rising from the ashes || a hunger games story

chapter three

"i know, i won't. i'm not the same girl that i am now. i was 9 years old, rye." he nods.

dahlia comes up to me. "promise me you'll try to win."

"i promise. and maybe i can, i am smart."

"and you can shoot"

out of the corner of my eye, i can see my mom give me a glare. "but i only taught you how to hunt with knives and snares." i hear her say. i look from dahlia to my mother who is sitting on the couch that takes up the right side. "i know" i say.

"what do you mean you know? you're not allowed in the woods without our permission!" she says, raising her voice.

"i'm going into the hunger games and you're worried about reprimanding me? at least i know enough hunting and survival skills to win. with your simple rules and directions, i would be dead on the first day." i say, losing my temper.

my mom taught us good skills but they were to hunt naive animals, not people who either have the same amount of skill you have or more. after what i said, she looks down. "why did you volunteer?" i hear her say softly.

i was still upset so i say, "what did you want me to do? let dahlia go in? she hasn't hunted in years, she would end up dead."

"she's right, katniss" i hear my dad say.

"i know she's right." she says looking back up.

our time is almost up and i'm guessing my mom realized because she got up and stood in front of me. she took this necklace out of her pocket and put it around my neck.

"use it as your district token. it shouldn't break any rules, it's not harmful."

i look down at the necklace and back at her. "thank you." i say softly.

that's when peacekeepers come into the room, telling them it's time to go. each peacekeeper grabs one of them by the arm and leads them out. before the door closes i quickly yell, "i love you!"

the next thing i know, effie is taking the other tribute and i to the train. turns out the boy's name is will lockheart. he lives in the seams since his family can't live in victor's village because the victor isn't alive.

once i get into the train, i see haymitch at one of the tables. the train still looks the same from all of the vacations my family and i have been on. finn and johanna mason's family usually come with us.

whenever we go on vacation, mom and dad always say that the train still looks the same from the games so i'm guessing nothing has changed.

haymitch looks up at me and gets up to give me a hug. he let's go of me and shakes hands with will. "we have to watch the other reapings so we can go over who you two are going against." i nod at him and he leads us over to this couch that sits in front of a tv.

he turns it on and i watch the screen. after a few moments, i see district 1's reaping. both tributes are 18 years old and volunteers. the boy is jet and the girl is shimmer. i don't pay attention to how any of the tributes are related to any victors. it's the least of my worries.

district 2's tributes is a 17 year old girl and an 18 year old boy. the girl is crystal and the boy is merlin. they're both volunteers. district 3's girl tribute is a 15 year old. her name is aspen. the boy is 14 and his name is cole. looking at district 4's male tribute, my heart drops. it's finn.

he didn't volunteer and nobody wanted to volunteer for his place. i think about the letter, "i'll see you soon". i don't think this is the way he meant it. his district partner is a 17 year old. her name is millie and she volunteered.