The Hunger Games

By: Morgan Adderley Adapted from the novel by Suzanne Collins

Facts about me: My name is Katniss Everdeen. Im 16 years old. I live in Panem, a country which grew out of the ruins of North America. I heard that the USA was a democracy. No such thing exists here. Here the government, which lies in the Capitol, controls all. For the people of the 12 Districts starvation, oppression, torture and misery are commonplace. It is sad. It is wrong. It is our way of life.

Although I lived in the Seam, a poor community even by District 12 standards, my parents gave me and my little sister Primrose a happy childhood. I was especially close to my father. We shared a love of music, and although it was illegal, he showed me how to hunt with a bow and arrow and gather food in the woods. He was my best friend.

And then my father was blown to bits in a mine explosion. There was nothing even to bury. I was eleven then. Five years later, I still wake up screaming for him to run.

If my fathers death nearly broke me, it shattered my mother. She became locked in an unreachable world of sadness. I scrapped what I could at home and in the market, but Prim and I were slowly turning into skin and bones.

And then, just when it was about to be too late, I remembered all that my father had taught me. I made myself be brave, and began venturing into the woods alone. I was terrified, but soon I became skilled with his bow and arrow. And I began to provide for the family he left behind.

School, hunting, and trading take up so much of my attention that I barely have time to worry about the Hunger Games. But today is the reaping day.

As if oppression, fear and starvation arent enough; the government instituted the Hunger Games to ensure our absolute misery. Every year two teenagers from each District are selected as tributes. They are forced to fight to the death until only one remains. The Victor. Even worse, the Games are televised and are entertainment for the Capitol citizens. Usually, you grit your teeth and get through the reaping, praying its not your name called. And its not my name. This year,its Primrose Everdeen.

My throat goes dry. I cannot breathe. And then I see my baby sister walking up toward the stage. And although in District 12 the word tribute is pretty much synonymous with the word corpse, the words fly out of my mouth instictively. I volunteer! I gasp. I voulnteer as tribute!

My fellow tribute is a boy named Peeta. He is much stockier than I am, and I think that maybe he has a chance. However, the night before the opening festivities begin, Peeta reveals that he knows that he wont win. But he has something nobler in mind.

In that moment I realize that Peeta, like my friend Gale, has a dangerous spark inside him. A revolutionary spirit. I tell him that I cant afford to think like that. It isnt much later that I realize that I not only can, but have to.

That night, during the tribute interviews, Peeta unveils another surprise. The interviewer, Caesar Flickerman, asks him if he has a girlfriend at home. Peeta says no, but reveals that he does have a crush on this one girl. So heres what you do. You win, you go home. She cant turn you down then, eh? Says Caesar encouragingly. I dont think its going to work out. Winningwont help in my case, says Peeta. Why ever not? says Caesar, mystified. Peeta blushes beet red and stammers out, Becausebecause

At first I am furious at Peeta for announcing such a thing.. Then Haymitch, our mentor, explains everything to me. Peeta has turned us into more than just mere tributes. We have become the star-crossed lovers from District Twelve. Something precious, something to root for. The audience will be all over us. Well surely get crucial sponsors in the arena. Peeta has given us both a huge advantage.

However, I cannot let him distract me. The Games begin tomorrow. Twenty four tributes are going into this arena, and only one of us is coming out. And although the chances of me winning are laughably low, I promised Prim that I would try. Let the Games begin.

When we arrive in the arena, the fighting begins immediately. Screams, blood, and terror fill the air. I put as much distance between myself and my opponents as possible. By the end of the first day, 11 children are dead.

Peeta and I take off in opposite directions, which is fine with me. Better someone else kill him than me, as killing my district partner would turn me into a pariah at home. I survive by hiding out in the woods, and eventually forming an alliance with a tribute named Rue.

Our alliance based on trust and friendship is the sole bit of happiness I feel here. Together we devise a plan to get rid of the food supplies of the largest, strongest, most formidable Tributes. It requires us to split up: Rue distracts the Tributes while I blow up the food supplies.

I successfully complete my mission, happy to finally put us all on a more level playing field. And thats when I head the scream. Its a childs scream, a young girls scream, theres no one in the arena capable of making that sound except Rue. And now Im running.

When I break into the clearing, shes on the ground, hopelessly entangled in a net. She just has time to reach her hand through the mesh and say my name before the spear enters her body.

Theres no point in comforting words, in telling her shell be alright. Shes no fool. Her hand reaches out and I clutch it like a lifeline. Then she says:

I promise that I will. Ill win these horrific Games for both of us. After that, I sing to her until shes gone.

A friend who dies, its something of you who dies. Gustave Flaubert

I want to scream. I want to hurt someone. I want vengeance. I already killed the boy from District 1 who did this to her, but it is not enough. My fury has not been extinguished. And then I realize that it is not him I hate, but the Capitol. I want to do something right here, right now, to shame them, to make them accountable, to show the Capitol that whatever they do or force us to do there is a part of every tribute they cant own. That Rue was more than a piece in their Games. And so am I. My grief drives me to do something unprecedented in the Hunger Games. We are supposed to rejoice in the deaths of our competitors, to spit upon their corpses with glee. Instead, I decorate her body with flowers, and kiss her goodbye.

I really think I stand a chance of doing it now. Winning. Its not just having the arrows or outsmarting the Careers a few times, although those things help. Something happened when I was holding Rues hand, watching the life drain out of her. Now I am determined to revenge her, to make her loss unforgettable, and I can only do that by winning and thereby making myself unforgettable.

For the stunning conclusion, check out Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games, available in stores and online!

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