The 100th Hunger Games Chapter 1

I wandered the deserted streets of District 12, waiting for it to become absolutely necessary that I make an appearance at the Reaping this year. I never wanted to go back to that place. It was only 26 years ago that my sister had volunteered to take my place in the games. I'd let her. It was my fault, and my fault only that she died in the arena. Things had got better here though. She'd known that Peeta could win. He stayed hidden until the mutts came for Cato and he won. She found him and saved him so that he could save me and my mother. I sighed as I stepped through the door of our house. My mother had already left for the reaping so I was left to get ready by myself. I took out a scruffy red dress and some sandals and put my hair up into a messy bun. I was making no effort to look nice.
Once I felt content that I would manage to annoy the Capitol should they show me on TV, I made my way to the town centre. I saw Gale and Peeta talking amongst themselves on the outskirts of the centre, obviously feeling the same way as me about this event. I joined them, to find that they were discussing what this Quarter Quell held. This year, only the family of previous tributes could be chosen as tributes. I still had a chance. There were plenty of sisters and cousins and aunts and mothers of previous tributes, yet my stomach was still tying itself in knots. Again I felt a rush of guilt when I realised that when my sister was in the arena, we all pretended that Gale and his family were our cousins, which put them all in danger now. Madge, who was now our Mayor, took her place at the front of the stage and we took our places in the roped off areas for boys and girls. Like I imagined, there were plenty of other women in my section.
I found my mother and Posy, Gale's sister, and stood with them whilst Madge told us the history of the games, as she does every year. I zoned out for a while, and then came back when Effie Trinket walked to the two glass bowls containing the names of this year's possible tributes.
"Ladies first" she grinned, as per usual and hovered her hand over the top of the orb. She delved her hand in and pulled out a slip of paper. "Daisy Everdeen… oh my" she exclaimed, a shocked edge to her voice. This wasn't possible. It wasn't fair. I thought back to my sister volunteering for me and realised what I had to do.
"I-I volunteer" I shouted. My mother shook her head at me.
"Prim" I cut her off.
"Mum, you know you won't survive it, and I love you too much. I'll win it for you. I promise." I told her, tears escaping my eyes as Effie said something and a peacekeeper dragged me to the stage. I shook hands with Effie and took my seat on the stage. Effie then proceeded to dip her hand into the bowl of boy's names and pull out another strip of paper. I clutched the seat, hoping it wouldn't be Gale. And it wasn't Gale.
"Rory Hawthorne" Read out Effie, sending a sympathetic look in my direction. She 'knew' that we were cousins. Suddenly I saw my sister volunteering for me again, only it wasn't my sister. It was Gale volunteering for Rory. I stood up.
"Gale, what are you doing?" I screamed at him from my place on the stage, tears flooding my eyes.
"I volunteer" he said boldly, his tanned face had gone very pale. He made his way up the steps and I flew into his arms. Suddenly I was 12 years old again, being comforted by my sister's best friend the night she first entered the arena. "I love you, I'm not letting you go in there by yourself" he whispered, pressing my head into his chest.
Effie tapped us both on the shoulder and we broke away from each other. I smiled at him and took his hand as we went to the front of the stage.
"Well. The odds certainly haven't been in the favour of the Everdeen family, now have they?" Effie giggled into the microphone. I nodded and met eyes with my mother. She wasn't going to forgive me for this. Effie then escorted us away to spend a few minutes with our families.
The first to visit was my mother. She just looked me up and down and hugged me.  "You remind me so much of your sister. Look after yourself and Gale." She said, then, just like that she was gone. My second visit was from Peeta. He just took me into his arms.
"Do me and your sister proud, okay? I'll mentor you as best I can, I swear" he said through tears. I nodded and sobbed into his chest for the remainder of our time together. He pressed a kiss to the top of my head and just like my mother, was gone. I had no other visitors after Peeta. Nobody bothered to talk to me now that I was no longer the lovely little Everdeen girl. I kept to myself now.