Chapter 2

The long steady stream of kids moving toward the square is like a sad way to try and get your hopes up. That you won't end up being the one chosen out of those big bowls and you won't be the one that gets thrust into the area and you won't be the one that dies. Because no one has been a winner from District twelve in almost twenty five years. I just prayed that it wouldn't be Brianna.

There were banners everywhere with the Capital symbol printed on them, always trying to make sure that they always seem like they are in control. I hoped that someday they would burn, or that someday they would be placed in these conditions so that they could feel our pain, suffering and sorrow. I hoped each and everyone of them died.

I held onto Brianna's hand in the square, looking up at the escort and reaper, Effie Trinket. You would think that someone had dumped a bucket of pain on her from the way she looked. She was pink in every aspect, staring disdainfully at all of us in our crummy clothes with our dirty faces covered in coal dust and our sad faces that apparently weren't in style at the moment. I wondered how she could be so happy when she knew that the two children she chose would be no doubt dead in a matter of weeks. So how could she look to happy?
I understood that she was from the Capital, but she got to actually see all the Districts while the rest of them were stuffing their faces, blissfully unaware…

"Happy Hunger Games!" she said in her annoying shrill, Capital accent.

She introduced the mayor as if we didn't all know who he was and then we were forced to listen to a very grueling and boring speech about why we had to endure the Hunger Game and why the Capital was in charge and apparently why we were all so useless and below them. Then Effie walked back up and talked about what an honor it was to be a tribute and then finished with her signature:

"May the odds be ever in your favor!"

Just then Haymitch Abernathy stumbled over to the stage where Effie and the mayor had been anxiously awaiting him. The only Victor in the whole District and he was a drunk that was useless in all ways. He stumbled up the steps and hugged Effie roughly while she tried to untangle herself from him. She treated him as if he was some kind of vermin. Which to her he probably was the equivalent to in her mind.

"Ladies first!"

Her thin, pale hand reached into the large ball with the little folds of paper. Out of a thousand names, one girl would be chosen and out of another thousand there would be a boy. So who would it be? Who would die this year? Time slowed down to a crawl as her perfectly manicured fingers found a slip of paper and she unfolded it, smiling as she read the name of that condemned and dead person…

"Primrose Everdeen!"
I looked around, glad it wasn't Brianna, glad it wasn't me, until I saw her. Her face.

Katniss Everdeen, the only other girl that was brave enough to go into the woods with her best friend Gale Hawthorne and still be alive today. She was beautiful with many admirers in school, which she always ignored. She wasn't stuck up like some of the other girls, worrying about guys and hair and their looks. Even though everybody was usually hungry, there would always be that kind of talk. Looks were important even in this starving desolate District. But this girl didn't care about that. She cared about the fact that her little sister was going to die.

I turned, everything slowing down. There was Primrose Everdeen, frozen in her shoes, not taking a step. She looked over at Katniss and was close to tears, but seemed to suck it up as she started to walk forward. If she didn't walk forward now they would just drag her up there anyway. It was better to just keep your dignity and pride, all that you would be left with.

I focused on Katniss again and she was already in action. She was running toward her sister, screaming something unintelligible. I looked down at Brianna, she looked like she would cry too.

"She's going to die, isn't she?" she whispered to me.

I looked at Katniss, then Primrose, then Brianna and didn't know what was wrong with me. It hurt. I could feel the pain, how Katniss was so desperate. She was going to volunteer, everybody knew it. She might even have a chance of winning, but there was also a chance she would simply just die. And then Primrose would be all alone, and her mother would be all alone, and Gale Hawthorne would be alone. They all had lives. They all had people to take care of. I looked down at Brianna again.

Kneeling quickly I looked into her eyes and used a very serious tone.

"Brianna, that girl is going to die."

She nodded. Confused by my actions. I only had seconds.

"I love you. I love you and Mom, and Dad. Okay? You understand? But if I do this, you aren't to take a single tesserae, okay? None. You will never take one, no matter what. And you'll go to, to Katniss okay? She's a great hunter and she'll give you food. Okay? And don't go to the Peacemaker either. Never okay?"
"Terra, don't-"

"I have nothing. It's okay. I'll be alright, but so many people need her. Mom has a job though, she gets food. Dad has a job, he'll bring in money. You won't die. I promise."

"But Terra!"

"Don't. That girl will leave behind two starving people and friends and she'll be missed. Not me."

"I'll miss you Terra!" she said, crying and sobbing now.

I shook my head. I had just milliseconds left, Katniss was getting close. Our little bubble of frozen time was disappearing.

"Thank you. I think you'll be the only one that will. I love you, Brianna. See you during the good byes." I said, kissing her on each cheek and then the top of her head.

And then I was running. I was fast, a faster runner than most of the girls in my school and I'd made up my mind. The crowd parted for me, mostly because they were surprised. And then I made it into the long stretch of empty space that had cleared for Primrose Everdeen. I ran right in front of her easily because I'd been standing to the side of the stage. I ran right into her path and broke through the Peacemakers.

I looked one more time at Brianna, then at my mom and dad. My dad looked sad and my mom looked angry and almost like she was going to cry. Would they miss me? Or just miss me hunting for their food? Trading in the Hob? Never again.

"I volunteer!" I said, loud and clear, standing a few feet from Effie Trinket herself, looking her in the eyes. The wind suddenly blew back my hair which was loose and falling out of my previous clipped hairstyle was blown back from my face.

And then there was silence. As if the breeze had brought on the silence that had muted my entire District.