The 67th Hunger Games

Chapter 2 - The Reaping, part 1

Chapter 2 – The Reaping

Part 1:

I wake up a lot earlier than I liked to, but today is the Reaping and I'm nervous. I hear talk from the other side of the room so apparently I'm not the only one who can't sleep. As I open my eyes I can see Eva being awake as well.

“Nervous?”, she asks. I nod, she nods too and we look at the ceiling. We lay for a while trying to recognize the voice. It's a girls voice, but it's not my mother, and Eliza is sleeping next to Eva, with her head on Eva's stomach, so it can't be her. We listen for a while, the voice is talking to our brother. Joe, I presume. Joe and Luke sound very, very similar when they talk, but Luke left our party quite early yesterday and went to his girlfriend's house. She is not up for reaping since she's over 18, but her sister is and I know she is scarred for her sister, just like everybody is scared for the people they love.

The voices outside come closer, and as I concentrate I can recognize one sentence.

“Just two more times,” the girl says, and the Joe agree. “Just two more times”.

I no longer doubt who it is; it's Machelle, Joe's girlfriend. I guess I didn't know it right away because Joe usually goes over to her on the day of the Reaping, instead of her coming here. They've been together for two years now and this is their slogan on the day of the Reaping. It started two years ago, when the Reaping was done. They embraced each other and said “Four more years. Just four more years.” Machelle has two older brothers, both over 18, and no one in her family has ever been Reaped. Not as far as either her or her parents can remember, at least. Now her brothers are safe she hopes to be too.

Eva looks at me, I turn my head and look back at her.

“No need to lay here all morning,” she says and I just nod again. Then I sit up. My hair is big and fizzy, it makes Eva giggle, which makes me laugh. Suddenly everything seems just a bit brighter, and for the first time today I feel like speaking.

“What are you going to wear today?” I ask as I see Eva carefully removing Eliza's head from her stomach.

“Mom said, that I can borrow one of year dresses.”

“Can I then borrow one of yours?”

She looks at me, smile and say “of course.”

With everything in order we leave our bedroom and head towards the kitchen.

In the kitchen mother is doing the dishes along with my grandmother. My two granddads and my dad's mom is sitting at the table, talking. It is mostly my granddads speaking. Some heated argument about weather birch or pine gives the best finish to a tabletop. That's what happens when your whole family is furniture constructers. Mother looks over her shoulder and sees us, puts down the dishes and go to hug us. Both at the same time. We are pressed closely into our mother's arms and give her a squeeze. We stand like that for a time. My mother is worried, but she tries to stay strong. If she breaks down she knows that we will get even more worried than we already are. But I know she is scared. She is afraid she will lose a child. She cryed happy tears when Luke turned 19. It's a big age in Panem.

After a long embrace mom looked at us.

“Will you help with the dishes? Afterwards we make breakfast and then we can look at dresses”.

She smiles, but I see the worry in her eyes. I smile back, Eva does the same, but that's when the nerves really kick in, and I can feel it in my stomach. I hate this feeling and it get's bigger every year, since the risk of getting reaped grows.

Eva looks gorgeous in mom's dress. The cornflower blue dress brings out the blue in her eyes. She looks at me and I nod in approval while she does her hair. Eva's hair is long, down to her lower back. Not a lot of people in 7 has really long hair since long hair often get in the way when you use chainsaws, axes and whatever tool you need to do woodwork. But since Eva does jewelery she can have as long hair as she wants. She braids her bangs across her face, so it goes from her side parting and down behind her ear, and then she braids the rest as well, so she has this one, thick, long braid laying over her shoulder. I've always envied Eva for her hair, since my hair is less thick and more curly. I can't really have it long.