Chapter 4- Catalina Nightwind
The woman pulls the girl's name from the reaping bowl. She smiles down at us all, all of us holding our breaths. I pray it's not Challah, pray that it's not Lavender.
And it's not.
It's me.
"Cat, Cat! Wake up! Wake up, Cat!"
I finally come to, crying out, and I sit up. "Cat, you were having an awful nightmare," my sister Challah says, rubbing my arms. I burst into tears.
"I dreamt I was reaped," I sob and curl into my sister's arms.
Challah holds me tight and rocks me back and forth. "I remember; the first reaping is always the scariest. You'll get used to it more when you're my age," she says. Challah is sixteen and I can't remember her ever being scared by the reapings.
"Cat, you're only twelve. You're in the pool once. The odds of them picking you are very slim."
"They chose a twelve-year-old last year!" I say, looking up at her in the dark.
"Will you hush?" Lavender says sleepily from across the room. She shares that bed with my eldest sister, Edel. Lavender is seventeen and Edel is nineteen. I feel badly about waking them all up, since they have to be up early to go to work.
"Cat had a nightmare," Challah says. She and I share the other bed in our tiny bedroom in District 9. She's also my favorite sister.
"Well be quieter about it. Some of us are trying to sleep," Lavender says grumpily, turning over.
"Think you'll be okay?" Challah asks. I nod. "Okay then, goodnight. See you in the morning."
Challah turns over and goes back to sleep, but I can't. I'm too apprehensive. The reapings are in two days, if you count that today has already begun. Two days! And this is my first year being eligible, since I'm only twelve. I'm scared that I'll get picked, or my sisters will get picked. Next year I don't have to worry about Lavender, but there's still Challah.
I'm still awake when the district alarm goes off, announcing the start of a new day. My sisters all get up around me, Challah patting me on the shoulder before she leaves the room.
"Good morning girls," my mother says, putting out breakfast onto the table. My father comes in holding a pail of coal that must have come on the train.
"Good morning," I tell them both, sinking into my chair.
"Didn't you sleep well, Catalina?" my mother asks, worried. "You have dark circles under your eyes."
Challah comes in then and answers for me, "Cat had nightmares last night."
"What about, honey?" Mother asks, stroking my hair.
"The reapings of course," Edel says, coming in with her face freshly washed and her hair braided back. "Remember how terrified I was when I was twelve right before the reapings?"
"And nothing happened to you, or Lavender, or Challah. Catalina, you'll be just fine," my father says, putting that pail down by the stove.
I nod, but I still feel scared inside.
Challah walks me to school, because it's only her and I who go now. Next year she'll leave and go to work in the grain fields, like the rest of my family. District 9 is responsible for the grain production for Panem, after all. One day that will be my job too.
So, during the day while Challah and I are at school, my parents and sisters go to work and don't come home until after dark. The Peacekeepers make everyone work until the last ray of daylight is gone. Therefore, it's always Challah and me who get supper in the evenings.
"You'll be fine, you know that, Cat? In two days it will be all over and we can just sit back and watch this year's Hunger Games," Challah says, moving pots around.
"I don't want to watch the Games; they're horrible!" I say, setting the table. Challah raises an eyebrow at me.
"Don't let the Peacekeepers hear that comment, Cat."
I can't stop, though. "What if it's someone I know? What if it's one of you guys, and I can't help you? What if it's Grace or Mist or-"
"Cat, calm down," Challah says, taking me by the shoulders and shaking me a little. "Odds are, it won't be anyone you know, and we won't make you watch the Games, alright? This is just how it is."
"But why? Why does it have to be this way?"
Challah bites her lip and looks off into the distance. "You know about the Dark Days; they repeat the story every year."
"Yeah, I've heard way too much about them."
"That's why we have the Games. The Capitol wants us to remember how terrible those days were. The Games are our reminder. I hate them too, but there's nothing we can do about it but bear through them and wait for them to be over. You'll be fine, Cat. Finish setting the table."
I hear the finality in Challah's voice, that the subject is closed, but I can't help myself. I slowly set out the cutlery, taking way more care in it tonight than I ever have.
"But what if, Challah?" I ask softly.
"Catalina," she says, exasperated. Then her head turns swiftly to the side, to the door. "They're home. Quickly, pour the water and get me a bowl."
I hear my family stomp up to the porch, and I let the subject of the Games drop for now. I don't stop thinking about them though. Why shouldn't they stop? Haven't the districts learned their lessons? All through dinner I think about what's coming.
Two days.