The Fourth Quarter Quell

Chapter Five

Rue's POV

Today's the day; the day that we leave for the capitol. The mayor has decided to have a ceremony in our honor right before we board the train, just as they used to do when children were reaped from the districts. My mother finally confessed that I would be reaped. She said she was going to try to talk to Johanna, but not to get my hopes up. She keeps telling me that the chance is small that I will get picked, but I don't believe her. Whenever mom talks about her past, she always says that the government would stop at nothing to make the games 'interesting' to watch. I suspect that nothing has changed now, although the entire system of the government has.

Before we leave for the town square, my mom says that Cinna and I need to dress nicely for the cameras. Minutes before we need to leave, I'm fixing my hair in front of the mirror and fixing my dress.

"Rue?" My mother says as she walks through the door, "Wow, I almost didn't recognize you... you look."

"-Stupid?" I interject. I tug on my collar and play with my hair. I never dress this way. My hair is almost always up and you could never catch me in a skirt, much less a dress, but today is different. If I do get picked at the reaping in a week or so, I'll need sponsors. This is the only way I know how to do that at this point.

"No, honey, you look beautiful," she says. She stands behind me and places her hands on my shoulders, then whispers in my ear, saying, "You're so brave." I lower my head, no longer looking at her reflection in the mirror. We walk down the stairs together, and prepare to leave the house. In the kitchen, my brother waits for us all dressed up in a shirt and tie.

"Cinna!" I say with the happiest voice that I can muster up, "You look so handsome!" He sticks his arms out so I pick him up and hold him in my arms as we walk to the square. He's still so small, but he's growing older by the day. I'm just happy that he's not old enough to be reaped. He's only six, so maybe if I die he can forget all about me and not have to live with the grief of a family member like mom and I do every day.

As we walk through the crowd of people, they seem fairly happy to be gathered together. Our ceremony is going to bring a feast for the townspeople afterward, and although the districts are better off than they were before, a little extra food is never a bad thing. We make our way to the front of the crowd, and quickly the ceremony begins.

"Welcome!" Mayor Forman yells through the microphone, "We have gathered here today to see our lovely mentors off as they venture to the capitol!" Wait, did he just say mentors, plural? "Please welcome to the stage, the Mellark and Hawthorne families!" My mind immeadiately goes blank but I walk like a drone to the stage anyway. Gale is going to be a mentor? How could I not know this? More importantly, why did my mother not tell me? I suppose it's because she doesn't know about Greyson and I, but I can't help but feel angry towards her anyway. Greyson is coming to the capitol, but like me, he's being sentenced to possible death as well. I don't think that I could live with myself if we were put into the arena together.

As we stand on the stage, the mayor's words all blur together as my mind races in a million directions. After a moment, I finally look at Greyson. With his eyes full of sadness, he mouths 'I'm so sorry'. I know it's not his fault, and I know there probably wasn't a time when he could get away to tell me. I'm not angry at him, I'm just angry at the situation, and angry at our parents for putting us in it. If we get put into that arena...

"Thank you mentors!" The Mayor yells, snapping me out of my thoughts, "Good luck in the capitol!" Half the crowd cheers while the other half stare silently, knowing what my mom will be doing and knowing that the kids on the stage might not come back alive.