Today was the day of the reaping, so I had a half day of work only. My name is Vilila Dezan and I'm fourteen this year but my name is going to be put in fifteen times because I took out tesserae. I have one younger brother and one younger sister, they're twins and six years old. I stay with my mom while my dad ran off with some twenty year old a few years ago. It's been tough, especially for my mom but tough on me too.
Every day after school I have to work four hours on the fields harvesting crops, a small fraction will go to district eleven while the rest goes to the Capitol. Occasionally I steal a bit off food, my dad was a con artist and taught me slide of hand, so that way, I'm pretty crafty. I have to be careful and make sure I don't get caught otherwise no matter how old I am, I would be whipped. I don't do it for the adrenaline rush, I do it because my mom hardly makes enough money to feed my siblings and definitely not enough for me and her included, so I get a bit of extra food when I can, which sadly isn't even that often. Today I am going to try and get something though; it's always been a tradition that after the reaping you have a feast. Hopefully with a few extra berries, and a little bit of extra vegetables for the soup we will be able to forget the way the Capitol drags twenty-four innocent boys and girls to death every year. It's true that one comes out but I've seen the way some of the victors live their life, always alone and being judged, often they take up drinking or drugs, I assume to try and forget all the horrors they've been through, in a way they die too.
When I wake up my siblings sleeping next to me and my mother is on the end of the bed. We all share one bedroom which isn't that rare living in district eleven, in fact since I take a bit of extra food when no one is looking we eat better than most families. I get up and turn on the water, today is one of the few days a year we get water, I fill the tub and plunge myself in. It's cold but better than nothing, wouldn't want to go to our death being all dirty now, would we? By the time I get out everyone else is already up, normally my sister gives me a hug in the morning but on reaping days she's preoccupied with thinking about the people who might get chosen. She mainly thinks about me, although I just think about her and my brother. I can't imagine what I'll do if they get chosen when I'm older, I won't even be able to volunteer at that time "Vilila, come eat" I turn around to see my mom in the kitchen, cutting up slices of bread "No thanks, I better get to the fields" I give my mom a quick hug and rush out the door. I walk towards the fields but make a small detour to pick up my best friend Katherine. She's in my class and probably the funniest person I've ever known "Hey there!" she greets me as I near her house "Hi!" I shout back.
