However, my plan ended four months later, at this time I manage to begin to crawl. A great feat for my age and that allowed me to hide myself under brother James' bed when I was too tired of people around me. My new parents almost had a heart attack the first time it happens, thinking they somehow lost their youngest, but with time they got used to it. I guess that with time everyone gets used to everything, from a child weirdness to the horrors of the world.
All the time since I was born, I stayed inside our farm, even though I saw my siblings going to school and my parents occasionally going to the city for others supplies in exchange of a chicken or a pig, never a cow even though they probably worth more. So, I found weird when everyone starts to dress their best clothes with gloom expressions on their faces, brother James in special looked like he was going to burst into tears. Now, my older brother may have been a child that just complete twelve, but I have never seen him cry. At the world of before it was not common allow boys to show "weak" emotions, but this life was even worst. Sister Harper was six and mother scold her for crying when one of the chickens bit her.
Mother dressed me and put me into a sling forcing me to face her, like she didn't want me to see the world. But I struggle and thrown a tantrum until I was finally allowed to face forward. As we walk down the path that leads to the city, I began seeing our neighbors all dressed in their best clothes, maybe we are going to the church, I remember thinking, in the world from before some countries use nice clothes to go there. It made sense in my mind. But the truth was way worst.
I said nice clothes before, they were not really nice, at least not at the before standard. My old family wasn't rich before I died, but we were way wealthier than my family now, we always have food to eat, but most of our clothes were hand me down, James and Harper get something new every once in a while, but Chris, Charlie and Will use James old clothes and Chloe and I wore Harper's. However, it looked like our situation was common, almost all the girls' dresses colors had faded a little bit and the boys' shirts didn't seem to fit properly.
We arrive at the center square, a place surrounded by stores that normally would sell everything you could think of. But today all shops were closed and a platform was built. Girls and boys were standing in the center of the square looking nervously around, and their family fill any other place possible, some of them showing fear and pity for the children, others completely avoiding looking at them.
The Gadeer clan, how my father liked to call us, stopped a little bit before the crowd of children. And turn to my oldest brother, that at this point have some tears falling from his brown eyes.
"It would be alright, your name is only there once. There are thousand of papers on that thing. The odds are on our favor. Be brave." Father said while putting a hand on my brother shoulder.
James nod, sucking the tears in. And without looking back walk until the guards wearing white armor, that reminded me of a bad done cosplayer of Star Wars. The guards identified him and directed my brother to other boys his age. At this moment something inside me began to twirl and a nervous feeling rose up.
The kids were separated by age, the oldest the closed to the platform, and up in the platform stood six people. Or what I assume it was a person. Five of them were normal, a bald man was sitting on a chair a little bit nicer than the others in the center, at his right stood four other people, three men and one woman. One of the men was old, with his hair already white, but his eyes look anxiously around the crowd, another looked middle age with a defeated expression on his brown eyes. The woman was on her thirties, her hair and eyes were brown like most of the people that lived around here, she was wearing a buttoned shirt with her spine straight and head high, staring severe to the nothing. The last one was in the beginning of his twenties, and looked like a giant wall of muscles in the body of a human. The last person on the stage, or at least I believe it was a person had red skin. Not blushed or anything natural. Red. Like blood. He was a man, but I guess I could only say this because of the life of before. He certainly did not look like any other men here, with red skin, red hair and a bright blue suit (was that even consider a suit?). He was happily gesturing and talking to the bald man, that seemed like prefer to be anywhere else.
Soon the bald man stood up and walked until the microphone. He welcomes us and proceed giving a speech about why we were here today. My mind went blank and his voice disappeared into the background noise.
What are the odds? Why? How? It cannot be true.
"Ladies and gentlemen welcome to the 54th annual Hunger Games." My ears decided to re-start working when the Blood Man spoke. Tears start to run throw my cheeks, I can blame the fact that now I was a baby and have almost no control over my emotions, but I would have cried if I was an adult too.
Hunger Games, almost everyone in the world of before knew about it. A book series, turn into movies, about a game that made children kill children in an arena until only one is left. And I'm here now. In a district, a guess is the 10 based on the number that stood proudly into the biggest building in the square right behind the platform. We must produce livestock, that's why my parents have a farm, why my siblings already work, that's probably why we don't sell the cows, they are for the Capitol. There is no way out, my plan comes to me crashing, all the steps are impossible now. But, most important, right now my brother is in the crowd hoping he would not be picked. James, my stupid caring older brother, that try to act as an adult in front of the younger ones, but make funny faces to make me laugh we he thinks we are alone.
At the end of the video about the dark days I'm sobbing, mother tries to calm me down, but only paying half attention on the task. She is focused on the Blood Man, a Capitolite, that walk until the left transparent ball full of papers, names, possible tributes.
He calls a girl's name. I don't recognize, but again I know almost no one here, this is my first outing. The crowd of kids open up, a girl no older than fifteen makes her way to the platform, she is not crying, but her fist trembles and she already have a defeated look. She would probably not come back home.
The Blood Man goes to the other ball and I can feel all my family hold their breath. One collective thinking around us eight.
Not James, please not him. Anyone, but him.
"David Avtru"
Relieve runs throw my body as I see a boy coming out of the eighteen years old section. Followed by shame. The boy's right arm is injured, I can see it from far away so its probably even worst up close. The two tributes stand side by side, trying to look strong. Trying to won some sponsors. I think. But both are almost hopeless. And looking for the four people at the right, the victors, they think the same.
That night we all go home and hug. My past family liked to hug, this one not that much. But we sit on the ground and hug, glad that the family suffering tonight is not ours. Maybe this is an awful though, but I will not sugar coat. I am not a heroine, I am a normal person, I am selfish and I want to live and the people that I love, my family, live too, until their old and wrinkle.
Maybe is time to make a new plan.