Chapter 2

 The air outside is dry and filled with the scent of sawdust and broken leaves. It's a great day. Young children play on their lawns and the sidewalks are filled with people heading to their sector of the forest. It's a shame that the happiness of today will, in about a month, be ruined. On the way to the forest Ceedar and I talk about pointless things, careful no to mention the Games.

          "Trinity Collins said that she just loves your 'sea foam' gray eyes," Ceedar says, chuckling. I laugh and shake my head, my cheeks turning a faint pink color. 

          "What ever man."

                                                                                          --+--

          Sweat drips down my forehead as I, along with fiver other teenagers, haul a tree trunk to a loading truck. Once the trunk is loaded I pull off my gloves and wipe away the moisture. 

          "It's a hot one today, isn't it Will?" one of the boys ask. I nod and take a gulp of water from the plastic canteen attached to my hip. "Man, I'm kind of excited about the Games," he says. We all look at him as if he had called our mothers a filthy dog. "What?" he asks, looking around at us. "I get to see Johanna. I'm going to marry her one day." Everyone laughs. 

          "Well maybe you should volunteer! Save one of us the trouble," another boy says. This makes the boy's smile fade and his eyes look away from us. "Oh, come on man. I was joking." 

          The following month goes by in a blur, my dread getting worse by the day. My father comes out less and less and the entire district gets quieter and quieter. The first of June appears out of nowhere, casting a shadow of gloom over us all, quite literally. The sky is cloudy and looks as though it might rain. It seems as though the Gods are already weeping for us. 

          "Willow!" I hear my mother yell from downstairs. "It's almost two-thirty, we need to get going." 

          "Okay, mom!" I yell back, swallowing all of the nervous shaking in my voice. I stand staring into the mirror attached to my wall. My jet black hair is combed into a sort of side-swept fashion, its natural messiness threatening to poke out any moment. I have to wear one of my father's blue dress shirts, thanks to a major growth spurt I've recently endured. My normally light gray eyes have faded to a darker color. 

          I meet my mother and father downstairs in the hallway, sad and sullen looks on their faces. 

          "Ready?" my mother asks. I give a slight nod and lead us out of the house, my father not speaking as usual. On the way to the Justice Building the streets are filled with teenagers and their parents. The only noises, however, are their shoes meeting the pavement and the wind blowing through the trees. I find Ceedar and we walk together, our normally talkative mothers not saying a word. 

          The faint tune of the national anthem begins to echo through the marketplace and red banners sporting the Capitol emblem begin appearing on streetlamps and on the sides of buildings. Peacekeepers, officials who make sure the laws are obeyed, line the sidewalks in their all black uniforms, holding large guns against their chests. Security has gotten a lot tighter since President Borden was elected into power. 

          "Finger," a deep voiced Peacekeeper demands, holding out a gloved hand. I hold out my index finger and, using a small needle, he pricks the tip of it. He squeezes my finger a bit until a droplet of blood appears. He then presses my finger onto a page in an enormous log book he has sitting on the table in front of him and scans the blood stain with some sort of handheld device. I hear a faint electronic voice saying, "Name: Willow Redwood. Age: Seventeen. No tesserae records found."

         "Next," he says, waving me ahead. I walk passed him into  a roped off section of the courtyard, waiting on Ceedar to pass through. Our parents have disappeared into the crowd with the rest of the anxious parents. The marketplace is set up so that the teenagers are arranged in the Justice Building courtyard, grouped by age, while parents and other spectators gather around the edge of the courtyard and in the streets. 

        There is one enormous television monitor set up just above the entrance to the Justice Building, and it is showing us all file in. There are words scrolling across the bottom of the screen, but they are too small for me to see from this distance.  

          Another strong breeze blows through the courtyard, whipping the girl's dresses every which way. A storm is definitely coming soon. About five minuets of silence goes by before the monitor fades to black and the anthem begins playing. Ceedar nudges me and rolls his eyes. I give him a small shake of the head in return. The commercial sponsoring the Hunger Games that floods the television at home begins playing. Compilations of tribute interviews, parades, and fighting show in the screen. The Capitol likes to glamorize the Games, likes to make it into a holiday when it is nothing more than mass slaughter. 

          When the commercial ends, the screen fades to the Capitol emblem and the doors to the Justice Building open. Out walk three people: Mayor Varen Clarke, his secretary, and Thalassa Jupiter, District Seven's tribute escort. She will be accompanying the tributes up until they enter the arena. They take their places on the stage that has been built for this event, Thalassa right in the center in front of the microphone, and the mayor and his secretary on either side of her.

          "Good afternoon, District Seven!" she cheers, using a high, bubbly voice, and, of course, that strange accent that only they have. After getting no response she says, "Come on, District Seven, get excited! This is an amazing time of year!" They mayor lets out a fake cough to, I assume, cover up a scoff. Thalassa rolls her eyes and clears her throat. "Alrighty then. I suppose we'll just move on," she says as spidery looking cameras swirl around her and the entire courtyard. Her face has been blown up on the monitor as she has been speaking. She has very short hair that sticks out in all directions. It is a rusty orange color with patches and streaks of red throughout. I am shocked to see that her eyes are roughly the same colors. That can not be natural. She is wearing black eye makeup and orange lipstick, which contrast heavily with her porcelain skin.

          "Mister Clarke, the envelope please," she says holding out a pale hand to him. He pulls out a small envelope from a pocket inside his jacket and hands it to Thalassa. I remember a few years ago they used to pull names from glass bowls but, due to the security escalations, I suppose, the names have began being randomly selected from a computer and given to district officials. 

          Thalassa opens the envelope and clears her throat once again. Time seems to freeze at that moment. 

          "The male tribute to represent  District Seven is," I close my eyes and wish my best to whoever is chosen. "Willow Redwood!" My eyes flick open and my mouth drops a little. Did she say my name? No, she couldn't have. Everyone's eyes on me confirms my fear. She has, in fact, said my name. 

          "Come on up, dear," she says, looking over the crows and following everyone's gaze. I look beside me and Ceedar, just like the others, is staring at me wide eyed. 

          "Will, I-"

          "No, don't," I interrupt. I already know what he was going to say. I look in his eyes and nod, trying not to show how horrified I am. He nods in response and gulps. I turn to the other side and see that a path has been opened up for me to walk right up to the stage. This can not be happening.

Reviews

[Ellie]

So this felt over very, very quickly. I enjoyed it but just as I getting sucked in, it was over!

I'm not sure if you want whole reviews so I'll try to keep this short and you absolutely tell me to kick rocks if you don't like what I type.

The beginning paragraph feels either not fleshed out enough or out of place. It would be great to learn more about Ceedar and Will's relationship, how they interact with each other, do they work in the same sector of the forest? Along the same thought, the moment his name get called, I was left wanted more emotion from him or something. Maybe he's not that type of character so emotion coming from someone else in that moment?

Please, don't take this as I didn't like it. I really did! I mean, my main complaint is there isn't more to read!