Oberon Murdoch, District Nine male- (17, 13 at time of scene)

"Which one looks like our house?"

It wasn't houses I was pointing at. We'd reached the edge of our Nine town and we were heading into the fields and farm equipment part. Far behind us there was an orphanage we would never see again. Just like Mr. Arrow would never see Regan again. He'd never see her and look for far too long at a chest that was a decade away from developing.

"Our house?" Regan asked. She was buzzing with the energy that was pouring off from me. As far as she knew we were just out taking a walk. I'd told her we weren't going back but I didn't think she understood yet.

"That's right. It's time for us to have our own house. Which one?" I pointed at a dilapitated shed that looked like it hadn't been used in a long time. "That one's kind of nice."

"That one!" Luckily the one Regan was pointing at was also obviously disused. The main difference was that her pick had a sunny orange coat of paint instead of the flaking white one I'd pointed at.

"That one looks great! Let's go inside." I said. I tugged open the half-wedged door, and we ducked into a slanted-over shed that had once held a dozen hay bales and not much more. Bits of hay were littered on the ground and there was a crack in the roof I'd have to repair before autumn set in.

Regan didn't care about any of that. She was already clearing out a circle in the ground, and setting out her stuff on it. "Here's a table for us." She said as she plopped her stuffed squirrel down in the cleared area. She scrunched some hay together. "Here's a chair."

There were no footprints in the hay. No cleared-out beds someone might have made. No one was here. That was something I needed to be very certain of. When morning came I would have to leave Regan here. I'd have to leave her alone all day while I tried to find a job. I knew how to hide and to stay out of sight unless needed but Regan didn't know these things. If someone came up to her asking why she looked so much like the missing girl from the orphanage, Regan would just smile and say it was her! No, I'd have to leave my baby sister all day. Since I already knew what kind of people were in this world, I wanted to be very very sure she would be alone.

"Come play with me." Regan said, tugging on my hand. "We'll play house."

"House?" I said, more to myself than to her. I almost cried right there, hearing how serene she was. Regan's life was so peaceful and innocent that she looked around this shed and she did see a house. She had simple faith that we would make this a home. She didn't even consider the fact that there was no food in this place. She knew her brother would take care of that. Regan still believed in a good world and in good people. We were hours away from that being lost forever but we made it. We saved it.

"I need some help making this our house." I said to Regan. I looked up at the hole in the roof. "There's a hole up there! We'll get wet if it rains."

Regan started looking around for tools. Anything like that had long been taken by scavengers.

"It's okay. I'll plug it with hay." I said. I started gathering an armful of hay. "But I need you to help me make a big pile. A pile so big it will reach the roof!"

Today, a roof. Tomorrow, a job. So many things that I had to do and never fail. And one little sister who believed I could do them all.

Mai Rye, District Nine female- 16

I smiled a lot.

I had a pretty good life, I thought. I didn't have a mother and I didn't really have a father but lots of people didn't have parents. I still had my big brother Bran. He loved me, and he'd raised me since I was a baby so he was more of a father than my real father. I think it's not so important who you have in your family, as long as they love you.

I also smiled a lot because it always seemed to make other people smile when I did. Smiling spread like the wildflowers that always came back, no matter how many times we plowed them over. I made me happy to see other people smile and that made me smile even more.

It always seemed to me that life was too short to waste time. Some people called me impulsive but I just felt like I was using my life to its fullest. I never knew if tomorrow I might get into some horrible accident and die. I liked to act quickly and decisively. Sometimes I'll make the wrong decision but I'll always be making a decision. It was also clear to me that most of life is what you make of it. It's not that if you see things to smile about you smile more. It's that if you smile more you see more things to smile about.

Even on Reaping Day I could smile. It wasn't time to get into our lines yet so I was just milling around with a bunch of other scared kids. All around us people were bustling through line and huddling in groups and hoping everone else didn't see how scared they were. A boy who must have been only twelve years old, based on his size and his more visible fear of his surroundings, started to cry a few feet away from me.

"Hey, check this out." I said. I took three balls out of my pocket and started juggling them. The boy was so surprised by the out-of-place action that he couldn't help but look over. It was all so silly he started to laugh- probably mostly a nervous laugh, but still a laugh. I tossed the balls up and between my legs and back and forth, mixing it up and adding silly flourishes.

Some more children gathered around, as I did a few little juggling tricks. I had a lot of little stage tricks I could do- I was trying to learn them all just in case one ever got me a big break. I knew it wasn't possible but I still liked to dream about being a famous Capitol comedian. I could tell jokes but also I could juggle! You'd be a fool NOT to hire someone like that!

By the time the anthem started, I had a bunch of smiles in front of me. Then the anthem took them all away with its first note. Everyone hustled to their spots and waited to see who was going to die. Girls pressed in on either side of me, their heat stifling me.

The escort walked up to the bowl with that weird gliding walk Capitolites do. They already look like aliens to us with their clothes and then they had to make it worse.

"Maizie Rye!"

It was too late for me, then. I was going to die. No use wasting any thoughts on myself, then. Best to think of someone else. Someone like all those little kids I was just trying to cheer up, who were now going to see exactly how I was going to react to what they were afraid of. Better to think about their peace of mind as I begin to walk.

I smiled.