I quietly scanned the three dresses on my bed. The dresses I'd been dreading putting on every year, just knowing this dress is just one token leading me closer to death. With the rest of my family sprawled sleeping out somewhere in my rickety old barn house at five in the morning, it gave me time to prepare for the dreaded day ahead. A day that at least one of two very unlucky people would never come back to.
Reaping Day.
It's hard to get through these days. Watching your fellow classmates and even friends get taken to their intimate death slaughtered in an arena. Just last year I'd watched Jordin Plasterer die a gruesome death by being stabbed numerous times in the back by a Career tribute. She was in my class. Popular girl, too, its really surprising no one tried to volunteer for her- but it's not. Trust is a faltering thing throughout the districts. Do you love someone that much that you'd take their place in a death battle? Or do you just weep over them when they die?
My thoughts were interrupted when I heard footsteps shuffling from upstairs. Moments later, a head popped down from the stair case, it was Belle. Six year old Belle who didn't know what all of this means. Only in six few years she'll find out. Her life might be halfway over for all I know.
"Hey Dais!" She said with a sweetness that could straight up melt anyone's heart. "Can I help you pick out your dress for the Reaping, pleaseeee?"
It's horrible, that a six year old knows what the Reaping is, I'm just glad she doesn't know what the Games actually are. Just thinking about it makes me want to puke.
"Sure, Bellie!" I over enthusiastically replied. Joking around or being joyous on this day was the only way to keep from going into panic mode, and that is not good.
Belle skips down the steps to my bed cramped in a corner. In 10, almost everyone lives in a barn house. No rooms, just two floors of wide open space for you to place a bed, couch, or stove in. She comes to my bed and eyes all three dresses carefully, before picking up and turning a faded blue flannel one In my direction.
"I like this one! It really brings out your eyes." She smiles brightly at me. My eyes are a grayish blue with brown flecks. My hair is a golden brown that falls down to my mid back, but I usually keep it in a ponytail so it isn't unkempt, and my skin is a sun kissed tan from many years of fieldwork. And Belle isn't wrong, she'd make a great stylist someday, in a different world where the stylists didn't make people look like overdressed dolls.
"Alright Belle, run along. I gotta get dressed! Why don't you go get everyone else up?" I asked her politely. She obediently nodded and scrambled back up the steps to get my parents and brother up. The brother that I couldn't have to suffer through these days with me anymore, because he was nineteen, and had gotten through seven Reaping Days without getting chosen. But I only had three more years after this.
I took my clothes and went outside to the shower complex. I took off all my clothes and slipped into the lukewarm water, knowing I could only stay in it for five minutes before it would become cold. The warm rushed over me, adding a sense of serenity and calmness, something that wasn't common on this day.
After I got out, I dried myself off and put on my dress. The cool fabric felt good against my skin as the morning sun began to give off it's Summer heat as I walked back through the pastures back to the farmhouse. I found my mother in the kitchen frying an egg for me. We were lucky because in this part of 10 there were wild hens laying eggs around our house, so I didn't need to take any extra tesserae. Our diet consisted mainly of egg, milk, chicken,and occasionally beef from the cattle.
"We're supposed to be at the square by twelve," my mother said without turning around. Jaxson, my brother sat at the crouched table and motioned for me to sit down in the chair beside him.
"So how does it feel to finally be free of gruesome death?" I asked while sitting down.
"Eh, I mean, I won't get that rush of adrenaline anymore when they call a name." He said, trying to make being free sound negative.
And I didn't blame him. It's hard when you still have family eligible for the Games, and you have a six year old that will be able to compete in the 74th Games. This year is the marking of the 68th Annual Hunger Games. Last year, District 2 won, and it was a very gory year, but still not as unforgettable as the 65th Games, where Finnick Ordair won at fourteen, making him the youngest person to ever win. District 2 has won thirty-four Games in the sixty-seven years, and I was just dying for a change for once. As for 10, we've only won six times, but it's not as bad as 12, whose only won twice. And I Shouldn't be complaining, after this Reaping Day, I only had two left.
"Where's Dad?" I asked my mother as she placed my breakfast down on the table.
"Pastures. He had to do some extra cattle work before heading to the square," She replied.
"Oh."
I shoveled down my breakfast, eager to go to the barn, where on every Reaping Day, Jaxson and I would spend time with our favorite cow, Betsy, to get the Games off our minds. But only today would be the start of going out there alone. It was already nine-thirty, and there was still a fourty-five minute walk to the square.
I thanked Mom for breakfast and then shuffled out to the barn where Betsy stayed. Her long tail whipped behind her trying to clear some of the summer heat. Betsy had been getting me through Reapings since twelve, when Jaxson revealed his secret of how he was always so collected on this day. She was about five, and had creamy brown skin and long, flappy ears. We had tons of cows, but Betsy was special because of her interest in humans. All the others ate and waited around to be slaughtered. Like the Hunger Games, the only one not guaranteed death is Betsy.
"Hi girl!" I spoke as I sat down beside her, and started stroking her head.
She gave a low 'moo' in response, and licked me with her oversized tongue. I inwardly sighed as she began eating her grass and hay, something she always had a surplus of. The Capitol gives the animals food, so we can give them food, and here we are, the real workers who don't get even a crumb of food. That really pisses me off.
We sat there for who knows how long, in silence and remedy, when I heard the barn door creak open. Out of defense I grabbed a whip and shot up inching towards the door. I relaxed when I saw the sweaty face of Jaxson. He wasn't supposed to be here, he was supposed to be wallowing in the glory of no more Reapings. But coming here only showed his true commitment for helping me.
"Hey," he managed as he guided me back down to Betsy.
"What are you doing here?" was my hasty response.
He shrugged and plopped down on the other side of Betsy like the good ol' days. But these weren't those days, only one of us had to suffer, and it wasn't him. Or maybe it was. If I was reaped he'd have no one to sit here with until Belle was of age, and it wouldn't be the same. He'd have to deal with my ghost haunting him every night. And Belle would have to deal with her sister leaving and never coming back, but never really understanding why. Yeah, you can call the Capitol cruel, but it makes them demons to take away something that will never be replaced.
"So, how are you feeling?" Jax finally asked after the longest of time.
" Okay, I guess. Really nervous though." I laughed, turning to look at him.
"We'll I can guarantee you won't be reaped. Thousands of slips, yours is only in there four times."
"Yeah, four tiny little slips of death!" I joked. It's true though, death exists in the Reaping Bowls, but also exists in every one of our souls, overtakes us, and swallows us whole.
"I better get going," he said. "Dad's back, and he needs help roping up the cattle for the trip to town."
Jaxson then got up and slipped open the barn door, and I caught his last words before he left me alone.
"You'll be okay. I promise."
A few hours later my family met up with a few others that lived way out in the district where we would begin our walk to the Square. All the cattle were roped up, and the 'special' children eligible for the Reapings were able to ride on them, but I chose to walk and get some physical activity on this day.
Soon to catch up with me was Amber Westly, my best friend that neighbored my house, but was frankly three miles away. Everyone living in my area was like that. We occasionally got together, like for our annual Summer Festival, where we'd come together to watch the Games, so we wouldn't have to mourn over deaths alone.
"Hey!" Amber huffed as she caught up to me and our group started moving. She wore a faded strappy yellow dress with white leather sandals, and her golden hair was pinned back in a tight bun.
"Hey Amber, excited?" I joked as she rolled her wide brown eyes.
She just shook her head and chuckled. Amber and I met in a peculiar way, actually. We were both eleven and watching the Games at one Summer Festival, and we ended up both fighting over the last lemonade glass, one of the rears treats we receive on special occasions. We ended up pulling on it so hard it flew out of our hands and hitting the mother of a tribute in the Games that year. Needless to say, that wasn't my favorite festivals.
"How's Betsy?" Amber asked, pulling me out of my daze.
"Good, I sat with her as usual, and Jax actually came to visit me." I melodramatically gasped.
Amber understood me. Her brother is nineteen, and him and Jax are best friends too. She knows exactly how I feel, except she doesn't have a little sibling. She has a pet she loves too.
"How's Baxter?" I asked her.
Amber seemed to swallow a lump in her throat before answering.
"Well, he died last week." she finally managed.
Baxter was Amber's dog, a very old one, that her brother, Ari, found when he was nine. She really loved that dog. Slept with it every night, fed it scraps of precious food we needed so, and had it comfort her when times we rough.
"I'm sorry, Amber. I can't imagine if I lost Betsy..." I trailed off.
"Yeah..." Was her only response.
"Hey, cheer up! Remember when Ari tripped over Baxter and fell into that pile of cow sh-"
"HAHA YES!" Amber laughed cheering up a bit after cutting me off.
The rest of our walk was like a trip down memory lane, only I was stricken with harsh reality when we reached the Square, where children were already signing in. The parents and ineligible children bid us unlucky ones goodbye as we got in the long line to sign in.
The line thinned quickly, and soon it was my turn to turn in. A Peacekeeper drew blood from my finger and stamped it next to my name, and I was headed off for the fifteen year olds section. Amber was close behind.
Once everyone was in, the mayor proceeded to the makeshift stage, and began reading Panem's gruesome history. The video was soon followed, before our escort made her way up to the stage. Amber and I immediately snickered at the Capitolite's appearance. Skin and bones, white-dyed skin, colorful eye tattoos, everything that basically discribes your cliche Capitol Escort. I cringed at her deafeningly high voice screeching.
"Happy Hunger Games to you lovely children of District 10! And may the odds be ever in your favor!" she spoke, as half of the crowd covered their ears.
"Today we will select one of you lovelies to represent your district in the 68th Annual Hunger Games! Like usual, we will select ladies first."
She made her way to the ladies bowl, with astoundingly not tripping in her ten inch heels. After waving her hand around outside the bowl a few times, she dropped her hand in and pulled a slip from it. A few girls around me closed their eyes and crossed their fingers, which I found pointless. My heatbeat only quickened, and Amber's breathing became heavy.
Our colorful eacort made her way back to the middle of the stage as she ripped open the slip.
She called the name, and my heart dropped. Amber gasped and my vision became cloudy.
I knew the person who was reaped. Very well, or at least I thought I did until they were chosen.
The slip held the name of one unlucky girl, and that girl was Daisy Crossley.