The Hunger Games: The Pawns

Chapter 6: The Twenty-Fifth

~~Aura Cantarella~~

"Move! Get in formation!"

Aura was rushed into the line of by a man wearing all white. The color was blinding next to the field of gray and black worn by many members of the crowd. There was not a cloud in the sky to match her mood. The sun was shining for once, yet it felt like its rays missed this part of the earth entirely. Today was the Reaping.

The girl had been dreading this day from the moment she was told what her destiny was. Until only a week ago, she believed she had one more year until she was forced into these Games. She had told her father she would volunteer though, and for the sake of her little brothers, she had every intention to honor it.

She wiped a bit of dust off of her skirt. It was the fanciest piece of clothing she owned, yet that wasn't saying much. At least she had a steady supply of makeup to apply that morning. It was sick, how the Reaping was treated like a wedding, but it was necessary to dress for the occasion.

"I'm scared, Aura..." the slender girl to the right of her spoke, nudging her on the arm. She would not let herself look over to see who it was, yet she already knew. It was her best friend, Cass Cannadine. They had met only when the two of them were twelve: young pups in a hunter's trap. Since their names were so close to each other in the alphabet, they stood next to each other year after year. And each one of them, Cass simply did not learn to keep her mouth shut. "I put my name in too many times... What if it's me? What will Garth say...?"

"Shut up," Aura whispered back to her, remaining focused on the stage in front of her, as it had been taught year after year. The Capitol and their minions in white had told the kids to line up in two street-wide columns, boys on the left and girls on the right. This year, the seventeen-year-olds were placed just in front of the eighteens, who took up the rear. She used to be one year from escaping this... It was almost her turn.

Cass nudged her arm again with her own shorter one. "Come on, Aura. The guards never catch us chatting here. Why do you insist on pushing me away when I only need a friend to be here with me?"

A tear slowly began to fall from her left cheek as Aura reached down and took Cass's hand in her own, gripping it with her own fear of death. Cass seemed to notice a fear in her, even though she was on the wrong side to notice the tear. The fear was one that she had not sensed any other year. With that, she reached over and used both hands to comfort her friend. It felt good to have the warmth of her friend with her.

Aura began to turn those four threatening words over and over in her head. "I volunteer as tribute... I volunteer as tribute... I volunteer as tribute..." What if someone else beat her to the punch? Would her father send Corvin into the training then? What if she stumbled with her words, pronounced it wrong and they didn't accept her? So many questions were floating in her head, and the only thing she could do was squeeze them into Cass's hand.

"How many times did you put your name in the Reaping?" Cass asked, with relative calmness.

"...Thirty," Aura replied, her voice shaking. She had given up this year, just as every other, on staying quiet next to her friend.

"Dear God," Cass replied. "How can you live taking risks like that?"

"I'm going to volunteer," Aura replied. At hearing the words, all girls in the general vicinity turned their gaze in shock to her. It only made her more fearful. District Seven seldom had a volunteer.

"Aura, you can't..." Aura could tell Cass's brown eyes went wide at the information. They always did. "Tell me you didn't..."

"I did..." It saddened Aura that she would never have a good time to tell Cass why she was doing this... "You have to promise me something."