Just Run

Chapter One ~ The Reaping

“Todays the day” Mum said, much more cheerful than I thought she would be. Today was the day of the reaping. Where each year the Capitol picks one boy and one girl, to compete in the hunger games. It doesn’t matter how old or weak you are. You get put into an arena, surviving on wildlife resources, the last one standing wins. So yes, you kill each other, only one person can come out of the arena alive. I know for sure if I got chosen today, I wouldn’t be able to survive it. That’s a fact. What’s sick about this whole thing is people just sit back, eat some popcorn, cheer you on and watch you die for no reason. That’s why I hate the Capitol.

The cause of doing this is because, long ago there was a war. The Capitol had enough of all the fighting and thought of a solution. They would divide us into twelve districts/sectors. 1, 2, 3 were the richer districts, and 10, 11, 12 were the poorer ones. I live and grew up in district 11 my name is Rose and I’m 17 years old. I struggle to find friends since I’m so shy, this boy called Finnick used to bully me for a while but then something hit him and he randomly stopped. It’s still a mystery to this day. I love spending my time in my room reading, it’s the only luxury I have.

Me, and my big brother Brendan have to illegally go out into the woods and kill some animals in order to keep us alive. Brendan used to go out with our father, but he cheated and abused my mother, he even abused me sometimes when he got really mad. I still have scars from him now. I never want to see his face again, I don’t know if his dead or alive. But then again I don’t really care.

 I hate killing animals. I use a bow to kill them, so then that way you can physical feel that you are killing them, whereas if you had a knife you can feel yourself killing them as you push the knife through them and take it out. I have tried killing and animal with a knife before and it’s not pretty, that’s when I decided that the bow was going to be my best friend when it came to hunting.

“I’m scared mum” I said with a tear rolling down my cheek. She got her thumb and wiped it off, she grabbed my chin and turned my face so that it was turned to hers. I looked into her eyes. They were bright blue. Just like mine.

“Rose you will be fine, you only have your name in the jar about twenty times, and some kids have their name in there about fifty” she explained.

“just like Brendan, and what if I do get picked out nobody can volunteer, because of that new stupid rule, Brendan always said that he would volunteer for me, and what if Brendan gets picked, I don’t want to lose him” I sighed with tears rolling down my face.

“I promise, you and Brendan will be fine” She replied, giving me a kiss on the head. I knew she was lying she couldn’t promise anything. She was trying to make me feel better. She finished off my hair and showed me in the mirror it was braided and pinned back into a bun like she always did on special occasions.

“Thanks mum” I said giving her a kiss on the cheek. I got up out of my chair. It was almost time for the reaping. I better start heading outside. I looked at myself one last time in the mirror, and tucked the pieces of my shirt that were hanging out. I tried to smile but it didn’t seep through. This was no day to smile.

We walked outside and headed towards the town square, where peacekeepers (our soldiers) were waiting to inject us with needles, making sure that everyone was here. I walked up to them, my body shaking with fear. They made no sounds, nothing just injected me with it and pushed me away.

Thousands of kids were standing outside the main building in the town square, and we’re all waiting silently with fear in our eyes. Two of these people around me, maybe even me, were going to be the tributes of the 75th Annual Hunger Games.

…

A lady with bright, neon pink hair and a long yellow dress, way too much makeup, mint green tinted skin, and long long, and very fake eye lashes, walked up onto the stage. Her name was Tricia. She comes every year and draws the two tributes at random from two large bowels. She is way too cheerful about this whole hunger games thing that it gets on my nerves. A lot.