The hour leading up to the Reaping was not like my nightmares.
It was so much worse.
As we filed in one by one I could hear muffled cries around me of other children just the same as me- this was the first time we had been this close to death.
One girl was shrieking and clawing for her father and Peacekeepers had to keep her in line. I am not like them, I thought. I am so much stronger and better and tougher. I will not cry.
Instead of wailing, though, I simply froze and when I tried to speak to Katniss all that came out was a series of gasps.
"Prim, it's gonna be fine. It's gonna be totally fine. There's no way you'll be picked." she said. Then Katniss pulled me into a tight hug and I knew she didn't believe what she said.
The children eligible for reaping were cordoned off by age, separating me from my sister. I ended up surrounded by children from the Seam whom I didn't know.
As soon as the mayor stood up to speak I lost focus. He was saying his annual speech, something about the disasters that had plagued out land and how eventually the Capitol rose up from the ashes ringed by 13 'glorious' districts. Unfortunately the 13th District is not standing anymore, the Capitol is amazing, blah blah. All I could think of were those two glass bowls on the stage, each with hundreds of girls names. One of those would be mind. Twenty of those were my sisters. The thought of Katniss being sent into an arena filled with 23 other blood-thirsty children made me shudder. She would be fine though, I think. Katniss can shoot a bow and arrow better than anyone in District 12.
Eventually the mayor introduced our one and only victor, Haymitch Abernathy. I don't know how he won his Games since he was currently staggering over Effie, clearly drunk.
Effie, recovering quickly, strutted over to the bowl with the girl's names in it. She took off her glove. Effie didn't have claws, I noted with relief. The entire district took a collective gasp as she swished her hand around the bowl. Then she opened the paper, read out the name, and I died.