METANOIA ↝ THE HUNGER GAMES [1]

[2]

"There she is!" a familiar voice exclaimed as Aspen neared the forest clearing, and looked up to see her friends sitting in the trees, awaiting her arrival.

Both of Aspen's friends from school, Cedara Atwood and Ash Wilder, had the same lithe, agile build shared by many of the residents in District Seven, perfect for running through the forests, as well as the toned upper bodies of climbing and working with trees all day in the district's lumber industry. After all, the children learned to climb trees at a very young age, and most of them continued on into the lumber industry to spend their days chopping down trees in their adolescence and adulthood. They watched Aspen with strained smiles, no doubt stressed over the events that were to take place later that same day.

Aspen climbed up the tree with ease, taking a seat on the branch across from Cedara, and Ash sat on a branch a few feet above them.

"Sleep well?" Ash asked, shaking his shaggy brown hair out of his eyes.

"No," Aspen scoffed. "of course not. Either of you?"

One by one, both of them shook their heads. For Aspen's friends in District Seven, this was a common occurrence. Each year, the three of them would meet in the forests before the reaping, in their usual spot up in the trees, as so many of District Seven's children did so often, and would discuss their odds for that year, which grew increasingly greater each year they turned closer and closer to eighteen.

While Aspen had only been entered into the bowl for the reaping seven times, one for each year she'd been eligible, Ash had begun taking out two tesserae each year to provide for him and his mother after the death of his father in a felling accident two years prior, making his entries for that year a total of thirteen. As for Cedara, she began her entries taking out four tesserae per year, until her younger sister was old enough to take out her own, so they split it in two each. This year, she was entered into the reaping twenty-five fives.

"Just think," Cedara said, absentmindedly twisting a strand of light brown hair around her fingertips. "after this year, we're done. By the time the next Hunger Games comes around, we won't have to worry about being reaped anymore."

"And then we're just spectators in this big game." Aspen mused, shaking her head.

"So, who do you think it'll be this year?" Ash asked. "Older or younger?"

"I think they'll both be older." Aspen said, watching as two mockingjays flitted about in the nearby trees.

For the most part, older kids were reaped into the Hunger Games, simply because they have more entries than the younger kids. Although, every few years or so, a child of twelve or thirteen would find their way up onto the stage with the Capitol escort, fighting tears while praying that they might have a volunteer. While it did happen more than in the poorer districts such as Eleven or Twelve, volunteers in Seven were still a rare sight to behold, and were beloved by all those in the district until they inevitably met their end inside the arena.

"Maybe this'll be a year with a younger one." Ash said. "It's been a while since that's happened. Seven, eight years now?"

"What would you guys do?" Cedara asked, leaning back with her back pressed against the tree. "If it was you? Me, I'd pray it'd be over quick so I didn't suffer."

"Not me," Ash said. "I'd want to make sure I gave them a good show. After all, isn't that the entire reason we're there? To give the Capitol a good show?"

Aspen thought for a moment before giving her answer. "I like to think I'd put up a good fight. I wouldn't want to go down without giving whoever's delivering the final blow hell."

"Well, I've seen the way you help your sister chop down trees sometimes if the shop's closed." Cedara said. "If there's an axe in that arena, Lord help whoever has to go up against you in a fight to the death."

Aspen smirked, shaking her head. "If there would even be an axe. Remember that year that all they got were knives?"

The group nodded, thinking back to the year when they were thirteen, the year after first being eligible for the games themselves. Unless the tributes had experience with throwing knives, most of them chose to simply fight close-range, fearing that they would miss their target and be left without a weapon to defend themselves.

"What do you guys think the arena's going to be like?" Aspen asked.

"Maybe a desert?" Cedara guessed. "Or even somewhere snowy?"

"Whatever it is, for the tributes' sake I hope there's water this year." Ash said, referring to the year before, where Rosemary Clifford of District Twelve won in an arena consisting of a rainforest with very little access to water. "Poor tributes last time started to go mad from dehydration before the games even got started."

Aspen nodded, hearing the clock in the middle of town begin to chime, signaling that there was only one hour left until the reaping was scheduled to begin.

"Well, I should go get ready." Cedara announced, grabbing hold of the branch she sat on and swinging her legs off so she was dangling from it before letting go and dropping gracefully onto the ground. "If I'm not back in ten minutes, my mother will kill me before the Capitol even gets a chance."

One by one, the rest of the group followed suit before walking out of the forest and into town, splitting up one by one as they began to reach their houses.

"Alright," Aspen said as she neared her turn, breaking away from Ash, who was the last remaining member of the group. "I'll see you in an hour."

"See you in an hour," he said, bidding her goodbye. "and may the odds be ever in your favor."