Chapter I

Everything had transformed. The normally plain Justice Building was decked out in red and black; streamers hung from branches in trees, and wrapped around the most peculiar thing was not the floating black and red lanterns, but the girl who was standing at the front of the group.She wore a long, red dress. It fit perfectly on her tall, slender body. Her dark black hair was done up in a big pile on top of her head, with flowers, that were red, weaved into her face had makeup on it, just a little black on the eyes, like a shadow, with bright, cherry red lips, and a hint of pink on her cheeks. She was gorgeous. "What the heck is going on here?" I asked. My best friend, Gale, shot me a look of concern. Then it all clicked into place. Today was reaping day. Today 24 kids between the ages of 12 and 18 were going to be condemned to death. "Oh! Of course." I said a bit gloomily. They never decorated the town square like this. It confused me a bit. Oh well. All in good time, I would know.

Gale and I split ways and I made my way back to my dad was making breakfast, and my mom was doing my little sister Prim's hair into a loose braid, which she pinned up onto her head. It reminded me of that girl in the town square. "Well don't you just look adorable!" I exclaimed, as Prim stood up and twirled in a circle, her purple dress fluttering around her.

"Katniss, I laid out something for you too." My mom said lovingly, as I walked into my bedroom.

Chapter II

It all happened so fast. Before I knew it I was dressed and ready, then being whisked away to the town square with my family. Prim in her purple dress, I in my blue, lined up with the rest of the awaiting kids. Then I spotted that strangely gorgeous girl. She walked out onto the stage.

"Good afternoon, District 12. My name is Estelle Jasmine. I am the reaper of the Quarter Quell Course." She said with the air of someone in charge. "Ninety-nine years ago, our ancestors found a chasm. The Chief commanded his people 'Make a bridge across that chasm.'. So they worked and worked to make the bridge. Pretty soon the bridge was strong enough to cross over. Then the Chief proclaimed 'Send two children from each of the twelve tribes across this bridge. Put out a feast at the other side of the bridge. The true strong ones will be able to cross and get food for their tribes.'

Two children from each tribe made their way across; unfortunately not all of them made it. Then year after year the same thing happened. Two children were reaped from each of the twelve tribes, and crossed the bridge, some of them falling to their doom." Estelle paused to take a breath. "Thus creating the Hunger Course. Two of you here in 12 will be reaped and taken to the Capital, which represents the Chief. You will fight your way through some unknown course, filled with surprises. You just need to get from point A to point B without dying."

With that Estelle crossed over to a large bowl full of names. She reached her arm in and grabbed a single slip of paper, with the name of one unlucky victim. She read out the name. My whole body froze. I couldn't breathe; the name on that slip was not Katniss Everdeen. The name on that slip was Primrose Everdeen.

Chapter III

"No!" I screamed and stood in front of my little 12 year old sister. "I will not let you do this! You can take other kids, as horrible as that is, but you will NOT take my sister." I shouted angrily.

"Honey, you can't choose. It's up to us. Now get out of the way or you will be the one entering that arena." Estelle said with mock kindness in her voice.

"Good. Take me instead."

I turned and hugged Prim, whose eyes were filled with tears. "It'll be okay. I promise." She outstretched her hand and inside of it was a bronze pin with a mockingjay engraved into it. "For luck." She said. She hugged me then ran to mom and dad, who waved and smiled bravely. My dad gave me a thumbs up. "You can do this!" He mouthed. He's right. I can do this.

I walked up to the stage with my head held high. I will not die. I will not die. I will NOT die. I will do this for Prim. I will do this for Gale. I will do this for my mom, my dad. I will do this for all the fallen Tributes. I will do this for me. I walked onto the stage and stood off to the side, trying to be brave.

"Next up, the boys!" Estelle says overly happy. She walks over to the bowl on the other side of the stage. She grabbed the slip of paper that would change someone's life. "Peeta Mellark.", she said.

Chapter IV

After that the days were blurred. We left District 12 right after that and went to the Capital. We stayed there and trained for a few days, then we left for the course. "Good luck." Estelle told me as I climbed into the tube, which would slowly lower me into the course. "Thanks.", I said stiffly. I felt a sudden jolt and then a blinding light glowed all around me. Sunlight. We were beginning our descent.

The course was laid out in front of us. All we had to do was get to the other side. I looked around and saw the other tributes. Peeta waved, and I gave him a half-hearted smile. The countdown began.

3, 2, 1… MMMEERRRRRR. The bell rang and we hit the ground running. I ran forward and grabbed a little orange backpack and a rope. I ran forward hard and fast. I was desperate to get to the first obstacle.

BOOM! A cannon went off. That meant someone was dead. Already. I felt a little shaken. Brush it off, you didn't know this person; I repeated this over and over in my head. I decided to pay attention to my surroundings instead, after a while. Good thing I did, because a second later I was slamming to a stop. I looked down into the 100 foot trench. Crap. This is not good. I walked back and forth, trying to find a way across. Then it hit me. Literally, because a branch had fallen off of a tree that was overhead. I looked up and then I had an idea. The trees went all the way across the trench. If I could tree-hop, I could get across!

I climbed the nearest tree, carefully, foot after hand, hand after foot. When I got to the top I carefully hopped from branch to branch. Easy peasy, I thought to myself. One down, 4 to go.

Chapter V

The second, the third, and the fourth obstacles all came and went. More tree climbing, running, and jumping. Finally I came across the last obstacle. It was a solid, stone, 20 foot high wall, with a little hook on the top.

Oh great. Then I remembered I had that backpack and the rope. I plopped down on the ground in front of the wall and decided to take a break. It's night time, anyway. I took off the back-pack and unzipped it to look inside. Great. Rope, rope, and more rope. There were three bundles of rope, a water bottle, a flashlight, and a granola bar. I took a sip of water and ate the granola bar. "Grrooowwlll,".

I jumped up and grabbed my backpack, rope, and flashlight. I switch on the flashlight and shine it into the woods, carefully. "WOOF!". A big, black, mutation (genetically modified animal) jumped out of the woods and started bounding towards me.

I scrambled with the rope in my hand and made a long piece out of all the bundles. I swung it up and hooked it on the hook at the top of the wall. Just as the dog lunged at me, I swung myself up onto the wall and started climbing. Then more dogs came out of the woods. Just in time, I told myself. I swung myself over the wall and carefully began descending to the ground. A big light shone on the other side. I made it! I really did it! That's when my grip failed and I fell towards the ground, dropping down, down, down, down. The last thing I remember was seeing the light, then falling unconscious.

Chapter VI

I woke up with a start. Woah, what a crazy dream! I jumped out of bed and walked down the stairs. "Hey mom, I just had the weirdest dream that kids had to be chosen to go into an arena and complete a deadly obstacle course!" I told my mom. "Well, that's a bit crazy." She replied. "Yeah, I guess it is.". "What's crazy?" My little sister Prim asked me as she walked into the room. I told her about the dream. "Hmm. Interesting." She said, clearly uninterested. With that I got dressed and went to meet my best friend, Estelle, and her brother Gale for lunch at Subway.

THE END