Alys Lofric, District Twelve Female, 16 years old

Reaping day is a good and bad day for me. Good because some of the richer eighteen year olds are more willing to spend their money the night before the ceremony because they fear the potential of death. Albeit it's not a lot of money they spend, they're more generous than usual. It's a bad day, however, because whilst people walk with their families to the square and get to experience moments of family love, I've got nothing.

My parents died when I was younger and I was left on the streets when I was evicted. I didn't go to the orphanage, I refused to and instead I led a life of living on the streets. It wasn't such a bad deal at first - people in the Seam were willing to feed me for discounted prices - or even free - and would happily take in what little items I found outside and act as if they were a big deal. I found that as I got older, however, this mutual pact didn't stick around. Part of me had thought that, because I had grown up in front of them, they'd be a bit more lenient but that wasn't the case. Soon I wasn't eating again and before I knew it I was starving.

That's when I turned to it, just before I turned fifteen - sleeping with people. Guys, girls, older, younger, it doesn't matter. If I get paid, that's the main thing. Some clients pay well and others don't; I know if I sleep with someone from the merchant district I'll be able to eat fine for a week. It wasn't an ideal choice, resorting to prostitution at the age of fifteen, but it was the only thing I could think about doing without starving to death. There's benefits though. It might not be the most steady income but it pays better than the mining job, plus it's opened doors for me. A few of the merchants have offered me jobs that I've turned down because I'm not eighteen yet. Maybe I'll be able to take them up as soon as I come of age.

You know one of those richer eighteen-year-olds I was talking about? I wake up beside one of them tonight. He's fairly attractive but the thing is, he hires me primarily just to live out the fantasy of having a girlfriend. I can't see why he wouldn't but he doesn't and because of that he's a regular customer. He has a habit of holding me close when we wake up and I have to carefully pry myself away from him even though I'm trying to rush. If the clock is right then the reaping is extremely soon and if I, a sixteen-year-old, was found to be missing it because I'm here sleeping with a guy. Well, the consequences would be horrifying. He's paid decently for last night and I know I won't need to do much sleeping around for at least another week and a half. It's that warm thought that I bring with me to the reaping.

Cadin James, District Twelve Male, 14 years old

Life's not too great for my family and I. We're a larger family, four kids in total, and we only have one person who's working to try and support us. When my mother was alive we weren't much better off but it was a definite improvement. Now we live in poverty and I feel bad for my younger brothers - their lives are over and unmovable before they've even truly began.

Six years ago, when I was eight, my mother had died in a mining accident. Accidents are pretty common seeing as we have to dig so far down. From what we're told she mined a particularly weak part of a tunnel's infrastructure and it collapsed on her, killing her immediately. Sometimes we like to think she's still alive but the probability of that being true is extremely weak. My father had to take up longer mining hours himself and my older sister has told him to not make the same mistake as our mother did.

Being the middle child, I'm often left out. You see, my older sister has the biggest chance of having a career change - she's prime to work in the merchant's district and if that happens we'll be able to at least move to the outskirts of the Seam and live a better life. My younger brothers, naturally as the youngest out of the four of us, are babied and protected. I'm not neglected, no, but I'm of the least priority. I'm fine with that though, I just keep my head down at school and try to do the best I can to be like my sister - if we had two people working in the merchant's district and our father working, we'll be able to move to a nicer part of the district in no time.

My sister and I always walk down to the reaping together; we stick close by because we've both put in tesserae and that means we both have a bigger chance of being reaped. The only saving grace is that so many other people in the district have done the same thing so, in comparison to them, we probably have a smaller chance of being reaped. She hugs me goodbye after we get filed in and we take our places in the designated sections.

Alys Lofric, District Twelve Female, 16 years old

Our escort is always the most eccentric whenever we watch the other reapings. She's also the most fake. You can tell she's just waiting to be bumped up to a better district. Newer escorts always get lumped with us and they always get bored after a few years of escorting us. We're the butt of the Capitol's joke and that's for certain.

Our reapings always stay solemn. We watch the video, we wait for the names to be drawn and that's that. It's all done in silence. We're the most impoverished district so why be on camera for so long to prove that?

She picks her names rather quickly and always has a quickly step to and from the bowls and the microphone.

"Alys Lofric!"

I can feel the tears welling up in my eyes as I walk down the aisle. This can't be happening. I can feel the eyes of the district boring holes into the back of my head. Most of the district knows what I'm line, what I do, so to have this happen to me is embarrassing to say the least.

I try to keep my tears from escaping and hold my head up high.

Cadin James, District Twelve Male, 14 years old

"Cadin James!"

I've just been reaped for the 70th Annual Hunger Games. Me, Cadin James.

I think about my mother for a few seconds and how she did - will I suffer a similar fate? I can see the peacekeepers making their way up the aisle to support me down it and I take my place in their centre of their formation. Escape is futile - they'll just kill me.

I make sure to now show any emotion - the more ambiguous I am as a competitor the better, because that's what I am - a competitor.

When I get to the stage I make sure to look over at my partner when I have the chance. When I stand beside her it's obvious she's the tribute that'll get the sponsors out of the two of us.

I sigh as I shake her hand.

The Hunger Games have begun.

And that's the final of the reapings! I'm glad the consensus was that the District Eleven reapings were better.

Once again, I'm sorry to those who submitted the tributes who didn't have much mentioned two chapters ago. I've already figured out where I'm going to add more detail for them!

Now it's the goodbyes and the train rides and then we can get to the interesting stuff - the chariots, training, interviews and the Games!

As I've said, the goodbyes and train rides will be split into groups of four since I don't intend for the goodbye chapters nor the train rides to be as intense in detail.

As always, reviews make me happy~!

- Oli