100th Hunger Games

Chapter 1

Willow Mason's POV: (District Seven)

The sun has just barely begun to show itself when I wake. I sit up, taking in the familiar scent of pine trees, and brush the rough blankets off of my body. I tiptoe quietly through the old wooden house, being careful not to step on any of the creaky floorboards, and silently dress, slipping on my soft, supple boots, and a thick wool coat before stepping outside into the brisk morning air.

I retrieve my ax from under the porch and travel into the woods, occasionally dodging a peacekeeper. When I'm far enough into the woods, I begin to chop dead branches off of trees, collecting the wood in an oversized bag. Within an hour, I've collected a fair amount of firewood, so I return home, placing my ax back in it's hiding place under the porch.

I'm not yet old enough to legally work in the forests, harvesting lumber for the Capitol, and my father is far too weak for the work, so I collect what little wood I can and provide for my father, my only living relative, to the best of my ability.

Upon returning to the broken down shack that I call home, I use some of the wood I've collected to start a fire just as the front door creaks open. I jump up, fearing the peacekeepers spotted me when I journeyed into the woods, but relax when I see that it's only my friend, Rayna, coming for a visit.

"Rayna!" I whisper sharply. "I thought the peacekeepers had come for me!"

"It's only me. I thought you might like some of our parcel day haul." Rayna says, placing a small bag on the kitchen table.

Rayna's brother won the Hunger Games, an annual televised fight to the death, last year, so her family receives shipments of food and supplies once a month as a reward. Being the good people they are, they spread the food around to those in need.

"Next time, knock." I say, retrieving various food items from the parcel day bag.

"Got it." Rayna smiles. A thought seems to cross her mind, and the smile fades from her face. "What do you think of the quarter quell?"

"I think it should be especially gruesome. More tributes means more innocent lives lost. I don't think the odds will be in anyone's favor, what with twelve of us being reaped today." I mutter, starting some pine needle tea on the stove.

Rayna nods. "We're extremely unlucky, having to go first. Maybe it's better that way though, get it over with." She says quietly. "Well I had better get back out there. I've got to finish delivering food before the reaping. Best of luck, Willow."

"To you too." I smile.

Rayna exits the house as quietly as possible, as my father is still sleeping, and I return my attention to storing the parcel day treats in our empty pantry.

When I've finished my morning chores, I carry a tray laden with a meager breakfast of rough bread, hot grain, and pine needle tea to my father in bed before returning to my room.

I change out of my plain clothes and dress in my reaping clothes: a soft pink dress with a matching hair ribbon.

At one o'clock, I help my father down to the square, and leave him in the protection of Rayna's family before signing in and standing next to Rayna in the seventeen year old section.

Mayor Strickland takes the stage and gives his annual speech, giving a detailed recounting of the dark days; when the citizens of the thirteen districts of Panem rebelled against the Capitol, when twelve districts were defeated, and the thirteenth destroyed, giving us the hunger games, an annual televised pageant in which one male and female tribute from each district fight to the death, as a punishment, and a yearly reminder of the innocent lives lost in the rebellion.