Burning Embers

It started off as a normal day. Well, as normal as a Reaping Day could be. My mother seemed to be perfectly calm, but I knew better. One wrong word would slash her facade into ribbons, and all the sanity she had left would flood through the tears. No one could blame her though. Most families had one or two children, three at the most, that could be chosen for death. Our family… Well, we had four.

There was nothing common about my family. No, the Elwood's were out of the ordinary amongst the other residents of District 12 for a variety of reasons. Our vibrant red hair stood out from the typical dark locks. A closer look only revealed more differences; pale skin sprinkled with cinnamon freckles and bright blue eyes. All of our traits were more fitting of District 10… which was where my father and mother were originally from. We moved to District 12 when I was just a baby and my mother was pregnant with Griffin. I asked countless times as a child, but was never given an answer. All I knew was that our move was not supposed to be considered a punishment, but a precaution. That's what my older brothers said, at least.

But our physical features were not the only way we stood out. Our new district was the poorest of all of Panem, so having large families was even more unusual. More children meant more mouths to feed, and since most people fell over dead from starvation, couples tried to stay reasonable when producing offspring.

My parents, sadly, were cursed with unnaturally high fertility. They never planned on having seven children, but life gave us to them anyway. I, Emelina Elwood, am the third child and oldest girl. My oldest brothers, Reed and Clay, are eighteen years old and identical twins. Then there is my younger brother, Griffin. He looks way older than I am, but acts like he's five. In reality, he is only a year younger than me. Then there are my nine year old sisters, Callie and Dahlia. They're twins just like Reed and Clay, but couldn't be more different in personality. Callie is wild and outspoken while Dahlia is quiet and kind hearted. And lastly, there is little Lily. She turned two about a month ago; she was born a day before my father died.

Supporting a family so large was not easy for just one man alone. As soon as my oldest brothers could, they went to the mines to bring home some extra money, but it never seemed to be enough. Of course when food was scarce, my father was the last to eat even though he needed the most fuel. Only forty-four years old, he collapsed in the mines one day. That was three years ago when I was twelve. They told us it was from dehydration and malnourishment, common killers in District 12.

We were given some sympathy from our friends and neighbors for awhile, but kindness could only last so long especially when our neighbors didn't have enough food to go around for more than a couple of days. Reed and Clay went to the mines, signed up for tesserae, and held together our breaking family. My mother would have helped, but her body was deteriorating more and more each day. I could never be sure if it was bearing seven children finally taking its toll, or if it was because she was beginning to lose the will to live. Either way, she was slipping through our fingers. I cared for her and took over her role in our home. Cleaning, cooking, caring for my younger siblings. It was exhausting, but a small price to pay for my family especially considering the fact Reed and Clay were working themselves to near death just to bring home food for us.

They took out tesserae. My wonderful, foolish brothers took out tesserae and refused to let myself or Griffin do the same. Seven was the minimum for eighteen year olds, but once you multiply that by eight (the number of members in our family) you have fifty-six. Add seven to that and you're at sixty-three. My head throbbed just thinking about it. Sixty-three. Reed's name was in there sixty-three times. Clay's name was in there sixty-three times. This year would be their last time doing so, but that didn't spare me from the utter dread of imagining either one of them being shipped off to fight to the death.

My name was only entered four times, the minimum for my age. Griffin's was one fewer than that even. So I wasn't worried for the two of us. Perhaps I should have been, but I wasn't. My own name was the least concern on my mind as I stood in the crowd of children, waiting to see who would be chosen for almost guaranteed death.

The same Capitol woman, Effie Trinket, was there in another one of her ridiculous outfits. She babbled for a few moments and I waited impatiently for her infamous line. "May the odds be ever in your favor." She finally chimed.

My hands were curled into fists and I held my breath. Despite the terrible fear, I never would have believed one of my brothers or myself could have been chosen. The world couldn't be so cruel… but then I heard a much too familiar name that sounded so distasteful in Effie's thick capitol accent. My heart stopped and my arms fell limply to my sides.

"… Elwood!"