Summary:
Every year it is mandatory for each district hold a reaping. All children in the districts ages 8-10 go to the reaping, where 5 children, any gender, are chosen as that years tributes.
They are then transported to the capitol, where the Hunger Games academy is located. It's actually just on the outskirts, between the capitol and district 1.
Every tribute has 4 years to train at least before they are put into the arena. Children 12-18 are put into the arena, no older, no younger. Once your are reaped there is close to no chance you will never see your family ever again. Every tribute at one point will be put into the arena of death.
The academy is a huge school where tributes get an education and learn how to fight. It will be their home, until they enter the arena.
Every year at the academy a group of people called 'GameMakers' choose 24 out of their many tributes to be put into the arena. They can choose any child between the ages of 12 and 18. They are also in charge of the arena and everything else that has to do with the hunger games.
IN DISTRICT 12
"Katniss, are you coming? We have to go to the reaping" Primrose shouts, from the living room. She's my little sister, only 5 years old. Her full name is Primrose Elyzabeth Constance Everdeen. My name is Katniss Maran Everdeen, I am 8 years old and I live in district 12 with my Mother and sister. I had a father, but he died 2 years ago.
"Coming" I shout back to my darling sister. I finish braiding my hair and jog out of our room. We don't have a lot of money, so me and Primrose have to share a room.
Our small house has one large room, it contains a large table with 6 chairs, a crumbling away fireplace that we use to cook our food, a moth eaten couch, 2 long skinny tables that act as a counter and a chest with many valuables inside. There's also a few shelves full with books and pictures, an old clock and a bench that's rotten. We have no electricity in our house, but we find other things to entertain ourselves with. Off of the main room there is two bedrooms. One was for my mother and father, the other for me and Prim. In our room there is a small, handmade bed that my father made for us to share. We also have a small bedside table that holds a partially melted candle and a hand-drawn picture of myself and prim sitting on my lap. It's actually an old stump I found a while ago, but it works just fine. There's a small desk where I'm supposed to do my homework, and a chair to go with it. Underneath the legs of the desk is where I keep my clothes in two boxes. Prim gets to use the closet, since she has more and nicer clothes than me.
Not all of district 12 is as disappointing as our house is, down near the schools and river the rich part of 12 lives. I love going there, so does Prim.
We like to walk down the beautiful streets, gawking at houses triple the size of ours. We enjoy dipping our feet in the river and watching people ride their boats and canoes down the river.
Sometimes me and Prim like to imagine what it would be like to live there. In a large house, each of us with our own room! Have an indoor bathroom, a separate room just for eating in and a Television! We would visit the river every day, and maybe even have a motor boat!
Prim and I always like to go by the Mellark's bakery. It always smells of cinnamon and frosting. Prim loves to look at the cakes that they put on display in the windows. She always asks if we could get one, but I have to tell her no every time. We don't have enough money to buy even a cookie.
Prim's favorite thing to do is walking down the streets where all the shops are located. Every store is squished together, each with it's own type of siding. It's funny to look at sometimes, the contrast between the reddish brick and worn down wood!
Almost every store has two levels. On the first level is the shop and above it is where the owner and his family lives. My favorite stores are the ones with jewelry and china and antiques in it!
For my 6th birthday, father bought me a beautiful pin with a arrow piercing through a mockingjay bird. That was father's favorite type of bird. Almost every day when he wasn't working, he would take me into the woods and sing with the mockingjays.
I had a special bond with father, better than with my mother or sister. I love my sister loads, but I still don't trust her as much as I ever did him.
And my mother, I have always had the cold shoulder from her. She preferred Prim over me, and she showed it. She will come home and give Prim a new dress and matching hair ribbons, then scolds me for being lousy at school. I guess the reason she doesn't love me is because I chose father over her. I do love her, but every day it seems to get smaller and smaller.
Mother and Prim are ready to go and are waiting at the door. Prim is wearing a new dress that mother bought, specially for reaping day. Which is idiotic since she's not even entered in it! It's a soft pink with darker pink stripes going horizontally across her body. It's complete with older white slip on shoes and black hair ribbons holding her beautiful blonde locks out of her sweet face. Sometimes I envy my sister, she's is absolutely gorgeous while I'm just repulsive, as my mother states.
She has soft pale skin and a kind smile. She is smaller than most girls her age, so am I, so people think I'm younger than I am. But, her piercing blue eyes and big lashes make her seem her older and more mature. Rosy pink cheeks, perfect eyebrows and swollen red lips just add to her beautiful complexion. Her long, straight, golden locks with streaks of various shades of brown frame her adorable face.
Whereas I have slightly tanned skin and a few freckles, due from spending so much time outside in the sun without a hat or a special kind of oil. I have big grey ugly eyes, that are framed by long dark brown eyelashes. My mom says that my eyes look so big that I look bug eyed! How supportive. My long brown hair is the exact color of cow pies, and is embedded with mud, sweat, grass and probably bugs. I only have a bath once or twice a month, even then I don't use soap. My sister has a bath weekly, my mother says that since she is so young, she smells more and worse. I go along with it, even though I know she just cares about Prim more, leaving me wash down every night with a dirty, damp cloth. That, has granted me a stupid nickname from the mean rich girls. Instead of Katniss, they call me Catpiss!
I walk with my mother and sister to 12's city hall. By the time we get there, the hall is filled with kids my age and their parents. I sign in and make my way towards the group of kids in the middle of the hall. Surrounding us is the spectators and parents, waiting anxiously to see who is reaped and who they will never see again. I watch Prim and Mother make their way along the crowd of adults and siblings, until they find a place close to our friends, the Hawthorns. The mother, Hazelle, has 4 kids. Gale is the oldest, he's 2 years older than me and my best friend, he has two younger brothers, Rory 5 and Vick 3. He also has a younger sister Posy. She's not even 1 years old yet. Gale's dad died in the same accident as my father did. Hazelle was about to give birth at any moment. I find it sad that the father hadn't even seen his only daughter before he died. It seems like an eternity before our district escort comes skipping onto the stage.
Effie Trinket is sporting a metallic silver wig that seems to have a lightning bolt on it. She's wearing a bright gold, yellowish dress that looks like a whole bunch of lightning bolts striking her powdered body. She trots up to the mic and clears her throat "Ahem, let's get started shall we" Her voice hikes up at the end like she's asking a question, due to her captiol accent. She smiles stupidly and walks over to the crystal bowl in her freakishly high jet black heels. Then she begins to read the names of the tributes.
"Delly Cartwright" I think she's a year older than me, I know that she's richer than me. Everyone knows her to be the absolute friendliest person alive (and dead.)
"Peeta Mellark" Oh, that's one of the baker's kids. I've never, in fact talked to him. Even though we've been in the same class for 2 years. He always smiles at me when we go by the bakery
"Madge Undersee" She's the mayor's only child. She's not stuck up or snobby and doesn't really have really good friends. Sometimes she sits with me and Gale at lunch.
"Gale Hawthorne" Oh no, that's horrible. I must have jinxed it when I though about him and somehow put it onto that slip. At least I'm not going-
"Katniss Everdeen" What? Did she just say my name? Why did I jinx it again?! I feel dizzy, lightheaded, I don't know what to do! Everyone moves away from me, making a clear path to the middle of the reaping where a corridor is awaiting. I can't even feel my legs, but I seem to watch them stumble their way out of the crowd and up to the stage. I can hear the distant sound of a girl screaming my name over and over and other family members calling out to their loved ones.
My left foot hits the bottom step and I stumble forward. I fall on the stairs and slowly crawl up them, until I get to the main level. I stand back up and walks towards Effie, who's hand is outstretched ushering me to hurry. Apparently I'm taking to long and Effie comes and practically drags me to my spot. I take my spot between Delly and Gale and stare out at the crowd. I find Prim in the overflowing crowd, she's screaming and crying herself senseless, trying to get away from the peacekeepers arms which are restraining her.
Effie says something, but I tune it out. I keep my focus on Prim. She flailing about, her face drained of it's beautiful color, covered in tears. She keeps repeating my name over and over and over, it's filled with longing and desperation. It brings tears to my eyes to see my beloved sister in pain. I want to say something, call out to her, reassure her, but I can't seem to get my lips to move. Effie finishes talking and turns around then ushers all 5 of us through a tall door, at least 9 feet tall, that leads of into one big room, which has several other rooms leading off of it. I can still hear Prim's screams in my head, even though the doors have closed, keeping us apart from the world. I shake the sounds of my sister's cries out of my head and decide to pay attention to Miss Trinket.
"Alright, now...you will each be escorted back to your homes by 3 peacekeepers. There you will pack your belongings into bags like these" She holds up a brown duffel bag "You will have an hour for your good byes to your families and to pack. Then you will be brought to the train station where you will taken to the training academy where you will for sure spend the next 4 years of your life in!" She gets so exasperated at the end, it's almost funny. We are then ushered off into separate rooms. My room is magnificent! The walls are covered in expensive wallpaper, which are then covered by heavy drapes. The floor is a beautiful dark wood with many carpets and rugs covering it. There are paintings on the walls and sculptures and vases on podiums. In the center of the room are two big, fancy couches with a small coffee table in between. I only get a quick glance at the room before I am once again ushered off through a door on the opposite end.
I get shoved into into a car. A car! I've never been in a car, but I've read about them. And seen people in 12 driving them. It seems kind of preposterous to own a vehicle in 12. It's so small, everything is in walking distance. If I run, I could make it from one end of our district to the other in less than an hour. But who would want to do that? You wouldn't see anything new. It's not like anything changes here, it's always the same. It's so small, it seems like there's nothing even here. That's why the woods are good. They go on forever and everything changes. Not one day is everything the same as it was the day before. Father says his favorite thing to do in the world is be in the woods, it's always so peaceful. Quiet, away from all harm. Sometimes it seems as though the Hunger Games don't even exist, and I'm in my own little world out there. I could say anything I want, do anything! But not anymore, never again. My life is now in control by the Captiol.
So...whatya think? This idea popped into my mind, and I had to write it down. The next chapter will be up in...2, 3 days?
If you give me ideas, it could be up in record time. Next chapter might include: Finnick, Annie, Cato, Clove, Enobaria, Brutus, Glimmer, Gloss, Marvel, Cashmere, Rue, Thesh, Johanna, Foxface or Haymitch! When they all meet, how will react to their new *buddies*? Tell me who you want to see up soon, and other people from the books who I didn't mention here. PLEASE REVIEW