roses

Reaping Day Part 2

MACKENZIE HOLLISTER, DISTRICT 9

I feel Evy sitting on my chest before the sun cracks through the broken window into my eyes. 

"Kenzie...Kenzie, wake up!" 

"Evelyn, stop..." I groan, rubbing my eyes. 

"It's grey day, isn't it?"

Grey day is reaping day, and my little sister is right, it is. She's called it that for years since it never seems to be anything but foggy on July 4th. And although I'm being blinded with sun right now, I already see a mass of distant fog in close proximity, ready to cover up the sun when District 12 needs it most. 

Everyone waits until the morning of reaping day to buy new clothes if they need them, and that includes my sister and I. I can make due with my calf-length slacks but the buttons on my shirt will pop if I wear them for another year, and Evelyn's dress will be a shirt on her soon. 

I get out of the small hay bed covered in gingham fabric that my sister and I share. My parents are already asleep. My father's mining shift and my mother's bartending job both end late, so they need sleep. I take a bit of money from the pouch by the fireplace and we start the walk to the marketplace behind the square. Of course, there's another market where we'd probably get a better price, but the district is crawling with peacekeepers, and I don't want to take that risk.  

I can feel the surrounding anxiety and dread as the whole district tries to somehow occupy their morning before the reaping. Clothes shopping, I've decided, is a good way to stop Evelyn from being scared, even though she's not eligible for another five or six years. But she will be someday, and that scares me. 

There's a small market booth with fresh clothing. A blonde girl with wavy hair and wide blue eyes stands at the front, organizing coins into jars. 

"Hey," I say, standing up a little taller. "I'm Mackenzie Hollister, this is my little sister Evelyn." 

She smiles, flashing straight teeth. "I'm Heather Jardine. My little sister Sabille is back there."

Heather points to some short wooden shelves. A small version of Heather is folding and sorting clothes. 

"Are you here to buy anything in particular? We have a few new things in honor of the reaping..."

"Oh, yeah, Evelyn needs a new dress and I need a new shirt. Do you have anything like that?" 

She looks at a small piece of fabric with script on it. "Yeah, totally. Sabille, can you bring stack 6 and 7?" 

Her little sister brings over two short stacks, one of shirts and one of dresses. Heather looks through them and finds a white button-up. 

"This should fit you," Heather says, flipping out her hair and holding it up. "And for this princess, just one dress your size left." 

She holds a saige green dress that looks like it would fit her sister but certainly not mine. 

"It's a little big, but..." she reaches under the counter and pulls out a wide white ribbon. "If you use this, it'll fit until you're in the reaping yourself. Just an extra three panar." 

Oh, that means I can't get a shirt. 

The dress is so pretty and Evy will be able to use it for a long time. It's okay if you can see my undershirt. 

"We'll just take the dress." 

Heather takes my coins and hands Evelyn the dress. She smiles, excited to look pretty in her new dress. It's weird that we dress up for the reaping, isn't it?

"Hey, Mackenzie... we live right behind the market in the little brick house. Come around sometime, okay?" 

I grin and nod, taking Evelyn's hand to rush home because the reaping starts in an hour. My parents are awake, and they heated up some leftovers from last night in bowls for the two of us. 

"What did you get for the reaping, Evelyn?", my father asks cheerfully, kneeling down as she rushes towards him, happily showing him her new dress. 

"What about you, Kenzie?" my mother asks. "Did you get that new shirt?" 

"Uh, not exactly... the dress was kind of expensive. It's okay, I can get a shirt next year."

"Oh, Kenz..."  my mother trails off, embarrassed. "You could have brought more money. I can take on some more shifts this week, or your father could, or..."

"Mom, it's fine. I really don't need one. You guys work hard enough." And it's true, they do. They're barely home and we still go nights without food. My pointy elbows and Evelyn's sucked-in cheeks are proof enough. 

She nods, but I can tell it bothers her. She doesn't think she and my father are providing for us, but our family has food most of the time and a roof over our heads. That's more than a lot of people in the Seam can say. 

"Go put your dress on, angel. We've got to leave soon." My father kisses Evelyn on the top of her head and she runs off. 

My father is a stern-looking man, a clash against my warm and cheerful mother. His personality is anything but stern, however, and he reminds me more of a friend than a parent. 

"Mackenzie, I've been meaning to tell you that the mines are looking for equipment managers. You would wash and maintain the mining equipment, drills and carts and such. It pays well. Interested?" 

I think it over for a moment. School isn't doing much for me at the moment, and a job could help me start savng for the future, or at least buy a dress shirt more than once evry four years. 

"Sure, Dad. I'll go after it sometime next week." 

He grins. "That's my boy." 

Evelyn comes out of her room, the dress obviously too big. She still looks adorable. She's gripping the white ribbon, handing it to my mother, who ties it around her waist like a belt. 

"You look magical, darling." 

Evy smiles, showing gaps in between her pearly teeth. 

My father claps me on the shoulder. 

"Good luck today, son. We'll see you home for dinner." 

I leave the house alone, anticipating the long identification line. I keep my eyes peeled for Heather, but she's nowhere to be seen. 

After an hour of shifting through the line,  I go to stand with the other fourteen year olds. 

I'm thinking a lot about Heather and about the equipment job at the mines. Unless you work at the market, coal mining is any man from District 12's future. Do I want that? 

Thoughts are swimming through my head until the escort gets to the drawing. 

"Ahem. Sabille Jardine." 

Jardine. 

My head snaps up as I realize the female tribute is Heather's sister, who I thought was ten or eleven.  She looks terrified as she shuffles to the stage. 

"Gentlemen now." 

Heather's going to be devastated. Sabille is tiny; there's no way she's coming out of the arena alive. 

"Mackenzie Hollister." 

What? I must be having a nightmare. No way both me and the hot girl from the Marketplace's sister are both gonna die. 

I follow Sabille up the stairs. The escort places hands on both of our shoulders. 

"Let's have a round of applause for District 12's tributes- but before we continue, are there any volunteers?" 

She and I wait  tentatively, and I expect Heather to step forward and take Sabille's place. 

But the crowd is quiet. 

"Well then! Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor."

I shake Sabille's hand, which fits inside my closed fist. 

I don't want to kill her.