Forty-six times, The Hunger Games have been played. People have watched children fight to the death forty-six times. Now it is time for the Forty-Seventh Annual Hunger Games to begin. Twenty-Four will go in, but only one will come out. Who will be crowned the victor? The characters come from a SYOT sign up, hosted on a different site.
Antero Tripith, District Five
It's odd to think that I am now the age my sister was when she died. One moment she was there, and then the next she was just gone. After she had died, I made a promise to myself to make sure that if was ever to go into the Hunger Games, I would be prepared to win. If it came down to it, I would not let my parents lose another child!
My shoes clicked onto the pavement as I walked down towards the Justice Building. I just had to get through two more Reapings, and then the year after next I would be safe. My finger was pricked by the Peacekeepers and I was ushered to the seventeen year old section, but I hardly took any notice, since I was lost in my own thoughts.
I can't really remember what all happened before the girl was chosen, but before I knew it, it was time to select the boy's name. The escort giggled as she pulled out a name, and it was rather sickening to hear. Slowly, with a smile on her lips, she read the name, "Antero Tripith!"
A numb feeling washes over me as my heart sinks to the ground. It's me, oh God it's me! What am I going to do? Win, I have to win now. Slowly I make my way to the stage, trying to calm my heart rate down. My eyes instinctively travel to my family, and I instantly regret it. I see my mother clutching onto my father for dear life, and my younger sister crying as she watched me walk.
I stared at the girl in front of me as we were instructed to shake hands. Her name is unfamiliar to me, but I know her by face. As I shake her hand, I take in her appearance. Honestly, I think she must be the most beautiful girl in our District, no in all of Panem! I'm unable to pinpoint what exactly I'm feeling, but I do know that I can't watch her die.
Why the Hell am I feeling this way? My mind is buzzing with questions, which have no answers. This, this can't be love…. Can it? I start to think about how my mother had described love to me, and sure enough I had every symptom. Damn, I'm in love with a girl who only has a one in twenty-four chance to live… and I would have to die, if she were to live.
What am I going to do? I start looking around, almost frantically… bad choice. First, I see her giving me a small smile, as if trying to comfort me about dying. Then, I see my family again. My sister is on the ground, after no longer being able to stand upright. My mother will most likely be joining her on the ground, since it looked like holding onto my father was not going to keep her stable for much longer.
This was definitely not how I imagined this day going.
Lavender Fitzgerald, District Five
"Lavender, hurry up or you'll be late!" My father shouts to me from downstairs.
Quickly I get up and rush down the stairs, grabbing my jacket as I rush out the door. "Bye Dad, love you!" I shout over my shoulder.
My feet start to slow down as the house, which my father raised me in, disappears around the corner. No matter what happens this year, I'll accept it. After all, everything happens for a reason, right? Just like how my mother is gone, because my father was meant to raise me on his own, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
I'm not ready to die, but then again, who is? Every single year twenty three kids die in the arena, two from our District. It could be anyone… even me. I honestly feel the worst for the kids who have siblings with them in the arena, like the two District Five kids last year, who were brother and sister. Maybe that's the perk of being an only child. When you're alone, you can simply protect yourself.
Silently I take my place in the sixteen year old section and wait for the escort. As she speaks, she giggles, quite a bit actually, and it's almost disturbing. I've never been a fan of the woman, because she kind of creeps me out, but maybe that's just because I associate her with the Hunger Games, which is synonymous with death.
The escort reaches into a glass bowl and pulls out a slip of paper, a slip of paper that will seal one girl's fate, my fate to be exact. "Lavender Fitzgerald!"
A lump forms in my throat as I begin my walk to the stage, and I have to swallow it down. The boy's name is called, and it sounds familiar. My heart falls slightly, fate must really hate me today, because the name called is that of the only boy I've ever had a crush on, Antero Tripith. Now at least one of us has to die.
My lips curve up into a small smile as we shake hands, as if I was trying to comfort him. To be honest, I am trying to comfort myself, if anyone at all. Noticing him glancing around, I see his eyes fleeting over to his family. It's a wretched sight; both his sister and his mother have fallen to the ground. I remember that just a few years ago, his sister died in the games, which can only make this that much more painful.
Scanning the crowd, I find my father. His head his held high and he is looking right at me. At that moment, I know we were thinking the same thing: fate can be a bitch.