Hunger Games Entries

Task 1 - The Reaping

So blinding.

Rays of intense sunlight pierce into my eyes. The Capitol lady arrives on the stage. Though alone in her march, her extravagant attire qualifies her as a stand-alone parade. Her painfully striking attire only emphasizes the dullness of our monochrome town hall.

I’m directed to the area I belong in with some other guys from my age group. I don’t know many of them, because I don’t have any friends. For some reason, people don’t like being around me. They’ve always thought that I’m a bringer of bad luck, but dreadful is just how I always look. I can’t help it.

The Capitol lady with the funny hair walks around on the big gray stage, flashing her perfect white teeth everywhere. Deep down, everyone is revolted at her behaviour, but we’ve gotten used to seeing her like this every year. We remember well how our hearts would stop momentarily whenever her hand plunged into that puddle of names.

“The time has come for us to select the tributes for District 9,” she chimes, overly cheery.  

She flashes us a wide smile and waves her hand over the glass bowl that contains all of the names of us eligible candidates. Coreen’s name will one day be in there. As for me, it’s my fifth year.

She announces the name of the girl, and slowly she whose name was called walks up the stage. I’ve never seen her before, but already I feel kind of sorry for her.

“And now, for the boy…”

We observe as her hand dives inside the bowl of fate and swiftly flies back up, with a piece of folded paper already tight in her hand. She blinks her huge eyes, adorned with long heavy-looking peculiar fake eyelashes, and dramatically unfolds it.

“Quinnox Reeves!”

I laugh, and it is one of the heartiest laughs I’ve ever experienced in my life.

“Okay, Quinn. Time to wake up,” I whisper to myself, slapping my own face. Nothing changes. People are still staring at me in pity and relief. This is not a dream.

The kids all look at me like I’m crazy. It’s no laughing matter, yes. But I’m chosen. It sounds like a joke – me? I’m not tribute material. I grew up without a dad to help me properly train for this thing. My mom has been too preoccupied with the arduous task of raising me and my sister to care about preparing us for the Games. She’s always optimistic that we would never be chosen, and after being safe for four years, I’ve eventually come to believe that too.

But the Capitol just has to prove us wrong.

I’m still smiling when they drag me to the stage. When I arrive onstage, I spot Coreen and Mom amongst the crowd. Their jaws are wide open, and Coreen begins to cry loudly on Mom’s pale yellow dress. The thought of possibly not ever seeing them again is just too ridiculous. We’ve been living our lives so well, so peacefully. Perhaps not so well, I guess – we could have always used some more food every now and then, but still. We’ve been quite well-off, and I’ve never had to ask for tesserae.

“Quinn!” Coreen wailed. She tries to run towards me but is promptly blocked by some Peacekeepers. Mom is devastated. She is completely frozen and speechless.

I make eye contact with the girl tribute, but she coldly turns her face away. I would have done the same if I were her. We are, in fact, rivals for the chance to get out alive.

I watch Coreen fall to the ground, tugging at Mom’s skirt. My family must find as it unbelievable as I do. I don’t know what I did to deserve having my name being read out in that repulsive Capitol accent.

All my life, I’ve been invisible. Then suddenly all eyes are on me. District 9 now knows of my existence – right when it’s being threatened.

I’ve been a quite a good boy, except for that one time. There was something bad that I did a few years ago. Something unforgivable that no one knows of, not even my family. Here I am, standing onstage for what is seemingly a simple reason of the odds not being in my favor. Yet I know that somehow my standing here on this huge stage is payback for what I did in the past.

Coreen has always liked to pester me to play with her. I haven’t conformed to her request yet, and now I may never be able to. If I could only be given a chance to make her happy…

Well, I guess that’s exactly what I have to do. Skilled or not, I am going to win this and return home.

We are soon whisked away inside the building and herded to separate rooms. It is cold and does nothing to my slowly growing anxiety.

Moments later, Mom and Coreen rush inside the room. My sister lands in my embrace, holding on tightly to my shirt, not willing to let go.

“Quinn…don’t leave!” she says in between sobs. I gently wipe the tears away from her cheek and hug her tight once more. Mom joins in, and before long parts of my pale blue shirt is drenched in sorrow.

“Oh, my son…how could this happen to you?” Mom said, stroking the back of my head.

“I’ll come back,” I say without thinking. All I’m concerned about right now is to put an end to their grief. I hate seeing them cry, more than anything.

“You have to promise me! You still owe me playtime!” Coreen insisted, staring me down. I could only smile at her.

The door opens, and Mom is told that it’s time to go. Coreen hangs on to me, crying even louder. But this is what I must go through.

“No, Quinn! Don’t go! Quinn!!” my sister wails as she is pulled away from me.

Honestly, I don’t have enough confidence to assure them. But I do know that my family needs me, and it’s up to me to not let them down.

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Hi! Thank you for reading my entry for the first task :)

In this chapter, I've added the part that I didn't need to send in (the part where Quinn meets his family).