p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"The water lapped against the shore, reaching the side of her house. She woke up slowly, and it was almost pleasant for a moment... The sun was shining in through the window of her lakeside house. The seagulls were loudly cawing, and it gave her the warm sense of familiarity. The sky was blue and she felt the warm draft rising up and floating through her window, surrounding her in its almost-tropical warmth. It was always warm here in District 4. Always. And had they been given a choice as to what to do with their lives, if they were not oppressed by the Capitol, if they were allowed some freedom, it would be a nice place to live. But as she breathed in the air, its warmth filling her and the sun's rays blinding her and her body no longer feeling shaky.../p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Then she remembered what was happening today./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She'd gone through it about 4 times now. Her 16th birthday had been two days ago, and she always hated where her birthday fell. It was like a late, horrible birthday present every year. It was as if the Capitol was directed at her. It was like they were saying, "Congratulations, you made it another year, now die." She always thought that they hated her, but she knew somewhere in her soul that it wasn't her they hated. They just hated everyone... Or perhaps they just loved power and money./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She opened her eyes slowly, eyes scanning over the little bungalow. She knew that her life wasn't nearly as awful as those in the districts further out. She had learned about all of them in elementary school. District 13 had been destroyed years ago. District 12 lived in poverty. And while they all got a little more wealthy the closer to the Capitol that you got, no one was quite as rich as the Capitol. Everyone went to bed a little hungry in the Districts... But in the Capitol.../p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"But she supposed none of that would matter soon. She had bigger things on her mind than their bungalow and the lake outside and the seagulls cawing and.../p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Today was Reaping Day./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Her name was in the pool 68 times this year, too. For each extra time, you got food, and that was what her family needed, or at least what was left of it. She only had her mum now, her father having left before she had even been born and her brother killed in the games from two years ago. Her mother had begged her not to put her name in anymore than what was required, but when she realized that her mother had been dying of what she had found to be lung cancer.../p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Annie Cresta stood up slowly, limbs aching and chest heavy with anxiety. She looked around the bungalow a moment, realizing how empty her home felt these days. Once upon a time, Aster would've run through the house on Reaping Day and pulled her out of bed and taken her swimming before the Reaping. He was always the protective older brother, throwing his name in 20, 30, 40 times each year, providing enough for them to live off of for another year. She should've known that throwing your name in the pool would eventually get you picked. And more times than not, getting picked would get you killed./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Aster was picked when she was hardly fourteen years old, and she remembered screaming at the top of her lungs when they pulled him up to the stage. His face had been completely blank, just like it always was when he was afraid. He stood next to a girl named Isla Ithuriel on that stage, and they stood together, fought together, until a pack of Careers tore them to shreds. She was hardly a teenager, and she had been forced to watch her own brother be ripped apart./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"That had been the moment that she truly started hating Panem./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She was always a bit of a book nerd. She read constantly, and she read everything. But on the day that Aster died, she ran to her grandmother, who harbored a secret collection of banned books. After a bit of convincing, she had studied everything, writing down the important parts, memorizing whatever she could, until the day that the Peacekeepers came and burned them all, right before killing her grandmother./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She knew what they were doing. She knew that they were conditioning everyone in Panem to live in fear. She knew that things hadn't always been that way, and she knew that she wanted to stop them, and she knew all of their dirty little secrets... But she was too young and too poor and too stupid to do anything with that knowledge. The Capitol had an army, and she had nothing. She was nothing./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She slowly stood up, forcing the thoughts of rebellion out of her mind, knowing that the Capitol would go to any lengths to keep from losing power, even if it meant killing everyone underneath the power. She groaned and pulled on her clothes, a simple blue dress that her mother had made for her years ago. It was a little worn in places and a little too short in others, but she still wore it constantly. She pulled on a pale, worn pair of boots, ones that she's worn everyday for the past 3 years. She had always been tiny, petite girl, and though she had just started growing up in the past few months, she hadn't burdened her mother with her growing./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She stood up and looked around. Her mother was still sleeping in her bed, not having been stirred by her movements. Annie smiled softly before turning toward the door, opening it and slipping out into the warm air. The smell of the lake and the humidity of the air and the warmth of the air wrapped around her, filling every inch of her body, the feeling almost intoxicating./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She felt the anxiety in her chest begin to melt away as she headed down toward the lake. She was terrified of the Reaping, and she knew how likely it could be for her to be chosen, but with the warmth surrounding her and the sand beneath her feet and the salty smell of the water floating over her, she forgot about all of the stress and worry./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She looked out onto the lake. The sun was still just peeking out over the horizon, and this lake was a smaller one with less fish, so she was alone. The lake was still; so still that it was almost like a giant mirror, reflecting the sky and the world around it until she felt like that was all there was. The sky and every aspect of it. As she slowly walked toward the water, standing at the edge of the dock were she sat almost everyday and read. And as she sat down, there was nothing but sky and mirrors./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Then she remembered what was happening today./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She'd gone through it about 4 times now. Her 16th birthday had been two days ago, and she always hated where her birthday fell. It was like a late, horrible birthday present every year. It was as if the Capitol was directed at her. It was like they were saying, "Congratulations, you made it another year, now die." She always thought that they hated her, but she knew somewhere in her soul that it wasn't her they hated. They just hated everyone... Or perhaps they just loved power and money./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She opened her eyes slowly, eyes scanning over the little bungalow. She knew that her life wasn't nearly as awful as those in the districts further out. She had learned about all of them in elementary school. District 13 had been destroyed years ago. District 12 lived in poverty. And while they all got a little more wealthy the closer to the Capitol that you got, no one was quite as rich as the Capitol. Everyone went to bed a little hungry in the Districts... But in the Capitol.../p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"But she supposed none of that would matter soon. She had bigger things on her mind than their bungalow and the lake outside and the seagulls cawing and.../p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Today was Reaping Day./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Her name was in the pool 68 times this year, too. For each extra time, you got food, and that was what her family needed, or at least what was left of it. She only had her mum now, her father having left before she had even been born and her brother killed in the games from two years ago. Her mother had begged her not to put her name in anymore than what was required, but when she realized that her mother had been dying of what she had found to be lung cancer.../p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Annie Cresta stood up slowly, limbs aching and chest heavy with anxiety. She looked around the bungalow a moment, realizing how empty her home felt these days. Once upon a time, Aster would've run through the house on Reaping Day and pulled her out of bed and taken her swimming before the Reaping. He was always the protective older brother, throwing his name in 20, 30, 40 times each year, providing enough for them to live off of for another year. She should've known that throwing your name in the pool would eventually get you picked. And more times than not, getting picked would get you killed./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"Aster was picked when she was hardly fourteen years old, and she remembered screaming at the top of her lungs when they pulled him up to the stage. His face had been completely blank, just like it always was when he was afraid. He stood next to a girl named Isla Ithuriel on that stage, and they stood together, fought together, until a pack of Careers tore them to shreds. She was hardly a teenager, and she had been forced to watch her own brother be ripped apart./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"That had been the moment that she truly started hating Panem./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She was always a bit of a book nerd. She read constantly, and she read everything. But on the day that Aster died, she ran to her grandmother, who harbored a secret collection of banned books. After a bit of convincing, she had studied everything, writing down the important parts, memorizing whatever she could, until the day that the Peacekeepers came and burned them all, right before killing her grandmother./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She knew what they were doing. She knew that they were conditioning everyone in Panem to live in fear. She knew that things hadn't always been that way, and she knew that she wanted to stop them, and she knew all of their dirty little secrets... But she was too young and too poor and too stupid to do anything with that knowledge. The Capitol had an army, and she had nothing. She was nothing./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She slowly stood up, forcing the thoughts of rebellion out of her mind, knowing that the Capitol would go to any lengths to keep from losing power, even if it meant killing everyone underneath the power. She groaned and pulled on her clothes, a simple blue dress that her mother had made for her years ago. It was a little worn in places and a little too short in others, but she still wore it constantly. She pulled on a pale, worn pair of boots, ones that she's worn everyday for the past 3 years. She had always been tiny, petite girl, and though she had just started growing up in the past few months, she hadn't burdened her mother with her growing./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She stood up and looked around. Her mother was still sleeping in her bed, not having been stirred by her movements. Annie smiled softly before turning toward the door, opening it and slipping out into the warm air. The smell of the lake and the humidity of the air and the warmth of the air wrapped around her, filling every inch of her body, the feeling almost intoxicating./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She felt the anxiety in her chest begin to melt away as she headed down toward the lake. She was terrified of the Reaping, and she knew how likely it could be for her to be chosen, but with the warmth surrounding her and the sand beneath her feet and the salty smell of the water floating over her, she forgot about all of the stress and worry./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"She looked out onto the lake. The sun was still just peeking out over the horizon, and this lake was a smaller one with less fish, so she was alone. The lake was still; so still that it was almost like a giant mirror, reflecting the sky and the world around it until she felt like that was all there was. The sky and every aspect of it. As she slowly walked toward the water, standing at the edge of the dock were she sat almost everyday and read. And as she sat down, there was nothing but sky and mirrors./p