I knew this day would come.

I dress myself reluctantly in the grey-blue pinafore dress that lay on my bed in front of me. It was itchy and uncomfortable, made of harsh thread and cloth. I looked in the mirror, my tired, expressionless face reflected back at me. I plaited my long blonde-brown curly hair behind my back, and pulled my fringe down at the front on my forehead.

My mother came up to my bedroom, and looked at me and gave a sigh. She tied the tie on my dress around my back, and put the strays from my plait back in place. She shook her head and made a sound of exasperation as she clipped back my fringe. I scowled as she walked towards the door, smiling at me ruefully. As she walked out, I turned back to the mirror; I pulled my clip out and threw it back out of my hair. I looked at myself. I had been counting down to this day for 365 days. I never thought it would come so quickly. It was the day of the reaping.

I looked around my room, as this may be the last time I ever see it again. I closed the door on it, shutting away so many memories. I walked downstairs, looking at my mother and my brother as I came into the kitchen. My mother was sewing some cloth on the kitchen table, and my brother was watching the television. My brother has learning and speaking disorder, and he has no idea what today is. It kills me inside not to be able to tell him, not being able to explain that this is the last time that I will possibly see him.

I look at my mother. I can see it in her eyes and the expressions in her face that it pains her too to watch me go. She gets up from the table and comes over to me, putting her hands on my shoulders. We don't have to say anything to each other because we both know what will happen and what we both want to say.

"Mum.." I manage to say, my voice croaky. "..Mum, I'm scared."

She takes my face in her hands. "I know, darling. I know.." She strokes my left cheek with her thumb and looks at me solemnly with her tired blue eyes. Tears form in my eyes, and I pushed them back, because I know one of us has to be strong, even though I feel like breaking down and crying my eyes out. I hug her, and she pulls me close.

I break away from her, reluctant to let go. I can't even bring myself to say goodbye to my brother, it would break my heart. I look at him as I leave the house, and he looks at me with confusion in his eyes.

"Bye, Seb.' I say, my voice breaking on the sound of his name.
"Bye-bye, Ri!" He says, getting up. He runs over to me, and locks me in a tight bear hug. "See you later!" He tells me. It takes all my strength to keep myself from crying and telling him that I probably won't see him ever again.
"Yeah, see you tomorrow, Seb." I lie, for his own safety.
He releases his tight grip and smiles at me. I open the door, and as I look behind me, I see my mother's tear-streaked face and my brother's smiling face.

I leave the house, walking steadily to the village square of District 11, an agricultural village. That was where the reaping in our District was held. I followed the other children to the square in a silent line, keeping my head down to escape looks from the other children.

There was a queue outside the square where numerous Peacekeepers were taking blood samples from us all. I didn't like the idea of this, but I had no choice when the woman stuck some sort of device into the top of my finger, and cut the top, pressing my finger down on the paper in front of me, leaving a blood-print of my finger on the paper under my name in a box. I gave her a look of disgust as I walked past her and into the square.

I was sorted into the right side of the square with all the females. I looked at them all around me with tense and worried faces. Their names had only been put in a couple of times into the bowl. My name, however, had been put in 52 times. My family didn't have much money, and so I had to sign up for Tesserae. Signing up for Tesserae meant that my name was put in more than once into the reaping. Being 16, I was able to sign up for monthly provisions, and have been ever since the age of 12 to feed my family and keep them alive. I had scraped past the reaping every year, but since my mother had lost her job working at the bakery earlier this year, food was scarce in the house, and I was the only one who could look after them and provide them with food. My mother had found a job in the orchards, only a small job, with not a lot of pay. In my 16th year, I had to get Tesserae five months this year to keep us going. My mother tried to stop me from getting Tesserae, keeping me from going into the Games, but I had a job to keep them safe and healthy as I could, and there wasn't any other way.

I felt the atmosphere in the square change as the pink alien life-form known as Effie Trinket strutted onto the stage. I looked her up and down; with her pink candyfloss hair and matching glitter-lined suit making her look like an overdressed poodle.

"Welcome, welcome, to another Hunger Games!" She said, beaming around, expecting applause, but getting only silence and expressionless faces staring up at her. With a look of shock and disappointment, she carried on. "As you know, two tributes will be entered into the Games. Let's see who will be the two lucky tributes! Ladies first!" Effie walked over to the big glass bowl labelled 'Girls' to her right. The group of girls got tense as she waved her hand around in the bowl. She looked out into the crowd with a grin.

Please, please, don't pick me, I thought.

Her hand snatched up a small white envelope. All the females around me took a breath in. She came back to the middle of the stage where she was previously standing. Effie smiled a cheesy grin at us all and unfolded the envelope.

My eyes were shut tight; my hands were scrunched up in fists, hoping somehow that somebody else would be chosen instead of me. My moth had gone dry. My palms were sweating. I couldn't go. I couldn't leave my family behind with no food. I couldn't leave my mother. I couldn't leave my brother. I had to be with them. I had to be with my brother, I had to be with him, he wouldn't understand if I left and never came back. I said I would. I promised him. I loved him. I-

"-Arianna Kingsley!"