Let The Games Begin ~ The Hunger Games (Revised)

The Phoenix

We ate in silence like we usually do. There's never really anything interesting going on in District 12. The streets were usually empty except for the few people begging for scraps, these were the people who couldn't afford to buy food and they couldn't hunt. I suppose we were in the same situation, but I refused to be out on the streets day and night, begging for food.

    I had almost been caught out of district once. People from the Capitol flew by and saw me, but I had barely managed to escape back to the District before they caught me. I remember how scared I had been back then, but if that were to happen now, I wouldn't even run. I would put up a fight. I would.. If I didn't have Ava to worry about.

    After we ate, I took Ava into the District to sell any extra meat we had. Of course, we saved some for tomorrow's meals, but what we didn't need, we sold to make a small amount of money.

    We approached the vendor we sold our meat to. She was an older woman, but quite wise. She, just like all the other vendors, depends on people like us, who sell things to her, to survive.

    The Woman smiled at us and I handed her the wrapped up buck meat. In return, she gave me some change, which wasn't much but we were thankful for what we had.

    "Thank you." I said to the vendor, turning to leave, but she stopped me.

    "You're such a kind person. You and your younger sister." She spoke. She pulled out a pin with a bird with their wings stretched out. It used to be a gold color, but it had faded into a rusty red color. "Take this. It seems as if it represents you well."

    She set the pin in my hand and we smiled at each other. "What is it?" I asked.

    "A Phoenix. They represent something or someone that everyone respects."

    "Thank you so much." I replied, putting the pin on my shirt. She nodded and Ava and I began our walk back home.

    "What do you think will happen at the Reaping tomorrow?" Ava asked as we stepped through the front door.

    The Reaping happens every year just before the Hunger Games. The Reaping is when they pick two people from each district for the Hunger Games. You can volunteer for someone, which means you take their place as tribute.

    "You know Ava, I'm not sure."

•••

    "What are we going to do about Ava?" I asked, pacing back and forth in the Kitchen.

    "What?" Angel responded, confused.

    "What if Ava gets picked tomorrow? One of us has to volunteer for her."

    "It's going to be me. I'm the oldest here. I have to take responsibility. You need to take care of Ava."

    "No. It has to be me."

    "Natalie.."

    "No Angel. I'm the only one who knows how to hunt. I have survival skills."

    "Natalie you can't.."

    "Look, it's not my problem that you refused to let mom train you to fight and hunt. It's not your fault she died. That was on me. I should be the one to volunteer. For Mom. Prove to her that I didn't mean to get her killed."

    There was a long pause before Angel spoke again. Ava had gone to bed a while ago, so she couldn't hear us.

    "We are not discussing this anymore." Angel spoke, walking to her room for bed.

    I sighed. I wondered what my mom would tell me. She would tell me to do the right thing. If she was here..

    Three years ago, my mom and I were hunting. She was teaching me how to hunt out in the woods. We weren't paying attention and the Capitol spotted us. They came after us. My mom tripped, and I tried to help her up but she told me to go. I ran away as the capitol killed my mother right there. I felt terrible for leaving her there that day. I blamed myself for her death.

    I sighed and went to my small bedroom, laying down on the small bed, pondering over the thought of tomorrow's reaping