I wake up to a screaming child. I try to go back to sleep, remembering the screaming children is a regular thing on reaping day. A bolt up and awake when I relize the screaming child is my sister. "Paige! Paige!" I call to her, only to find her bellowing right beside me in our bed. "Paige, are you okay?" I slowly lay back down next to her and start brushing her bed head out of her eyes. "It was me-" Paige whimpers, trembling so much you could here her teeth chatter inbetween each word. "It's okay, Paige," I gently pull her up to the sitting position, "Your name is only in there once, they aren't going to pick you." "But Brooke-" She shakes but I shh her. "I promise. I promise to you, we'll both be here tonight. Sleeping safe and sound," I tell her. I am not sure of this, I do everything I can to protect Paige but I am powerless against the reaping. Paige sofly pulls my head closer to her, cups her hands around my ear and sofly whispers to me. I nod and begin to sing. "Deep in the Meadow, under the willow. A bed of grass a soft green pillow," I am interupted by our mother, Kelly comming into our small and dingy house. "Come here, Paige. We need to get your pretty dress picked out," Kelly says. Paige looks frightened by this. "It's okay Paige, you're going to look very pretty. This will be fun!" "I picked out something for you too, Brooke," My mother chims in. I stare at the floor and slowly walk into my small room. This was not going to be fun.
My finger burns with pain as the peacekeeper forcly pricks my finger. As Paige and I are navigated to different age sections I continue to stare at her. She is in her most formal outfit. But the shirt was always too big, so a large clump of the blouse hangs out, like a duck tail. Also on her white blouse I placed the Mockingjay Pin. I told her it would keep her safe, and hopfully it will. But there is nothing we could do. "WELCOME, WELCOME," Abby Lee Miller, our district's escort, booms into the microphone on the humungous stage infront of me. "The time has come to select one coragous man and woman for the honor of representing District 12 in the 74th Anual Dancer Games!" The huge mob glumly cheers. "As usual, Ladies First!" Abby heads over to one side of the colasal wall behind her. The wall is filled with pink and blue sheets of paper, the blue papers (for the boys) were on the left. The pink papers and where Abby stood now where on the right. Underneith all these colored pieces of parchment where headshots of every kid in the district, between the ages of twelve and eighteen. When you're twelve your headshot is put on the wall once. Each year another headshot is added. And since I had to get grain for my family my photo is on that wall around twenty times. Hopefully Paige's and I's photos are high above Abby's reach, everyone does.
"Paige Hyland," Abby rips off a random piece of pink paper to reveal a beautiful photograph of my sister. I look over at her, she is beatiful. With her golden locks and blue eyes- Wait. Why is she crying? Why is she bawling. Why is everyone staring at her? My eyes follow down the empty row of kids that had formed that lead to the stage. Why was she being guided to the stage? My eyes travel up to the stage, past Abby, and up onto the wall of pink and blue covers and saw one photograph uncovered and beaming, my sisters. My sister had just been reaped.
