Mice were common creatures inside the homes of District Nine. A constant reminder of their failure during the rebellion. Originally released by their oppressors as a form of biological weapons, it wasn't uncommon to see their descendant's scurrying...
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Mice were common creatures inside the homes of District Nine. From the massive wheat farms that spanned the entire district it was really no surprise to anyone that smaller rodents would choose to house themselves there, and the Dagan house was no exception.
Anona borley chewed her food as she watched the mouse eating stray grain in the kitchen. Locking eyes with the rodent as they both ate breakfast. On other days the small twelve year-old would've shooed the thing away, tried to scream or get her father, but today she lacked any energy. She lacked the energy to do anything actually. It was the Fourth of July after all.
The girl's spoon struggled to keep its contents as she brought it to her lips, thinking about what would transpire in only a few hours.
Back in the old days during the American Empire the fourth of July was a day of celebration, the freedom of their land from some opposing country that also didn't exist anymore. Anona remembered her father telling her stories of these things called fireworks, these big explosions of colour, that they would set off just for fun. Though now the day was anything but a celebration... for the districts at least.
The fourth of July for the last seventy-two years was a day of punishment. Once a year the twelve districts of Panem sacrificed via random lottery one man and woman between the ages of twelve to eighteen to battle to the death for the crimes of their ancestors. And this year, the seventy-third was no exception.
They called it reaping day, and it was now Anona's first year entered in the bowl.
The odds were rather stacked in Anona's favour though. Throughout the year kids of the reaping age were allowed to get supplies to help their families, such as food and other necessities. They called it Tesserae. The price of a tesserae however was their name entered more times in the bowl.
And as the large district reigned just above twelve on the poverty scale, many teens applied for tesseras.
Unlike many kids in the district, her family had a little money with dad being a doctor. So her and her elder brother never would have to request anything. Her brother, being sixteen, only had his name entered five times inside the reaping bowl, while Anona had one. One slip of paper out of the countless others inside her entire district stacked inside the glass.
They wouldn't pick her, or that's what Anona kept telling herself as she ate her stale cereal.
Suddenly the new acquaintance the twelve year-old had made let out a tearful shriek. Anona jumped back as she watched her brother bring his lighter closer towards the rodent making it scurry away in a panicked haste.
