I woke up to the light shining through my window. I guess I forgot to close the curtains last night. "Oh well lets just get this day over with," I say to myself. The smell of bread is all over the house today. Father must have woken up very early to start making all the bread. Everyone is going to want to celebrate that their child hasn't been chosen for the reaping. The day that all of Paneam will remember that the tweleve districts would be nothing without the capital.
Years ago, the world started to go bad. The oceans where drying up, it rarely rained, and it was getting hotter and hotter. Finaly the people in the world got together to work through this problem and became Paneam, thirteen districts surrounding the capital. Everything was going great, until the districts rebeled against the capital. There was a huge war, and needless to say, the rebels lost. There are now only twelve districts left, the thirteenth was decimated in the war. That district was set as an example for a reminder of what would happen if anyone should try to rebel again. That wasn't the only thing that had come from the war. As a perminent reminder of what happens to rebels, the capital made up the Hunger Games.
The Hunger Games are pretty simple. Take two kids, a boy and a girl, from each district, throw them in an areana and make them kill eachother. The last one standing gets a life of ease and never has to go hungry ever again or worry about money. Today is the day that they draw the names for the two unlucky kids that will be thrown into the areana. The last time district tweleve had a winner was about 50 years ago and the guy that won is a complete drunk.
His name is Haymich. Everyone sees him at the local bar, throwing money at the waitress and waiting to down another cup of the clear liquid that will take him away from this place, well as far away as he can get anyway.
I sit up and look out my window. It wouldn't be a bad vew if it wasn't for the electric fence that wraps all the way around district twelve. I can see the mountains and all the trees. Sometimes I imagine that I am out in the woods, away from the hell of my district. But the truth is that I am terrified of the woods. There are supposed to be some pretty dangerous animals out there. I've seen th people who are brave enough to got out and hunt come back with wild dogs, deer, and wild cats. But hunting is a federal offense, the people who do it are supposed to be publicly exicuted if they are caught. Lucky for them the peace keepers turn a blind eye to it, because they are just as hungry as the rest of us. Anywhere else and those hunters would die.
We aren't allowed to leave our district unless its to take coal to the trainstation. There is a fence that wraps all the way around district twelve. Its supposed to be electrified twenty-four hours a day, but most of the time it isn't. We're lucky if we get an hour of electricity around here. Most of the light that is used at night is just candle or fire.
I go to the bathroom and take a shower. I have to look my best for the reaping. Its supposed to be an honor to be chosen to represent the district, so we have to dress up. I'm a bit worried that my name will be drawn this year, my name is going in five times this year. Every child in the capital has their name submitted for the reaping the day the turn tweleve. Each year they add another slip. So when I was twelve my name was entered once, thrirteen twice, and so on.
As I'm brushing my hair I hear my mother scream up the stairs for me to hurry up because everyone is about to leave to go into the town square. I quickly take a look at myself in the mirror and decide that I'm presentable before I run down the stairs to meet my family in the hall. My brother is standing there, look his best also. He's a year younger than I am, but I doubt that his name will be drawn. Kyle has all the luck in the family. He'll probably take over the shop when my parents are gone.
We walk out of the house and down the street. I glance over my shoulder once just to take a look at my home, just in case my name is drawn and I'll never see home again.
I'm hearded into the group of sixteen year olds in the center of the square to wait while the mayor and Effie Trinket rattle on about how much of an honor it is for the two chosen children to compete and the Mayor rattles on about the treaty and how the Hunger Games came to be. Its really all a waist of time. I'm pretty sure that he wouldn't do it if it wasn't required and if the capital wasn't filming everything that is going on. The only really interesting part is when Haymich finally makes his appearance. When everyone applauds for him, he looks confused and huges Effie. It actually looks like he's trying to molest her on the stage. He must be drunk still, what a shock. In an effort to get everyone back on track Effie says that she will now withdrawl the Girl tributes name.
It does the trick. Everyone goes silent as Effie walks over to take a sheet from the bucket. She digs deep and finally pulls out a slip. All I can think is that I hope it isn't her. The girl I've silently watched for years, the I've secretly loved since we where kids. I look around for just a glimps of her, but then I hear the name called out and I turn my head sharply back at Effie, its not the girl that I love, its her sister, Primrose Everdeen. I know what's going to happen next.
I hear her call out to Prim. Everyone moves out of her way to let her pass. I watch her head move throught the crowd, see her brown hair braided back. Its not in the usual style she wears it in, but she still looks beautiful. She pushes Prim behind her and screams out despritaly, "I volunteer. I volunteer as tribute." Her sister screams at her and asks her not to do it, but its too late. I watch Gale, a boy from my school, pull Prim off of her sister. There's a bit of confusion on the stage about how a volunteer should come forward, but the mayor only says, " What does it matter," and pull her on stage and asks her what her name is.
"Is Katniss. Katniss Everdeen," she says. Her voice is strong, even though I can tell she wants to cry. She's not the only only one. My insides are churning as I think of watching Katniss kill or be killed in the games. She look beautiful wearing a blue dress with her head held high. Katniss is a small girl, but I know she can handle herself. She is one of the brave people who actually go out into the woods to hunt. I know that Gale, the boy her took her sister away from the stage, is her hunting partner. I still don't know if they are a thing. They look like they could be related, but I'm not sure.
I'm too busy staring at Katniss to notice what's going on on the stage. All I know is that I hear a man talking and then I suddenly see Haymitch take a head dive into the crowd. Now district twelve is the laughing stock of the country, as if we need any help in that department. Part of me feels bad for Haymitch, but the other half of my can't help but turn its nose up at the man.
Effie is walking back to the buckets to pull out the boy's name. I'm hoping and praying that its not me, its not me, its not me, but its no good.
"Peeta Mellark," its me. Shit, its me. I stiffly walk through the crowd to the stage to take my place next to Katniss. I'm going to have to fight to live in an areana with a girl that I'm in love with and she doesn't know it. Not only that, but if I want to make it home I'm going to have to hope someone else kills her, or I'm going to have to kill her myself.
I turn to look at her and see she has put on her strong face. If I didn't know better I would think that she was bored, but I can actually see that she is holding back her pain. Its hard to see it, but its there, hidden behind her eyes. We're forced to shake hands and face the crowd.
Well this is going to be a first for the Hunger Games. They've never had a tribute in love with another tribute. The capital is going to eat this up. Suddenly, I have an idea on how I can save my life and Katniss's life.
Let the 72nd hunger games begin.