I awoke with a jolt, my eyes stinging with tears and my throat hoarse from the screams. I've had nightmares every day since last week, when my brother came of age for the reaping. Every night it's the same; he's standing on the stage, trying to look strong in front of the crowd and not daring to look me in the eye for fear of bursting into tears. It's worse for us though, the chance of being reaped is so much higher when you are the children of a victor. They rig the selection of tributes so you're definitely going to be picked, then they tell everyone the same old lie, 'Bad luck must run in the family!' I have seen it happen to others so many times, every year praying it won't be me but now Ash is also a slip of paper in the bowl of names. Our mother was a victor though I can sense by the way the peacekeeper look at us she was much more. She told me her story yesterday, about how she came to win. She was born in district three, the home of technology, and from the age of thirteen she had been part of a secret organization, set on destroying the capitol. They needed children as they were less conspicuous and easily replaced if something went… wrong. My mother was one of the most involved organization members, developing new ways to eat away at the Capitols resources, cutting them off from the districts they relied upon and hopefully leaving them stranded with nothing but it was dangerous work for her too and she had no-one to rely on, no-one to miss her if she disappeared like so many other 'employees'. It was said that the screams of rebels could be heard from Snow's property, under the shadow of night but she managed to dodge the danger, trusting no one. It was through this work, she met my father. He had moved to district three temporarily in search of bigger, better work all the way from district seven. They gradually got to know each other then when they were both eighteen, he proposed and she accepted. They had a discreet wedding of only the two of them and some friends and a few months later they moved back to district seven to his extensive family. Mum had no relations in district three, they were killed in the dark days when she was only young, leaving her an orphan at an early age and spurring her on to rebel though once she reached district seven, her goals changed. She was just settling down to married life, celebrating the fact she was soon to turn nineteen, to be freed from the reaping though one week before her birthday, the worst happened. Her name was drawn from the glass bowl, supposedly by accident though everyone knew it was a hoax. She entered the competition and with just swish of her glorious blonde hair, she would gain about ten sponsors. She was considered the beauty of the competition with a smile and charm that could convince the masses that she should win. Flying past the interviews and getting a high score of ten with her talent of inventing and creating weapons from her surroundings, she was ready for the games and favored to win, though she tripped up. In the arena, she formed an alliance and not with someone on her skill level, but a thirteen year old girl who came away with a score of two and burst in two tears both in the interview and reaping. No one had any expectation she would win and so she passed through the blood bath without being noticed. It was a purely forested arena meaning the young girl could hide in trees and attempt to survive as long as she could, or at least avoid a painful death and that's where my mother found her, lying in a bush with zero food supplies. The two of them became very close, almost like sisters however one night their camp was raided by the careers. They then wounded them deeply and left them to bleed to death. The girl died, slowly, whilst my mother attempted to help her but there was nothing she could do. She was so devastated with the brutal murder, she plotted. Plotted to destroy the people who did this. Using her extensive knowledge in the area, she used the mines around the platforms to blow up the hovercrafts that take the dead away, killing many tributes along with 20 Capitol workers in the process. She went mad with grief, commencing a killing spree of the careers that committed the slaughter however the Capitol was also watching her. They were fuming about her display of anger and little to her knowledge, they were plotting revenge. They let her win that year and left her alone until she was thirty-six and had two children, one named Ash and the other was named after her ally in the arena. My name is Johanna and today we are leaving district seven so we can keep our lives. We are running from the reaping and the guaranteed revenge it carries.