The reapings:
District 2: Silver
I feel something unfamiliar in my stomach, nerves perhaps, as I queue with the other children of my District. I pick my way over rubble as I move along the column of people. The line could easily snake its way through the undamaged District centre instead of through the destroyed back streets, plenty of the richer merchants didn't rebel at all and much of District 2 even joined the peacekeeping force that attacked and destroyed District 13, my brother Mettle was one of them; he's posted out somewhere far away now, won't be returning.
"Finger here please." When I finally reach the front, a lady with a clipped Capitol accent is seated at a makeshift desk and indicates that I should place my forefinger on a small scanner pad; it stings as it draws a blood sample and she enters my name and age into a computer system. For a moment fear grips me, should I have lied? Maybe I should have given a false address and run away, after all, the administrator doesn't know me.
I am ushered to the square in front of the Justice building, I look up and see the gently swaying bodies of the rebels, and their families, the foolish people who thought the Capitol could be overthrown and joined forces with District 13 in an evil alliance. If it wasn't for the outer Districts stirring up hatred amongst us, a loyal District who had always worked well with the Capitol, those awful months of fear would never have occurred and my family would still be whole.
Several workers from the Capitol organise us into groups based on age, they aren't unkind and I catch the eye of Roley, a school friend, who waves me over to stand with her
"What's going on do you think?" She asks
I shrug "Maybe a speech or another execution?"
We wait for the rest of the District to file into their areas and wonder what plans could require only the children.
District 5: Teller
The square was crawling with Capitol workers, clearing debris and trying to hang some propaganda banners from the crumbling façade of the Justice building. I want to laugh when one of them trips and rips the corner of President Snow's face but I don't dare show my amusement, the peacekeepers are cruel and not above jabbing you in the ribs with a baton if you look like you might move from the cordoned off area.
I catch my reflection in one of the few undamaged shop windows which line the square and try to wipe some of the dirt away from my cheeks, even though I am only 14 I am still required to spend each morning helping to rebuild the District, especially the new solar power plant which now looms over the square and casts shadows on us all.
A particularly flamboyant looking attendant preens herself on the newly erected stage and begins to complain about the poor lighting to District Five's downtrodden mayor but there's no more time, another Capitol employee indicates that, whatever is about to happen, needs to begin and the preening woman takes the podium as the cameras are switched on.
"Good morning District Five" Her speech must be well rehearsed as she shows no sign of nerves "My name is Loosha Laine and I am here as a representative of the Capitol. First we have a message from President Snow."
I turn my attention to the large television screen which was erected to show the execution of all the Panem rebels across every District, it now displays a live feed of President Snow who seems to be sat in a rose garden in his Capitol home.
"War…terrible war. For ten long months our community was broken and wrecked by the District 13 traitors who tried to tear our great nation apart." The video cut to images of the violence of the rebellion. "These quislings abandoned you when they realised what devastation can occur outside of the Capitol's protection…but we will not abandon you."
Now the television shows men in Capitol uniforms helping to rebuild houses and factories, funny that I don't remember any of them labouring to rebuild District Five.
Present Snow continues his speech "We welcome you all back into our care in the way that a parent would never abandon an errant child. However, just as a parent must teach the child, you must all learn a lesson and a price for rebellion must be paid."
My head jerks up to find my mother's frightened eyes in the surrounding crowd of adults; I take in the roped off areas of children and the many peacekeepers with their deadly guns. Will they execute us all? Surely not, they need us to staff the power plant don't they?
Present Snow must have realised that there would be murmurs in the crowd as he raises his voice when he next speaks "In an annual penance for your uprising, each District will offer up in tribute one male and one female between the ages of 12 and 18 to take part in a competition of skill and strength known as The Hunger Games. The tributes will compete until only one remains, a winner who will be showered with the wealth and generosity of the Capitol and will return to a life of contentment and ease as the pride of their District. The tributes will now be chosen, the first of what is sure to be a grand tradition."
District 10: Lash
Before the film had even ended, parents began trying to reach their children in the crowd, the peacekeepers were prepared for this and I hear shots fired as the shocked or sobbing adults are forced behind barriers.
Two large glass bowls are wheeled out onto the stage; inside are thousands of slips of paper and Venus Boon, the blonde Capitol attendant, begins to read out some tribute rules. I miss most of what's being said but I catch the ruling that older tributes have more entries than younger ones; this is a sobering thought considering that my 18th birthday was only a week ago.
Venus walks carefully in her high heels and she twirls her fingers awkwardly around in the bowl of names for the female tribute "Our female tribute will be…Lash Milker!"
A cry from the watching crowd sounds as though it comes from my mother while the girls stood around me move away and stare at me with a mixture of pity and fear in their eyes.
"Come up to the stage Lash!" Venus calls and holds her hand out to help me up the rickety stage steps. I look out on the crowd and wonder what the Capitol could possibly have in store for me in this new competition.