Glimmer's Story

*Note: This might be changed up from the book a little! Credit to Suzanne Collins.

I slowly pulled the bow string back to my face and released the arrow. The arrow flew past the target yet again. Why was I so bad at everything? I heard someone laughing behind me, so I turned around to find my little 12 year old brother, Damien, pointing at me and laughing.

"Hahaha, you're terrible! You'll never win the Hunger Games!" he shouted.

"Shut up!" I yelled and pushed him as he fell to the ground. He made a head first dive into the mud. I started cracking up, but apparently he didn't think it was too funny because he came charging at me. We both ended up covered in mud, and then we both started laughing.

"Glimmer!" my mother shouted. "What have you done!? It's reaping day, and both of you are covered in mud! Go get yourselves cleaned up! Now!"

Ugh... the reaping. The day one girl and boy between the ages of 12 and 18 get chosen to go into the Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live television. Two people from each district will get chosen and will then be called tributes. We live in District 1. There are 12 districts total... well, there used to be 13 until the capitol destroyed it. The capitol is a fancy place where people live a life of ease. They don't have to sacrifice any of their children to participate in the Hunger Games. In fact, they enjoy watching it and actually bet on who will die first. In other words, they're heartless people that get everything they want and wear bizarre clothes.

My district is one of the wealthier districts, and we make luxury items for the capitol. Even though our district is wealthy, we are one of the poorest families in District One. Some of the people in our district illegally train their whole lives to be in the Hunger Games. I train even though I don't really want to be in the Hunger Games. The only reason I train is because I want to be prepared if I would happen to get chosen. Although, people do have the choice to volunteer to take the tributes place. That's very common where I live.

I trudged inside the house and went in the bathroom to take a shower. After jumping in, I scrubbed the mud and dirt off my skin and out of my long, blonde hair. After I was done, I went back into my room and got in a white dress that my older sister had let me wear. It was a bright, white dress that passed my knees and had a few ruffles at the bottom. Just the simplicity of it made it look beautiful. I looked through the mirror and saw someone approach me.

"Well, look at you," my older sister, Clara, said as she walked towards me. She was in a faded, red dress, that stopped at her ankles. I recognized it from a couple previous reaping's ago. This was her last year at the reaping because she is eighteen. I still have two more years of it because I'm only sixteen. "You look gorgeous!"

"Thanks, so do you," I replied.

"Do you want me to do your hair?" she asked.

"Sure!" Clara combed through my hair with her fingers, and then began to work. I had no idea what she was doing, until she was done. I looked through the mirror and saw that she did a french braid from left to right, and then did a normal braid at the end.

"It's amazing! Thank you," I smiled. We met everyone at the table for breakfast.

"Clara... this is for you," my father said. He opened a pouch and revealed a small stack of money.

"Oh my... Dad! How did you get all of this!?" Clara exclaimed.

"I've been taking extra shifts working at the factory. I wanted to do something special for you since it's your last year being at the reaping. I figured with this, you and Marvel could go out somewhere fancy. Look, I know I've been a bit rough on the boy, but I just can't get over the fact that my little girl is growing up. I thought that this could.. maybe make up for it? After today, you'll be safe and sound anyways," my father said.