A/N: Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games. Okay, so this is the second half of the Reaping, where the male tribute is selected. The next chapter after this will be Katniss in the Justice Building saying her final goodbyes. For all of you Peeta-nators out there, Peeta himself will be in the next chapter as well! ;) I will take any reviews, so please tell me what you honestly thought. I will always accept new readers and all reviews. Give me any questions, comments, or suggestions either in the review box below, or you can just PM me. I'll accept PMs from anyone and everyone, so feel free. R & R please! Enjoy!
To my lovely reviewers:
FearfulShadows: Yes, Madge does get Reaped, especially because she is the mayor's daughter. It'll sound confusing now, but hopefully you'll understand after you read it. If you have any questions or comments, like I said, feel free to PM me.
Ghanaperu: Haha, I love the fact that you're guessing already as to who the male tribute is. Thanks so much for reading and reviewing! We'll have to see if you're right about the male tribute.
Chapter 5: A Price to Pay
After hearing Madge's name being called, all eyes, including mine, scope out the audience to find her. Once found, Madge is kindly given a pathway to walk to the stage, but she doesn't move. She is frozen, unable to move. I can see the shock in her eyes, which are also frozen, looking at the same spot on the ground. After about ten seconds of her still in the same position, Effie gets fed up and gives a look to one of the Peacekeepers standing by, silently ordering him to take her to the stage. When the Peacekeeper approaches her, she suddenly remembers how to walk, and takes it slow to the stage. I remember Madge once told me that her father, District 12's mayor, told her that Peacekeepers are cruel and harsh, and represent all of the Capitol to a T. I avoided them ever since. Madge's father keeps in touch with the Capitol a lot, because he's mayor, but that doesn't mean he likes them, Madge also told me.
As Madge walks to the stage, all memories of her mix together into a blur in my mind that eventually becomes a picture of a tombstone. It's funny, really, how fast a citizen of Panem can become a tribute, and, shortly after, a martyr. Well, it's not funny at all, mostly ironic, and a huge part of me believes that this was no coincidence. I heard that Madge's father recently did something by accident to upset the Capitol, specifically President Snow, and I assume that he made him pay for his mistakes by putting his daughter into the Hunger Games. I haven't the slightest clue as to what he might've done, but it must've been something light enough not only to keep as mayor, but for him to keep his own life. By selecting Madge as tribute, President Snow is sending a message to Mr. Undersee: that he will be forgiven and will only have to pay a "small" price for what he did, but if something ever happens again, he will be killed for his actions. The message couldn't be any clearer.
Madge finally makes it to the stage, and, from this vantage point, I can see that she is visibly shaking. I hear something in the audience, and I look to see Madge's parents crying, her mother sobbing. Effie shakes Madge's hand, but Madge's mind is elsewhere. She's looking past the audience, to the woods, like Gale and I had earlier today. Effie doesn't seem to notice that there is anything wrong, so she continues. She asks the audience of female teenagers, "Do we have any volunteers?" I stay silent even though every bone in my body is screaming at me to draw attention to myself and shout, "I volunteer as tribute!" but I don't. Not because I don't like Madge; she's my best friend, aside from Gale, of course, but because I can't leave my mother, and especially, Prim. I feel like I'm being torn in two; every being in me is telling me to volunteer for her, but I know that I can't and I won't. The only thing I can do for her is to pray that she will get lots of sponsors.
Finally, Effie gets the hint that no one wants to take her place in these horrid Games, so she says with a powerful and overexcited voice into the microphone: "Everyone, please give a round of applause to District 12's female tribute for the seventy-fourth Hunger Games, Madge Undersee!" Effie claps loudly into the microphone, for all to hear, especially the Capitol, who are all probably rooting and hollering right now in the City Circle. The City Circle is in the Capitol, and each and every year, The Hunger Games are broadcast there, for families and friends to view together. It's completely sick. Everything about Panem and the Capitol and The Hunger Games makes me sick. And to think, one man, by the name of Coronalius Snow, created this all. As Effie continues to clap alone, and no one continues to care, I decide to pay my respect to Madge and give her the three finger salute. I kiss the three middle fingers of my left hand, and hold them up high, for all to see, especially the Capitol. Soon, everyone, and I mean everyone, including a drunken Haymitch, are following me. Madge salutes us all back, but is looking at me.
Effie then says, "And now, for the male tribute!" She, once again, pulls off the same act for the Capitol as she did for Madge. She walks to the bowl on the opposite side of the stage, and reaches her hand in, grabbing a slip of paper. In the split second in which she opens it, I pray a silent prayer to myself, begging that it not be Gale, but I guess the Capitol decided that he was the one. Effie announces, "Gale Hawthorne!" and all is a blur as I see him walk to the stage, then stand there, then everyone saluting him, then the crowd clearing out, then me just standing there, shocked.
Gale was right, the odds were not in his favour this year.
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