25th Hunger Games

Chapter 1

Walking down the street, I spot something. An unattended cart full of apples. Since the drought, which started when I was five, the Mayor talked with President Snow about transporting some goods from District 11. Didn't work. Snow was enraged because the drought means no water, and no water means no grain, no grain means no bread-related stuff therefore making the Capitol have shortages. Somehow the Mayor communicated with District 11's Mayor, who decided to help us discreetly. So now I found a cart full of apples, fresh from 11. I sneak around, making sure the owner of the cart wasn't nearby, or any Peacekeepers. Luckily, there wasn't any.. I grabbed a bag from the inside of my jacket and stuff it full with apples. I have never found an abundance of anything like this before. I dart back to my house, and empty the bag of apples on the table. My younger brother, Kenneth, stares at me in amazement. "Grant, where did you get this?" He asked. Kenneth is twelve, and was two years old when our mother died. I was seven. She died during the first two years of the drought, when my dad got laid off and there wasn't any food. My dad is out, trying to earn little money at the tailor. He might as well, even though he doesn't know how to sew, he has to try a little bit. Each year I get tesserae, but this year the Mayor said we have to wait, because of the Quarter Quell. President Snow is supposed to announce it tonight, a week before the reaping. "How did you not get caught?" Kenneth asks me. "There wasn't anyone around the cart of apples," I reply. I have got in trouble before, but the Peacekeepers turn their cheek, sometimes they punch me, just to show everyone else that I am not being favored. I usually share my loot with them, giving me the occasional immunity to whippings. Usually the shopkeepers catch me, and they don't like it. It's late afternoon, and my dad comes home. He starts talking about his day, how one shopper from the rich part of town got so mad he ripped up something he was fixing. Brats, I think to myself. After half an hour of silence, our old rickety TV turns on and Caesar Flickerman, the Hunger Games interviewer and commentator, comes on. "Welcome to the start of the 25th Hunger Games, the first Quarter Quell! The Quarter Quell is the anniversary of the end of the rebellion, and the start of order from the Dark Days. Each Quarter Quell serves as a reminder to those who died in the rebellion. The Quarter Quell is usually a good fight, hard to win or survive! Let's hear it for President Snow himself!" Caesar and his lavender colored hair disappears, and President Snow comes on. "Welcome, welcome. For the first Quarter Quell, the 25th anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that their children are dying because of their choice to initiate violence, every district must hold an election and vote on their tributes that who will represent them. Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor." The screen flicks off, and the whole district is dark.