk up that door, I ran to them.

I felt my façade shatter, and hot tears spilled to my cheeks. Ash hugged me by the neck and the twins by my waist. I just let the tears escape… it felt as if fear itself was poking needles on every part of my body.

I soon regained my composure and wiped the tears away before my eyes got puffy. When there was no trace of tears, I breathed evenly and tried to clam down.

Then, grief was replaced by desperation and fear. "Ash, I can't kill somebody! I just can't! And so many people! They'll be watching my every move! Looking for weakness! I'm scared, Ash, I'm so scared…"

Ash grabbed by head in her hands in a motherly form. "Holly, no matter what happens, we love you… remember dad, his teaching, you know survival by heart."

I nodded shakily, trying to regain sanity. "By heart…"

She kissed both of my cheeks. "You can do this, sweetie. You don't have to kill… you can hide."

"I can hide," I repeated.

She nodded and gave me a sad smile. "I love you so much."

I pulled her in for another hug. "I love you too."

One of the twins, Juniper, tugged at my dress. I kneeled down to her. She hugged my neck and said, "Will you be home for your birthday?"

I hugged her back. "No, Juni… but I'll hear your congratulations on the arena…"

"But, what about your present? We worked so hard on it…"

I smiled at her. "Did you write me another song?"

Aspen gasped. "How did you know?"

I grinned. "You two know how much I love your songs…"

Juniper said, "Well, technically Ash made it, but she says we have a much better voice than her."

Aspen nodded. "Yeah… but now we can't give you the big birthday surprise we were planning…"

I gave them a sad smile. "Why don't you sing it to me now?"

The twins smiled. "We don't need to!"

I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Juniper took out a string necklace out of her jacket and grinned at me. "I didn't get to take it out of my jacket… I forgot it was there, actually…"

I took the little thing on my hands. It had a small wooden locket dangling from a strong kind of wool. Drawn in the locket was a little tree that could only be an English Holly. This was the tree I was named after. I smiled in spite of myself. Then I opened it and gasped. Inside, it said, "Happy 16th birthday, Holly With love, your sisters: Juniper, Aspen, and Ash Wood," in perfect calligraphy, along with the drawing of a Jabberjay, which was the symbol of the rebels. "The symbol of the rebellion," I whispered.

When I said this, a sweet melody started playing along with the voices of my sisters:

"Nighty Night, Jabberjay

Tomorrow will be a better day

A day were we'll stand up once more

Tonight, the stars are faint and dim

Everybody's looking grim

And there's no such thing as hope

Tomorrow, we'll smile and laugh

And the moon and sun will meet and dance

As the stars sing them this song

Nighty Night, Jabberjay

Come back another day

The districts are separate now

But there will be another sound

One who stirs the districts around

And we'll be united once more

Nighty Night, Jabberjay

Got nothing else to say

The sky

Is telling me to say good-bye

And this song will come to an end

Good-night my old friend

Hope tomorrow will be a better day

Nighty Night, Jabberjay"

I looked over to my sisters with an admiring smile. "How did you do that?"

Aspen said, "Do what?"

"Make it sound like that…"

"You have to say 'the rebellion' and it starts playing… but the locket has to be opened, obviously," said Juniper.

"But only people from District Three have technology this advanced," I insisted.

Ash answered this time. "Remember what happened after the rebellion? Since the districts were so united, they were scrambled everywhere when people were forced to settle back. Well, some people I know are originally from District Three… and they were willing to help. After all, it is the biggest birthday of your life."

"Yes… yes it is," I whispered as I put on my new necklace.

I'd had a million fantasies in my life about my sixteenth birthday… but I never counted on being chosen for the Hunger Games.

A man dressed completely in black clothes entered the room. "Good-bye time over, the competitor has to leave now."

Ash gave me a very sad smile and the twins' eyes watered. They started walking towards the door, until Juniper let go of Ash's hand, ran towards me, and hugged my waist. She broke into sobs and said, "P-Promise m-me th-that you'll t-tr-try to c-come home!"

I took her little hands in mine and kneeled down to her eyes level. "I promise you, Juniper, I will be home every day from now on. Every time the wind blows through your window, that will be me."

The man hadn't moved in the whole process, he just stood there, like a dead person, which he probably was.

Juniper shook her head, "It's n-not the s-same!"

Ash came over and took Juniper's hand with sad eyes. "Come on, kiddo. We have to let Holly go."

"B-But it's n-not fair!"

"I know, sweetheart, I know," she whispered and guided her out of the way, while Aspen watched the scene with equally sad eyes.

My sisters looked at me for one last time, and in a moment, they were gone through the door.

AN: There you go, my first chapter!

I have lots of ideas for this story! But for me to get even more creative and type faster, I need your help, it's simple, you just click that button down there that says "Review" and send me one!

It's REALLY simple, just do it, please. I get pumped and type fast and get lots of ideas… please?

Oh and I also need names. Not characters. Just cool names that mean something. I need names for some characters I made… either was please send reviews with names… and comments…

Review… xD… that would be all.