It's my favorite time of year again, Hunger Games time. It's only about a week in and my family is all clustered around the TV watching intently at the battle on the screen. It's the 71st games and so far it's been all action. My family has a tradition of placing bets on who we think will win and the current fight is between my favorite (the female tribute from District 4) and my brothers (the female tribute from District 1). My girl is doing really well, she's actually pinned District 1 to the ground. District 1 screams loudly, but District 4 shoves her hand over her mouth. 1 struggles under 4's grip, trying to wiggle free. She bites 4's hand; probably hard enough to draw blood, but 4 doesn't even flinch. She has her knees pinned to 1's legs and her other hand is holding 1's arms above her head. She takes her hand off of her mouth and grabs a metal spike from her bag. She raises it high above District 1's heart and you can see a tear slip down 1's cheek.
4 is about to bring it down when suddenly a spear comes flying from the tree line and goes straight through 4's neck. She releases 1 and falls to the ground, coughing up blood, trying to breath. She grabs desperately at the spear but there is no stopping the inevitable. The District 2 male tribute stalks out of the trees and helps District 1 up. He glances and 4, sputtering on the ground. He leans down and snatches the spear, pulling it from her neck. She gasps and you can see the pain in her eyes. District 1 and 2 leave the clearing but the cameras stay on 4, who is coughing up her last bits of blood before she lies still.
After a few more minutes of the cameras following 1 and 2 through the forest before it cuts to commercial. "Ha!" my brother screams, "I told you 1 was going to win."
"She only beat 4 because she had 2's help. Besides I can always out-bet you next year."
"No way yours always die within the first week." He retorts.
"Well they're only tributes no one cares, I know I'll bet right soon!" I exclaim.
"The only thing I can say about your tributes is that they always put on a big show of dying, I'll give you that." He says
I turn away from him and face my mother, "Hey mom, can I get a tattoo?"
"No Shanette." She replies, barely looking up from the fashion magazine she is reading, "You know the rules. No tattoos until your 16."
"But Mom! It's a whole year until I'm 16! I can't wait that long, they're so in right now! Everyone has them. Besides it would only be a little thing; a vine from my neck to my collarbone." I say, rather loudly.
"Shanette we've been over this. They may be 'in' but we made your other 2 sister wait to get alterations other than piercings and hair dye until they were 16. You remember, Ellina got jeweled eyebrows and Tirah dyed herself blue?" She says, trying to prove her point.
"You never let me do anything fun!" I reply.
"Yes I do," She scoffs, "Speaking of fun guess where we're going on vacation this year!"
"Where?" I ask curiously, my thoughts of tattoos completely disappearing.
"The 67tharena!" Mom exclaims.
"No way! That was like my favorite year! Everyone says that it's an awesome trip, plus the sleeping quarters and food are nothing less than luxury." I say cheerily.
"I knew you would like it!" My mother says beaming.
Suddenly my brother cuts in, "Be quiet the games are on!"
We turn to the TV to see a video recap of the District 4 tribute's time in and before the arena. It goes through the parade and the interview along with highlights of her performance in the arena and a full recap of her death. In the background they are playing some dreary song but I don't understand why, her death was a great part of the show, one of the best deaths of the whole game so far! They show her corpse one last time before returning to the arena. My mom makes a face at the dead body on the screen, but I'm not really affected. After all, it's just a game, her death is no big deal.