THE 150th HUNGER GAMES

District 4 Reaping (All Ages)

Venus Verymerry's (escort) P.O.V:

I smile hesitantly at the crowd of District 4 people in front of me. I need to stay normal. I need to make sure I smile. I need to act perfect. I need to be extra supportive of the Hunger Games. I don't think I've been this nervous in all my twenty eight years of reaping tributes.

Snow isn't very happy with me right now.

I'm worried he's going to try to kill me. After all we've been through, I have a suspicion he might be planning on throwing me in the Capitol dungeons. I'll suddenly 'retire'. Nobody will ever see me again. A new escort will take my place. The District people won't care. The Capitol might not even notice. Venus Verymerry won't be missed. The thought makes me want to bawl.

I guess I am due for a vacation, though. I'm the oldest escort of us all. My hundredth birthday was a couple weeks ago. Snow gave me some of his life-saving potion for the occasion, to make me live longer. I wonder if his present will go to waste. He will even be the one to waste it if I am killed, for he will be the cause of my death.

Or perhaps it won't go to waste, and he'll make me rot out another fifty years in jail. That must be even worse than getting shot in the head. I hate this. My future is so uncertain. I have no idea what Snow has in store for me. The only thing I can do is hope that everything will be the same, though nothing will be the same after what we went through together.

"Welcome, District 4! The time has come to choose a male and female tribute to participate in the..." I hesitate, trying to think of a good word that will make me seem like I love the Games even more than the average Capitol citizen. "...the wonderful Hunger Games! May the odds be ever in your favor."

I walk over to the first Reaping ball and pluck a slip from the top. I swear to Snow, if it's a little twelve year old girl... I hate when I have to send them to their deaths. I can only hope they will win, but they don't. District 4 has only had one winner this whole time, in the eighteen year old Games, which seemed like ages ago.

I unfold the paper slowly, holding my breath but keeping a grin plastered on my face. "Hana Fasces!" She's eighteen, please. Seventeen's good, too, or even sixteen, just please don't be twelve, please, please.

"I VOLUNTEER!" A voice calls out. I almost stop smiling as a girl steps out of the group. She can't be more than fourteen. The girl makes her way forward, her brown hair swinging back and forth in its ponytail. She takes her place beside me and proudly announces, "My name is Mollie Berns, I am thirteen, and a Career!" Thank goodness. She's a Career. She'll know how to fight, so she might have some chance of survival.

"Fantastic!" I say loudly, and briskly walk over to the second glass ball of names. Hopefully the boy I choose won't be too young that he'll die. "Mur-"

I don't even get to finish calling out the Reaped tribute before a volunteer calls out- his voice is deep. Thank goodness, this kid is definitely on the older side. I study him as he makes his way up towards me. He's extremely tall- much taller than I am- and looks pretty muscular. I think this kid might have a chance of winning- if he's volunteering, he's definitely a Career.

I smile at him as he jogs up, taking his place as tribute. "What is your name, young man?"

"Caspian O'Connor," He says curtly. "And I'm seventeen." He seems rather professional.

I grin one last time at the camera, announcing the names of the two tributes one last time. Hopefully I did well. Everything went normally, I think. Maybe Snow will decide to spare my life. I'll just keep acting the same as usual, and extra supportive of the Hunger Games. That's my plan.

Will it work? It better. I don't want to die just yet.