She was walking as fast as she could in the opposite direction. Her neighbors and friends ran past her hurting her shoulders. Damn streets were not wide enough for three people to walk side by side in this district. Of course they had the main street but it was on the other side of the district... the rich side. Those people could afford cars and needed wider roads to drive. Poor people walked everywhere so their little streets were enough. Besides it gave space for extra houses. Industrial buildings, houses and smoke were the only thing people knew in the district. There was only a little space with grass but only kids could play there. Her mind traveled back for an instant to when she used to play there, how soft it felt, the nice smell... Her mum used to tell her stories about other districts where the grass was everywhere. She would have loved to live there. At least she had trees in this district. It was something. People had too many lung problems because of the polluted air so the government had to plant some trees. The big kind of trees. She used to climb up the tallest trees and make spider webs in them with strings and cloth that was left from her work. There she would spend hours, dreaming of greener places, animals and freedom. Don't get it wrong, she loved her district. She loved it so much that she didn't want to leave. That's why she was running in that direction. Towards her big tree.

"Beca?"

She heard someone calling her name. Fuck, she had to keep running.

"Beca!" the voice repeated.

A heavy hand was placed on her shoulder and she stopped her tracks. Her dark blue eyes were wide open. There was fear in them. Fear and disappointment. She had been too close...

Another heavy hand, the pair of the first one, harshly grabbed the cloth she was wearing over her head and tossed it away, revealing the long brown hair over her shoulders. Beca didn't dare lifting her eyes. Seeing the white uniform this person was wearing and hearing his stupid laugh was enough. He was a Peacekeeper.

The man used the hand on Beca's shoulder to make her turn around and walk in the same direction everyone else was walking. She didn't move at first, her eyes looked for her cloth. The man pushed her though and she had to start walking. Everything was happening in slow motion, her brain was finding it hard to assimilate everything that was happening, and fear was winning. A familiar face called her attention in front of her. It was her friend Jesse, walking backwards. He was smiling. Beca wondered why the guy was smiling in this situation. Her eyes followed his and found her special cloth in his hands. She smiled back at him thankfully and tied her precious belonging around her neck. Jesse held Beca's hand and this cleared her head a bit.

She looked around and saw the houses again, the people again. With a deep breath she stepped in the main square and Jesse let go of her hand. It was time to form in lines. Girls on one side, boys on the other. He threw another smile in her direction. It was encouraging and comforting but Beca couldn't manage to smile back this time. Reality hit her one more time.

There weren't many girls left in the district with as much possibilities to be elected as she had this year, for two reasons. First, she was 18 years old, this was the last year in which she could be eligible for the Games and as every year the chances increase, her name was now put in the lot 7 times as a baseline. Second reason was more personal, and it was caused by an accident. The accident in the building where her mum worked, that caused her death less than a year ago. Without her economical income Beca's dad needed to work double but the time of day wasn't enough for him to handle that much work and he was starting to fall sick. That's why Beca decided she would have to work too. Sadly girls and boys in the district weren't allowed to work officially until they were 19. Technically they could... if they bribed the Peacekeepers in charge of the factories. Beca needed to work and for that she needed to bribe someone. For that she needed something to bribe them with... In conclusion, Beca had to voluntarily put her name more times in the lot in order to stay alive. What an irony.

"Welcome. We've come here to district... Which district is it again? Oh yes, District 8! We've come here today to witness the election of this year's tributes for the Annual Games!"

A woman dressed in a yellow dress started talking with a microphone. Beca couldn't help letting out a little chuckle when she saw her standing on the platform they had built for the occasion, in front of the Justice building. The woman was matching her dress with bright pink shoes and a green lioness wig with a big pink ribbon, a bit tilted to the right side of the head. Her eyes had too much black eyeliner and her lipstick was green. Didn't matter how many times Beca would see the people from the Capitol on TV or in person every year, she wouldn't stop being surprised, amused and also a bit disturbed by their looks.

A video was playing in the big screen on the Justice building. Like every year, they explained in a video why the Games were celebrated. 70 years ago there had been a big war in Panem where the districts staged an uprising against the Capitol. Of course the Capitol won and since then the districts are punished every year sending one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 to 18 years old to a competition. In this competition 23 of them die and 1 survives. This is televised and it is compulsory to watch it. Not surprisingly, the kids who were born in the Capitol didn't participate in the games and most probably didn't have any idea of what was real and what wasn't. Beca didn't want to watch the same video again. Instead, she looked around. She saw the younger girls and boys in the rows ahead, how they were nervously shaking and moving their feet. She thought about the cruelty, how could they send these little kids there to die... and kill each other. Beca didn't really know which was worse. Her attention was brought to the weird woman again when the video was over.

"And now, without further delay, let's meet our contestants" She said.

Two Peacekeepers brought a glass box each, full of little papers. A name in every paper. One box for the boys and one for the girls. Beca swallowed hard as the woman put the hand inside the boys' box and drew out a paper.

"Benjamin Applebaum!" She announced out loud with a bright smile on her face.

Benji... Beca followed the boy with her eyes while he walked slowly towards the platform. Everything around was silence. She didn't know him really, she had only seen him around in the district and heard his name. He looked younger than her, maybe he was around 14 or 15 years old.

"And now the girls..."

Beca was startled from her thoughts and brought to reality once again. Her heart was pounding too fast and loud. She thought she was going to faint any minute. Her hands were clutched together over her stomach because if she didn't faint she might as well throw up. Last year, last time. If her name wasn't out now she would finally be free.

"Beca Mitchell!" The woman announced with the same smile she used before.

Beca's eyes grew wider even. She forgot how to breathe and the only thing she could hear now was her heartbeats extremely loud in her head. Her body moved automatically towards the Justice building.