"Get up!" my mother yelled as I opened my eyes groggily. "Huh?" I asked sleepily. "It's reaping day Finch, wear something nice, and get downstairs." she called over her shoulder as she walked out of my room. Ugh. Reaping Day. I think I'd rather be reaped than live here. I don't like complaining to often but, my life isn't exactly the greatest. I live in District 5, we produce the energy for our nation, Panem. The sky is usually hazy from the power plants and there's a hint of something burning. Yeah we're one of the richer districts but, I'm miserable here. My mother is a plant security guard so she's tough, she's even tough at home actually, she's mean. But not to my sister. I love my little sister, frankly, she's what keeps me sane. My mother adores my little sister but, not me. It's like I don't even exist. My father works at the Capitol so he's never around to protect me. Each year I stand at the reaping watching our district representative draw the names of those who get reaped. I stand there, wishing, waiting for it to be me. So I can escape. I'd rather go into a fight to the death than stay here. I'm trapped."Finch!" my mother yelled breaking me away from my thoughts. "Your sister is already down here, hurry up!" "Coming!" I replied as I grabbed my only dress from my closet. I looked at myself in the mirror. I liked my dress is was a soft green that fell just above my knees. It was old though, It had more than a couple stains and the color was faded. It will have to do, I thought. I did my hair up in a ponytail, quickly slipped on my shoes and went downstairs. I saw my mother straightening my sister's dress and fixing her hair. I sighed inwardly, I wished my mother cared about me like that. Oh well. "Finch, you look so pretty!" my sister said when she saw me. She was only twelve, this was her second reaping at least we didn't need the tessarae so, I tried not to worry about her. I smiled and her and ruffled her hair, "You look pretty too, Em." Her name was Ember but, she hated it so I called her Em. My mother glanced over and slapped my hand away. "Don't mess up her hair, you mess up enough things, my little Ember needs to look perfect." I dropped my hand, my smile vanishing. No comment on how I look. "You look okay I guess, that is if you were going to roll around in mud." Ah there it is. "Thanks mom." I said. "Em, time to go, are you ready?" She looked up at me with her eyes wide, she looked like she was shaking a little. I crouched down to her eye level. "Em, it's going to be okay, you won't get reaped, it will all be over and then we can go have our special ice cream and watch cartoons, and it will all be okay." She nodded once and grabbed my hand tightly as we walked out the door. An uneasy feeling settled in my stomach. This reaping was going to be different. Maybe it wouldn't be okay.
