Finnick and Annie

Reaped

I never talked to Annie about my present. I never even knew for sure it was from her, though I was pretty certain. We stayed the same though; we didn't talk or hang out anymore. I decided to stop insisting. If Annie didn't want to be my friend anymore, she wouldn't be. I caught a glimpse of her once in a while, at school, at the market, and after a while, at the beach. She was always alone, never with friends. Sometimes I saw her crying, but there was nothing I could do. I was slightly comforted by the idea that she had given me that necklace, though because it meant she didn't hate me that much.

Months went by and not much changed. I had many friends at school and Annie had none. I had stopped trying to talk to her, and I was pretty sure that our friendship had expired at the end of the summer, but I never took off my birthday present, not only was it awesome, it gave me some hope.

Reaping Day was nearing and there were nasty rumors about the arena spreading all over school. This type of thing usually happened, but this year's seemed bloodier and more cynical than usual. Kids talked about poisonous water and carnivorous plants. They said that there were bigger, meaner mutts this year and that they all had to fight on a tiny platform over a lava pit, which I knew was ridiculous. District Four had a decent amount of volunteers. It didn't happen every year, but it wasn't that strange that some kids wanted to go. Victors weren't so strange either. We were considered "careers." We weren't the poorest District, so we were mostly well fed, and we were good at catching seafood to survive. Most of us were also pretty good with weapons, and many of us were very fit from swimming and fishing. No one was too eager to volunteer this year, though.

This was my last year before I got put in the reaping bowls. Names got put in when a child turned twelve. Some kids were eager to go in the games, many considered it an honor to win for your district, but most of us were just afraid of dying.

I had a few friends that would be eligible this year. Andrew, Robert and Sam had all turned twelve recently. I was the youngest of my friends, so I was still a couple months away from my birthday, but they weren't so lucky.

I was kind of nervous for them, though I knew that the chances of them getting picked were very slim. Your name entered the Reaping Bowl once every year since the moment you turned twelve. You could get tesserae (extra food for your family in exchange for putting your name in the bowl once more, each time). Some kids had way more chances of getting picked than Andrew and Sam, whose families were pretty wealthy, and it was their first year anyway.

"Mom, you don't think they'll get picked, do you?" I asked, as we walked to the town plaza, were the reaping took place.

"No, Finn, the odds aren't very high," she reassured me, and held my hand in hers. She kissed my head and led me to the front of the crowd who stood behind the roped area were the possible tributes stood. I spotted Eric across the crowd, with his mother, and Annie was a couple feet away from where we stood. I saw her father, and I saw her mother for the first time. She looked like a very strict woman. Her face was pale, like Annie's, and her hair was black starting to gray. It was pulled back into a tight bun. Annie stood next to her father and held his hand. His father, who was usually smiling happily, had a grim look on his face. His older daughter, Pearl, was fourteen and was standing with her age group, waiting for any name but hers to be pulled out of the bowl.

The citizens of District Four continued to flood into the plaza until it was full and they had to stand in the surrounding streets, watching the huge TV screens that had been placed there just for the event. Attendance was mandatory so the place was extremely crowded. After about an hour of shoving and trying to get a good spot, the people finally settled down and our escort, Gertie, took the stage. She was tall and thin. Disgustingly skinny, but that seemed to be considered glamorous in the Capitol. She always wore her strange Capitol clothes. Her thin frame was draped with a metallic, purple fabric that exposed most of her back and her cleavage. She wore huge, black shoes that seemed to have bricks attached at the bottom. I wondered how she could possibly walk with those. Her face was covered in makeup, and it made her look paler than Annie. Her cheeks were pink, which was odd because she looked too sick to be blushing. Her hair was short and dyed to match her purple dress and lipstick.