Cathryn (Kitty) Louise Stone POV

I could not fathom red and green. Color blindness they called it, "It was more popular in the dark days." I looked into the mirror blankly. My hair was brushed and shining. "Your hair is a crisp autumn leave, a drop of blood, a pitted cherry," Those were the words Harry had once used to describe it. They remained empty words to me, but very pretty ones at that. My eyes clouded, as I encompassed the memory of that old summers day.

"Scorched lips, a beating heart, a pretty girl, true love…" Harry continued, his voice smooth and lemony. I stopped his description of red right there.

"Thank you, I always wanted to know what color true love was," I said, rolling my eyes. I meant to say it lightly, but he saw straight through me.

I was constantly frustrated with these colors that I couldn't see! I loathed red and green; they were both washed out and gray to me. I watched a slight frown slide onto his lips; he knew he'd upset me. Harry hesitated, and then plucked a leaf from the end of the tree branch I was perched on

"What color is this?" He asked, looking up at me.

"Green." I answered with a sigh, "Leaves are green."

"Yes, but remind me, what does green look like?" He gave me one of those infectious smiles, cocking his head slightly.

"Like the sun, but darker. Gray, almost." I said, wondering just how wrong I was. He held the leaf out to my face.

"This is the color of true love." He said, tickling my cheek with the tip of it. "May it live and prosper." I snorted at that. He mocked sadness, and I slid down from my tree branch to stare better into his dark eyes. I wrapped my hands around his neck, and felt him slip the leaf into my back pocket…

I shook back to reality. All that was left to see were my eyes. Gray, a mocking gesture: as if the gray iris turned my vision that very same color. I noticed a tear crowding the corner of my eye; I wiped it away with my finger quickly. You'll be with Harry soon, I told myself. Today would change everything.

I'd applied for Tesserae 74 times. And when I went back again the previous night the peacekeeper, my father's friend, had just shaken his head. "You're done Kitty," he said. I reckoned the starving had swarmed him earlier that night. People did all sorts of crazy things the night before the reaping. I nodded, accepting the justice of it, and turned on my heel.

My father was a peacekeeper. We didn't need the food. But that didn't stop me from stock piling the tesserae, just in case something happened once I was gone. You never know. What if the peacekeepers stumbled past our open window at night, and heard one of their own, my father cursing the capitol? I wanted the comfort that my brother Jeffrey could live 80 years off tesserae if he had to. The tesserae was left as a farewell present. I wouldn't be coming back.

80 slips of paper with my messy handwriting were littered in the ball that day, waiting out the last few minutes before the reaping began. I hoped that I was chosen, but if not I'd volunteer. The downside was that it was much longer process. Tributes from 1, 2, and 4 were the ones who usually volunteered. This year I'd fill in that awkward gap. If the odds aren't in my favor, Cathryn Louise Stone will be volunteering from three, as well.

I fastened myself into my black dress, and felt it mold comfortably around the curves of my body. I tied the "pink" ribbon that encircled my waist into a fat bow, and faced my reflection. Pale skin. Gray eyes. Shining hair. I was camera ready. I shut the latch on my door. I could count my days on fingers and toes. I was ready, unlike Harry.

Click Bass POV

"Click, We're going to be late!"

"What are you going to do? Kill me?" I called back merrily. My father grumbled something undecipherable, and kicked my door before thumping down the stairs. I headed after him quickly, and grabbed a piece of burnt toast, upon entering the kitchen. "What, no waffles?" I asked through a mouthful of toast.

My mother rolled her eyes. "Not since someone turned the waffle press into an automatic syrup dispenser." Her hands were on her hips, but I knew she wasn't angry. No one took anything for granted on reaping day.

I headed to the reaping. It used to be at the town square, but since the sudden population growth in district three they held it in a large grassy meadow. I sighed. At fifteen I was halfway through my reaping years. And had been lucky thus far. I penned into the large crowd of fifteen year old males when a voice caught my attention.

"That one, I bet you that one!" An old man suddenly called from the sidelines. Pointing a long crooked finger at me. His eyes were so blue; I would have sworn he was blind. I rolled my eyes, and yet my stomach dropped. "I'll take you up on that," I called back more bravely than I felt. "There's nothing they can do, I'm not putting one foot in that arena." I pulled a coin from my pocket and waved it tauntingly, before immersing myself in the crowd.

I was wrong. They called my name only a few seconds later. Well, no. First they called Niley, my twelve-year-old neighbor. And some red head I'd never seen took her place. How does she know Niley? I wondered. But shrugged it off. That's when they called my name. And my stomach plummeted. And my heart raced. And my legs turned to jelly. Yet I walked forward.

"And our tributes from district three, lets hear a round of applause for Click and Cathryn!"

I'm going to be posting a new chapter every week

Review to earn your tribute three points, and specify Click or Cathryn/Kitty to give them an extra five!

THX