Yo people! What-up? Anyhoo, the delectable stories of the Hunger Games ain't mine folks!

The Reaped

We arrive at the Justice hall at 1 o'clock, to find a whole hoard of nervous looking parents and children. The childless one's stand out from the crowd, the only ones who are moving freely through the crowd, unworried and, some even looking happy, just a day off work for them. I see the bitter looks of parents directed to these people, as though they were wishing they were safe from being hurt by the reaping. We split up, my parents going one way, towards the throng of people praying for someone else's child to be chosen to die. I find myself pushed towards the female side, and I do not push against the flow, knowing it will push me to where I need to go. I glance across the crowd and see my little brother standing in the middle, looking nervous but he seems to be coping apart from that. Further back I see Marlin in clothes a size too small, fiddling with a green bracelet around his left wrist. I content myself with gazing at Marlin for several minutes, to calm my nerves. Staring at Marlin always calms my nerves. As my heartbeat returns to normal, I feel a sharp poke to my side and turn (regretfully) away from Marlin to see Nymph following my gaze to Marlin.

"Marlin seems to be coping well enough" I say, trying (and failing) to cover up my Marlin-athon.

Nymph makes a sympathetic face and tells me "Why don't you just ask him out?"

I turn salmon pink and am about to reply when Kerri Bell pushes in-between Nymph and I. Saved by Bell.

"H-e-y Gae!" she says to me, in that irritating capitol accent. Peacekeepers come from the capitol, and Kerri seems to have picked up that stupid accent from her parents. I grind my teeth together and attempt not to think of a certain fishing rod.

"My name's not Gae, it's Aalgae, and secondly, only my step-mother calls me Aalgae. Call me Aal." I try to say this without that much viciousness, but Nymph gives me warning glare and so I attempt to change my own glare to a smile. This hurts a lot.

Kerri smiles stupidly and says "But Aal's soooooo boring. I'll call you Gae!"

I'm beginning to wonder whether she can hear the sound of my teeth grinding together when our silence is broken by Nymph saying awkwardly "So, how many times are you entered into the orb-of-doom this year Kerri?"

Most people around us already know how many slips of paper bear the name 'Nymph Odair', but Kerri laughs in her stupidly high-pitched voice and says "Silly Nym!" she shakes her blue-gold hair out of her eyes and continues "I'm from the capitol, I don't get entered. I just get to watch the fun!"

Several people around us have heard her, and I wonder for a second if she knows how many people in her vicinity want to punch her in the face. Refusing to acknowledge any signals given off. Kerri stays next to us and waffles on and on about how 'absolutely amazing' this year's Games will be. I'm beginning to wish Kerri could be entered into the Hunger Games so she would shut up for a minute or two when a loud gong sounds and Gaia Trunketti enters the stage, red hair sticking up like she forgot to brush it this morning. I snort with laughter and then, realising where I am, stop.

"Hello District 4!" She trills, in an accent almost as stupid as Kerri's "Are you ready for the 34th Hunger Games?"

She looks expectantly at the crowd, but silence falls in District 4. Unfortunately, this does not dismay her in the slightest and she just moves on, and starts to tell us what an honour it is to be here in the district with the third best winning rate. She neglects to mention how psycho our victors all are, either before or after the Games. I remember two years ago, someone at school got chosen, a boy called Tobi. He went crazy during the games after his ally from this district got killed in front of him. I think he stared to try to eat the people he killed, my mother stopped me watching. Before the games, he was actually pretty nice; I remember he asked Nymph out when they were 15. I think they might have gone out for a while actually.

Weirdly enough for someone my age, I don't really notice much about boyfriends, I have never had one and I can't remember Nymph's (to her dismay). I glance over at Marlin again and watch him straighten his clothes and look back to the stage where some Capitol propaganda is currently playing. I look up in time to see a girl smash another girl's face in with a large stone. I wince slightly and look back to Marlin's face (Hey! It's a nicer sight!) Maybe Nymph is right and I should ask him out. I'm 17 now and 1 year away from when we're supposed to marry. Well, I say supposed to but we're more or less forced. At 18 we can't take out Tesserae anymore and if we don't marry before 19 we have to give a certain proportion of our income to the Capitol. By 'certain proportion' I mean or less all of it. If we can't find someone to marry then they'll find someone for us. And that is something I do not want, most of the boys my age are utter prats, I see them around Marlin, looking up at the screen showing murder and killing with an expression filled with greed and want. Marlin understands how wrong the games are.

I enjoy the rest of the video because of one fact. I spend the remainder of the video exploring Marlin's face with my eyes. My heartbeat is just returning to normal levels when I hear the sound of the Capitol theme and Marlin turns away from the screen and meets my storm-grey eyes with his dark brown ones. I hurriedly turn away from him and pretend to be watching the screen with the capitol screen on it. Gaia claps when the anthem finishes, along with the peacekeepers, Kerri and some of the 'teers from our district ('teers are what we call the ones who volunteer to be in the games, along with the name 'mentally insane'. I know that there are several boys who want to be in the games this year, but I'm not sure about the females.

"And now!" Gaia warbles "for the bit we've all been waiting for! The reaping! Let us get the reaping ball!"

Gaia waves one of her hands with long fingers and a peacekeeper carries the orb-of-doom out to the table in the middle. A wave of silence rushes over the crowd, either of fear and worry, or of excitement and anticipation of the fun to come. I see some of the 'teers preparing their hand to shoot into the air so they can be the one that can volunteer and be District 4's tribute. Gaia takes one claw like hand and extends it towards the orb

"Women first!" she declares and reaches down and plucks a small sliver of paper out of the orb-of-doom. A collective intake of breath follows this, as everyone wonders whose name is on the slip. Gaia unfurls it slowly, and then reads out the name written upon it.

Then my world becomes silent and still.

She says Aalgae Kiandra

My name is Aalgae Kiandra

Oh God. I don't want to die.

I don't want to die.

Oh God…

I hear Gaia clap, but that's about it. I begin to slowly walk towards the stage, someone will volunteer. Someone will, we're a career district! Someone has to volunteer. But no-one does. I have reached the stage, though how I manage it without falling to the ground I will never know. I glance over the audience and see faces full mostly of relief that it isn't their daughter. I look over at my family, Raym looks close to tears, while my sister Movii is already crying. I look over at my dad, and see him looking decidedly elsewhere, away from me. He puts an arm around Meena. Meena looks upset, but I still see some relief in her eyes that it wasn't her daughter, my sister, just me. I realise that this is the first time I have ever thought of Movii as my sister.

Funny that?

Nymph has a hand clasped over her mouth and seems to be holding back her breakfast, eyes looking pitying up at me and yet… I still see relief. Marlin is ashen-faced. But his expression has no relief on it.

Just sadness

Gaia has begun to talk about something again, about how privileged I must be, the chances I now have been offered! I can make district 4 proud. I must be so happy! Happy to be chosen out of the many. To be chosen to die in some Crap-filled arena. Gaia does not say the last bit. I'm still in shock as she calls for the male orb to be carried out and I try and slap myself back into reality, without actually slapping myself. I have to win. I have to. I'm no 'teer but I know how to survive, maybe I can win this. Maybe. I look over at the second slip of paper Gaia has withdrawn and I watch it unfurl, Gaia reads this quickly and announces - with no disguise of the glee in her voice – the name upon the paper.

"And our male tribute is… Poseidon Odair".

My stomach does a couple of flips and finishes with a barrel roll as Nymph's little brother steps out from the back. Luckily for me (and the first bit of luck I've had all day, a burly 18 year old with copper-coloured stubble volunteers, along with an attractive blond boy I know to be an illegal fisher and a third, shorter boy who looks to be around 14, but has darting eyes. Poseidon moves back to his place, looking thankful, while the mayor arranges for the secondary reaping where the 'teers get entered into a smaller orb-of-doom. As their names are entered in - I recognise none of them – a tall, long haired girl bursts into tears in the audience. Gaia trills some rubbish about being proud of having a volunteer, while she picks out the name and reads it out in her stupid voice.

"Kai Nieme" The short boy looks delighted and comes up to the stage, leading to a fresh round of tears from the blond girl. "So, I have great pleasure to announce, the tributes for District 4 in this year's Hunger Games!" We are then gestured into the Justice building where we will wait to see our families.

My father does not come with the rest of my family. Raym hugs me and tells me "You have to win. You can, you know you can" while Movii just cries. My other younger siblings don't seem that bothered, as they don't really understand what will happen. My two older sisters are also there, Javina is just ashen faced, but Yavina is in floods of tears. She always was the more emotional one. Meena stands there looking awkward as Raym tells me what I should do. When he has finished, we all stand still, just looking at each other before Meena says "Aalgae, I never…" but then stops.

I never find out what she was going to say.

They leave after farewells and hugs, but it seems … unsatisfactory. Rushed. Time seems to have sped up now. I hear the door open again and look up to see Marlin standing there, looking stricken. Nymph has not come to see me, but Marlin assures me that this is because she is too emotional to do anything except cry, and just wants to go home. I nod and pretend to understand but I don't. She was my best-friend.

She is my best-friend. And she won't come and see me before I die? If I die. Actually, who am I kidding? When is correct. When I lose, When I change, When I die.

Marlin is here though, and that makes me happy, or at least, happier than I would be if I was alone right now. He bends down and takes something off his wrist.

"Listen" he tells me, fumbling with the green thing "Take this as your Token".

He hands it to me and I recognise it as the green bracelet he was wearing earlier. On closer inspection I see it to be made of many different types of woven seaweed, flowing together as though it is made from the sea itself. I hug him, and he goes on to tell me what I should do, like Marlin.

"You could just pretend you're a 'teer" he tells me quickly, as we only have minutes left "and you can fish, and your aim is good with most things, you can win this Aal, I know you can."

I have a desire to tell him how I feel about him now, and get as far as opening my mouth when I stop myself and pass it off as a yawn. It would hurt him more if I died as a lover instead of a friend. I have a sudden image of Marlin and Nymph marrying, but I push that image away.

"I'll try Marlin" I tell him.

"And try to be yourself, I know the Capitol doesn't really like it, but you can't lose yourself to them. Don't give them the satisfaction of bending over to their rules. Stay yourself." He tells me

Something tells me that if I try, I'll probably end up changing, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to do both of them. I'm also not sure which one I would lose, my life or my soul?

We hug before he leaves, and the peacekeepers tell me to move out of the building and towards a waiting train. I get on and sit down on a chair near the door and watch the boy, Kai, pass by me as though I am invisible. I may have to kill him in a week or two. Mutely, I leave him and Gaia, and find my way to my carriage in the train and I plonk myself down on a bed. The train has started to move, but I stay where I am. A single, stricken sob escapes from my mouth, and I realise I have not cried all day. Well that can't be right I think to myself, before I lie down on the bed and cry until I go to sleep…

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