The Hunger Games

Chapter 1

Shovels and hoes smash into the ground, but slowly, as it is nearly time to go home. I quickly pick some more red berries, and put them into my bucket. It's almost full, and I have two more buckets back at my cabin. It's not really a cabin, it's just a small room to put all the crops that you've fetched and couldn't hold during the day. The sunset gives a purplish shade to the village- it is a very rare occasion, the sky turning purple at sunset, it's usually sea blue or fiery red- and I know, that the sky only turns this shade once a year. The day before my birthday. And the day before the reaping...
I climb up on my tree, branch by branch. As usual, I do not fall- I take after my cousin, Rue, who competed in the 74th hunger games. But as most know, she died. A district one boy who was allies with the careers caught her in a net, and stabbed her in the chest with a spear. Katniss Everdeen, the victor who shared the winning spot of the games with Peeta Mellark, sang to Rue until she died, and then covered her in flowers. We treasure Katniss till this day- we will never forget her.
Being Rue's cousin, I was taught her night call. The one she sang to the mocking jays, and then all the mocking jays sing all around district 11, telling everyone to go home, that the days over.
But today, the day before the reaping, we have a different night call. But this one was made for Rue.
High pitched, medium, high, medium, low, and finally, high. 'Just for Rue.' I think.
Everyone picks up their tools, buckets, pouches, backpacks, food and drinks that they brought, collected and stored today. I make my way down from the tree, collect my bucket and water skin, and head to my cabin.
Once I get to the entrance that keeps outsiders away from all of our individual cabins, I am greeted by Mrs. Lémon. She works at the administration desk that is the first thing you see when you walk through the gate. "Happy birthday for tomorrow, Melia!" She grants me blessings- many, many blessings- and wishes me goodnight. Her smile is never ending, and her kindness is unbelievably endless. In my life, she's the kindest person here in district 11, apart from my family. I head to cabin 136, and grab my two buckets and my backpack. I walk past the other cabins on the right side, until I get to cabin 79. My twin sister, Amelia, waits there for me. She's holding a large pouch and a bag of wheat- she works at the farms, but close enough to the lake to collect some berries. We head off, talking. "What do you think Amanda will get us?" Asks Amelia greedily. She's all about the presents. Then she has an idea of what our annoying older sister will get us. "Ooh, perfume!" I face palm myself, and start laughing. She stares at me for a while. "What?" She demands, and I stop laughing and look up at her.
"Amanda is unlikely to get us anything. She's way to worried about the reaping. Like, way too worried. She's probably forgot it's our birthday!" I explain. She nods, because she knows how Amanda's like.
"She shouldn't be worried. She just turned 18, it's her last year that her name will be in the giant ball. She is basically the most unlikely girl to be pulled out. Even if she is pulled out, she'll enjoy the dresses, makeup, food, and of course, special attention. Besides, she'd probably survive. She knows more about wild food than the two of us combined!" We keep talking about the reaping, the Games and our birthday until we reach the gate. Once we do, Amelia puts her hand on the hand pad and I turn away while she types in her password. The Capitol provided us with top notch equipment so no one steals all of our food while we're working, eating and sleeping. They get half the food we collect, it's only fair. I put my hand on, type in my password and find not only Amelia, but Amanda and Sydney are standing outside the gate. I stand up on my tip-toes and hug my tall, selfless big sister. Then I kiss Sydney, our sister who is a two years younger than us, and then I hand Amanda a bucket, because her hand is extended and she was smiling. As I said before, she is selfless. And she's an amazing sister.
We walk and talked all the way home. At one point, Amanda and Amelia talk to one another, and I get the chance to talk to Sydney. "So, Sydney, how do you feel about your name going in to the giant ball for the first time?"
"I'm scared, the reaping always scares me! And now, I'm actually in the giant ball of death!" She sighs. "How do you get through the reaping, Mel? You've had nearly 3 years of experience!" It's my turn to sigh.
"What you do, is think: there are people in this world who love me. I will either remember them, and get through it, or forget about them and die." Sydney looks confused.
"Huh?"
"Here. Do you remember watching the replays of all last years reaping's?" Sydney nods enthusiastically.
"Every bit!" She says smartly, giving me a huge, interested smile.
"Well then you should remember Prim Everdeen, Katniss' little sister!"
"Oh I do! I also remember watching Katniss and Peeta in the cave, when Katniss tells Peeta about Prim's goat! She must be very lucky!"
"I do too, Sydney! Anyway, remember when Katniss took Prim's place at the reaping?" Another nod. "That's what family does. And I tell you what." I gulp, because this is a promise- and I never break a promise. "If your name gets called out of the reaping, I'll talk your place like Katniss did." Her eyes grow huge.
"Seriously!?" She asks, in case I'm just kidding around.
"Seriously." I confirm. We all walk in silence the rest of the way, and by now the moon is almost directly above our heads. Sydney, Amelia and I wait on the path while Amanda goes up two steps and knocks on the door. Just like very other night. But tonight, no one answers.
We all exchange worried looks, thinking about what could've happened to our mother. Amanda nervously knocks again. And we all hold our breath. 1...2...3...
The moon is right above our heads, and then the door swings open! My heart pounds inside my chest. My mind is racing. My mother is standing there with a huge smile on her face. Everything is so exciting, everything is moving in slow motion! Then, my brain snaps back into action! As soon as the moon is above our heads, exactly at midnight, on the night of the purple sunset, the day before the reaping, it's my birthday! The very special day I share with my very different- yet very similar- annoying, beautiful twin sister! "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" I hear multiple voices yell. And then my mother comes up and gives me a huge hug, and then kisses me on both cheeks, and then moves to Amelia to do the exact same thing!
Once we walk inside, we see gramps and gran, nan and pa, uncle Jeff and Aunty Maria, Uncle Potty and Aunty Moose, and then the best surprise of all. I'm the first one to notice! "DAD!" I leap into my dad's arms! They're warm and smooth, just like how I remember them! I can hear footsteps running up to Dad, and then Amelia jumps into dad's arms as well! Amanda doesn't need to jump- she's tall enough. The only person who hasn't came up is Sydney. We all look behind, because that's where we left her. She's playing with her hands. Dad descends us, and we all look at Sydney confused. "Dad?" She says, in the quietest voice I'd ever heard her speak in. "What's 'Dad'?" She asks. We hear gasps all around the room. Dad makes his way up to Sydney.
"Oh Sydney, sweetie. Don't you remember me?" He leans in to kiss her on the forehead, but Sydney pushes him away. Sydney, being the youngest of us, is more emotional. She doesn't know what each family needs. She always though it was a Mum, a bunch of sisters and a few aunties and uncles. Plus two sets of grandparents. She doesn't have any friends, unless you call dolls human beings. She's never heard of a Dad. The word must be foreign in her mind. Completely out of her vocabulary. We never talk about Dad, because we don't want to jinx him and in the end he doesn't come home. Someone else does to tell us he's dead.
"Mum, you never told me about this, 'Dad'." Mum's mouth opens to say something, but then it clamps shut after she realises that she had really never told Sydney anything about Dad. Tears start swelling up in Sydney's eyes. Sydney turns to Amanda, Amelia and I. "Girls, what's a Dad?" She asks. She looks like she's trying to stay strong. But really, it's not working.
"Uh..."
"Um..."
"Yeah."
"So..."
"Cool."
"Sweet."
"Yeah..."
Me and my sisters... Well, let's just say that it's not our fault that Mum never told Sydney about Dad. We're all thinking it, but I'm the only one who has the courage to tell her. Because Mum's made this magnificent party- she's probably got a giant headache and sore legs- I want to take the weight of this off her shoulders.
"Look, Sydney." I start, walking up to her and I end up bobbing down and holding her hands. "Mum never told you about Dad because..." There's a pause, because I don't know what to say. And I hate lying. But if I think about it, I don't know the real answer. I listen for something, but everyone's holding their breath as if they're waiting for me to answer on my own. "We wanted to see your reaction when he came home!" I say, and everyone screams in joy! Sydney wipes away tears, screams happily, and hugs Dad with so much joy it's unbelievable! Mum whispers in my ear, "thank you", and then we start the feast with the berries, bread, greens, roots and goosling that our family has caught altogether. It's magnificent! It's the best birthday meal ever. I hop into bed, but I just can't go to sleep.
Every time I try, the word 'reaping' echoes in my mind.
The truth is, the reaping haunts me.