Happy 125th Hunger Games!

Great, another reaping, the huddled crowds there against their own will. Let the games begin! As I was dragged out of bed by my older sister Kaye, I thought about how this was probably hurting her so I stopped resisting and pulled away from the grasp of my old friend sleep. She forced a smile but I could see that she was now in pain and I sighed, wishing she had just kicked me or something instead of hurting her already fragile arm. After a wire was torn in a factory accident and ended up shocking her arm the nerves had not been the same and she had to stop working. This made life even more difficult on my parents, but I couldn’t take the time to think about that, I was more worried about the Games. I had a large number of tesserae taken out as soon as Kaye’s accident so my number was in there at least... I stopped to count and shook my head at the large number and tried to break the silence by asking
“So are you…excited about the reaping?” I instantaneously knew that was the wrong thing to ask. Who in their right mind would be excited about watching someone be sentenced to their untimely end?! My sister teared up and fled the room crying and leaving the door open for me to stare out of blankly. I heaved another exasperated sigh and figured now that I’ve hurt her physically and mentally, it would be best if I didn’t go and make things any worse.
I threw my brown hair into a ponytail, slid into a dress Kaye had grown out of and before long I was at the reaping. I slipped into the 15s section and glanced over at a familiar face not too far away. Garrett. I smiled at him, even giving him a little wave. His face lit up and he smiled back enthusiastically and giving me a thumbs up sign mouthing, “may the odds ever be in your favour”, and I could tell he would’ve said it with the most outrageously upbeat Capitol accent. I suppressed a chuckle, only Garrett could make me laugh in such a grim place.
After what seemed like no time at all, our District escort Jayla was on stage, after the mayor proceeded to make his way off. She had dressed for the occasion in what appeared to be tiny light bulbs, plastered onto a pale green outfit. Her hair and dress clashed in an unpleasant manner and it was all I could do to keep from looking over at Garrett’s expression, knowing it would also be one of horror.
“We’ll start things off today with the gentlemen first!” she cried, in a high pitch wail that had me wanting to cover my ears, but refraining. She gingerly reached into the Reaping ball and dramatically whipped a tiny slip of paper out.
“Axel Cagney!” she announced, looking expectantly around to see who the tribute was. My heart sunk, Oh no, Axel. Garrett will be devastated. I had only talked to Axel on a few occasions, but he had always been nice to me, even after he lost his other friend Lilac last year. I felt bad as I watched Garrett bring him to his senses and pat him on the back reassuringly. It only seemed to make things worse; he looked in a daze as he sluggishly made his way up towards the impatient Jayla Evans. He sat down where she directed him and she eagerly pressed on to the girls’ Reaping ball. She rustled around for a minute, dragging it out as long as possibly until she plucked out the next victim.
“Riley Boyd!” And I froze.
I felt an out of body experience, as if I was watching some other girl with the exact same brown hair and pale complexion as me walk up to the stage. She confidently smiled at the crowd and sat down next to Axel. His hand instantly grabbed hers and she didn’t know what to do, so she just held it, raising it in the air and beaming, evoking a confused but strong applause.