The 38th Hunger Games:
Tributes:
D1:
M: Neon
F: Diamond
D2:
M: Wood
F: Silver
D3:
M: Brett
F: Victoria
D4:
M: Riptide
F: Saltess
D5:
M: Crow
F: Diana
D6:
M: Alexander
F: Red
D7:
M: Catfang
F: Falconess
D8:
M: Caine
F: Sarah
D9:
M: Shadow
F: Millie
D10:
M: Oliver
F: Cassie
D11:
M: Storm
F: Songbird
D12:
M: Gray
F: Ember
Songbird D11 age 18
My little brother is up in the tree again and I'm calling for him to get down. Today is the day of the reaping and he needs to keep his clothes clean. Willy laughs, carefree and slowly makes his way down the branches. I sigh as a small twig falls on top of his head when he lands. "Willy!", I exclaim. He brushes the twig off his head and shrugs. "Just having a bit of fun before the reaping when things get serious", he explains. I shake my head and step forward to brush off some bits of dirt from his tie. He looks up at me with those big brown eyes, the color of his skin. "What, Willy?", I ask, kind of worried. "Do you think they'll pick me?", he asks, his voice wavering slightly. I shake my head fiercely. "No, Willy. Kara from down the street's gonna enter her name much more than you. You know that. And there are lots of other people in district eleven who're going to do the same thing". His eyes begin to water and I sigh and push him back towards the house. "Now go in there and get yourself cleaned up. The reaping is in an hour or two", I say, keeping a firm tone in my voice, the same way ma would. If she was here. Dad walks out and scolds me, reminding me that I'm not quite an adult yet. I still have a year before I can escape the Hunger Games. "Songbird! Get ready. Tie your hair up or something", he says to me. I nod my head and hurry into the house. I pass the bathroom where Willy is adjusting his tie. I find the door to my room – ma's old room, and it opens with a woosh! I walk in, steadily. It's not going to be Willy. It's not going to be me. It's not going to be Willy. It's not going to be me, I repeat in my head over and over again as I pull my long red hair into a French braid down my back.
I stare at myself into my mirror. Ma's mirror. My skin is dark chocolate, but pretty. My eyes are round and darker than brown. Almost black. Almost. My hair is frizzy but beautiful and it's dark red. The same as Ma's.
I put on a brown dress and tie a darker color bow in the back. I put on my best shoes, black flats, and put a black hairband in my hair. Around my neck I wear a necklace. It is a simple black string and the pendant is a silver bird and in its mouth is a musical note. It represents me. "Songbird let's go!", Willy yells from down the hall. I smile at myself in the mirror and spin around to race through the door and down the narrow hall. He's waiting and smiling, but behind that smile I see a grim face that worries everyday. It worries that one day on the reaping, might be the last day he'll ever see me. I take Willy's hand and we walk down to the foyer and I lightly push on the door. We walk down the path, touching the outstretched branches of the trees that line the path. We're silent, but when we get there, and we see the peacekeepers, I can see the panicked look in Willy's eyes. I tug him close to me for a hug and he whimpers into my shoulder. "It'll be okay", I whisper. Then we're separated into our age groups and I'm suddenly watching Tierra, the escort, step onto the stage. Somebody's holding the bowl. Tierra reaches in and opens her mouth. Everything is inaudible to me when I all of the sudden hear a name and I don't know who's it is. Who was it? Why is Willy pushing through the crowd of people to get to me? Everything is so blurry until Willy reaches me and hangs on to me, begging me to stay with him. Why is he doing this? I'm not going anywhere. "Is that you, Songbird? Come on up here, don't be shy", Tierra says, the microphone screaming suddenly. Tierra frowns and knocks on it several times and then I get it. She picked my name out of the bowl. My heart is racing. My palms are sweating. I look around, fear seeping into my eyes and everyone can see it. Isn't somebody going to volunteer for me? Don't they hear Willy?
But everything is silent and so I push away from Willy. I walk backwards toward the stage, attempting to be brave. I know my act will fall apart in a few minutes and I can't take my eyes away from his. "Come on, dear. Don't be shy", Tierra says. I look up at her, and I see the worry in her face. I see the impatience too. She wants to get over with it. I look back at Willy. He mouths to me: No. I shake my head and put my hand to my heart. Then I spin around and run up the stairs, not wanting to upset Tierra. "Well now we can get on with the boy tribute", she says, outstretching her bony arm to the second bowl. Her hand wavers, and then shakily picks a card. She clicks her tongue and unfurls the paper with her long, long, black and green polka dotted fingernails. "Storm Candara", She announced, voice loud and clear. A lean boy with light brown skin and startling green eyes steps up, much faster than me. He smiles into the crowd and I wonder how he can do that. He reaches over to me and says, "Storm Candara. You?", but I play hostile and leave his outstretched hand hovering in the air. "You heard my name already. That's all you need to know about me", I reply. He frowns and looks back at the crowd. "You're not gonna get allies with an attitude like that", he suggests, not looking at me. I train my eyes on one individual in the crowd. Willy. He's staring at the ground, his foot digging into the dirt. "At least I'm stronger than you", I say quietly to Storm. This time, his green eyes bore into my skin. "And what makes you say that?", he asks. I'm thankful for Tierra, who at this moment, puts her hands on both of our backs and drives us away from the crowd. She guides us to the doors of the justice building.
I suddenly find myself in the room. My dad is the only person who visits me there. He says that he loves me. He knows I'll try to win for Willy but he brings me down by saying Willy won't say anything to him. Dad says he won't even come to talk to me.
The peacekeeper comes in to tell us that our time is up but as he guide my dad out the door, dad calls to me over his shoulder. "Be strong!", he says.
I look down at my hands. Willy won't come talk to me. I think he's lost faith, but Tierra picked me out of a bowl filled with at least a few hundred people, some with their names in there more than ten times. Why can't I be picked out of a bowl filled with only twenty four names?