Gaia Greengrove, 13
District 7

Reaping day. Again. The thought had been plaguing her thoughts all morning as she knelt in the garden, digging up weeds with a trowel. Pulling up another clump of dandelions out of the ground, she knocks the dirt from the roots and drops it into the bucket already full of weeds from the garden. Next to her, her mother does the same. Neither talk. It's one of the many disadvantages of being deaf, you can't garden and sign at the same time. Gaia doesn't mind at this moment though, she has so many opportunities to talk with her mum, and anyways, gardening is something best done in silence, in her opinion at least.

After a few more minutes of work, Gaia stands, brushing the dirt from her knees and taps on her mum's shoulder to get her attention.
'What's the time?' she signs.

'We'll leave in 20 minutes.'

Gaia nods, running away from her, towards the forest on the outer edges of the district. Technically speaking, you weren't supposed to be there other than for work, but the Peacekeepers did nothing to enforce it. She guessed it was because as long as they didn't get hurt or slow down the work it was better than venturing outside the fence. There wouldn't be anyone working right now, there wasn't much point of starting before the reaping when they'd have to pause to attend. Or be punished.

Stopping at a house on her way, she opens the door, letting herself in. Venturing into the kitchen, she finds a woman. She looks up from the dough she's kneading when she senses Gaia's presence.

'Are you looking for Aspen?' she asks.

Gaia nods.

'I'll call her for you.'

Gaia sees her mouth moving, calling her friend down. After 13 years, she could kind of read lips, but it wasn't something she was ever very good at, so she relied on sign language or writing.

'Have you seen Olivia lately?'

Gaia shakes her head, indicating no. Olivia was Aspen's big sister, and the friend of her own big sister, Terra. Olivia was also deaf, which was why she and Gaia were so close, despite the 10 year age difference. When your deaf, there weren't many people who spoke your language. Olivia taught sign language to Terra, who had then taught it to Gaia and her family once they found out she was deaf.

'She'd like it if you pop round to see her later, dear,' Mrs Ochre replied. 'Here's Aspen now.'

Turning around, she saw a red-haired girl enter the kitchen.

'Hiya.' Aspen says with a smile on her face.

'I'm going to the forest to get more flowers and you should come with me and then we can go to the reaping together soon,' Gaia suggests.

Aspen nods and then says something to her mother and the two head out, continuing to the edge of the district. It was a short walk, though. With both of their parents being loggers, they lived close to the forest for easy access to work each morning.

The pair reach a thicket of bushes and wildflowers and stop. There are saplings growing in rows behind, but where the adults go to work each morning is far out, where the trees are the biggest and fully grown. They plant two more for each tree they cut down, but they won't return to here for many years until they are fully grown again.
Gaia picks a handful of the prettiest flowers and then tucks them into her long blonde braid. It only takes a minute, and when she's done she spins to show them off to Aspen.

'Very pretty.'

'I know,' Gaia replies with a pleased grin, and Aspen returns it. But we should probably go now so we aren't late.

Later the pair arrive at the Town Square, where they line up, and slowly inch towards the sign-in desk. Gaia feels the nerves knotting in her stomach, and she tries to calm them. It's unlikely she'll get reaped, her name is only in the bowl 2 times. She's lucky in that way. But she knows it's possible.

The girl from last year, Lykrie. She'd only had her name in there 3 times, once more than Gaia did. Lykrie was only 13, and she got reaped. Maybe she went on to win, but it showed that Gaia could get reaped, just as the victor had. The boy, her district partner, she couldn't remember his name, Twine maybe? He'd only been 14. He got reaped.

Reaching the front of the line, she sticks her finger out, wincing when she feels the sharp prick. Taking her finger back, and nursing it, despite the sharp pain already fading, she presses her finger on the page, leaving a bloody fingerprint. She saw the Peacekeeper say something, she didn't know what, but she took it as a sign to carry on to her pen, and soon Aspen followed through after her.

Five minutes later, the escort took the stage. He was new this year, presumably last year's one had gotten an upgrade after Lykrie's victory. He starts talking, and Lykrie stares blankly at him, not even attempting to try to read his lips from this distance.

'What'd he say his name was?' Gaia asked Aspen.

'Teddy.'

Well, at least Teddy seemed to be very tamely dressed, compared to the other escorts she'd seen before, from all the districts combined.

She keeps watching as the video plays, some Capitol propaganda according to her family and friends. Really, if they wanted everyone to know what it said they should put some subtitles on it. Propaganda or not, Gaia assumed being able to read along would be a lot more interesting than standing there bored. Then the video finished, and Teddy crossed over to the bowl standing in the middle of the stage. He picks a name and reads it out.

Gaia looks around, waiting for someone to walk out and up to the stage. But no one does. Instead, she becomes aware of many pairs of eyes looking at her. Her heart skips a beat, and she turns to Aspen. Her hands are shaking so badly that Gaia can't understand what she's saying. But the message is clear enough. She was picked.

A few tears roll down her face, but she tries to compose herself, walking slowly up to the stage. Thousands upon thousands of pairs of eyes watch her every move, but then the cameras, broadcasting her to the Capitol, and then later, to the districts. When she reaches the stage, she shakily signs that she's deaf and can't speak. Teddy won't know exactly what she's saying, but she figures that the message is clear enough, and he nods, showing that he understands.

She stands behind him, searching the sea of eyes for her family. She can't find them, there are too many people, and she looks down at her boots and the hem of her green dress, hand-sewn by her mother. She knows that someone else will be getting reaped now, someone who stands a better chance than her, just because they can hear.

And sure enough, there's movement in the same section she came from. Another 13-year-old. As a small girl with dark curly hair makes her way up to the stage, in complete shock, Gaia looks up again and watches her. As she draws nearer, she recognizes her. She's in her class at school. They've never really interacted, but she feels glad for a familiar face. Kalani Raciov, she thinks her name is

Pulling her eyes away from Kalani, who's even shorter than she is, which is a difficult feat, as she only stands 5 feet tall, she looks back out to the crowd. The 18-year-olds who just survived their last reaping are trying not to smile. Glad that they're free and out of harm's way, but not wanting to show it out of respect for the two girls who did get reaped. All the other kids are happy too, knowing that they're safe for another year, and their parents glad that the don't need to watch their child die on tv. While she knows she'll die, she's glad that they won't. She still can't find her family, but she can see Aspen, and they lock eyes. Aspen's crying, a few tears rolling down her cheek.

Kalani reaches over to Gaia, and she jumps away, confused before she realises that she's meant to shake her hand, so she does. She makes eye contact and can see that what's happening still hasn't quite hit Kalani. Breaking eye contact, and dropping hands, they're ushered into the Justice Building.

And here's district 7, we're past the halfway mark for reapings! Thank you so much Garden for Gaia, and LittleAvery88 for Kalani who'll we properly meet in the train rides.

I've hopefully fixed all the issues with the chapter displaying weirdly, and important author's note update next chapter.