The sun pours from the tiny window in my room. Well, it's not really my room. I share it with my sister, Savannah, and my mother. My father and my brother, Jacob, share the room next to ours. Jacob has it good. After all, he only has to share with dad and some nights, dad stays out too late and falls asleep outside, gambling with his friends. It doesn't really matter, though. There are more important things like that, like the Hunger Games.
Don't think about that, Johanna, I tell myself. I turn my gaze back to our bed. Savannah is sleeping on it. Savannah… Well, she goes to sleep early. And just to annoy me, to show me how totally she is not afraid of me, she sometimes takes up the whole bed and makes me sleep on the floor. But it's not like I mind that much. I mean, it would be nice to sleep on the bed, but my back has dealt with worse. When I work my job, chopping down trees, being whipped if I stop for too long, I've become strong. And I'll need to be, anyway. If I ever end up in the Hunger Games, it'll pay off.
And I can handle sleeping on the floor.
The floor? Yes, that's where I am at the moment. I yawn and sit up. My back hurts a little, but it's nothing new. I do a little stretch, the one that my mother told me about where you lay down on your stomach and use your hands to lift your back, holding it up. Almost like the position of a cobra, not that I've seen any. All I've seen of snakes were the poisonous ones a few years back, in the Games. I sigh. All of my thoughts are going back to the Games, and I know why. It's reaping day.
The reaping occurs once a year, to choose two tributes, a boy and a girl, to participate in the Games. All of the children that are ages twelve to eighteen have to enter their names into the reaping, the lottery that will choose who will go to their doom. When you are twelve, you enter your name once. When you are thirteen, twice, and so on. I, at the age of seventeen, entered my name 60 times. I know, I could have only put in my name 6 times-it would have reduced the possibility of me being in the Games by tons.
Well, there's Tesera, which is basically oil and grain and very useful if you're as starving as my family is, so I got 9 things of Tesera, two for each of my family members, well except my dad, he gets only 1 for not acting like a dad, and so that's 54. Plus one more because I have to.
I know, I'm being really risky. 60 slips of paper with your name? Practically a death wish. But I'm prepared. I'm strong. And I have a plan.
And my family really needs the food, anyway.
My years of chopping trees have made me really strong, so if I'm chosen, I'll probably win.
I glance at my watch. It's only 9 AM, which gives me lots of time until the reaping, which takes place at 2 PM. I stand up and my gaze shifts onto Savannah, who is lying with her hand spread out like wings, legs just as wide, on our tiny bed. Her long, curly, dark brown hair is spread out on the white pillow, which is stained and has stuffing missing. I feel tempted to take a strand of that hair and pull, but I want time to myself.
My mom is sitting on the rocking chair, which she uses as a bed. Her eyes are closed, but her position, upright and alert, makes it seem like she is awake. I glance around the room. I don't know why I do that every morning, I guess my natural instinct is to be suspicious. Our walls, brown with stains everywhere of who-knows-what, are paper thin. They are wooden, like all of the walls. Jacob's room, the kitchen… actually, those are all the rooms. Except the bathroom, which is covered with flowered wallpaper that is fading. The plumbing doesn't really work, which can be a big problem sometimes. My mom paid for it to get fixed, but no one ever fixed it, and we knew better to argue. The lives of the people in District 7 mean less than nothing to the Peacekeepers. It was a very pricey fix, which is one of the reasons we are so poor.
Our house is so boring. I get out of the room and shut the door silently behind me. I peek into Jacob's room, and spot Jacob. He is sitting on his bed, staring out the tiny window with a worried expression on his face. I glance around the room and see that dad stayed out too late again. I bite my lip. He really has to stop doing that. "You know, he always comes back. It's not like his whole body was eaten alive by mosquitoes." Jacob jumps, and I laugh. "You're awake too?" He asks. I nod. I force a smirk. "Don't worry about dad, Jake. Come on, let's get some breakfast." I start for the doorway when he stops me. "Johanna, I think something's wrong with him. He stays out too late, gambling, and when he comes back, he's a little… strange." I roll my eyes. "He'll tell us about it sooner or later. Come on already, worrying won't help much."
I exit his room and walk to the kitchen. I take out some stale bread and eat it, wincing at the taste. District 7 is no place to be picky, especially with the food shortages. Jacob is still in his room, so I shout; "Don't worry about him! You're less than half his size and age!" I can hear Jacob sigh, then stand up and walk to the kitchen. I smile and hand him a piece of stale bread. "Eat it. Good to be well fed for the reaping." I say, and Jacob drops his gaze. "I'm scared, Johanna. What if I get chosen?" He asks. I sigh, and then grin. "If you get chosen, I'll volunteer for you 'cause I know I'll win with my superb strength!" Jacob smiles grimly. "Really?" He asks, raising his eyebrows. "Nah. I'm just kidding. If you get chosen, I'll let you die and then get your whole room." I say, with a serious face. Jacob looks petrified, and I grin. "Wouldn't you do the same?"
Without waiting for an answer, I walk outside and gaze up at the sun. It's so beautiful, unlike my District. I would be somewhere else, some place much more beautiful than this, but sadly, it's not allowed. All of the cities are called Districts. There are 12 of them. There used to be 13, but District 13 was bombed dead in the rebellion. The rebellion was a brutal war between the Capitol, our 'rulers' and all of the Districts. The Capitol were ruthless and selfish and cruel, and they wanted everything to themselves. They took all the money for them and their people, leaving us poor and starving. So all of the Districts rebelled against the Capitol. If I was there, I would have tried to talk some sense into those idiots because, well, they lost. It all ended with the bombing of 13, who were the leaders of the rebellion. As a punishment for the rebellion, we got the Hunger Games. Back then, before the rebellion, there was no Hunger Games. We never should have rebelled, I think, because we got off worse than we started. Of course I can't go back in time, but I wish I could. To stop the Hunger Games.
The Hunger Games is basically a fight to the death. 24 kids, also known as tributes, are chosen for it during the reaping. The Capitol throws the tributes into an arena, which can be anything from a sea to a jungle, with little food and water, and watch them live on TV as they fight to the death. Yes, that is their entertainment. I scowl, disgusted again by the Capitol, just as my brother catches up to me. He catches my scowl and seems to think it was aimed at him for following me. He scowls back and I smirk. "I was kidding. Get over it." He nods. I glance at the clock. It is almost time for lunch. I walk back to our house. The reaping will start soon.