- District 1 Girl -
Kristine Dalerna looked into the full length mirror that rested on the wall near her bed. It was the one possession she didn't have to give up to get money. She would have rather kept her jewelry or shoes, but the mirror was nice, too. She looked almost perfect, but she was missing something. Her simple green dress toned down her strongly-built figure, and made her look more feminine. She was 5'8 and had tan skin, as a result of hanging around the beach too long. She also had dark brown eyes that had hints of green. She decided to just put a small starfish hair clip into her long, back-length, wavy brown hair. She let her hands travel down the flowing, emerald green clothing. It was the dress, it needed something. She made my way over to the closet and found a shiny, light blue, wide ribbon that she could tie around her waist. Perfect. She looked... beautiful. She looked like a mermaid, which is what she has always wanted to be, ever since she heard the story about the mermaid girl who turned into a human and fell in love with a prince. That was written at least one hundred years ago, of course, so she was pretty sure she was the only one who knew the story.

Next to her bed were some worn out flip-flops, slippers that belonged to her grandmother before she died, boots that her mother grew out of as a child, and beautiful green and blue flats that she had saved up all of her money to buy. They had jewels at the toe but the shoes themselves were sparkly. She had spent four months shoveling snow and walking dogs in the freezing cold to be able to afford these shoes, which reminded her of the ocean. She was just thankful that they never invented robots for that purpose, or anything.

She belonged to the richest district, but she was part of the small percentage in that district that definitely wasn't rich. She used to be pretty wealthy, popular, and well liked. That was before her brother, Jay, had killed a man. The mans name was Roger and he hated Jay for no reason at all, possibly because he thought Jay was just 'a rotten teenager'. Roger owned a store that sold fruit, meat, bread, snacks, and even a few articles of clothing. It was a store that was important to have around, but he had unreasonable prices, so Jay would always sell food to Roger's potential customers. That's probably why Roger hated Jay so much. Anyway, one day Roger came to his food stand and he was drunker than usual. He started screaming at Jay, calling him every swear word you could imagine. He started insulting Jay's family, too. Kristine was just eleven at the time, and Roger started making sexual jokes and references about her to Jay. He even started threatening to assault Kristine and kill their brother, Cody, who was just nine at the time. Roger also promised that he would torture their mother, Marilyn and kill their father, Reed. Fearing for his families lives, Jay stuck a knife through Rogers heart and ran away, not caring about all the food that would be stolen from his stand. He wanted to run home, explain what happened, gather up all he could, and run into the woods with his family. However, the peacekeepers caught him in time and we assume he was turned into an Avox, since it was the law at the time. From then on, all of the families income was cut off. The parents were fired, bosses saying they had a respectable business and couldn't have the parents of an Avox working for them. Nobody would hire them after that. The hundreds of dollars a day that Jay would make was gone, and the family wasn't even allowed to leave their district. Ever. Her and Cody have been trying so hard to earn their families honor back at the academy, but to no avail.

Kristine didn't blame her brother, though. How could she? He was trying to protect her. At least he was probably alive... Somewhere.

Either way, the Capitol was being completely hypocritical! How can they allow 23 innocent teenagers to be killed off PER YEAR and walk off like it's okay, and that it was entertaining, and there's no punishment? Yet, when a guilty man is killed, all hell breaks loose on the killer. She HATES the Capitol, because they're a bunch of idiots.

She made her way downstairs after looking at her reflection one last time. She couldn't allow herself to look perfect for those brutish people. She bent down and ribbed the bottom of her dress a bit. That should show them that they don't deserve my perfection.

"Are you ready to go?" Kristine's father, Reed asked, grabbing Kristine's sweater.

"Yeah," she lied.

"Sweetie, your name is only in there four times. You're only fifteen. Don't worry about anything. Even if they do pick you, I don't think the Capitol has the heart to be that terrible to the Tributes." Kristine's mother, Marilyn, comforted.

"I guess not, but I submitted my name in there extra times for more food."

Marilyn just stood there shocked for a minute. "Oh, Kristine, you didn't!" She said, softly. Kristine nodded her head. "Kristine! We don't need food that bad! How many times did you submit it?"

"Twenty-Four" She whispered, head down. Immediately, Marilyn burst into tears, walking into the kitchen. She repeatedly kept saying 'I failed her. I failed her.' Marilyn had no idea how to comfort her, so she just left with her father.

Later, at the reaping

Kristine looked at the arrogant boy on stage. There was no way she was going to chant his name. Sure, he was very cute, but so full of himself. He was probably rich. She wondered how he would cope if he was in her position.

Poor.

Hated.

Alone.

Sure, she had been trained in fighting since she was a little girl. She was tough. She was a good fighter, but good enough to win... If she got picked.

She hated that Sheen kid.

"Next, ladies!" Pinky Silverscreen made her way over to the other glass bowl, heels clicking against the stage floor. Kristine desperately wanted to hold onto somebodies hand, but she remembered that nobody liked her after his brothers crime.

"Drum Roll, please?" There was a small pitter patter of anxious parents and teenagers tapping on their knees. "KRISTINE DALERNA!" There were many sighs of relief. Nobody cared if she died. Nobody liked her... or her family. She just stood there, shocked, listening to the loud roar of applause. After a minute, she put on a brave, proud face to mask her tears and made her way up to the stage.

"Kristine, Congratulations!" Pinky said, smiling. She knew that Kristine wasn't actually happy. She knew Kristine was extremely afraid and wanted to cry. And Pinky LOVED IT."How does it feel knowing you, a 15 year old girl, have over a ninety percent chance of dying a painful death this month?" Pinky asked, smiling a wicked smile. She heard the audience laughing a bit, and she fed off of that.

"Well," Kristine started, swallowing. "Maybe if I win, my family will finally have a bit of honor again!" Kristine joked.

"Oh, you mean the honor that your brother destroyed?"

Kristine put on a fake smile and nodded.

"I mean, your dead brother?"

Kristine looked at her in disbelief.

Tokens

-Sheen-

"My baby!" Susan ran in, crying, giving Sheen a hug. "I love you!"

"I love you too, mom. Mommy, it's fate." Sheen pushed his mother off of him. "It's fate. I wanted to be volunteer, and they called me anyway. It means I will win!" Sheen said, patting his mothers shoulder and giving her a kiss on the cheek. They stood there, hugging for a good fifteen seconds.

"You better!" His father said, roughly. "I trained you and I don't want to look bad!"

"Don't worry, dad. This is an ultimate test of my character, and I have a lot of character. And hair."

"Well, honey, I have this as a token for you." Susan took out a small bottle of hair gel, wiping the tears in her eyes with a sleeve. "You want to look good on television."

Sheen looked at his mother, tears forming in his eyes. "Thank you, mommy! Oh thank you!" He said, hugging her, crying. The peacekeepers, who were keeping guard, looked at each other in disbelief.

"Time to go!" One peacekeeper said, pulling Susan off of Sheen.

"You said five minutes!" Sheen yelled.

"I can't take any more of this. No more visitors for you." The Peacekeeper answered back, shoving the parents out of the room.

Sheen could hear his mothers cries of loss and agony.

-Kristine-

Kristine's mother and father came running in and immediately hugged her, crying. "Mom, you came!" Kristine said, hugging them, tears forming in her eyes.

"I couldn't stay home." She answered, tightening her grip. "I love you." She whispered.

"I love you, too." Kristine said, crying her eyes out.

They let go. Kristine could only imagine a mothers feelings right now, let alone HER mothers feelings. She already lost one child.

"I have this for you" Marilyn held out the blue and silvered jeweled necklace that had been in their family since the 2000's. "It's been in our family for centuries. I was going to give it to you on your eighteenth birthday." She sniffles. "But I think it would be best," She went behind Kristine's back to put the necklace on her. "To give it to you now."

The peacekeepers near the door started getting a bit teary eyed.

"Thank's mom." Kristine said, hugging her. "And, don't worry, you never failed me." She looked at her sad father. "Thank's dad." She made her way up to her neglected father and threw her arms around his neck. "I love you both so much!" She said, crying into her fathers shirt.

"We love you too, sweetie!" Her dad said, patting Kristine's back. He couldn't stop the tears from flowing down his face. "And sweetie, Jay is not dead."

"How do you know?" Kristine asked, teary eyed.

"TIMES UP!" A peacekeeper yelled. Pulling her parents away.

"DAAD!" Kristine let out an agonizing scream. "MOM!"

The doors were shut. They were gone.

They were gone.