Panem began to change for the worse, just as we feared. Aulus Pratt easily persuaded the minds of the Capitol of his ambitions for the future by bribing them with a higher standard of living, one that can compete with what they had prior to the second rebellion. Needless to say, even if those who weren't alive before the rebellion weren't on his side before this announcement it caused the Capitol to think of the endless possibility of luxuries.

Once the Capitol was in secured in the hands of President Pratt it became a matter of days before the districts started to change. In Twelve we are forced to ration our supplies as it has been cut considerably. Meat prices rise dramatically and only the well-off families can afford it. We receive a monthly supply of grains and oil, my parents call this tesserae, although we do not have to pay or put names in the reaping or anything of the sort. Pratt is nice enough to allow this rule change. Prices for sweets, which were rather expensive to begin with, skyrocket leaving very little business for the owners. Shoes and clothes are worn until in shreds and tattered into indecencies.

Although most of the district lives in the same standard of living the families that suffer are the larger ones. Feeding more and clothing more becomes a harder duty and many of the children seek out jobs after school to help the family pay for the living costs. Smaller families suffer as well but it becomes clear that there is a tear in the district creating a distinct social class. This is rather unfair, seeing as it is not the larger families fault. All the while Pratt had allowed the victors of the Games to continue to live at a high standard of living, and although our winnings have decreased by two months' worth that is more than enough to feed us and half the district of soon-to-be starving children.

Things begin to worsen as the weeks pass. School is filled with a new curriculum. One that in History teaches us about the Dark Days of the first rebellion, the seventy-five years that follow and the second rebellion, as well as cutting off the knowledge of the other districts. We've heard this before, however this time it is in the Capitol's point-of-view. The one about the treachery and treasonous acts of the Districts, of how in order to redeem us the Capitol created the Games, of the rampages of the mockingjay. Though her name is never mentioned it is clear to all of District Twelve who the mockingjay was, my mother. Some other classes change as well such as Science. Since Twelve became the new head for medicine our classes were previously concentrated heavily on the Capitol concoctions, but nothing on herbal remedies, to begin with. The Capitol enforced that there are no remedies that could compare to the Capitol's medicine, therefore any possible talk of adding herbal medicine flew out the window. These Capitol concoctions were made through laboratory procedure, elements that meant nothing to me, and too industrial to be any use in a moment's notice, such as in the Games or in our starving district. English and Math remained unchanged although we were forced to learn new subjects such as Latin—for what reason I know not, it had to be the most useless thing to know—or a new class that was basically sitting in front of a television for an hour watching Capitol propaganda and 72 years of the Games, minus the last two Quarter Quells and the 74th. These were discluded because of "rebellious" acts from the winners. They also so happened to be when all of District Twelve had its victories.

As my family predicted children begin to starve, not bad at first but as the months progress the signs become more distinct. Bodies thin, stomachs can be heard rumbling all through the classes, and kids can be seen begging on the streets for work or for food. Everyone knows of my family having an excess of money so kids will come on their parents' behalf to ask for some extra food. We often give them a loaf of bread and a can of preserved food.

We are unable to use the medicine that is made in the factories here in Twelve and when someone gets hurt the price of what medicine is sold in the store is astronomically high. No one in the district can afford it, except us. But even then it is a stretch of the money. Those who came back to the district after the rebellion remembered my grandmother's ability to heal, and other heard from referral that my mother and I can aid the wounded and the dying. My mother is not a good healer, she can do simple things, but it is mainly myself that does the healing. Mother says I was gifted with the "healer's hands" that her sister, Prim, and my grandmother had.

Groups of Capitol reinforcement come in near the year mark of the election. They are called Peacekeepers, something that used to be normal for all districts before the second rebellion. The electric fence that surrounds the district is charged during the daylight but turned off at night, since everyone is normally in bed or asleep in those hours. My family will occasionally go and hunt at night, having bought night-vision glasses when I was young. We don't do it often because even then it's dangerous and most animals are asleep as well. We can trap animals, which is what I'm best at, or we can snuff out burrows of groundhogs, rabbits and other underground animals.

Life becomes unbearable at the turn of the year. There is little to do and we wind up with a set schedule, very defined and to-the-point. Wake up in the morning, take a shower, eat breakfast, go to school, eat lunch, school still, go home, help around the house or aid the wounded or work the bakery, eat dinner, go to bed. Very set in stone on what can and cannot be done, because of the Peacekeepers' rule over us. Eventually my family gives up its attempts to sneak into the woods to hunt or to escape the routines of the day.

On the days leading up to my birthday things seem to be looking up. The Peacekeepers relax their control over us, shopkeepers lower the prices of their products and there is even special offers coming from the store for medicines. The district people take advantage of this and stock up as much as spending will allow. My family can finally relax for a while, while the district is living on a constant. It looks like I can actually have a happy birthday for the year unlike last year. If things keep up Aidan will be able to have a good birthday also.

The night before the 2nd of June no one can really sleep. My father rarely sleeps at night anyway, my mother has been having her nightmares for a straight week already, and Aidan and I are up talking about the reasons for the lack of control over our district. At first when I want to speak to Aidan I am afraid he is already asleep so I hesitate to knock. He opens the door before I get a chance and states, "You know, you are loud; I could hear you breathing from my bed. You wanted to talk to me didn't you?"

I hate when he does that. I know I am not that loud, yet no matter what he can always hear me coming. It also as if he reads me like a book, he always knows what I want before I speak it. Of course in this case what other reason would I have to be at his door in the middle of the night. "Just let me in will you?"

He gives a chuckle and opens his door wider. His room is always spotless clean, makes me jealous sometimes. He goes and sits on the chair next to his dresser and I'm given his bed. I flop down on my back and look at him upside down. There is no use beating around the bush so I start my question. "What do you make of Pratt being nicer to us? It's not like he has any remorse."

He stares at me for a while trying to decide what to say, "I've pondered this myself. We know from what he's made Twelve endure that it is most likely including all of the districts. However the one thing we don't know is if the calm that our district is in now is extended to the other districts." He stops having thought of something else. "He could have done this with the other districts also, which means that he has something important to tell us. It's like the calm before the storm type of metaphor."

"A calm before the storm…" I say slowly thinking of what it could mean. I feel as though Aidan already knows what it means and that once again I'm missing the obvious. I try to think harder. Aulus Pratt condemns the districts, even the one he came from. Restricting most freedoms the children grew up with, then all of a sudden he lessen his control. It certainly can't be because the districts have already decided to rebel. That is too soon.

It hits me, it feels like like I was just tackled to the ground, though obviously I haven't. "He's going to condemn the districts even more. Something so horrid that the people will cower to his control over us. Just like—" I can't finish.

"Just like before the second rebellion." Aidan says plainly. He's staring at nothing in particular which means he's thinking of every possibility, just as he always does. He plans for everything instead of just one thing like I do.

"Aidan—" I say almost pleading.

He turns to me and actually looks at me rather than in the distance. Giving me a weak smile he reaches out and grabs my pinky finger and gives it a squeeze. "Bri, it's going to be okay, mom and dad will not let anything bad happen to us." I would have believed him more if his voice didn't crack at the end.

We stayed quiet for a while and then he looked at me smiling. "Tomorrow, or well in the morning, it will be your birthday. How about we go to the woods? Tonight. So you can watch the sunrise like we always used to."