Call all your friends
Tell them I'm never coming back
I rouse early on reaping day, just like every year. I can never sleep very well the night before the reaping. I usually stay up till the early hours of the morning, wondering and worrying about what is to come.
Meanwhile, my twin sister Madeleine sleeps soundly in the bed opposite mine. I don't know how she does it.
I take a quick shower and dress in my brand new reaping clothes. A lace light pink dress that falls to my knees, paired with white ballet flats. I look in the mirror and sigh, hating the fact that I'm wearing such a pretty outfit on such a horrible day.
Madeleine is just waking up as I'm brushing the tangles out of my damp hair.
"Hey," I whisper, glancing back to see her rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
She mumbles something unintelligible and yawns loudly. My sister is most definitely not a morning person.
I have to laugh a little, though. My twin sister and I, we're really close. Although we're not identical, we might as well be, since up to the age of twelve our mother dressed us in identical clothes, but in different colours. We share one bedroom, even though our house is huge – our parents are jewellers, see – and there's plenty of room for us to have individual bedrooms. But we don't like being seperated.
"Only one more reaping left after today," I tell her as I pat my hair dry with a towel.
"That's one reaping too many," she groans, pulling herself out of the bed. She looks back at the messy covers, as if regretting her decision to wake up to this awful today. I know I am.
"It'll be okay," I say, stepping towards her. I'm startled to see she has tears in her eyes. My sister never cries.
"I'm just really scared, Maysilee," she says softly, avoiding my gaze. "There's more chance of us being reaped. Four tributes going in..." She shudders.
"Neither of us will be picked," I promise her firmly. "It'll...it'll be one of the Seam kids or something." I say this to reassure her, but I instantly feel disgusted at what I've just said.
"Oh, and that's supposed to make me feel better?" she says sarcastically. She opens up her wardrobe doors and changes into a dress identical to mine, except it's a buttery yellow colour.
"You look beautiful," I say.
"Correction." She smiles. "We look beautiful."
I giggle as my sister takes her hand in mine, and we head down to breakfast.
My mother and father are up and walking briskly around the kitchen, preparing a big, hearty breakfast – like they always do on reaping day – and chatting merrily to one another. They're both incredibly nervous, though. I can tell because both my parents talk and talk for hours on end when they're apprehensive. A trait that Madeleine inherited from them, unfortunately.
"Good morning!" Mother says cheerily.
"Morning, mother," Madeleine and I reply simultaneously. We sit down, where my father has just taken his place at the head of the large breakfast table. He unfolds a newspaper and hides behind it.
"Now, no need to be afraid!" Mother continues, laying two heaping plates of eggs, sausages, French toast, bacon and tomatoes in front of Madeleine and I. "The likelihood of either of you getting reaped is...well, tiny! Right, Kenton?"
"Right," my father mutters.
But I'm not listening to their meaningless words. I'm staring down at my plate filled with food, the finest in District 12. And all I can think about are those skinny, starving Seam kids. And Haymitch...
I snap myself out of my thoughts immediately. For almost three years now, my head has become a strict 'No Haymitch Abernathy' zone. Which basically means no thinking about that boy. Oh, that boy, with his dreamy grey eyes and gorgeous olive skin...
Ugh. I have no self-control.
"Maysilee, are you listening to me?" Mother snaps.
I look up to see my mother glaring at me disapprovingly. It turns out she's not the only one, though. My father is staring at me, too, as is Madeleine.
"Y-Yes, mother," I stutter, feeling like a fool.
"Then what did I just say?" Mother demands.
"Uh..."
"She's just thinking about her boyfriend." Madeleine rolls her eyes.
"I don't have a boyfriend," I hiss.
"Oh, yes, you do," Madeleine says coyly. "That Haymitch-"
I quickly cover her mouth with my hand. I made the mistake of telling Madeleine about my crush on Haymitch when I was fifteen, and she's never let me live it down, even after my constant reminders of how I don't. Like. Him. Anymore.
"Haymitch who?" Father cuts in. "Do you have a boyfriend, Maysilee?"
"No!" I shake my head. "I don't, father, I swear. Madeleine's just being silly."
Madeleine just smirks to herself, sipping from her steaming mug of coffee.
"What was that all about?" I demand, pulling Madeleine out of the kitchen whilst my parents do the dishes.
"What was what all about?" she says innocently.
"You know." I glower at her.
"Oh, come on," she replies. "I know you still like him. As much as you try to ignore it, I know you still have a thing for that...boy from the Seam." She wrinkles her nose in disgust.
"I don't!" I spit.
Suddenly, I feel stupid for getting all worked up about such a silly, juvenile thing on the day where four kids - two of which could be Madeleine or me - will be sent to their deaths. I know Madeleine joking and poking fun at me about Haymitch is just her way of pushing the pain of today away from her mind. Still, though, it's annoying.
"Whatever you say," she murmurs. She wraps an arm around my shoulder. "Come on, we'd better get down to the square."
I nod, and we bid goodbye to our parents. We want to get there early, so that we can see our best friend, Carrie Grace. She's a merchant's daughter, like us, and her parents run the local apothecary. We've known each other forever.
We see Carrie standing in the square, looking around aimlessly. Madeleine and I race up to her and we all embrace for a moment or two, before reluctantly letting go. I never want to let go of them – my sister and my best friend are who I need with me today ,so that I can stay strong.
Carrie's dressed in a white blouse and bright blue skirt, her blonde hair braided down her back. I've always been jealous of Carrie's good looks. She's got lots of admirers falling at her feet. And by lots, I mean half the boys in town.
"Hi." Carrie smiles at us in turn. "Don't be worried about today, okay, guys?"
"I'm not worried," I say, though I'm terrified inside.
"I am," Madeleine mumbles.
Carrie sighs sadly. "It'll be fine, Maddie."
While Carrie hugs my sister once more and whispers words of encouragement in her ear, I look around casually. All around me, I see blonde hair and blue eyes, the typical features of town kids like ourselves. But I also see some Seam kids, too, with their olive skin and black hair. And amongst a group of rowdy-looking Seam boys, jokingly fighting with one another, I see him.
Haymitch. He's dressed in a simple white shirt and brown pants, probably about the nicest clothes he owns. Those plain clothes pale in comparison to the merchant boys, in their expensive silk pants and what not. But he still looks ten times more handsome than they do, I think.
I shouldn't be thinking these things, but I do, for some reason. Years of telling myself I'm not attracted to that boy are all lies, lies and more lies.
"Come on, Maysilee," Carrie says, taking my hand and pulling me towards the seventeen-year old girl area. I grab Madeleine's hand and tug her along, too.
I feel sick, looking up at the stage built in front of the Justice Building. There's a microphone and three empty seats behind it. And then the two glass balls, filled with thousands upon thousands of paper slips.
Seven of those slips have 'Maysilee Donner' written on them.
Slowly, the square fills up. Twelve to eighteen-year olds are sectioned off into groups, according to their age and gender, of course. Other people who are not at risk of being reaped - like my parents, for example - are directed towards the back of the square, watching and waiting.
I say hello to a few friends from school as we wait for the reaping to begin, but the whole time my eyes flicker from the merchant's son or daughter I'm greeting, over to Haymitch. He doesn't even notice me staring at him like some creepy stalker, just laughs along with his friends.
The three empty chairs on the stage fill up. One, with the mayor of District 12, Theodore Undersee. Madeleine has a crush on his son, I remember. On the second chair, sits the mayor's wife, and on the third, District 12's only Victor, Brandon Stock.
He won the 32nd Hunger Games when he was sixteen. He's in his forties. He's got salt and pepper hair, but he's blue-eyed, so I know he was probably a merchant's kid. Now, though, he resides in a grand house in the Victor's Village.
"Welcome!" A female voice booms from the stage. Her voice echoes loudly from the boom-boxes nearby, making nearly every person in the vicinity cover their ears with their hands.
I look up, and feast my eyes upon probably the strangest-looking woman I've ever seen. She has bright purple hair, styled so that it looks like a deformed marshmallow. Her skin is powdery pink, and her lips are tangerine. She wears a knee-length dress, which is covered in hundreds of multicoloured gems.
I furrow my eyebrows, wondering if the Capitol dresses the escorts up to look this bizarre so that we'll actually pay attention to the reaping. I wouldn't put it past them.
"My name is Marianna Goldstine!" she announces in her foreign-sounding accent. "Welcome, to the 50th Hunger Games! But this is no ordinary Hunger Games! This is..."
Trumpets start to blare from the boom-boxes around the square.
"The Second Quarter Quell!" she finishes triumphantly, beaming. Only a few people clap, and I can tell by Marianna's now-pursed lips that this is not the response she was hoping for.
"Now, let us select our tributes!" She moves on quickly. "Ladies first!" She hops over to one of the reaping balls. The crowd is completely silent, and the clip-clop of her ridiculous high-heels are the only sound to be heard.
She fishes around in the glass ball for what seems like forever. Then, she finally pulls out a name. She steps back to the microphone and says in a clear, loud voice:
"Maysilee Donner!"
A/N: Well, I hope you liked that! Please leave a review, cause I'm really interested in whether you love or hate this story so far. Whatever you think, just...let me know. ;)
Oh, and you can check out Maysilee's, Madeleine's, Carrie's and Haymitch's reaping outfits on my Polyvore account,along with the people I picture them as in my head! Link's on my profile, if you're interested.