Chapter 1
Oh How Times Have Changed

My name is Lily, I am seventeen years old, my mother, father and two older brothers, Wests and Kane and work in the mines here in District Twelve. My twin brother's name is Eko. We live a little past town square, in a small little house with only two rooms, a small bath room, a kitchen big enough for one person at a time and a dining room. Our house always smells a little off I guess you could say, but its home.

Working in the mines doesn't pay well, even with four pays and six mouths, most days we have a bowl of rice for the six of us to share. After school most days in spring and summer Eko and I would go out to the fence the divides us from district twelve and district thirteen and pick berries.

Today is July 4th. My teacher once told us that this big country called America would have a big party with food, drinks and flying colored fire, and there would be people marching through the streets singing and dancing. I asked her what they were celebrating, she said they celebrated freedom. Eko and I went home that night and told our parents all about the 4th of July, but so did other kids, needless to say we had a replacement teacher for the rest of that school year.

Back one thousand years ago people celebrated freedom, now on this same day parents prepare themselves for the reaping of their children. Every year on this same day, someone from the Capital comes and pulls out two different names from two different bowls of opposite genders between the ages of ten too eighteen. My father told me that when his name was in the reaping it was the ages twelve too eighteen, but after much rebellion, the Capital lowered the entering age to ten. This will be my fifth year in the reaping.

"Lily, baby I left a dress out on the bed for you when you're done washing up" Right now I'm sinking away in our barrel of a bath tub.

"All right then. I'll be out in a minuet"