Reap

-To cut or gather (a crop or harvest)

Mom shouts my name.

A canon shot to wake District 2.

My last reaping has finally arrived. The canon still echoes ominously through the valleys and mountains of my district, designed to wake its citizens so that no one is late for the only holiday of the year. The Reapings.

Now eighteen years old, I am the strongest and fastest person eligible for the Hunger Games. No one would dare volunteer before me today.

"Cato! Get up!" Mom cries again. I groan and pull myself out of bed, showering and dressing in a crisp black shirt and grey jeans. I have a quick breakfast and then help my little brother dress.

"I'm going to make us rich!" I say to him as I button up his shirt. He giggles and smothers the remains of his banana onto his face, missing his mouth completely. I sigh and take it away from him, wiping his face with a warm flannel.

You could say little Thyme was my pride and joy. Five years old and pro with a bow and arrow. But he only ever got arrows with sucker pads on the top, never arrow heads.

Then Mom is down in the kitchen, taking Thyme out of my arms and placing him on the floor so she can hug me. "Cato, are you sure about volunteering?" she asked.

"Of course." I said confidently.

"Twenty four go in, one comes out. Do you honestly like those odds?" she said wisely.

"Yes, I am the one that comes out. No question about it! How could anyone beat me, Mom?" I told her.

She sighs. "You're not invincible, Cato, no one is." she said.

I push off her worries as nothing more than concerns for her son and we set out for the Reaping together.

In the square, I greet my girlfriend, Ely. She is beautiful, slim, slender, slick chestnut hair, piercing green eyes. She embraces me. "May the odds be ever in your favour!" she says in my ear with a giggle. I kiss her gently and sign in.

The square is crowded and full, but everyone in my age group moves out of my way so that I'm right next to the stage.

"Welcome, District Two! It's a very exciting day, is it not?" calls Jeramee Cannit, Two's escort. Everything about him screams the Capitol, from his shiny golden suit to his afro of pink curls. He looked so stupid!

The mayor reads his annual speech about the dark days. The propaganda video plays. Then the exciting part arrives.

"May the odds be ever in your favour, District Two!" Jeramee calls and then crosses to the glass bowl full of girl's names. "Ladies first!" he says. He puts his hand into the bowl and fishes around for a moment, his movements swift and snake like. Then he snatches a piece of paper quickly, like a snake striking its prey and crosses back to his microphone. he pulls the tape off, opens the paper and proclaims it's content to the square.

"Lydia Sayars!" he cries. There is a stirring in the fifteen year old girls as Lydia makes her way to the stage.

"I volunteer!" shouts another girl. She emerges from the seventeen year olds and stalks towards the stage, everything about her crying arrogance and authority.

"A volunteer!" Jeramee squeaks excitedly as she reaches him. "What's your name, darling?"

"Clove Farwell." she said.

Of course Clove Farwell would be the volunteer. I'd seen her in the Tribute Training Centre, better with knives than all of her elders put together. She was brilliant. If another girl had volunteered before her they'd have had a knife in their back before they got to the stage.

"And now, for the boys..." says Jeramee. He pulls a name out of the Boy's bowl and crosses back to his microphone. Tape off. Paper open. Words on the tip of his tongue. "Jaymes Copperwood!" he shouts.

"I volunteer!" I cry. My group forms a path for me and I race down it. I'm on the stage in an instant, next to Clove and Jeramee.

"My, two volunteers!" he says. "And your name is, son?" he asks.

"Cato Bresten." I tell him.

"District Two, give Cato and Clove a hand!" he calls.

My district breaks into applause, shouting and whooping, everyone confident we will have another victor by the time the month is out.

We wave to them and then we are escorted into the Justice Building, separated and guided to private rooms. My mom and Thyme are in first. They hug me and kiss me.

Mom looks like she is holding back tears. Thyme doesn't really understand.

"Win for me, okay, Cato?" Mom says, sounding choked.

"Of course, Mom. I promise." I say and kiss her on the forehead.

"Are you going away?" Thyme asks.

"Yeah, little bro." I say, scooping him up and holding him high in the air, making him squeal in delight. "But you'll see me on TV, promise!" I tell him. He giggles and I set him down.

"I am not letting him watch the Hunger Games this year." Mom tells me.

My brow furrows in confusion. "Why not?" I ask.

"Do you honestly think I'll let him watch his brother murdering people, Cato? Think again. He'll start thinking it's okay to kill because you're setting him an example." she tells me.

I nod. "Fair enough." I say with a sigh.

"I love you." she says, a single tear running down her face.

"I love you too, Mom." I tell her and give her one more hug.

Then the Peacekeepers are in.

"Goodbye, Cato." my Mom says, tears now spilling from her eyes.

My throat is beginning to choke and tears are threatening to fall.

"Goodbye, Mom. See you soon." I say quietly. She nods and is escorted away.

"Bye bye, Cato!" calls Thyme.

I grin for his sake. "Bye bye, Thyme. See you soon!" I call after him. Then he's gone. I take the opportunity to wipe the tears from my eyes.

Then Ely is in. She bounds in and stops in front of me, pulling me into a passionate kiss.

I kiss her back, stroking her hair and savouring her warmth. I pull back gently and keep my forehead pressed to hers.

"In few weeks I'll be a victor's girlfriend!" she says with excitement. "We can have our own house in the Victor's Village!"

Er... okay. "Yeah... as long as you don't mind a little kid running around the house!" I say.

"Oh, you want kids! So do I! But we'll have to get married first, we don't want to be the talk of the District!" she gabs.

"What? I was talking about Thyme!" I tell her.

Ely takes a step back. "Wait, Thyme and your mom are moving in with us?" she asks in disbelief.

"Yeah!" I say with a snort.

She moans. "Why can't we just be on our own?"

"A... they're my family. B... I'm not even sure about living with you. We've been together for a few weeks!" I tell her.

She scoffs. "And the weeks have been magnificent. We're in love! Anyway, you shouldn't be such a baby. A big bad victor doesn't need his family."

I glare at her. "I'm eighteen! I think my family are allowed to stick around for a little longer. And Thyme is only five!"

Then the Peacekeepers are in, taking Ely away. "Them or me, Cato!" are her last words.

I shake my head in disbelief. Did she honestly just ask me to choose her over my family? Jeesh.

That's the end of my visits, because then I'm taken to the train and reunited with Clove. We sit on a sofa, waiting for the replay of the Reapings and our mentors.

"Do you know them?" she asks. Clove doesn't look at me, instead she becomes fascinated with the button on the cuff of her cream shirt, buttoning and popping it over and over again.

"Sorry?" I say dumbly. I hadn't been paying much attention and her question was obscure to say the least.

She smiles a little and snorts. "Do you know the mentors, bozo?" she repeats.

"Oh, right. I've seen Brutus around and Enobaria trains me a lot in the Tribute Training Centre." I say honestly, ignoring her mocking.

She nods. "So the odds are already in your favour." she says.

"What do you mean?" I ask. Again, obscure. Clove seemed to enjoy belittling her audience.

She shakes her head, mocking my stupidity. "One of the mentors already favours you over me, speedy Gonzales." she tells me.

I roll my eyes at her name calling. "Well, Brutus is ace with knives, as I recall you being. I think he'll favour you over me." I tell her.

"How do you know I'm good with knives?" she asks, looking at me for the first time. She seems intrigued, if a little uncomfortable.

I sigh. "You're the talk of the caf." I tell her, referring to the cafeteria of the training centre. "The girls are always jealous of you. The guys are always fighting over you..." I trail off. Conversations over girls like Clove were common amongst us, but I tended to stay out of them. Gossip spread like wildfire in the training centre, and people mocking you for liking a girl you haven't asked on a date makes you look weak.

She smiles nervously. "Do you?" she asks cautiously.

I smile at my shoes. "No comment." I say.

She giggles. "I should back off, don't want your girlfriend to be jealous." she says airily.

"I couldn't care less about Ely right now." I admit. "She asked me to choose her over my family."

"Ouch. Girl's got nerve. You're famous for your skills with a spear, Cato, but the only thing that's more admirable and famous about you is that you're such a family man." she tells me.

"Really?" I ask. That's one piece of gossip that's never reached my ears. I'd been told a lot that I was great with weapons of any kind, but not once had I been told I was a family man. It was true, I loved my family and I spent a lot of time with them, I just didn't know it had been acknowledged by my peers, and in a positive way too. I was sure it would be viewed as babyish, not admirable.

She nods. "Everyone loves that about you."

"Do you?" I ask her.

It's her turn to smile at her shoes. "No comment." she chirps.

I laugh.

"We're not interrupting, are we?" says Enobaria from behind up.

I cringe. How much did they hear?

Enobaria and Brutus sit down on the sofa next to us just as the Capitol seal lights up the TV screen and the anthem begins.