The citizens of my district are scared. Terrified really. I can see it in their eyes, in the way they walk, quietly and cautiously. Before the rebellion led by Katniss Everdeen ended two months ago, bringing strict new rules for capitol citizens and a division of the capitol into twelve districts, my peers were always lighthearted, giggly, clueless and overall, at least to my eyes, pretty repulsive. Their weird and often unnerving tendencies and fashions disgusted me and I didn't want anything to do with them. I was even repulsed by my parents and younger sister Katrina. But the announcement of the 76th Annual Hunger Games has humbled them, and in their new state of silence and passivity I find them strangely likeable, at least considering what they used to be.
I grew up watching the Hunger Games. Watching kids from the districts endure so much pain and torture. Kids my age. I was never okay with the Hunger Games, the way the capitol watched it as if it were a sports event and not a bunch of children fighting to the death. Of kids dying in bloody, gruesome ways. So when the announcement for the 76th Hunger Games was made I felt, oddly enough, good about it, satisfied. Because these aren't the normal Hunger Games. These games will be different. These games will feature twenty-four capitol children fighting to the death. And tomorrow is reaping day.