2
Light of dawn
The morning of the first reading. We all have to sign our name and move outside of the justice building. There are many screens now around the square. There is a big stage and two reaping balls. We stand in categories of ages and gender. I'm in within half an hour. A petite woman with a long dress and curled blonde hair steps onto the stage. She has big eyes and a dried out, white face. She holds her grin, but she grits her teeth. She seems quite nervous. Like us. She's quite normal compared to the capitol's bright colours and elaborate fashions. She clip-clops over to the standing microphone at the front of the stage. She widens her smile and give a small hick-up-laugh that breaks through her false face. She pauses for a while looking through the crowd. She catches my eyes staring deep into hers and shyly bows her head. I think she feels empathy for us. For rounding us up like cattle and selecting two be slaughtered.
She starts with, "good morning district 12. My name is gretta poslety. It's a privilege to be here." One person claps, but suddenly they drown it out with their own cough when the realise everyone is staring at them, "today is a very...special... day... for everyone." You could hear a pin drop if someone even dared to. "well, hum, let's get started then!", she says with a little giggle. She stops in the middle of the two balls and looks confused. She gets more and more flustered with herself as she tears herself between two balls. She looks into the camera and smiles and giggles. You can tell she dying inside, really. When she finally decides to go to the left ball, she's picked the girls first. My stomach knots for the girl i saw in the crowd two days ago.
As gretta shuffles to the big, pink-tinted, clear ball, many people cough or sneeze on purpose to try and break the tension. It doesn't work. I can see it on everyone's faces how fearful they are. I think about my bad luck so far. Me and my mother are on the verge of death from starvation, even standing here makes me tired; we had our home taken from us by the exact same people who intends to kill two of our district's children; i have to stand here, watching a plump, nervous woman flounce around while two of our lives are at stake; and the girl has just been picked. Great. I feel so lucky now. I guess there isn't any hope or luck for me now, anyway, so i might as well be picked, too. Then... very suddenly, the whole crowds' eyes are glaring at me. Even the girl i saw a couple days ago with her sister. Me.
She reads out the name again, "Mark Everdeen." My heart races. I go through the list of bad luck I've had. Me and my mother are on the verge of death from starvation; we had our home taken from us by the exact same people who intends to kill two of our district's children; i have to stand here, watching a plump, nervous woman flounce around while two of our lives are at stake; and the girl has just been picked. I have just been picked. To be thrown into an arena and be killed. I'm dead.I look over my shoulder at my mother, who is shaking and dropping to the dusty ground. Why is no one helping her? Suddenly she is getting smaller, and that's when I realise the guards called 'peacekeepers'are dragging he onto the stage. I start screaming for my mother, but no one helps her, still.
Gretta touches my shoulder, but i retaliate. I stand stiff, as i hear the crowd roaring in rage. Then i'm finally lead into the justice building, where we leave the crowd behind. Where i leave my mother behind. I don't even get to see her, i am driven straight to the train station, where cameras are hungry for my picture, as they snap every move i make. A lonely tear streams down my face and i'm suddenly in a massive train carriage. It has a big, wooden, round table in the centre. I go through the door to another compartment named 'mark Everdeen'i step inside and find a small room, of which lies a bed with soft, silken sheets; a small table that's so glossed it hurts my eyes when the light shines on it, and a large window. There is a pile of clothes on my bed. I go to another door in my room and find a shower. I jump in and then slip into the sheets. I relax and fall asleep immediately.
When i wake, a ray of bright, fresh sunlight shines through the shaft in the roof of the train, and i automatically think of home. In the refugee camp at my district, there is a big hole in the roof, covered by a large sheet of clear plastic, my mother and i wake up at the crack of dawn when the first light of morning seeps through. We need to wake up as soon as possible to get all of the work done. I wonder what my mother is doing at home, the bird that sings the first song of dawn helps us along slightly. I whistle the tune out to myself that it always makes. Does she miss me? Is she getting by without me? I wonder if she got any sleep last night. I'm snatched back into the bedroom when the swings open. A tall, skinny man walks through the door from the dark hallway. He tells me to get dressed and meet in the lounge in 20 minutes. I don't bother going back in the shower. I brush my hair, and brush my teeth. I then slide on the simple, grey clothes that were left on my bed. They're quite itchy, but they're okay.
When I tip-toe into the lounge, the girl from the crowd is waiting for me, along with Gretta, and the tall skinny man who then greets me as deanic. I still don't know what her name is, but she isn't talking to anyone so i don't bother her. I keep myself to myself as well. Gretta talks about how to present myself when we arrive at the Capitol, she tells me there will be only a hand full of people who see me before i get to the recreational centre. Im not listening though. Deanic's eyes pierce into me, so when he talks, i make sure to listen,
"i will be your mentor. I will teach you everything about how you can win this-"
"so what do we do we do to win? Make a good show? Should i make sure you die in the most gory way i can?"
Everyone falls silent. That was the first and only time she spoke until dinner. After dinner, Gretta stands up and walks over to the T.V to watch a video about survival. I fall asleep.