Everything inside of me froze. My blood turned to ice and my lungs filled with water. My brain became detached from the rest of me. It felt like I was watching a movie about someone else. I was a dead girl walking. The world around me moved in slow motion. Everything moved through molasses. Then everything picked up in over time. It was like my mind was trying to catch up with the rest of the world.

"Kendra Angler," Phox repeated on the stage. The girl next to me pushed me forward. I stumbled before catching myself. The Peacekeepers formed a wall around me and started marching me toward the stage. I kept my head held high as I took the stage next to Phox. He looked at me like he was disappointed.

"Is there anyone out there willing to volunteer in the place of this little thing?" I glared at him before looking out towards the crowd. I looked to the eighteen year olds at the very back, the one's who have more experience than me, but they were all shaking their heads. Every single girl over the age of sixteen was shaking her head. That was the signature on my death certificate.

I was a tribute.

I bit my lip to keep from crying. The adults standing around the edges of the square are muttering and shaking their heads. One man was smiling and holding his slip of paper in the air, he had won money on my death sentence. Phox sighed next to me.

"Disappointing," he muttered. Then louder he said. "A round of applause for this years District Four female tribute, Kendra Angler." There is some scattered applause and Phox turned to the boy's bowl.

"Neptune Grey." An eighteen year old boy steps forward. He was pale, which probably meant he had never worked the docks a day in his life, with dark hair. Phox barely had time to ask before someone volunteered.

The volunteer was a handsome, sixteen year old, who I had never seen before. He looked almost identical to Neptune except for a deep tan and light blue eyes. He looked at me sadly as he took his place on stage.

"What's your name?" The boy ran a hand through his hair.

"Asher Hocking." Phox smiled as if to say:

This is a proper tribute! This is our next victor!

There was a loud applause. It was deafening. Then the mayor read the Treaty of Treason.

Across the plaza I locked eyes with Nico. He looked at me with pity.

I'm gonna miss you. The sentence seemed to hang between us. It was like a viel, obscuring my view.

I was reminded of the only other time my brother and I almost split. We were six at the time. The two of us were swimming together in the shallow water near the dock our father works on. The two of us had been warned that a storm was coming, a hurricane, but the water seemed so calm that we didn't listen and went in anyway.

For the first half hour or so we played and splashed around. It wasn't until we both stopped for a minute that we realized that the water had grown rough. A riptide caught Nico and I and we were dragged out towards the nets. Luckily, one of our father's friends saw as and fished us out of the water, but it had been close. I had only been seconds away from gasping in the cool salty water.

I can still remember the feeling as my brothers hand was torn from mine by the strong current. The feeling of loosing my other half.

The mayor finished the dull Treaty and motioned for Asher and I to shake hands. I looked into his eyes as we shook hands. There is kindness there, not pity, but kindness. I thought it was just my imagination.

"Don't worry," he whispered so quietly I found myself doubting he said anything at all. The anthem of Panem started playing in the background and the two of us turn to face our neighbors. My eyes searched out my parents.

My mom was sobbing into my fathers shoulder. Her small frame shaking violently. My father had unshed tears,shining brightly, in his eyes as he comforted her. There was a grim hope in the way he looked at me. He was not giving up on me just yet.

I held my head higher as the anthem played. If my father still believed in me there was no way I was going to give up on myself. I could turn my disadvantage into an advantage. I could live to fight another day.

I could become the youngest victor in the history of the Hunger Games.

A/N this chapter is short I know but I needed to cut it there. Should probably explain training to everyone? The training program is run by the victors in order to train kids for the games. It takes place after school and families must pay for it

Please tell me what you thought

XOXOX