Chapter One: The Luck of The Draw

There is a buzz of excitement in the air. Not fun spirited, good excitement, but the nervous, heart wrenching, stomach twisting, all together unpleasant type. The type of excitement that always comes with the reaping.

Of course, Barney Holup, the escort for this years District 5 tributes, could not have been more thrilled. Coming from the capitol, he would never have to experience the horrors of the Hunger Games, or even the nervousness of the reaping. And neither would his children, and their children, and so on. Once in a while, an escort might become attached to their tributes, might even like them, but that is as close as they will ever come to knowing the true spirit of the games.

Today, I am in the crowd with all the other children. I can see my brothers, Renny and Caper, standing in front of me, because they are both a few years younger than me.. We reflect each other closely in appearance- red hair, thin eyes, small frames.

"Annie," Caper had whispered to me before we. "Am I gonna have to go to the Capitol?"

I knew what he meant- "Am I going to be a tribute?"

I shook my head sadly. "Don't worry, you only have one slip in." He is only twelve, it is his first reaping. This will be my third. I turned fifteen in February, and entered twelve little peaces of paper with my name on them to the reaping. Three because I had to, and three for tessarae. Renny, who is thirteen, wanted to help me out with it, so I let him take two tessera. That way, we had five all together, three for us three children, and one for each of our parents.

I can see the back of their heads now. They stand out from the crowd, mostly because of their bright, flame colored hair, but also because my eyes are trained on them. I want to protect them, but this is a matter that I have absolutely no influence in.

Barney has been going on and on about what an honor it is to be here with us in District 5 for the last ten minutes, at the very least. Is he doing this to soften us up? Or to torture us with the agonizing wait? The second option seems more realistic- especially since that is what it is doing. Finally, he gets down to business.

"Now, lets find out who this years girl tribute will be!" He reaches into the reaping ball, making a big deal of shuffling the papers up in there, before his hand finally clasps one.

This year, I am not worried. The first year, any one is wracked with nerves- and it's only reasonable, I suppose, since you no longer have a safe guard, a free pass. The second year, nerves are still running high. For me, I was worried because I had more entries than the previous year. But by now, I don't care. I have, what, twelve entries in five hundred? My chances of being reaped are slim, by any standard.

"Without any further ado…" He reads the little paper. "Annie Hollard? Do we have Annie here?"

I find myself moving toward him, through the audience, in a sort of trance like state. I know that this is bad, I should be in tears right now, an absolute wreck, but all I can do is keep walking. Finally, as I reach the edge of the crowd, my emotions catch up with me. I am frantic, my eyes darting around wildly, my heart in my throat.

Don't cry, don't cry, Annie, A voice inside my head tells me. It sounds like me, but I'm not quite sure if this is subconscious reasoning, or I am going insane. For lack of a better idea, I listen to the voice.

I shake hands with Barney, and then my mentor. His name is Lorry, and he has a reassuring smile. I relax when I look at him- he is not another Capitol freak, he went through the same thing that I am about to. He understands.

Barney is already moving on to the male tribute.

He is reading the name when I start to listen.

"Noah Flynn." The name wrings out clear and loud.
Good, I don't know him. That will make him easier to kill. I cut off the thought quickly- am I already thinking such horrible things? These games can do such things to you.

I shake hands with Noah, and Barney congratulates us both. Then, after some more talking, speeches, and the playing of the national anthem, we are led to the Justice Building.

Inside the justice building, I get my first good look at Noah. His hair is brown, as are his eyes. He is medium height and build, has light skin, and is, altogether, very average looking. I notice him giving me a once over as well. We don't talk- what would be the point? One of us will have to die, anyway, if not both.

We are quickly separated, each brought to our own room. Mine is nice- much nicer than anything that most people have. This makes me angrier than I already was. I feel like kicking something.

I sit on a couch, putting my legs up, and sprawling out my arms. The couch is soft, and, in any other situation, I would have loved to curl up on it and fall asleep. But my nerves are too much- what I really need is some fresh air, or some way to take my mind off of things. This luxurious room is just another reminder to me.

I am just starting to wonder when- and if- any visitors will come, when my mom crashes through the door. She throws her arms around me, and sobs.

"It's okay," I soothe her. I let her cry on my shoulder, and can't help feeling confused. Shouldn't this be the other way around?

I look up to see my dad and brothers, who have entered the room quietly. They all look uncomfortable at the scene.

Finally, I decide it's time to intervene.

"Mom, stop it. Everything is okay, you have to be strong." She sniffles, and wipes her tears away.

"How can you say that, you're going into the arena, and…" She breaks into another round of hysteria.

"Don't worry. I'm going to win, I'm going to come home, I'm going to survive, and when I come home, I'll be pretty mad if I find you in this state!"

She nods, looking unconvinced. "Okay, Annie. I'll be strong for you."

Then mom gives me a hug, and backs up so that dad and the boys can say their goodbyes.

Dad, a man of few words, doesn't say much, but he gives me a hug, and as he joins my mom, giving her arm a comforting squeeze, I think I see a tear glistening on his cheek. That brings a wave of nausea on- my dad is one of the strongest people I know. I have never seen him cry. Not before these games anyway. The Capitol is trying to keep us in line, but the only thing they are really doing is tearing families apart. Oh, and killing innocent children. Children who weren't even alive during the dark days. Why should we be punished like that? Weren't the districts already punished enough, especially after District 13? Not enough for the Capitol, evidently.

Renny and Caper come to sit with me then, and mom and dad leave. We talk about trivial things, like school, to take all our minds off of the games. Finally, as they are getting up to go, Caper leans over, hugs me, and says into my ear, "Don't die, okay An?"

I laugh at this, and suddenly, we are all laughing, laughing so hard that it almost hurts.

Suddenly, I am somber. "Guys, no matter what you see on the TV, these are the times I want you to remember. The times we were having fun together." Caper nods, and Renny gives me a half smile.

"Bye, Annie," Caper said, and the two of them left the room, with out looking back. That made me feel better. If they could be strong, then so could I.

After all, the fact that I was here was not my fault. Just the luck of the draw.

So? Like it, hate it? I know that I named fox face annie, and there is the annie from district four in the second book, but I think the name suits her, so I am keeping it anyway. Well, my school starts tomorrow, so I might take a bit getting the second chapter up, but expect it in like, the next week and a half.