Im sorry for any grammatical mistakes. I try really hard at editing but still English is not my first language.
When I finally get home, my mother has made herself ready for the reaping.
Sleep gone from her eyes that she usually never minds to get rid off. She stands in front of me in her finest and only dress she owns. She looks beautiful.
"I´ve made the bath ready for you." She says sounding bleary as always. I give her a nod and enter my room to take off my clothes.
My mother never knows where I am or what I do. She has never even asked me where I get the food we eat every night from and of course I´ve never told her.
Some part of me has always known my mother never wished to have me. I was a mistake and she has to live with it as do I. I am not even sure if she hates or loves me.
She tolerates me.
That is how I would describe it. I by all means try to work with it, but that does not mean it doesn't hurt me deep down.
I quickly take off my clothes and step into the lukewarm bath that awaits me. I wash of the dirt and sweat I got from the woods. I would wash my hair, but I already did it last night.
My hair is too thick and curly to dry quickly. If I washed it now I would have wet hair all day. When I finally step out of the bath I roll the towel around my body and go back to the bedroom. I take out my only fine dress as my mother did and I put it on. It´s white and it has long sleeves. I love it, which makes me annoyed that I have to wear it for the reaping. I Instantly make a french-braid for my unruly hair and I am ready.
Eighteen!
Eighteen is the amount of times that my name has been entered into the reaping.
If you´re wondering why, well the rule is when you turn twelve you become eligible for the reaping day, which means that year, your name will be entered once and the year after, twice and so on. Until you reach Eighteen. That is a rule for every resident in all of the twelve districts of Panem. But that is not it. The reaping system is cruel. If you´re poor like me it´s downright unfair.
Say you are poor and starving like the people who live in the Seam. You can decide to add your name more times in exchange for tesserae. Each tessera is worth a meager year's supply of grain and oil for one person. As soon as I turned twelve like many other Seam kid I entered my name more times than I should, but not as many as Katniss or Gale. Once because I had to and twice for grain and oil for mother and I. I have been doing this every year. Now that I am sixteen my name has been entered eighteen times. The odds may not be against me, but they are surly not with me.
When the clock hits one we head towards the square. We quickly stand in line and sign in our names and get our fingers pricked.
My mother leaves to stand with the families who are holding each other for support. Not even a goodbye or a simple hug. I swallow hard to make lump growing in my throat go away. Tears threaten to spill.
If that´s how you want it, so be it.
I blink a couple of times and press my lips hard together. Hastily I find the section at front were the other sixteen year olds are standing. I see Katniss surrounded by other sixteen year olds from the Seam and I hurry to stand next to her.
"Katniss!" I say. There´s desperation in my voice more than I´d like to admit.
She looks to her left and sees me. She relaxes a bit and nods. She looks more tense than she has ever been to any reaping and the reason is standing in the back row with the other twelve year olds.
Primrose Everdeen.
The cute little blond haired girl who is Katniss´s younger sister.
I can´t even imaging what Katniss must be feeling right now. Prim is like a sister to me, it was through her that I even got to be friends with Katniss.
I grab Katniss´s hand and give her little squeeze as a sign of support.
"Don´t worry, it will only take a minute." I say. Words I´ve repeated countless times since our first reaping since we were twelve with complete calm. Katniss nods again and exhales the air she has been holding.
I let go of her hand and focus my attention of the stage in front of the Justice Building.
It holds three chairs and a podium and two large glass balls. One for the boys and one for the girls.
Both are filled with paper slips with names.
Eighteen, eighteen, eighteen, eighteen, eighteen.
Eighteen is nothing compared to what Gale has, but still I can fill the torment of what might happen if they shout my name through those speakers. I look towards were the eighteen-year old boys are standing and I see Gale. He´s looking back. To be more specific he´s looking at Katniss.
Look at me...Please!
As if he read my mind, his eyes shift towards me. Our eyes meet for a second and he must see the torment in my eyes because as quickly as he looked at me, his eyes focus on the stage.
Two of the three chairs fill with Madge's father, Mayor Undersee, who's a tall, balding man, and Effie Trinket, District 12s escort, fresh from the Capitol with her freakishly white grin, pinkish hair, and Purple colored suit. They whisperer to each other and then look with concern at the empty seat. Effie Trinket looks more Annoyed than concerned.
As the town clock strikes two, the mayor steps forward to the podium and begins to read. The same words we´ve heard our entire lives.
He tells of the history of Panem, the disasters, the droughts, the storms, the fires, the encroaching seas that swallowed up so much of the land, the brutal war for what little sustenance remained. The result was Panem, a shining Capitol ringed by thirteen districts, which brought peace and prosperity to its citizens.
Then came the uprising against the Capitol. Eventually the twelve districts were defeated and the thirteenth district was erased from the map.
Not to repeat the uprising fiasco like last time the Capitol gave us the Hunger Games.
The rules are simple for the games. In retribution for the uprising, each of the twelve district must provide a courages boy and girl, called tributes, to partake. Twenty-four children or tributes will be trapped inside an outdoor arena that could hold anything from a desert to a frozen wasteland. The worst thing is twenty-four goes in but only one comes out. The tributes have to fight to the death. The last boy or girl standing wins. All for the entertainment of the Capitol.
"It is both a time for repentance and a time for thanks," intones the mayor
"Now I shall read the names of our very own and courages district 12 victors." He continues.
From what I know, there are not many victors in district 12. We´ve only had two in the past 74 years. And only one is alive and he is a horrible mean drunk called Haymitch Abernathy.
As soon as his name is called he staggers into the stage, slurring words nobody can understand and falls into the third chair. He is so drunk that you could probably smell the alcohol from here. And by the look on Effie Trinket´s face, she is not pleased.
The crowd gives its mandatory applause and Haymitch looks only confused. He stands up and tries to give Effie Trinket a huge bear hug, which she barley gets away from.
The mayor looks more anxious than before. Since all of this is being transmitted, right now from the Capitol. This is a huge embarrassment for District 12, and he knows it. He quickly tries to pull the attention back to the reaping by introducing Effie Trinket. High spirited as ever, Effie Trinket steps up to the podium.
"Welcome, welcome, welcome. Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favor." She beams.
"Now the time has come for us to select one courages young man and woman for the honor of representing District 12-"
I hold my breath as I keep thinking. "Don´t pick me, don´t pick me".
"In the 74th annual hunger games." She finishes.
My head is starting to pound, my heart is beating faster than it should and I feel like I am drowning.
It's time for the drawing. Effie Trinket says as she always does, "Ladies first!" and crosses to the glass ball with the girls' names. She reaches in, digs her hand deep into the ball. I blink, holding my eyes closed a little bit longer than I should and wait.
don´t pick me, don´t pick me, don´t pick me.
When I open my eyes, she is back at the podium and but not holding one slip as it should be but two.
Wait what?
people start to whisper around each other thinking the same.
" I am sorry to say that when I was reaching in to dig up a slip I mistakenly to an extra with me. As you all know the official hunger games rules, it means, if two names are to be picked one will have to volunteer for the other if neither volunteers, one shall be picked by me and my two companions ." She says sounding more gleeful than before. When she said two companions she gestured towards the tense mayor Undersee and the drunk Haymitch.
she reads with a clear voice out the names on the slips.
And to my horror It´s me and it´s not me.
"Primrose Everdeen and Primavera Ellison"
I hope you like Vera in this chapter. I tried to make a little better at standing alone, but i´m still not sure. Maybe next chapter will do...
So what do you guys think will Prim volunteer or will Vera protect her and go into the hunger games.