3/20/17 - Okay okay... Yeah, these early chapters were pretty bad but I can fix this! Trust me...

Sweat begins dripping down my face as I continue my walk from the bar to my house in District 9. It's always hot in the summer in District 9. However, today feels a little hotter. Maybe it's because of the reapings which are tomorrow.

The reapings for the 99th annual Hunger Games. The Hunger Games were established 99 years ago as punishment for the districts rebellion. From what I can tell you, it takes shenanigans for District 9 to get anywhere in Hunger Games. This is why we only have 2 living victors. Only one of them is actually young enough to mentor either way. I feel that it's kind of shocking we have any at all considering how bad we do in the games. The last victor we had was over 15 years ago.

Even so, if anything has been proven, the Hunger Games have been effective. There has been very little rebellion since the Hunger Games began and if there is any, it may not be intentional. Just look at Haymitch Abernathy of District 12. I was told that he used the force field to his advantage which in the end helped him win but for some reason it was seen as... cheating I guess... so anyways his family was murdered 2 months after the games ended. District 12's latest victor, Katniss Everdeen, put flowers on the little girl from 11's body after she died. It actually did cause a riot in 11 but that was ended pretty quickly and her family was fine. [Is it just me or does 12 manage to be slightly more rebellious than every other district]

Other times, not so much. After Blight of District 7 won his games, he started spouting some anti-capitol stuff which got him the haymitch treatment. More recently, Lint of District 8, Winner of the 98th Hunger Games). Before His games could even begin, he threw a shoe during the 60 minute countdown in order to take out all of the landmines which could cause a chain reaction and kill ALL the tributes before the games could begin. For that rebellious act alone, the Capitol (And the citizens as well) hate him, his district hates him and now his family is dead.

If anything, I'm confident that nobody in the districts, not even the victors like the establish themselves with the games. Most victors lock themselves up in their houses in the victors villages until they overdose or something like that. Not like I'm blaming them. You can't walk into an arena and out without viewing things differently. Nothing can be the same. The capitol will remind you, every, waking second.

I restlessly open the door to my house. My dad is nowhere to be seen. "I'm home dad." I announce. "Foods on the table." He tells me. He must be in bed. Everyday before the reapings, they make us work harder than we should because we all have to go to bed early. Imagine waking up late for the reapings. It's never happened in District 9 for all I know but it's obvious that it'd probably end with your death.

I go to the table and see our food. A few slices of bread. We're lucky this time. We barely get anything here in District 9 for all the hard work we put into the grain work.

I grab one small slice of bread and put a bottle of alcohol on the table for my dad. My dad has stopped drinking but he can't help but snatch a bottle every now in then. Though it mostly happens around reaping time and the games.

My dads probably to tired right now to even care. Working at the bar is also pretty tiring since you have a bunch of drunk people yelling at you and shouting a bunch of nonsense. Even though I'm 14, I was guaranteed the job because my best friends family owns the bar and so he asked his family to hire me. I was glad to be doing something to get ourselves food. It pays pretty well considering how many drunk people live here.

I walk into my room which has one small bed which I jump into. For the past 3 years I've always had a gut feeling that I'm going to be picked. Though it hasn't happened yet and in all honesty, why would I get picked. But then again Dagan... someone has to be picked every year...

If I am reaped, I'm not sure what to say to all the people around me. I then realize that my eyes aren't getting heavy. I'm wide awake, and worried... just like every year. I don't want to lose sleep so I decide to think randomly. I try to think something positive, like my friends, the few cool things we've done at school, a world without the Hunger Games. I realize that I'm back to square one again and so I choose to jump out of bed and pace around like an idiot. Hours pass and I'm still not tired.

If I'm picked, I'm gonna look like a wreck. Not like I haven't the past 2 years but it's not like my name was picked. I always looked at the kids who get picked with a lot of guilt. I'm hoping that I won't get picked, however in a way, I'm hoping someone else will be picked.

I'm hoping the odds will be in my favor and in the end, I wont get picked. I lay back down only to feel tired. I try to continue thinking about random stuff. Our escort, Agota speaks with an accent that all capitol citizens have. It's so weird in it's own way. Also, her hair is just so random, blue with streaks of gold last year. I never understood why people from the Capitol look so...

And then I fell asleep...

The Next Day...

"Hurry up Dagan. I picked out clothes for you this year." My dad shakes me awake. "You did?" I ask. "Yeah, since the reapings are stressful, I decided that from this point on, I'll make your clothes on this day only." He tells me. "Uh, sure." I say. "What time is it?" I ask. "11:30." He tells me.

"What?! I need to hurry then." I say, grabbing my clothes. "Aren't you going to take a bath?" Dad asks. "No. I don't have time." I begin to change. He leaves me alone to think. After I change, dad begins to hurry me along. I run along to the central square of the district. When I get there, It's nearly 1 O'clock which is the time reapings begin.

I line up for the thing where they take our blood. As they cut my finger, I look over to the 14 year olds section in near the back. I notice my best friend who is already here early.

I roll my eyes as they finish taking some of my blood and I begin slowly making my way towards the front of the justice building...

Yes people, this is a remastered version of the chapter. Not exactly remade since it's 90% of all the original stuff but kind of moved around so it would be easier to understand. PS. When I wrote that first chapter, I didn't know how to do paragraphs lol...