I wake up, the bright yellow sun shining brightly though the red velvet curtains, causing my eyes to squint in a totally unattractive fashion. My stomach is turning; possibly from excitement, or the fact that I am starving. I haven't eaten in 12 hours, gosh! Sitting up, I grab the tray of breakfast from my bedside table, savoring every mouthful. I take a quick look at everything around me: my weapons, my pictures, even my dirty clothes on the floor. This may be the last time I will ever set foot in this room again.
"Cato!" My mother calls me from downstairs. Throwing on my silk robe, I trudge down the stairs until I get to the breakfast room, where my mother and father are sitting. "You know the plan, don't you son." My father tells me. 'Of course I do. We have been through it millions of times', I think to myself. I can't afford to get grouchy with them, not today.
Okay, the plan: To volunteer at the reaping later on today. The reaping is the process where one young man and woman between the ages of 12 and 18 get picked to participate in the annual Hunger Games. The Hunger Games are the result of the rebellion which the thirteen outlying districts of Panem made to the government, The Capitol. However, because the Capitol had so much power, they managed to leave most of the districts even poorer than before. They even obliterated District 13 completely, or so the Capitol says; many people have other reasons behind it.
The whole point of me volunteering at the Reaping is to make my district, 2, proud. In the Hunger Games arena, most of the tributes from districts 1,2 and 4 are called Careers. We get trained in special schools until we are 18 to prepare ourselves if we do get reaped. We have an unfair advantage against the other 9 districts, but if it is me winning, I honestly couldn't care less. As each district specializes in something, District 2 is masonry, which we get a lot of money for. Better than stupid district 12, the poorest district, which specializes in coal.
I dress up as fancy as I can and comb back my short blonde hair until we leave for the reaping. We then have to have some blood taken for identification and then get herded up like cows into areas by age. I'm not nervous, I have been training for this my entire life, I am ready. I just have to make sure that whoever is reaped I have to shout 'I volunteer as tribute' as fast as I can. Me and my father have done it so many times, it's like a reflex to me now. Only some people may be faster.
The microphone booms loudly on the stage, and the completely over-dramatic Effie Trinket steps on the stage. Her outrageous clothing, her sickly pink wig, and her hilarious accent all contribute to the fact that she must be from the Capitol. I just don't see where they get their fashion sense from. Honestly.
"Welcome, welcome, to the 74th annual Hunger Games!" She says ridiculously. The boring Treaty of Treason plays, which is a video showing how the Hunger Games first came about. It's nothing I haven't heard a million times before. But when she puts her had in that male reaping ball I cough, getting ready to shout as loud as I can. 'I have to do this. I can win this.' I say to myself.
All noise has gone silent, but I can tell that Effie is still speaking but I cannot hear. I can just see her mouth moving.
When I see her mouth stop moving, I bellow as loud as I possibly can, "I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE!"
But was I too late?