By the time I had gotten up, I was late. I climbed out of bed, and quickly got dressed. I grabbed my knife. Today, there would be plenty of people to sell to, plenty of people who are hungry.

As I quietly reached for the handle to the door, I heard footsteps behind me. I swung around to see my older sister standing behind me.
"You're going out again…" she questioned
"Yes, I am", I replied," Somebody has to feed you".
"You know I ca-", she replied, but I cut her off.
"Stop being Ridiculous, Katrina. ", I said, my voice regaining its control soon after. "I want to do this, it's our life".

She faked a smile.
As I turned to go, she reached out to me
"Sarah, be careful. ", she said.
" As careful as death", I replied, opening up the door and letting it fall shut behind me.

Here in District 12, most civilians would be mingling quietly, slowly starving with a hopeful face. But today, not a person was seen among the streets. All windows were shut, and the doors were locked tight. Nobody would be coming out anytime soon. Well that is, all except for one particular girl.
The high-voltage gates stood in front of me, clearly not on at this early in the morning. I headed towards the left side, where a nook was located. I slid through it, and bound off towards the woods, still keeping as silent as possible.
"As careful as Death" I repeated in my mind. Those were my father's words. Before he had gone off to be a peacekeeper, his conversation with my Mom still clung to me like glue.
"Honey, you never know what district they'll put you in. You have to be safe, you have to be careful. ", my mother pleaded.
"As careful as death", my father challenged. And ever since then, my brain had just absorbed all of it. The words were engraved there forever.

I ran through the trees, effortlessly not making any noise. I headed towards the old mountain peak, where hopefully my lifelong friend would be.

"There you are", Zailia said, as I appeared from the thick blue flower bushes. " I almost thought you had locked yourself inside of your house, like all of the others".
"If only it were that simple", I laughed.

She threw me a piece of bread.
"Oh my gosh, where did you get this?" I gasped.
"You can already guess", she sulked, still smiling faintly.
"No.", I said. "Don't tell me you put your name in more times for this"

"No, not me, but my brother", she said. "He told me to use it wisely.
"Thank you… so much", I said, passing her a half.
"Happy hunger games", Zailia whispered.
" And may the odds be ever in your brother's favor." I added.

We slowly made our way through the forest, until I picked up my bow and arrow from its usual hiding spot within a tree.
I passed Zailia my knife. There in front of us, was a deer. I hadn't seen one in years, and here one was in front of us… on Reaping Day.

"Go for it", Zailia whispered, her eyes wide open.
"Shh", I drew back my bow, my breath leaving me slowly.
Before the poor thing could get one last breath, my arrow hit it straight to the head, knocking the animal to the ground.

"You got it!" Zailia squealed." You'll get a fortune for it!"

"I'm sure I would." I said. "But I'd rather have a good meal. We can share it, and you can take the rest back to your brother, as a Thank you."

We ate silently, since this was the only specialty we'd be enjoying today.

"How many times is his name in today?" I asked.

"37", Zailia replied.

I sighed. We hadn't eaten even half of the deer, yet we had already lost our appetites.

"I should get going. I have to get ready", I said helping Zailia up with me.
"Me too", she said.

I I waved her goodbye, and headed back home.

The wind blew through my dark blonde hair, which had only gained its highlights from hunting all summer.

I walked through the door to find my sister all dolled up, In a pink checkered dress with her hair up in an elegant braid.
My mom looked like she always did. Hair up, and dressed in decent clothes. She pointed to my room. "I found something for you, too", she said.

Puzzled, I walked into my room, finding a beautiful dark blue dress with lace sleeves, and a golden cross necklace to go with it.
As I put it on, I had to admit something. Besides when the wind wisped past me in the woods, I had never felt this beautiful, and I hated it. I didn't want to feel this way when showing up to something as sickening as the Reaping.

I didn't see the point in anyone getting dressed up for the event. When one boy, one girl, was picked to be sent to a torturous death- to be picked as the tributes for the Hunger Games. There had never been a winner from our district. Let alone, from a district below 2. All the capitol wanted was a good show, which to them was a group of children murdering themselves brutally.

My thoughts were interrupted as my mother and sister entered the room.

"You look great", my mom said, while fastening the golden necklace around my neck," but there's one last touch".
In just a couple of minutes, my mom had braided a portion of my hair, revealing a white bow in which she fastened the hair with.

I gazed at my reflection in the mirror. Just then, the bell rang out, sending chills down my body; out the door we went.

After we got out blood taken and checked in, I found me in the middle of a group of girls in who were silent, in regards to being too scared to speak.

Even though it had already been dead quiet, it seemed that everyone held their breath as Effie Trinket made her way onto the stage, her heals clicking loudly.

"Welcome, welcome", she said, awkwardly breaking the silence. "The time has come to select one courageous young man and woman for the honor of representing District 12 in the 74th annual Hunger Games!" , she announced.

As if to only torture our patience longer, she played a meaningless film, produced by the one- and-only Capitol.

The Capitol is the insufficient leader of all the districts, the dictating power-holders over us all, it seems. The sick people find enjoyment in making it look like there is one ounce of fun and games in locking 24 children up in an arena, and forcing them to kill each other.

"As always," Effie trinket began in her annoying Capitol accent," ladies first ".

I looked for Zailia, but she was nowhere in my sight. Though I did find her brother, Evangis, standing uneasily.

Effie's shoes clacked once again, as she pranced across the stage. She made her way over to one of the two bowls, each on opposite sides of the stage. They were filled with countless slips of paper, labeled with names of the potential tributes of the 74th Hunger Games.

I wasn't all that worried for anyone besides Zailia and me, since Katrina was twenty-one. Only children between the ages of twelve through eighteen could participate.

As Effie reached in dramatically, her pink-painted eyes scanned for the destined slip. She finally retrieved the one that satisfied her, and pranced back over to the microphone. The center of tension was lying between her fingers. All eyes were fixed on her as she opened the slip of paper, and cleared her throat. She through her well-known smile across her face, and read the name loudly.
But as the name she called processed through my mind, my heart stopped. It felt as if I had just jumped off of a one-hundred-story building. Oh no, the name was not mine. It was someone far more important to me, though.

The name Effie Trinket had called as the Girl tribute to the 74th Annual Hunger Games
was Zailia Hasherold.