Nightlock (Completed)

1

Barely anyone knows my name, and yet I am known.

My name is Rayen Grace, I am from District 5, and I was chosen to be the female tribute for the 74th annual Hunger Games. You may not know my name but you know who I am.

I lived peacefully, my family never caused trouble. My mother worked night and day washing cloths for the richer people in our district. My father works just as all the other men do here, in the power plant. Here in district 5 we supply a of the nation with electricity. The day of the reaping usually came and went with no effect on my family. None of my cousins had ever been chosen and neither had I, so going into the reaping seemed like another day for us. I have had my name in for 3 years. This was the first year I had to put my name in an extra time for tesserae, not many kids have to here. I think back on it now and wonder, what if I hadn't. What if that extra time my name was in was the one that was drawn?! We would have survived. But it doesn't matter, I'm here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2

We always wondered why we dressed up for the reaping, but we do so that morning I got up and dressed in a green dress with short sleeves that just covers my knees, the skirt had different layers and small jewels imbedded into the fabric. It was new, too bad I'll probably never get to wear it again. Maybe I can survive. I've always been sneaky and cunning, I never had many friends. I suppose I may have scared everyone off knowing so much about them, but I'm just observant. Upon arriving at the reaping grounds I stood in line for identification just like every other year. After having my blood taken I went and stood with the other girls my age. We stood waiting for at least a half hour before we heard our District Escort, Tessan Patingten, starting off with his usual "Hello ladies and gentlemen, aren't we all excited today?!" Tessan is a little more in touch with his feminine side than most guys I know, but most "men" from the Capitol are. He always wears leather pants in some crazy color and tries to be "professional" by wearing a suit jacket in the exact opposite color, his hair fortunately is just black and he always wears it slicked back as if he's been on the outside of the bullet train that whisks the tributes away, to their deaths. His ears are pierces with giant black circular blocks that keep the enormous holes open, maybe that's the style in the Capitol but it certainly doest sit well with any on us here. This year he made the decision to wear bright orange boot-cut pants with an electric blue jacket. He was so bright I'm surprised I can still see. After showing the "very special video all the way from the Capitol" that we're forced to groan through every year he said "Well noqw let's get right down to business then, ladies first."

We all stood in anticipation as he very very slowly made his way over to the jar full of names, hoping and praying that it wasn't our own name that was drawn. He twiddled his hand around for a while the drew a slip of paper and made his way back to the microphone. You can imagine the horror I felt when he opened his mouth and said,

"Rayen Grace"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3

I stood frozen in the place where I stood. I wanted to run, to try and get away. I pinched my arm, surly, I thought, this is nothing more than a dream just a horrible horrible nightmare, but I wasn't suddenly transported to my warm bed. This was real, I felt someone pushing me a little from behind as Tessan called my name again. I had to move, go up to the stage. I feel my feet moving under me, I keep telling them to stop but they won't. If there were ever a time where I wish I could be invisible it would be now. Everything is a blur, the peacekeepers walking me up to the stage where Tessan is beckoning me, standing there as he announces my name again and congratulates me. Why would someone congratulate me? I'm headed to my almost certain death, kids from district 5 rarely win. We're just power plant workers what can you expect from us. Tessan stands silent for a moment, to see if there are any volunteers, I know there won't be. Who would volunteer for me? I'm just the nerd in class, not the popular girl who anyone cares about. I wouldn't be surprised if no one in my district knew me besides my family until my name was called. There were no volunteers. Tessan moves toward the boys names, I stand with some anticipation, wondering if I'll know him.