District 7

Niza Walker, 16

The Antisocial Girl

I woke up to my brother, Nicholas, shaking me up. The morning sun shone threw the window of our cabin and made my face really hot. Nicholas waved his hand in front of my face, probably to wake me up, and pointed outside the window.

"Niza, look," he said, with an excited look on his face, "It's a cardinal!" He dragged me over to the window and pointed again. I wasn't amused.

"Nic, it's reaping day. I don't have time for shit like this." I tried to say calmly. I didn't actually care about being late to the reaping, but I hated cardinals. They were my dad's favorite birds. We would go bird watching every Sunday. Then he left us. Just like that, we were left to fend for ourselves.

"Fine, be like that." Nic said, pouting, "Can you at least get some wood from outside? I'm cold."

Rolling my eyes, I reluctantly grabbed my axe and went outside into the woods. I saw the cardinal from before. I chucked a rock at the red feathers and it flew away.

I walked for about another 10 minutes, and found a short enough tree to chop down. It was thick enough to start a fire that would burn for a while. I normally would let a tree like this stand longer, but Nic absolutely needed wood right now.

I hacked at the tree for about 5 minutes before it broke. I didn't care how clean the cut was, so I got a couple splinters in my hand when I tried to pick to log up. I had to slowly pluck them out of my hand. Ouch.

Once I was done getting the small pieces of wood out of my palm I decided it would be safer to wear the gloves that were in the pockets of my coat. Hopefully the leather would protect me from that damn wood.

The walk back to my cabin felt much longer now that I was carrying 50 pounds of chopped tree. I kicked open the door once I got back and dumped the wood on the floor.

Nic was watching the television when I walked in, of course. Being the best lumberjacks in our town, we could afford a TV, unlike others. The news was on. Apparently there was some uprising in our city. Things were on fire and everything. Moments like this made me grateful that we lived in a cabin in the woods away from other people.

One after another, I hauled the wood into the cabin and plopped it into the fireplace. After what felt like eternity, I was done. I took a match from the kitchen and lit it.

"Are you happy now, Nic?" I scowled.

"Yeah, sure." He replied, obviously not paying any attention to what I was saying. That freaking television had him in a trance.

"How about a 'thank you, Niza?' Or maybe a 'Wow, Niza, thanks for going out in the cold to get firewood for my enjoyment?" I yelled at him, anger bubbling inside me.

"Mhhm." Nic said giving me a thumbs up.

"You son of a bitch." I muttered under my breath and I stormed into my room.

Jesse Green, 17

The Poet

Calm is all nature as a resting wheel.

The kine are couched upon the dewy grass;

The horse alone, seen dimly as I pass,

Is cropping audibly his later meal:

Dark is the ground; a slumber seems to steal

O'er vale, and mountain, and the starless sky.

Now, in this blank of things, a harmony,

Home-felt, and home-created, comes to heal

That grief for which the senses still supply

Fresh food; for only then, when memory

Is hushed, am I at rest.

I always loved writing poetry. Whenever I take out my notebook, it's like the whole world disappears. The words flew onto the paper so easily.

I was so lost in my little world that I barely heard my mother yelling at me to turn on the news. I grumbled and got up from my chair, walking into the kitchen where the radio was. I turned the dials to 91.7; the news.

There was static for a while due to the trees covering our kitchen, but when I took the radio into our living room, I got a connection. And it was right on time.

"As we announced earlier this morning, there have been small uprisings in the town squares of districts 6, 7, and 8. To protect the chosen tributes in these districts, we will be announcing the names before the reaping. The two chosen tributes will be asked to come to the Justice Building into the safety of the authorities.

Without further ado, I will announce the two chosen tribute for this years Hunger Games!"

My stomach was churning as the announcer paused to read the names.

"Niza Walker and Jesse Green!"

'Oh shit.' I screamed in my head.

My mother apparently heard, since she came running down the stairs with tears flowing down her cheeks. She didn't even say anything, she just hugged me. I figured I was supposed to hug back.

She took her diamond wedding ring off and slipped it into my hand.

"Stay alive." She whispered as I headed out the door.

"Oh, don't worry."

I got to the justice building about 5 minutes later. Niza was there already, and the mayor was sitting down in her big swivel chair. I walked over to the chair and sat down uneasily.

"Why is everyone staring at me?" I asked

"Oh, sorry." Mayor McCain said, shaking her head, "I was spacing out a bit there."

"Okay." I said awkwardly.

"I think you two know what's happening." McCain said, and Niza nodded.

"At the time of the reaping, you two are going to walk on stage for everyone to see and, yeah. Just do your things."

'I bet it's harder than it sounds' I thought.

"Azalea, your mentor, is going to come in and give you guys some tips. Okay?"

Great. Just perfect. Azalea was our mentor. She definitely wasn't going to help me. Not after what I did to her.

McCain left and Azalea walked in. She smiled at first, shook Niza's hand, but then glared when she saw me. I glared back.

"So, Niza, Jesse, I'm Azalea, as you know. I'm only here to help you. And don't worry, I'm not a crazy or mean mentor." She changed her tone of voice when she said Jesse.

She looked away from me and started talking to Niza. "You don't want to cry when you go up stage. That'll put you on the career's target list. And don't try to run away either. That will get you whipped, and you don't want to go into the games injured."

She turned her chair over to me and looked angrily.

"And Jesse… Do whatever the hell you want."

Yay, District 7 reapings. No important announcements this time. Oh, and by the way, Azalea knows Jesse because after she won the 23rd games, Jesse started dating her, but then he cheated on poor Azalea and now she hates him...