1.
It was a cold and grey day, perfectly expressing how I was feeling. I stood there, huddled up with my mother and brother in the pouring rain. We've been here for over an hour now, and we've seen many people and injured miners pass. I look up to my mother, who's face expresses pure concentration as she looks out for my dad.
Suddenly one of the miners walks up to us. ''Miss Everdeen?'' he says, and my mother looks away from her focus point. ''Yes?'' she answers, her voice soft and cracked around the edges. ''I'm afraid this is it,'' he says sad and quietly. My mother nods sternly and her body starts to tremble. My brother grabs my shoulders firmly, squeezing in it. ''Jack, take Lily home,'' she tells my brother. At first I refuse and then he picks me up and I start crying.
And this all happened on my 4th birthday.
Now it's a year later, and we're just getting by. It's been a long and hard year, having almost nothing to live on or for. Mom runs a laundry business, so that puts something on the table. Jack has been gone much lately, but every time he comes back he has fruits and berries and all kinds of roots with him. ''Lily, look,'' he says when he comes in with a bag of tesserae. I grin at the food.
Jack's birthday is today, he became 12. We are home alone because mom is working her fingers to bleed again. It hurts me to see her this way.
This continued for many years. My brother gone, me being alone, and my dear mother working herself to death while starving herself by giving us her food so we get to grow up healthy. And this all leads up to my first and my brother's last reaping.
Mom has laid out a light green dress and white shoes for me, and a white ribbon to put my brown hair up with. It all is a bit worn out, but you will never see me complaining. When I'm all dressed up and have studies myself in the mirror for a fair amount of time, I call mom to let her know I'm ready.
''Mom?'' when I get no reaction I go look for her around the house. My heart stops when I enter the kitchen and see her laying on the floor, unconscious. ''Mom..'' I whisper with a tiny voice. ''Jack, JACK'' I yell. He comes bursting through the doors, and his face immediately gets extremely pale at what he sees. ''We have to get her to the pharmacy of your girlfriend! We need to take her to Mary!'' I cry.
Jack quickly lifts up our mom in his arms, running out of the door, and I don't hesitate to run after him. When we enter the pharmacy, Mary her parents quickly take her to the back, together with my brother, and Mary sits me down on a big chair and tries to soothe me. She looks really pretty with her blonde hair and blue eyes. ''My parents are doing all they can Lily, I promise,'' she says, cupping my face.
I want to nod, but I can't. I'm too scared. My eyes shoot up when my brother walks in, his face tears stained, and I already know. He doesn't need to say it. This is when I become absolutely numb and stop crying, like all my feelings has been knocked out of me. Mary gives me a kiss on the cheek and holds me for a moment before releasing me, and Jack takes my hand. ''We're getting late,'' he says quietly with a broken voice. Unable to speak I nod.
The three of us walk to the reaping. Their last ones, my first one. My first reaping just goes by without me paying any attention. I'm glad when it's over and my brother collects me. He takes me home and tells me to change into something comfortable. When I'm done, he is waiting for me, wearing a leather jacket. ''Come,'' he says, reaching his hand out to me. I take it and he leads me to the meadow.
He tells me to be quiet and we go under the fence. At first, I'm pretty scared, but when Jack retrieves a bow and sheath of arrows from a hollow tree, I feel somewhat safer. ''This is where I get out food, Lims, and I'm going to teach you how,'' he says softly. Together we make my bow and arrows, and he learns me to shoot and shows me all eatable berries and roots. ''This is great..'' I whisper. He nods. ''And there are many more things to find,'' he assures me.
And we do. But Jack gets a job, and has Mary to go to, so I pretty much hunt by myself. It's not that bad. I use the alone time to train for the Games in case I get reaped by throwing knives, running, climbing, doing a lot of archery of course. Also, I found an old.. Bike? And put it up so I can keep my stamina up. It's reaping day and I'm out in the woods, silently tracking my snares for some rabbits or squirrels.
After I've collected three rabbits and two squirrels I head back to home to get ready for the reaping. The house is empty, so I immediately go to my room to change into my reaping clothes. A beige dress and white shoes. I undo my previous braid and comb my light curly brown hair through with my fingers, not bothering to get an actual comb, and braid it down my back again, doing a fishtail braid my mom always used to make.
I sigh and look at my bored-looking face. I'm not beautiful, I'm completely ordinary. Well.. Except for my eyes. Instead of grey or blue or brown eyes, mine are green, which is very uncommon for someone in District 12. I sigh and turn around, just in time to see Mary bursting in. She smiles when she sees me. ''You look really pretty,'' she says softly while brushing a loose strand of hair behind my ear. I look at the ring around her finger that my brother gave her. In a few weeks they're getting married, and I can honestly call her my sister, like I always felt she was to me.
We go outside and find Jack waiting for us. They both take my hand and lead me to the Square. They kiss me goodbye and I find myself standing between all 17 year olds. I focus at some point beyond the Justice Building and pay little to no attention to the mayor reading the Treaty of Treason.
Then Suzette Goldlock, capitol lapdog, comes up to read the names. Her flu orating clothes and hair hurt my eyes. My stomach turns around in anticipation as I hope it's not me, not me.. And she calls the name out, and I'm absolutely numb. ''Lily-May Everdeen!'' It bounces around in my head, and it takes a while to register that this is my name. I take a deep breath, trying to keep myself together, and mount the stairs and take my place.
My eyes are looking for my brother, and when I find him, my heart drops. No, it doesn't just drops.. it crashes down with the speed of light. His face expresses the same sadness as when our mother and father died, and Mary has buried her face in his chest. I take a ragged breath. The boy's name is drawn, and a 12 year old comes up. I look at him and immediately know he won't last two minutes.
We get escorted in to the Justice Building to say our goodbyes. I'm just in the room when Jack and Mary come in. Jack quickly embraces me tightly. ''You can do this Lims, you can do this. You can come back,'' he mutters in my hair. I nod and say ''I know,'' with a thick throat.
I'm going to miss him. I'm even going to miss the stupid nickname he gave me by putting my two names together. I'm going to miss my only family. Then he releases me and Mary hugs me tightly. ''Stay strong,'' she says softly. ''I will,'' I reply. She has been there for us, and she is as close to me as family. She is family. And too quickly it's time for them to leave. We scream ''I love you!'' at each other and then they're gone, and I'm left alone, since I don't have friends.
After a while we get collected and go into the Capitol train. I lock myself up in my room on the train and fall down on the bed, leaving District 12 and going to the Capitol.
