The Rescue

I couldn't believe it. She sent me! She sent me! Out of all the privates, President Coin asked me personally to join the mission! It's all I can do to stop from launching myself into outer space with happiness. Of course, it was just a volunteer mission, but I am still so happy.

In all of my sixteen years, I have never been noticed before. Ever since I can remember, I have had a crush on Gale Hawthorne, but he probably doesn't even know I exist. I grew up in the Seam right next door to him. My dad and his mom became friends after our parents died in the big mine explosion. I was looking right at Gale when my big sister received the medal for being the eldest child.

After my mom, Lila, died, I wanted to go hunt in the forest, but my dad, Haden, wouldn't let me because he didn't want to risk losing me. That didn't stop me from working though. I cut my long black hair to shoulder length and did all the odd jobs around town that I could. I washed clothes for the wealthier people including the Mellarks, I found a blackberry bush in a field and starting selling them to all the people that would buy, and the most exciting job I did was cleaning the mayor's house when Katniss came back to District 12 for her last stop in the Victory Tour.

One day, there was a big bombing in District 12 after Katniss shot her arrow into the force field. My house was right next door to Gale's, so he got us out first. We survived on for three days before District 13 Air Crafts came to get us.

I just started living a "normal" District 13 life with my dad and my little brother. My little brother Cupun Burakgazi, whose name ironically means "coal warrior", shares a bed with me, my dad sleeps in the other bed, and my big sister, Juliet Burakgazi, sleeps on the floor. Every day we just get our schedule from the wall scanner and follow the routine. I have been sent to combat training a lot lately. Maybe they see some potential in me?

I look exactly like my mom and my dad and my brother and my sister; do- straight from the seam with black hair and olive skin.

When I turned 12, I cried myself to sleep every night for a month dreading the reaping. My brother is just a little kid of 13. Last year when he turned 12, was his first time his name was thrown into the reaping. Most kids always dread turning 12, but my brother faced the reaping head on without a shred of nervousness. My sister does all she can to console a kid whenever he turns twelve. She is one of the sweetest people I know.

Here I am now on a hover craft sitting next to THE Gale Hawthorne. We are silent on the hover craft, nervous for what is to come.

"So how about that weather?" says Trenda Kato.

"There aren't any windows, how would we know what the weather is?" I say

"Just makin conversation, Skye."

I didn't mean to sound rude, I'm just really nervous.

When we get to the capitol, we are all dropped off in different parts of the city. The hovercraft we are in turns invisible so that we are not spotted. Gale is dropped off in the peace keeper training center along with another boy and Johanna Mason. Trenda is dropped off at an undercover capitol citizen's house to pretend to be a cousin from a different part of the city. The other boy whose name I think is Tyler and a girl are put in a restaurant to work as waiters. I am dropped off at the capitol building where Snow lives to be an Avox.