The Final Hunger Games

Chapter 1

I woke up with a shock. I thought I heard a sound coming from outside. No, I must have dreamt it. I picked up my phone. I jumped out of bed when I saw what time it was. If I didn't get a move on I'd be late for school. I ran to the bathroom. I discovered I didn't have time for a shower s I just sprayed some water in my face. I then went and got my uniform. After I had gotten it on, brushed my hair and put it up in ponytail I opened the curtains. I was looking out over the beautiful city Capitol. It wasn't as beautiful as it used to be, but it had been rebuilt since the last bombing. It taken almost no time at all. I heard my mother call my name. I hurried into the kitchen. I sat down on the empty chair by the table. My brother, Patrick passed me the cereal. I poured it into my bowl and added the milk. Mum had put the radio on. I wasn't really listening. The only thing they were sending was information about the final Hunger Games. The reaping for it was today. Six children had already been picked out. I felt sorry for Snows granddaughter. I was a bit glad that I hadn't been picked. I had watched the Hunger Games so often that I knew how dangerous it was. The reaping would take place at the end of the school day. I finished my cereal and got up to leave. Patrick and my sister Lucy did the same. We kissed mum good bye and went.

I went into my class room. I sat down by my desk. Andrew was sitting by the desk next to me. Andrew was my best friend. We had been friends since we were four. He had green eyes and blond hair. I on the other hand had brown-blond hair and green-blue eyes. My siblings had the same. It was a typical Capitol look. The problem with Capitol was that most of the people who lived there had coloured their hair randomly. The part of Capitol I lived in people had been treated like second rank citizens for generations. The reason was that after Capitol banned religion a Lutheran church refused to give up their belief. After many executions the church decided to hold services in secret, but they were soon discovered. Capitol decided to let it be, but they were discriminated. The teacher came in. We had history first. The teacher started to talk about the Cuba crises. Capitol was the only city in Panem that taught their children about history before WW3. I didn't know why they did that. I guess that it just had worked out like that.

"Are you nervous about the reaping today, Chloe", Andrew asked. I nodded.

"What do you think?" I said.

"It's weird isn't it? This time it's our names in that bowl", Andrew said.

"I'm sixteen and I have never thought about what the children from the districts felt when it was their names in the bowl", I said.

"It's weird that we haven't dared to talk about it before now", Andrew said. I agreed with him. Panem had been a dictator ship for about 77 years. The Hunger Games had started a year after the Capitol regime had taken over.

The school day passed to fast. Before I knew it was time for the reaping. I walked nervously to the place where the reaping was taking place. I got to the sixteen year old crowd. I made my way to my friends. I could see Lucy making her way to the twelve year old crowd. I saw that Patrick was already standing with his friends in the fourteen year old crowd. He looks unhappier than usual. I haven't seen like this since the rebels broke into Capitol. He had the same look that he had the night the bombings started.

I walked into our flat. It looked more like an orphan age than a home of five people. I hadn't gotten further than the hall before I stood on broken glass. I ignored it. The whole flat was filled with it. The electricity had gone. It didn't really make a difference. The burning houses outside lit the house up enough to see where one was going. Lucy and Patrick were sitting by the kitchen table. They looked scared. I couldn't remember when I had last seen them so scared before. I decided to send them to bed. They did what they were told. It didn't take long before they were in bed.

"Can you sing for us?" Lucy asked. I heard how innocent her voice sounded. I nodded. I sang the song mum always sang to me as I little girl when I couldn't sleep. The frightens they had in their faces had disappeared. The moment I stopped singing it came back. It didn't take long before they were sleeping. I thought it was odd that they could sleep. Every now and then ne could hear a bomb land and explode. I could hear screaming. It was very relaxing. I knew that I wasn't the only scared person in Capitol. I wasn't surprised though. I never saw fear like the fear under President Snow. Now that the rebels were after him I felt relaxed for the first time in my life. I felt like I could do what I wanted and say what I wanted. For the first time in my life I didn't feel that someone was watching. I felt freedom. It was a wonderful feeling knowing that if I said something wrong nobody could get me anymore. I felt safe. That was feeling I had never felt before. I knew it was ironic, but it was the truth. I didn't want the feeling to go away.

The reaping was about to start. I started to pay attention. Our escort, Mary Clarkson walked up to the microphone. She tested it before she started to speak. She welcomed us and did what the escorts in the districts. The only difference was the story was not about how Panem was created, but the end of the Capitol regime. After that they showed us a film about the Hunger Games. I didn't really pay attention. My thoughts were somewhere else. I felt scared again. I hadn't felt this way since the rebels came to the city. President Snow couldn't keep a track of people who said the wrong thing. How could I know that the districts were after revenge for what Snow did? The film finally ended.

"And now we will pick our tributes. Girls first," Mary said. I watched her walk over to the bowl with the girl's names. She was walking very slowly. I couldn't wait. The closer she got the more death sentenced I felt. I knew there only five labels with my name on it, but I knew that there was a chance Mary would take one of those labels. She had reached the bowl. I really wanted here to go straight back to the microphone. She put her hand into the bowl. Every second seemed like an hour. The hand was going towards one of the labels. I was sweating. The hand suddenly found a label and grabbed it. It felt like my heart stopped. Mary pulled her hand out of the bowl. She was holding a label. There was no turning back now. Whoevers name was on that label was being sent into an arena with killers. My heart was pounding like a drum. I felt like a little girl with no power. I felt like a girl that nobody cared about. That was more or less reality. One of my friends, Brodie Dixon grabbed my hand. Mary was walking over to the microphone. I heard every step very clearly. It felt like she used an hour. It was a tense moment. She opened the label very slowly and read out the name. As she did so I could feel how relived most people felt, but I didn't. It wasn't my name on the label it was worse. It felt like my feet turned into stone when Mary read out the name;
"Lucy Roberts".