Fang walked down the one gravel road in town, each hand occupied with smaller ones, and he smiled down at his sisters who were looking around wildly, eyes wide with excitement, staring at all the open stalls and hustling people. They had only been into town once or twice in the last year, and the busy and friendly atmosphere was something they enjoyed.

"Bwother, bwother! Look!" His littlest sister yelled, pointing excitedly at a stall filled with all sorts of fresh baked bread and pastries. These sorts of things were rare in their district, being as they didn't have the soil to grow grain or wheat. The market had all sorts of these things that were transported in small portions to the other district. But bread and pastries were expensive where they lived, and Fang himself had only had things like that a few times in his lifetime.

He smiled and walked over to the stall.

"You guys agree on one thing to share, anything you want," he told them, and they both jumped up and down excitedly and let go of his hands to rush to the table, where they started pointing out different treats to each other.

"Brother! Look at all of them! They look so yummy!" the eldest said, looking back at him, and he loved the precious look of childishness and happiness on her face. They had so many worries from such a young age; treats like this were what really made life worth it for them.

They whispered excitedly to each other, before nodding their heads and turning to him.

"We want this one!" the older girl said, pointing at a large pretzel on a cooling rack that the woman had just pulled out of the oven.

"How much?" he asked the lady, putting his hands on his sister's backs, as they smiled with vigor.

"I'll take trade, but ten coins if you prefer," she said, and then smiled at the girls.

"But seven coins for you lovely young ladies," she added, and they squealed in unison.

"Thank you very much," he said with a warm smile to her, and she gave him a friendly wink.

"Anything for a handsome young man such as yourself," she said, and he handed the coins over. Seven coins was really a steal, such things as bread were usually twelve to fifteen coins each. His sisters took the pretzel from the old woman, and started ripping away at the warm, fresh dough, shoving as much in their mouth as they could at a time. They chewed happily as they walked away from the stall, talking excitedly between themselves. They went around to a couple different stalls, looking while Fang did his trade and business. They made their way home, and the girls rushed excitedly into the house with the goods he had bought, while he went to the stables to tend to the animals as usual. While he threw hay to the horses, he didn't notice as his mother slid in the barn door as fluidly as a ghost. He only realized she was there when she spoke up.

"If you get chosen in the Reaping, it will be your fault," she spoke hoarsely, as if her voice had not been used for a long period of time, as it would if someone was recovering from strep throat or a nasty cold.

"I only did it so we could have food on the table," he said flatly, not turning to look at her.

"You should have worked harder so you didn't have to apply for the tessera," she said, and his hands clenched on the bale of hay he was hauling.

"You're right. If I'm chosen then it will be all my fault," he said quietly, not wanting to argue. She would only go raving mad if he disagreed with her, so he let it be and didn't oppose her. Plus, he knew it would be his fault if he were Reaped, but the girls needed the extra food at the time. He wasn't thinking about the long term consequences, because it was for them.

She just stood there as he finished, and he didn't even bother to wait for her to leave as he shut off the lights and closed the door. She would leave eventually. He made his way to the house to start dinner, and their mother didn't join them. By the time he put them to bed, she still hadn't come inside. He went to bed that night restless, dreading what was coming the next sunrise.

He dressed the girls in matching light blue fabric dresses that reached the knees of the older sister and half down the calf of the other. The younger would grow into it, he was sure. He put the littlest's hair into two braided pig tales, and left the other's hanging straight down. Her hair reached well down to her lower back, and the ink black curls spiraled down in almost a poetic fashion. She got the curly hair from their father, as the rest of them had straight, boring hair. He was envious of his sister; she easily got the best traits in the family. It wasn't as if he wasn't attractive to most, but he was very plain. There was at least ten other boys he could recall that looked almost exactly like him. He supposed that it was just the people in his district being as isolated from other traits and bred for generations to create the coal black hair and eyes as well as the pale complexion as the norm. He dressed in his own tan dress pants and light blue button up shirt, the only 'nice' clothes he had. He worried of his sisters' wardrobe in a few years though. They grew like weeds, sprouting at least three or four inches every couple of months. Soon they would be too big for their clothes, and too small to wear their mother's.

His littlest sister looked at him as if nothing was wrong with today, as Fang had explained it to her that the event was just where two older kids went off for a while; not the reality or truth of it. He didn't want to expose her to the harsh reality of what really took place, but he figured she'd find out in the next few years anyway, but he wanted to let her ignorance last for as long as it could.

His mother came out of her room dressed, and they all headed off to the square where the Reaping would take place. Their mom took the girls and they found a seat in a section for the residents who couldn't be Reaped, while Fang went to the section for his age group. Only around fifty or sixty guys were there, and he couldn't help that helpless feeling in his gut as a strange man who had pink hair and green-ish dye to his skin. Fang recognized him as the man who did the Reaping every year, and he found him so strange. He wondered if everybody in the Capital was as strange as this man.

"Welcome, all to the Reaping of the 73rd annual Hunger Games! As you know, today we will be picking two tributes, by random, between the ages of 12 and 17 to be the lucky children to have the honor to compete, and a chance to live in eternal fame and glory if crowned victor."
He man spoke with a thick accent, something that reminded Fang of some talking with their mouth stuffed full with cheese. The traditional speech was given, and they were forced to watch that video they showed every year about the Capital and the rebellion which held what they said transpired to inspire the Hunger Games. The boy next to him looked extremely nervous.

"Hey man, calm down," Fang whispered, as the boy shook.

"My sister's in it for the first time this year. I'm afraid for her. Let us pray she will be safe from the Reaping," he replied, and Fang did pray in his mind that this boy's sister would not get picked. He knew that he would be just as bad, maybe even worse if, and when, his sisters became part of the Reaping and had their names put in.

The man, whose name turned out to be Gretta Everworth, walked over to the bowl with the girls' names. He pulled out the slip, and called the name. It was nothing Fang recognized, and the boy next to him looked extremely relieved. Fang was silently glad that the boy's sister was safe, but looked with pity at the girl who was trembling as she walked up on stage. She looked no more than fourteen, extremely short and a baby face.

Gretta then went over to the boy's bowl, and Fang held his breath. Gretta smiled, and walked back to the microphone with excruciatingly slow speed. Fang took the hand of the boy next to him, who didn't say anything but let him. This moment was terrible for both of them, and even though they didn't know each other, human comfort was something they both needed.

Gretta cleared his throat, and ripped the little seal on the paper to unfold it.

"Fang Fairdear!" he called out in his odd accent and Fang's heart stopped. Time seemed to stop, and before taking another breath, he looked over to his sisters and his mother. Horror was on the eldest's face, and anger on his mother's. His youngest sister looked confused at her sister, and tugged on her sleeve, but she didn't look away from Fang.

The crowd around him started to part, and he let go of the boy's hand. Before he stepped forward, the boy hugged him from behind.

"God bless your soul, I will pray for the best for you," he whispered, and then let go. The whole crowd was silent as he walked forward, and once he got up onto the steps of the stage, Gretta rushed him along to stand next to the girl. She didn't even look at him, just out at the crowd in one spot where he assumed her family was standing. The whole thing felt surreal, and he couldn't believe it. He knew that his name was in there so many times that it was only plausible that he would have a good chance of getting picked, but the idea never really did occur to him that it would happen. Like the saying 'you don't think it will happen to you until it does,' it seemed really like it wouldn't happen; and yet it did.

He had made arrangements for his family of course, but when the plan would have to come into play he didn't really think it would. Now he was standing on the stage as Gretta finished his speech, and then Peacekeepers in white uniforms came and pushed him off stage into a room where he knew he would say his last goodbyes.

After a few minutes, what seemed like an eternity to Fang, the door opened to reveal is two sisters. They both came rushing in to get to him, and they grabbed onto his legs in a bone-crushing grip.

The oldest was crying hysterically, and the little one was crying also, but with a confused expression.

She knew he was leaving and that was bad, but she didn't know to where or why.

"Brother! Please don't go! You can't go!" the oldest called out, a hysteric sob following.

He was crying, too. He fell to his knees to hug them, and held them close with a desperate grip.

"I have to go baby girl. They said so. You two will be fine, shh…" he tried to calm them, but with the quivering in his voice he didn't even believe himself.

"Where you going, big bwother? You come back?" She asked, her face muffled in his shoulder.

"I'm going to go away, sweetie. I'll be on TV, you can still see me. You two take care of each other, now. Take care of mama," he said, pulling back to look at both of their faces for what he knew would be the last time. He knew his mother wouldn't come see him, she probably had nothing to say to him, and he knew he wouldn't have anything to say to her either. Two Peacekeepers walked through the door.

"Time is up," one said, and pulled the girls back.

"I love you two forever, remember that! Find mom, she'll know where to go," he called, as they were dragged out the door. The oldest screamed for him, over and over, until he couldn't hear her anymore. He stayed on his knees, sobbing into his hands. He couldn't make sure they would be okay, any he knew he wasn't coming back.

He would never see them again.