Ever since I knew what when on in them, I've always tried to ignore the Hunger Games. And ever since I started trying, I never quite manage to. I remember when I was about ten years old I asked my mother why we take innocent kids, lock them in an arena and tell them to kill each other. She replied by saying that those kids weren't innocent and they got exactly what they deserved.
My mother isn't very empathetic.
Anyway, this year was different. It was worse, if that was possible. I'm seventeen this year, and I have a sister and a brother. Aalia, my sister, is twelve and Julius, my brother, is nine. Anyway, I was watching TV and my mum came in and changed the channel. I saw an image of a great golden horn with twenty four children on metal circles around it. The Hunger Games. I started to feel sick to my stomach, but I knew I would be punished if I left. My mum makes us all watch the Hunger Games. Anyway, the gong went off, and Claudius Templesmith started commentating. Within minutes the scene of the Cornucopia was drenched in blood. The worst part, however, was the commentary. It made it sound like the tributes were playing cricket instead of being slaughtered in the arena. I made some excuse to go, and I lay awake that night trying to forget these horrors.
About a week later my mum called us all into the TV room to watch the Games. I steeled myself, but I wasn't prepared for what I saw next. A girl was trapped in a net, with a boy with a spear standing over her. It took me a few seconds to realise that the girl wasn't Aalia. She had the same dark hair, and was as small as her. And then the commentary came up, "Rue Kollia has found herself in a sticky situation! Yaro Sisin, from district 1, has made his first capture! So what are we waiting for, Yaro?" The boy, however, doesn't throw his spear until Katniss Everdeen, from 12, comes crashing through the brush. Rue reaches out through the net to Katniss, but then the spear plunges into her stomach and she is silenced.
Without even bothering to excuse myself I got up and practically ran from the room. The Hunger Games had never haunted me like this before. I knew then that they were wrong. I knew that all those children in the arena were just like us, but I guess I didn't completely realise that until I saw a girl– a young girl who could have been my sister–murdered. Yes, murdered.
I got grounded for a week for not watching the Games, but I couldn't care less. All I could think about was Rue, little Rue, who died because of something her ancestors did seventy four years ago, and all of the other children in that arena. Twenty three of them were going to die for our entertainment. Their life has barely started, and soon it was going to be over.