Auburn Ternatea. D11. 13.

I am so sick and tired of all of this stupid gardening. All day, every day, I wake up at the crack of dawn, and carry bushel after bushel of various fruits and vegetables to the cars that drive them to the cargo trains that go to the Capitol. Today was probably the worst day of all. On the ride into the fields, the car broke down, and the Peacekeeper driving it told us to walk the rest of the way. After a half mile hike we found out we were stationed to pick herbs today. The worst thing about herbs is how mind-numbingly boring it is to pick them. All you do is yank leaves off the plants. And then, of course, our ride was still broken down, so we had to carry our bushels into town. By the time we made it into town, we saw the reaping was being set up and realized we still needed to get ready for it. My older sister Rose and I were both of reaping age and we had to somehow get a year's worth of dirt off us in time for the reaping. My sister and I take turns taking a bath in the metal bowl we call a tub. We can't afford to be late. If we are, the Peacekeepers will take all the money I make until the next reaping. My family still requires my sister and I to take out tesserae even with all four of us working from sun rise to sun set.

So my sister and I eventually give up on the idea of perfection after we've scrubbed off five layers of dirt, and still aren't near being done. We leave the small hut we refer to as home and go to the District Square. It really is the most beautiful of all the District Squares. We are sure of this because the Capitol citizens took a vote on it. Ours was described as, vibrant, colorful, and naturally beautiful. Why do Capitol citizens have such easy lives that they have time to vote on a frivolous poll while we spend our days providing them with food. What if the roles were reversed? What if they were forced to work back breaking hours while I got to analyze which District had the prettiest Square?

"Auburn, are you even listening?" I hear Rose ask. "We're late. We'll need to run if we want any hope of surviving this next year. You know as well as I do that the Peacekeepers here are relentless. They'll take our money, and do something terrible, like kill one of us, or our parents. Do you want that to happen?" I felt Rose was being a bit extreme, but I didn't want my parents dead, so I started running with Rose to get to the Square faster. Had I known what was going to happen, I would have stopped dead in my tracks and refused to move.

We arrive to the Square just in time for our escort's appearance. Our escort, Trixie, loved trying wearing clothes that resembled our district. But of course, with a Capitol fashion sense, everything was terribly hilarious. This year she was supposed to be a rose. Her red dress had a bunch of overlapping layers that made her head look like the center of the rose. Her shoes had big roses over the toes, and her wig was tinted red, and had real roses sticking out of them. She gave some big speech about how happy she was to be here. We all know that she's jealous of her sister Dixie; the District Two escort.

"The female tribute this year is," She said, cutting to the chase, "Is Auburn Ternatea."

As I walk to the stage I look over at Rose. She's crying, but showing no sign of volunteering for me. It seems love only goes so far.

Ash Solidaster. D11. 16

"But what if I do get reaped?" asked my little brother Dorian asked for about the millionth time today.

"Don't worry bro. Your name is only in there once. I highly doubt you will get drawn, twelve year olds hardly ever do." My brother was so overly worried that he would get drawn, that it's all he's been able to talk about all week. Every time he brings it up, I reassure him that he won't be getting drawn. His refusal to believe anything and everything I tell him is really starting to get on my nerves. Of course, it probably didn't help that we had been out picking fruit for the past three and a half hours. I had to protect my brother from getting reaped, so I didn't let him take any tesserae. But my family still needed to eat, so Dorian had to come out here and work. The problem of being in a family with five kids was that it was an uphill battle to keep everyone fed. There are often days when I don't eat. Some days I sneak out of the house and grab a few things from the shipment boxes. Just a bag of fruit or vegetables every now and again. It's not like it's going to kill the Capitol because they're five carrots short.

As the day goes on, I figure it's time for my brother and I to leave so that we can get cleaned up for the reaping. I let him take the first bath. I'm not really sure why, but for some reason letting him have the hot water helped keep me calm. While he bathed I laid out his outfit and changed into mine. We both had one nice outfit, for the sole purpose of the reaping. We both had khakis and plaid shirts, his blue, mine green. I was wise in the decision to just get dressed, because by the time he was done in the bath it was almost time to go. He changed into his clothes, and we left together for the District Square.

As we arrived, our escort was in the process of talking about how she loved our flowery little District. She needs to do her research. District Eleven is one of the largest Districts. At least she knew we have flowers in our District. You could tell by her hideous flower dress. I think it was supposed to be a rose, but it looked like one big red monstrosity. She announced the female tribute. I recognized her as one of the other farmers. You could tell the people of our District weren't very happy about someone so young being sent into the Arena. Then the unspeakable happened. "Ash Solidaster," Trixie read. I walked toward stage doing my best to stay confident.

As I passed my brother's section however, Dorian ran out and shouted, "I volunteer as tribute!"

"No Dorian," I said. "You're too young." I continued to walk on stage and shake hands with a slightly bewildered Trixie.