Benson Dryle, District 7
We have a day off of school for the Reapings. So what do I do? Schoolwork. Close enough, anyways. On my desk sits a piece of lined paper, already half covered in my neat handwriting. I'm eighteen. The slips are cumulative. As I've never applied for tesserae, the number of slips that I have in the bowl is twenty-one. There are five hundred and twenty-seven boys in the district who are of age. Approximately 35% have applied for tesserae at least three times. As such, twenty-one slips are lost among the thousands of slips in that bowl. Of course, the chance of being reaped randomly is always there.
No matter how I calculate it, I have a low chance of being reaped, but it's not impossible. Does it matter, though? In the end, whether I'm reaped or not, I can't do anything to change it, can I?
I shake my head. That's going in to philosophy, an area I generally stay away from. Sighing, I put my feet on my desk and lean back in my chair. I close my eyes and tilt my head back. Within moments, though, I open my eyes again, glancing at my clock. It's nearly time to go. I stand up, tucking in my shirt and straightening my tie. I take a quick glance in to the mirror, then step in to the kitchen.
"Mother, Father, come on. We don't want to be late."
My mother and father come down the stairs. My mom quickly appraises my attire, then nods. "Okay, Benson. " Her voice is cool and polite, carefully detached. She likely doesn't want me to yell at her again. I wish she understood, though, that I only ever yelled at her because I didn't want her to yell at me.
I walk out of the door. Today, I'm invincible. No matter what happens, I will show my power and authority. Because no one else can.
District 7 is deep in a piney forest. It's very thick, and it took ages for the citizens of 7 to clear out a place for the town. Even now, we're still expanding. It's not a bad industry. I make us money by working to cut down the trees and exporting wood, while at the same time we can make our town bigger.
I hear a rumbling under my feet, and the rocks rattle on the hard-worn dirt path. There are so many trees here that the train station is underground, at least until you get out of the District. I've always been fascinated about how the trains work. The only way to get to see them, though, would be to be reaped. And I'm strong, I know, I just don't know if I'm strong enough to win the Games. Sure, I can climb trees, and work an axe, and I know how to survive, but against the Careers, I'm just not sure it's really enough.
I think back to the calculations on the paper still on my desk. I have a low chance of being reaped. I'm probably okay.
In the square, I walk up to my section. There, I am met with a range of emotions. Some of the boys turn away. Some of them nervously pretend not to notice me. Some smile as if they are my friends. Some others glare at me. I look over them all at the stage. The escort has stepped out. It's not the same one as last year. Quickly, I look down and sketch a diagram in the dust. The escort has been different every year. That's not normal for most districts, I think.
The escort is now pulling out the reaping balls. I notice that there are more girl slips than boys slips. Does that affect my calculations? No, the girls are reaped separately from the boys.
The escort reaches in to the bowl. She shuffles the slips around, then yanks out one at random.
"June Aspen!" A small girl up front gives a terrified squeak. She steps slowly up to the stage. The escort purses her thick lips and then plunges her hand in to the boy's ball.
"Benson Dryle!" At that moment, almost every cell in my body is screaming for me to give some reaction, some emotion. But I don't. I walk out of the crowd and on to the stage. I shake hands with June. And I smile for the crowd. Today, I'm not going to worry about how I'll survive in an arena packed with killers. I'm going to put on my brave face and pretend to be the boy that everyone is afraid of, with his cool, commanding attitude and unchanging face. Because today I'm invincible, right?
Somewhere deep inside of me, I want to cry. I'm invincible, right?
Wrong.
Okay, that's the last chapter I'm going to upload for tonight. However, I do have an important announcement, and that is that I lost the list of who submitted which tribute. So if you still follow this story, please send me a message with the tribute you submitted. I'll make sure to update before Friday, and I'll reply to any reviews later tonight.