Chapter 1

Cashmere's POV

Gloss is running from something. Someone. They're running through a mountain valley. Gloss trips. He falls. The other person raises their knife. My brother is about to die and I can't help him…

I open my eyes. I'm lying on my bed in our house in the Victors Village. I'm safe. My family is safe. I get up, pull some clothes on and head down to breakfast.

"Morning." I say. All of my family are downstairs already. Gloss looks worried and my parents looked absolutely terrified.

"Morning Cashmere. Are you okay? You were screaming in your bedroom."

"I'm fine. It was just a bad dream." It nearly wasn't though. My brother was nearly killed in last year's hunger games. If he hadn't rolled out of the way then he wouldn't be here with us. I wouldn't have survived that hunger games. All of the tributes were big and vicious. Ravens swooped in at the smell of blood, ready to kill. It was awful. But my brother survived. Somehow.

"I hope you're not going to wear that to the reaping."

Then it hit me. It was the reaping today. Everyone thinks that I'm going to be picked. If I am, no one will volunteer. No one really likes our family. Today I am doomed to go into the hunger games. I slouch back upstairs and start to get ready. I put on a plain blue floaty dress which makes me look quite innocent. I leave my blonde hair loose down my back and put on a touch of makeup and then head back downstairs.

"You ready?" my brother asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be." I said. That was one thing that I didn't have to lie about. I'd been training for the hunger games ever since I was about five. My parents were so proud that I started training at such an early age. I'm now 17. I've been training for 12 years. But this year my parents had me training particularly hard because we all knew that I'd be picked for this year's hunger games.

We left the house and started the long walk from the victor's village to the main square. Gloss had met his other friends from the victor's village and had gone on ahead with them. It was a very silent walk as we headed over. When we got there I had my blood taken and went through. It hurt a bit but I was used to it by now. I went into the section for 17 year olds but I didn't bother looking for any friends to stand by. I didn't have any friends. We just had to wait for our escort Shimmer to come on.

Sure enough, after 10 minutes, shimmer came onto the stage.

"Welcome to the 64th annual hunger games. We now have a video from the capitol for you enjoy."

It was the same video every year so I started to watch the video but I didn't really pay attention. I just wanted to get this over and done with. The video ended.

"Ladies first" called out Shimmer. She walked over to the glass bowl where there were hundreds of slips of paper. I could safely bet that all of them had my name on them. Shimmer took one out and walked back to the microphone. She opened it.

"Cashmere Spinner!" I knew it. As I walked up to the stage I showed no emotion and I didn't try to escape. I didn't want to show people that I was scared. Shimmer asked for any volunteers but I knew that there wouldn't be any. Everyone wants me to die in the arena. Shimmer walked over to the other glass bowl, pulled a slip out and walked back to the microphone.

"Harrison Elgby!" a terrified looking 12 year old boy started walking up to the stage.

"I volunteer!" a boy who looked about 18 and with sandy coloured hair ran forward, pushing the other boy out of the way and sprinted onto the stage.

"And what's your name?" shimmer asked.

"Adam Empor" the boy replied.

We were announced one more time, shook hands and were forced into the justice building.

I was waiting for Gloss and my parents in the room that they had shoved me into. It was very nice. It was pink with a purple sofa and cushions. Then my family suddenly burst in. My parents were crying like they didn't know it was going to happen. Gloss just looked like she was deciding the best angle to go at in my interview. They all hugged me at once and after what felt like a lifetime of being crushed they finally let go. Gloss was then called out to go with the other mentors. None of us could think of anything to say so I gave them a special box of last words which I had prepared earlier but managed to keep a secret from them. We said our final goodbyes and they left the room.

Then Gloss came back in with something in her hand. It was a charm bracelet with all of the luxury items that were made in district one.

"This is your district token. I made it especially for you. Look after it." Gloss said. We were then ushered out of the justice building and into a car that would take us from district one that we would possibly never see again. It was a very quick journey from the justice building to the train but it felt like a lifetime. I was trying to remember every single thing that I could see knowing that I might never see it again. We were then ushered onto the train where the mentors and my brother were waiting. The train pulled out of the station and I knew that I would probably never return and that if I did, it would be knowing that I lived because 23 other people were dead.