Let the Games Begin.

Chapter 1- A day in the woods.

  I was sitting on the ground, starring into the sky. Trees and rocks were all around me. I was waiting for Travis. He is my friend who likes to hunt. I go with him sometimes, he taught me how to use a bow and arrow, but I do not like to hunt a lot. Travis killed the animals, and I would either clean them, or help sell them. More often than not, we would have to sell it. That's how District 12 works. You get your own food. And by get, I mean catch and kill it, or buy it. At the Hob, a black-market, people would sell or buy things they needed. I did not need to sell things very often though. I would rather Travis and I eat it when we get it, or Travis takes it home to his little brother, Jonathan. But sometimes Travis needed to sell thing. A lot of things. I don't really need to sell things because I am an only child, my father doesn't care about me or what I do, and I have tesseraes. Many of them. My father makes me sign up for them every year so we would have more food for him to eat whenever he is sober enough to eat. Last year, when I was 15, my name was in there about 30 times. Now that I am 16, my name is in there about 45 times. If my dad would quit wasting what little money we had on alcohol, I would not have my name in there as much. I was thinking about the Games so much that I did not hear Travis come up behind me.  

   "Here we go, Princess." He said.

   I jumped a little and turned around to see him smiling down at me. Yes, he had called me princess. Almost everyone I knew called me that. It was because I did not have the "Seam look." I have long blond hair and green eyes. I did not look like people from the Seam. I got my looks from my mom. I only have one picture of her, my dad burned the rest. She gave it to me a few days before she died. Dad did not care about her. I never really like the attention I got. Everyone saw me as just a pretty face. Everyone, except Travis. 

   "Hey." I said. "Any luck today?"

   "Yep" He smiled and handed me his bag. "Two squirrels, a rabbit, and I found some edible berries."

    Travis knew a lot about edible plants. He had shown me some poison mushrooms one time when I went hunting with him. He is really smart. I mean, I am smart, but Travis is like a genius.

   "Great." I said as I took the animals out and started cleaning them.

   "You ok?" Travis asked. "You look upset."

   "Just thinking," I said, “about - you know- the Games."

   Travis sighed. We had talked about this a lot. He hated talking about the Games. He lost his older sister in one of them a few years ago. Ever since then he became more persistent. He would not give up on hunting. Even if he had to stay out in the woods at night, and trust me he hated the woods at night, he would. He studied so hard. He did anything he could to help his little brother. His only family- his parents died a long time ago. Whenever Travis was out hunting, Jonathan would stay at the Hob.

   "You shouldn't worry about it." He said after a little while.

   "It's tomorrow, Travis." I said as I cleaned the rabbit.

   "No way could you get chosen. There are a lot of other people who could."

   "Yeah, but their father's actually care about them and don't make them put their name in 45 times."

   He looked away from me. "Why don’t you just leave?"

   "I told you why."

   "The way your father treats you, Annabeth, it's not right."

   "I know, Travis."

   "Then go."

   "I wouldn't be able to make it on my own."

   "You don't have to go alone. With your looks I am sure you could charm some guy to go with you. And besides if you were chosen for the Games, the arena would be worse than out there. At least out there you would not have people trying to kill you."

   I knew he was right. It would be a better chance to live out in the woods. Father would not care at all. Part of me wished that if I did go, Travis would go with me. But he has his brother to look after. Travis would never take him in to the woods. Travis was the real reason I did not want to go. Even though he doesn't know it. The last time we had this conversation, he said I should take someone with me. I thought that he meant he would go with me. I asked him, but he just looked away and said I could get another person to go with me. That I could easily get someone to leave everything and go with me to live in the woods. But I couldn't get Travis to go with me. I guess that's why I like him. He doesn't care about beauty. He is not easily persuaded. Behind that messy brown hair and deep brown eyes is a truly amazing guy. A great personality, and is super smart, funny, and a good hunter. But mostly, he is determined.

   "Are we selling these or not?" I asked

   "The squirrels are going to be sold, but the rabbit is for you."

   "Thank you."

   "Yeah. I will get some soup for Jonathan. He has not had it in a while. It's his favorite."

   As we walked back to the fence surrounding District 12, we did not speak. We soon got to the fence and went under it.

   "I am going to go home. Dad will probably need me." I said.

   "Wait." Travis said. "Come to the Hob with me, please. Jonathan will want to see you. And I could use some help selling the squirrels."

   I nodded and we headed to the Hob. As soon as we walked in, Jonathan ran up and hugged me. I picked him up and smiled at him.

   "Did you have fun?" He asked.

   "We sure did, little guy." I said.

   "Here," Travis said and handed him the berries. "We will have some soup latter.

   "Goody!" Jonathan said and clapped his hands. I put him back down and he went to play with Ben, the dog. Ben belonged to Greasy Sae, the woman who sold soup. Normally she would cook the dog, but this one she liked and decided to keep it as a pet. The dog could get its own food so it did not cost extra money, and Ben always came back to the Hob.

   I helped Travis sell the squirrels, and then get some food for Jonathan and him. After Travis had Jonathan settled down and eating, I said goodbye and headed home. On the way to my house I stopped by the bakery. I did not go in, but I just wanted to see the cakes they had. Sometimes I would buy bread, but today I did not feel like it. I just wanted to see the cakes before tomorrow. I was almost positive I would not see this bakery again. I kept walking and soon got to our house. I walked in and immediately smelt the alcohol. I heard a little noise coming from the living room and saw my dad stumble out.

    "Ah!" He said. "Thurs my purty little princesss. Whuts yur got fur your pops todays?" He was defiantly drunk. I could barely understand him.

   "A rabbit." I said walking around him and into the kitchen. He stumbled after me.

  "Jurst one?" He asked.

   I sighed and said, "We only need one, dad. I will cook it after I shower." I put my bag that contained the rabbit on the counter and went to the bathroom.

   "Hurrs!" My dad called after me. "I've starrvs!"

   I rolled my eyes and went to shower. Ignoring my father's encouragement to "hurrs", I stood in the shower letting the warm water wash over me. I kept thinking about the Games. I wondered about the tributes, and the landscape of the arena.

   There was a small part of me that was hoping that I would not be chosen. After all, there were a lot of girls in District 12. Maybe, just maybe, I would be lucky. Then again, my dad would make me put my name in even more next year.

   I got out of the shower and put on clean clothes. I brushed my hair, and left it down. I went to the kitchen and found dad passed out at the table. I went ahead and cooked the rabbit. I left some on a plate for dad whenever he woke up, put the rest away, and took mine to the living room. I sat by the fire place and ate it. I was not that hungry so I ate only a little bit. It was a little early, but after I ate I decided to go to bed. It took a while, but I finally got to sleep.