The Odds
Breath, I tell myself.
No matter how hard I try to calm my heart, it can't stop beating so fast. My stomach is turning and I want to sit down. I don't know these girls around me. I've seen them, but I don't know them. The Capitol video plays and President Snow's voice rings in my ears. It's the same video every year reiterating our punishment, "one boy and one girl from every district must compete in the annual Hunger Games." I've been dreading this day since my twelfth birthday came up. In Panem, there are twelve districts, there used to be thirteen, but they revolted and now the rest of us have to be punished for their uprising. So every year, the Capitol has the Hunger Games, twenty-four kids are sent to the arena and only one comes out. I think it's childish that the Capitol still goes on with this stupid tradition. I think we've learned our lesson after District Thirteen was completely destroyed.
I can't concentrate with my body about to collapse. I repeat what Katniss said to me this morning, "They won't pick you…They won't pick you."
The video stops. Then Effie starts to talk again. She's pale and has a huge pink wig on that has flowers in it. I wonder what her head looks like without the wig. Her accent is proper like all capital people's are. She sounds strange to me. I don't want to listen to her speech. I want to go home.
I try to imagine myself at home. Katniss is singing to me and mom is in the kitchen smiling again. She's cooking dinner with what Katniss had caught and what she got from trading. Mom is humming along with Katniss. I wish I could sing like they could. Sometimes I feel left out. Katniss and mom are so alike, but they don't see it. Mom stops humming and Katniss stops singing in my head. Effie has already picked a slip from the glass bowl full of names. The anticipation is too much for me to bear and it's broken when she opens the folded paper and reads the name:
"Primerose Everdeen"
I gasp when I hear my name.
Everyone stares at me. I can feel my heart beating, trying to get out of me. It's trying to run away. Katniss told me this wouldn't happen. She promised. I only had my name in there once. It was my first year too.
Effie tells me to come up to the stage. I start moving my feet, but I can't feel them. I see Katniss. By the way she's standing, I can tell she wants to jump over the crowd of people and save me, but she can't. I can see it in her eyes. She wants to tell me something, but it is too late. It was my name she picked, no other person but me could go.
I try not to look at Katniss anymore, if I do, I might not be able to make it to the stairs without crying hysterically. Peacekeepers crowd around me once I leave the row the kids. They march at my pace moving me towards the stage. I want to back out. I want to leave. I don't want to die.
I made it to the stage. Effie takes my hand once I reach the stairs and guides me to a spot in front. Her hands are cold and her long colored nails poke my hand. The crowd looks at me with remorseful faces, some look disappointed. They don't think I'll survive.
Effie leaves my side and goes to the other bowl with the boys' names. She rummages threw and finally picks one. I hope it isn't Gale. I don't want him to have to watch over me or die for me. He's like a brother to me and I don't want him to die like that..not to save me. I'm not worth it.
"Peeta Mellark"
The crowd is silent. The name is familiar. I look around to see who it is. His head peeks out of the crowd and I recognize him. He's the boy that likes my sister. She doesn't know it, but I can tell by the way he has stared at her, practically every day. When she walks home with me after school, I look back and I always see him watching her. He never notices me looking at him because he's too 'preoccupied'. I never told her because I knew she would yell at him or get frustrated. I wish he didn't have to go to the Capitol with me. I could tell he really did like her. It's too bad he won't get to tell her.
I look out again to see my sister. I don't see any lines of tears, but only her eyes staring at me blankly. My body is shaking from fright. This might be the last day I see her.