District 3 Reapings

Enjinia Minol

I start to roll the wires back from the pile of explosives. I roll it back at least a half a mile and down into the blast bunker that District 3 set up for explosive experiments. I turn towards my father "Would you like to do the honors?"

He smiles and says "Are you sure?"

I bend over and hand him the detonator, "Of course, you let me set it up you should get to press the button."

we both face the window and he begins the count down, "3, 2, 1..." he presses the small red button. At first we don't see or hear anything and I'm afraid I set up the dynamite wrong, but then I see a massive fiery mushroom cloud and feel the shock wave throw me back a foot, even my fathers wheel chair is pushed back a foot. I look over with a huge grin on my face but my father has the opposite look on his face "The peacekeepers are not going to be happy about that wave," he says while shaking his head.

"Oh please dad, my burps have bigger shock waves than that." I say trying to deter his anger before it escalates.

"This isn't a joke! That shock wave could have broken windows in town and everyone knows that we are responsible!"

I try once more to calm him down, "Dad please don't worry if anything goes wrong I'll take the blame. Let's just go home and get ready for the reapings."

He seems to let go of some of his anger when he realizes that I'm right and we need to be going back. That doesn't stop him from complaining the whole ride back. The subway in District 3 is the only one in all of Panem, it runs from the bomb range to the city. You could walk to the bomb range but it's about 2 miles from the city so it would take a long time to get there. My father takes me to the range every Sunday and every holiday...including reaping day. We used to go a lot more but after the explosion at the factory my father was paralyzed from the waist down and he was often to tired to make the trip. Before the accident he taught me all he knew about explosives, with some experiments at the bomb range I figured out how to make bombs out of natural elements like potassium and sodium. My dad used to work at a bomb factory that experimented with new types of bombs. One day one of their experiments when wrong and my dad was paralyzed and hasn't been the same since. After that I took a job at the bomb factory and took his place as the provider.

When we get home I lay out a dress shirt and tie for him and head into my room to get ready. I throw on a green dress with black flowers on it and run a brush through my hair a few times. When I walk down stairs my father is waiting for me and "You look nice" he says with a smile

"Thank you," I say as I push him out the door and we head off to the reapings.

Finn Torris

Reaping day is the worst. Maybe to some people reaping day is a holiday to hang out with their friends and sleep in, with a slight chance of them being sent to their deaths. The only problem with that is that every year someone is sent to their death no matter how slight their chance. And 4 years ago that person was my sister, Sarah. She was seventeen and hadn't even taken a tesserae so she only had 5 slips. None of us were old enough to volunteer, there was nothing we could do to help her. I've made my peace with her death, my parents on the other hand are still emotionally burdened about it. So as I walk down stairs I try to slip out the door without waking them because they would probably trap me into an awkward silent breakfast, all of us holding in our feelings. Instead I choose to go outside and meet up with my friends, Genesis and Darryl. I feel the looming presence of the reapings for a second and I almost break down, but I just push it out of my mind and walk over to Darryl. "Hey whats up?" I say as we do our handshake, he holds his hand vertically and I poke my finger on it making 'beep boop' sounds as if it's a keypad, after four pokes Darryl imitates a computerized voice and says, "Access granted." We both laugh and he replies to my original question, "Not much I had to sneak out of my house before my parents started attacking me with hugs." Darryl's parents are very over protective and the reapings make them worry about losing Darryl. We start to walk to Genesis's house because her parents are wealthy business owners she lives almost in the center of town. It's not a long walk but we have to walk by victor village to get there and it's a pretty depressing sight. District 3 only has 1 victor and he is a total drunk. Since he's the only one living in victor village he tends to leave his lawn a wreck and it usually smells like the dumpster of a fart factory. The worst part is that on reaping day he stands out front shouting things at kids like "You're next!" As I pass he looks me right in the eye and says "Your sister was drawn, you know how real this can get!" at that I want to go and knock the yellow teeth right out of his mouth but Darryl holds me back.

It takes the rest of the walk to calm me down but somehow Darryl manages. When Genesis opens her door I smell fresh pancakes and I realize I never ate breakfast. "Do you guys want to go to the square before the reapings?" I ask because sometimes the shop owners are feeling generous and give kids free rolls or candy.

"Yeah I'm starving," Darryl adds. So we set off for the square, which isn't that far of a walk because Genesis's house is only a few blocks away. As we get closer we see the team of workers hired to set up the sound system that will project the names of the "lucky" boy and girl that are chosen all around the square.

I see Mr. Ross the bakery owner and we head over to him. He is seeming especially generous and gives us each a roll freshly baked roll. As we each tear into the warm bread we hear a faint boom in the distance and see smoke, a second later there's a shock wave that's powerful enough to knock over the pedestals the reaping balls will sit on. Fortunately the giant glass bowls have not been put up yet and a few peacekeepers just put the pedestals upright again. "That was weird," Darryl says. Normally it wouldn't be that strange, the local bomb factory uses the bomb range almost every day, but it's reaping day which means there shouldn't be any tests today. It doesn't matter though because just as I finish my roll my watch beeps telling me it's time to head home and get dressed.

Enjinia Minol

We arrive just as the crowds are rushing in and are lost in the sea of people, which is a good thing because the peacekeepers will definitely be on the look out for us. My dad goes over to the parents area and I go and stand with the other 15 year-old's. The Mayor steps up and gives his long speech about the Treaty of Treason, which I tune out remembering the huge explosion I set off only a half-hour or so ago. The escort steps up, a cheery woman named, Rolanda with bright blue skin and red tattoos snaking all around her arms and legs. She gives a short speech about what an honor it is to be here and then she says "We'll ladies first I suppose!" As she crosses to the girls bowl I have to admit I am scared, since my fathers accident I have had to take a few tesseraes to put food on the table. I'm not sure exactly how many times my name is in, but I know the odds are not in my favor. Rolanda is now at the microphone, she unfolds the white slip, and reads the name.

"Enjinia Minol!" the silly capitol accent distracts me for a second but then I realize that it's my name that was said in the silly capitol accent. All the other kids have already made a path for me and I have to choice but to grimly make my way up to the stage. Rolanda asks for volunteers and not even the wind is there to save me. I'm not surprised, I work full time at the factory and the only free time I have is spent at the bomb range with my father so I don't have many friends, certainly none that would volunteer for me. I'm surprised at how calmly I'm taking this, I assure myself that the full realization of what has happened will hit me later. And just as I think this Rolanda crosses to the boys bowl.

Finn Torris

I don't know the girl tribute but I have seen her around school and I remember seeing her at the ceremony for the children of factory workers that were killed or injured. I don't really have time to think about her at the moment because Rolanda is reaching her bright blue arm into the boys reaping bowl. The odds are sort of in my favor I've only had to take 2 or 3 tesseraes but still I can't help but be scared, Rolanda is now making her way back to the microphone, white slip in hand. I close my eyes and focus in on her stupid capitol accent as she reads the name "Darryl Claymore!" she reads with so much enthusiasm that I want to vomit. I see Darryl take a step forward and that is enough to snap me out of my nausea. A million things flash through my mind in a second, watching Sarah's games, watching Sarah die, the feeling I had when I saw her die, the months of emotional instability that my parents went through, then I remember that Darryl is my best friend and if I let him go into the games I would be condemning another person I love to their death. The thought of losing my best friend is enough to make me break into a sprint for the isle before he can take another step. I reach the isle and don't stop until I'm on stage. "Are you Darryl?" Rolanda asks confused at my speedy entrance.

I blush embarrassed at how I reacted, "No, actually I'm volunteering in Darryl's place."

Rolanda frowns, she usually doesn't have to deal with eager volunteers. "We'll you're supposed to wait for me to ask for volunteers but since your here I suppose we could skip that part." I give an apologetic smile and step back into the boy tributes spot. "Let's have a hand for the boy and girl tributes from district 3!" Rolanda announces with a bit of uncertainty. Enjinia and I meet in the middle of the stage and shake hands. And with that my immanent death was secured.