I wake up earlier then usual, of course, it's reaping day. I get up and stretch then grab my fishing pole. I'm from district 4, and we are the fishing district. I'm only 13 and though my district is a career district, I never trained for the Hunger Games. You see, my family was really poor from the beginning. Then a terrible poison soiled all the fish, so as you can guess us poor people went lower and lower. My mother was one of the first victims of the terrible fish. I was only about 5 then and my brother was 10.
I walk slowly out of my room trying not to wake father, Mathew, or Terry. Mathew is now 18, but he's not quite right. Mathew still acts about 12, my mother was the same but father loved her anyways. Terry on the other hand is 8. He was born a little bit before mother died.
From the room I was passing a young voice calls, "Haley!" I peak inside to see Terry rolled over in his bed. Laughing I walk over.
"What's up Terry?" I ask him.
"Why are you going fishing on this day?" he asks me in his little boy voice. I sigh, he always acts like this on reaping day, even when he was little.
"Well, we need more food; no one works on this day so I can sneak out to the big lake easy." I answer. There are rivers and such around our district inside the border for working days. Anyone over 10 is required to fish for the capitol. We can't keep our food so whenever I have a break I go out to a big hidden lake my friends and I found.
We fish there, yes, but because of the Hunger Games and tesserae I go and swim laps and jog around the lake to get stronger just in case I need to. If I actually won the games…my family would be rich and not have to live in the lower parts.
"Oh, okay Haley… sees you later." Terry rolls over and closes his eyes. He has about an hour before he has to wake up. I grab my fishing pole and walk outside. Even though we are poorest of the poor, we aren't as poor as the other districts. You hear things in my district about them especially in school. So we're better off than most districts.
My family was a large one, the McAllen's. Now it's just my father, John McAllen, Matthew McAllen, Terry McAllen, and me Haley McAllen. I go through a small hole in a gate that I will probably have to enlarge soon. At 13 I'm about 5'4 and I have light brown curls. My eyes are a deep green and I'm stronger than most would think. I can run long distances but not as much as others, my real strength is in my arms.
I get to the hidden lake and a girl with short, black hair sits on a rock fishing pole in the water. She turns to look at me, "Haley your late!" she exclaims. "I caught a really HUGE fish!" she exclaims. If you look at us people would think she was a regular young girl, but actually she was like Mathew. That's probably why I became friends with her. Looking at the fish she caught, it was actually quite small, but why ruins her happy mood on a day like this?
"Wow, great job Marlene! The Thompson legacy lives on!" Her family was really great at fishing, but then her mom died like mine did.
"Today seems like a bad day today Haley." She says to me.
I settle myself down and cast my line sitting back to wait. "What, don't think we'll catch anything today?" I ask Marlene.
"No, the Hunger Games." She says like it was obvious.
I nod, "Oh, right. Probably some girl will get called and a hundred others will volunteer."
Marlene just shakes her head, "No… I don't think so. Not this time." Then she looks at the water again dropping the conversation. She's like that, making these weird unexplainable predictions. When she decides to stop talking about it, you stop. That's just what I learned.
After an hour or so with fishing we'd caught a good amount of fish. Surprisingly they bite quickly so 20 minutes could get you 5 good fish. I put them into a net I made and start walking back. "Want to gather a bit?" I ask Marlene and she nods. We gather some edible plants and even pick a few blackberries. We split what we got and I smile at Marlene, "Now remember to cook it all the way and I can bring you back some soup or flour if I get some out of this tonight."
Marlene nods as if she knows it wouldn't happen and walks off. I frown but shake the weird feeling and walk back home. My father waits for me by the door, "Haley you're late. Terry and Matthew are already waiting so hurry up and get dressed so we can meet them."
I nod and hurry to my room where I change into a bright shimmering blue dress to enlighten my green eyes. It also goes along well with my brown hair. I tie a white ribbon around the back and put matching shoes on. It's an old outfit but I love it since it was my mothers when she was my age. I hurry down the stairs and walk with my father. He's a tall man with my light brown hair and he has blue eyes. My mom had blond hair and it was curly like mine, she also had green eyes. Or… at least that's what I'm told.
I head over to the 13 year old section and stand next to Marlene. I don't listen as the mayor lists the long list of victors from district. Then, Clary, our escort comes up. "Happy Hunger Games and May the odds be ever in your favor!" I say it the same time she does under my breath.
"Ladies first!' she chirps. It seems her hair is natural being blonde and straight. It's incredibly long and straight. Her skin seems to shimmer in the sunlight and her face seems pointy, especially her nose. "Marlene Thompson!"
