The 4th Quarter Quell (A Hunger Games FanFic)

District 1 Reaping

1

Athena Mitchells woke to the chirping of birds outside her window. Fear began to curdle at the bottom of her stomach. Today was the reaping.  

The sky outside had to be wrong. It should be overcast today, she thought. Instead, the sky was a bright, clear blue shattered only by a few white clouds.

Today they were reaping the 100th quater quell. It wasn't really the 100th, because durring the uprising, a few games were lost to anarchy. But the Quell was strong this year. The districts were providing siblings. Any family with a daughter and son within the reaping age was entered. The slips would be entered in a ball, and the family inside the ball would be the only family that could volunteer. It was part of the population limitation laws. For the next five years, all Hunger Games would be performed this way.

Athena shivered. She hoped with all her might that if her name was called, Bree would volunteer for her. Bree was her perfect, sixteen year old sister. Flawless blond hair, a perfect complexion, and far too nice for her own good.

Athena didn't care if Spike was called. She honest to goodness hated him. He'd hit her one too many times.

She climbed out of bed, and walked over to the makeup station. She powedered her cheeks and applied eyeshadow. As the luxury district, they were entitled to luxury items.

Her bed was one of them. A huge mahogany beast with a puffy mattress and gold and white bedding.

Suddenly, Athena held her breath. She looked around her, trying to find the source of the noise she'd heard. But she couldn't hear anything.

Spooked, she started brushing her hair, and picked out a plain white dress to wear to the reaping. It was perfectly straight, trimmed with gold and silver piping. Athena adored it.

This new law also made it much harder to cheat. Usually, the strongest and healthiest children were chosen to train at nine or ten, and when they turned eighteen, they would volunteer in place of younger, unexperienced tributes.

Sadly, all of Athena's family had missed the cut.

Her father regarded it bitterly, and often still lashed out at his children about it. Athena's younger sister, Shimmer, was very frightened of him. She was only seven, and with the new rules, she would never be picked to train.

Athena was still puzzled, however. It was the quater quell. The new rules could not be the only twist.

Curling her blond hair, she still puzzled over it. Sighing and pinning up her curls, she headed down to breakfast.

Bree woke up early. Sighing, she prepared for the reaping. Because she lived in the first district, she had to get out very early. Far too early. The District 1 reaping was held at 9 o'clock.

Shaking out her long, blong curls, she quickly set to work searching her closet for suitible clothing. She settled upon wearing a long, pink dress, that hugged her curves tightly until it flared out like a bell at her hips. It ended right under her knee, and after changing into it, Bree happily admired herself in the mirror.