ON THE MORNING OF JULY 4TH, you could hear a pin drop in the Harmon house. To any soul unlucky enough to pass, it would be an odd sight. The Harmons were never this quiet.

On school mornings, the Harmons were the loudest house on the block, or the entire district, for that matter.

Shouting, laughing, and clattering were always heard from outside, but on reaping days, the quiet was evident... and terrifying.

On a chair in the middle of the kitchen, if the small room could even be called a kitchen, sat Elia Harmon, quiet as a church mouse as her mother carefully winded her hair into a single braid going down her back.

Usually, the braiding of hair in the Harmon house was a rushed affair that would lead to Ellie's head hurting a little afterward, but on this particular day, Lucia Harmon took her time, slowly winding the strands together. Avena did not need her hair braided this year, after all.

Avena Harmon had celebrated her final reaping only a year prior and would be standing with the rest of the district's adults. The same couldn't be said for the other Harmon children.

Ellie's hand softly brushed the seam of her flowery yellow dress, wondering if she'd get to wear it again.

Every year, Lucia Harmon would make a new garment for her children to wear to the reaping. In a way, it kept the woman occupied instead of worried, and she enjoyed her job as a seamstress more than she'd like to admit.

Tying off the girl's hair, she sighed, dropping the braid. "All done." The woman whispered, causing Ellie to turn around. "Thank you, Ma." The woman nodded once, flattening her dress.

"Would you do me a favour and go wake up your sister? And tell her to be quick. Usually, by this time, she's ready-"

The woman was cut off when frantic footsteps came from the children's bedroom, a frightened Rory appearing, holding his brand new shirt with tears in his eyes.

"I tore it." The young boy's lip quivered, causing Lucia to call him over.

Ellie began to make her way to Avena's room, finding the long-haired girl already awake, digging through her crate for a dress.

"Oh, you're awake?" Avena looked back at the young girl, expressionless. "You sound surprised." She looked back down, once again focused on digging for a dress instead of on her sister in the doorway.

"Ma said to be quick. We can't be late." Avena clicked her tongue, sitting down as she took out 3 dresses, arranging them on the cracked wooden floor.

"Ma also said to pick something presentable. She doesn't make new clothes for me anymore, remember?" Avena huffed, grabbing the blueish dress she'd worn two years ago, hoping it would still fit.

"Ma makes new clothes for us to distract us and herself from the fact that we might be dying. You should be grateful you're not getting them."

Avena ignored the small girl standing by the door, quickly slipping on her dress, which was a little too tight around the arms but still wearable.

She grabbed her slightly worn-out shoes, slipping them on before lightly pushing past Ellie to get to the small dining room that was merely an extension of the living room.

Lucia Harmon had taken out her sewing materials, placing them on the dining room table next to her son, who sat patiently waiting.

When the older Harmon woman spotted her daughter, she remained expressionless as she looked through her needles for the right one.

"You look beautiful, darling." Avena sighed, sitting down on the chair Ellie was on previously when her hair was being braided.

When Ellie returned, her mother called her over. "Ellie, dear, would you come fix your brother's shirt for me? I have to speak with your sister. And make sure you wear a thimble."

Ellie nodded, making her way to the dining table where her younger brother sat.

"What did you do?" Ellie asked softly as she listened to her mother and sister mumbling a conversation that she couldn't quite hear.

"It got caught on the screw by the doorframe." Rory's tear stained face was all she found when she looked up, making her smile empathetically.

"That screw bothered Dad every time he would walk into our room. It wasn't your fault. It was an accident."

Ellie picked up a piece of string that would match the patterned shirt her brother was wearing. It was a shirt she'd seen before, only it was a lot bigger then.

Her mother had promised she wouldn't reuse their father's clothes after the accident, but when Rory started growing too fast for his clothes, she was left with no choice.

Ellie carefully sewed the hole in the shirt shut, just like her mother had shown her several times before.

Both Harmon girls had learned how to help their mother after she decided to sell some of the clothes she made to the people of District 9, and the sewing came in handy when their own clothes would tear, but Rory had not learned how to do it himself.

"It's like you've forgotten I'm your child, too!"

The younger Harmon children looked over at their mother and older sister, who looked incredibly angry, and when Ellie saw what she had in her hand, she understood why.

Though her mother's face remained stoic, Avena's hands were shaking slightly, revealing the small brown hairtie she kept in her fist. She had asked her mother to braid her hair, and Lucia Harmon had refused.

"Avena... keep your voice down." Lucia spoke, calm as she could ever be.

Avena's eyes went slightly wider in disbelief as her hands fell to her sides. "If you want to treat me like an outsider, I'd rather be one than be here."

Before Lucia could stop the girl, Avena had walked out the door, her long hair hanging loose down her back.

The smell of dust immediately hit Ellie's nose before her mother closed the door, causing it to scrunch ever so slightly. When her mother looked back, she looked down, focusing on the stitching once again.

"Last one, and we're done-" Ellie cut herself off when she stabbed the needle into her exposed finger, letting out a slight hiss of pain and dropping the needle somewhere on the ground.

"Elia, I told you to wear a thimble." Lucia Harmon said, slightly annoyed at the fact that Ellie had lost a needle.

"Sorry, Ma... I wasn't thinking." Lucia sighed as Ellie helped Rory down from the table before scanning the floor for the needle she'd dropped.

"Never mind that now, you can look for the needle when we return home. Come on, we can't be late."

The remaining Harmon children followed behind their mother like two little ducklings, Rory holding onto Ellie's left hand instead of her right to avoid the puncture wound in her finger.

"Is It true that they prick your finger at the reaping?" Rory questioned, Ellie nodding in response.

"Will you have two holes in your finger, then?" Ellie couldn't help but smile at Rory's genuine question. "I'll give them another one. I do have 9 more to spare."

Without realising it, Ellie nearly walked straight into their mother because she wasn't paying attention, but she stopped just before she could when Rory pulled her back a little.

The small boy's grip on Ellie's hand tightened when he saw all the children and adults of District 9 gathered in one spot. To Ellie, this wasn't unfamiliar, but Rory was seeing everything for the first time, and he didn't like it at all.

"There's so many people..." Ellie wrapped her arms around the small boy, rubbing his shoulder. "Everything will be alright." Ellie whispered, trying to offer some encouragement, even if it didn't entirely help.

Lucia Harmon turned, bending down slightly so she could look Ellie in the eye. "You know the rules. Come and find me straight after the reaping. No wandering."

Ellie nodded as her mother kissed the top of her head before bending down a little more, doing the same with Rory.

"I love you both." Lucia muttered before turning back around, making her way to the rest of the adults of District 9.

The two remaining Harmon children winded their way through the crowd, Ellie holding onto Rory like her life depended on it.

It was difficult not to lose the small boy amongst the people, and she desperately hoped she would get him to safety without him wandering off.

The last time he was by himself didn't exactly end well, and even though the people weren't corn fields, she still couldn't let him go.

Eventually, they reached the peacekeepers, who promptly separated them, dragging Ellie to the table where one was waiting to take a blood sample.

Without being able to do anything about it, the peacekeeper grabbed the index finger of her right hand, pricking it next to the hole left by the needle that morning.

The blonde girl quickly pulled her hand away after her blood sample was taken, slightly upset that he wouldn't even accept a different finger. He'd surely seen the small purple bruise starting to form on her finger.

The girl held her right hand with her left as she walked towards the girls in her age group, squeezing in-between a girl with an already tear stained face and a girl who looked like she had just been dragged out of bed.

Looking back, her eyes fell on Rory, who stood between two equally scared looking twelve-year-old boys. When her brother spotted her, she did her best to give him an encouraging smile, which he returned.

The girl's eyes eventually wandered to the adults of the District, trying to find her mother but failing.

Her eyes did land on Avena, however, and when the older girl saw her sister, she gave a quick nod, as if to tell her everything would be alright.

Ellie nearly jumped out of her mother's old shoes when she heard the loud sound of someone tapping on a microphone, and when she looked at the bored woman standing on the stage, she knew the reaping was about to begin.

"Is this thing on?" The dark-haired woman complained as high-pitched feedback rung through the square. Some people covered their ears while others merely accepted the screeching sound with a grimace.

When the sound finally stopped, the woman opened a piece of paper to read off of, much to the surprise of most of the children standing in front of her.

Ellie had never seen this particular woman before. She must've been the new escort for District 9 given her bored, unimpressed, and unprepared nature.

"Welcome all to the reaping of the 41st Annual Hunger Games." She began, her voice even more bored than her face.

"Before we begin, there will be a special video for you to watch all the way from the Capitol."

Ellie usually didn't pay any attention to the video. She'd seen it at least 3 times and almost knew the words off by heart at that point.

War, terrible war... it always started the same. And it always ended the same...

This is how we safeguard our future.

Ellie thought the word future was being poorly used. The children that left the district after being reaped rarely returned.

While Districts like 2 had their fair share of victors, District 9 only had one. Ellie had heard about their victor before, but his name seemed to slip her mind.

The people who talked about him spoke in whispers, and the whispers would blow away with the wind as quickly as they were spoken. Though he was alive, his story was more of a ghost story than anything else.

"The time has come for me to select two brave young souls to represent District 9 in the 41st Annual Hunger Games. As always, ladies first."

The woman put the piece of paper she'd been reading off of in the hand of a nearby peacekeeper as she walked to the bowl that contained the names of every girl between the ages of 12 and 18 in District 9.

The woman who'd been there before her had a habit of sticking her hand all the way to the bottom of the bowl.

Ellie was not exactly sure why this was done, but she assumed it had something to do with the name that would be least likely to be picked.

The dark-haired woman on the stage had a much different approach. She left her hand dangling over the edge of the bowl, inspecting the pieces of paper like she could see the names written inside.

She then stuck her hand in the bowl, grabbing a name from the edge of the bowl like a predator grabbing its prey.

The sight made Ellie feel slightly ill.

The woman's loud footsteps could be heard as she walked back over to the microphone, carefully unfolding the paper before a smile appeared on her face.

It was not a smile of happiness, but rather one of excitement. She'd never experienced a thrill like this before.

"The female tribute that will be representing District 9 in the 41st Annual Hunger Games..."

Her words were dragged out to build the suspense, almost like the person whose name was written on that card was about to win a prize.

"Elia Harmon."

A brief moment of relief hit the Harmon girl before she realized what was happening.

The woman said her name wrong, putting too much emphasis on the 'i', making a sort of 'y' sound instead.

The girls around her seemed to realize what was going on before she did, and when the initial nonchalance faded away, Ellie felt her heart drop into her stomach.

Her name had been called.

Her name had been called wrong, but it had still been called.

"Elia, come on up. We're waiting just for you." There it was again. Her name, but not quite her name.

She felt her hands start to shake as her legs turned wobbly. The girl next to her nudged her towards the path up to the stage, which was not exactly helpful.

The entire district had their eyes on her at that moment. She felt vulnerable. She felt exposed.

As she walked up to the stage, she noticed the dark-haired woman's green eyes staring down at her, causing the fear inside her stomach to grow exponentially.

"Well then, here we have her. Our female representative for District 9." Ellie's ears began to feel hot as the sounds around her began to drown out. Shock had not quite set in yet, but fear overwhelmed her, so much so that she had to focus on holding herself up.

"And now for the boys." The woman spoke, once again bored as she walked to the opposite bowl, grabbing a name in the same manner as before.

Ellie stared at the boys from the stage with bewildered eyes. She desperately hoped the woman had not picked Rory's name. Please, please don't let it be Rory.

Another smile appeared on her face as she opened the paper, scanning the name carefully before reading it out.

"Silo Hale."

Ellie heard a loud gasp escape one of the girls standing closest to the stage. She guessed the girl might have been related to the boy, or perhaps she was his girl.

She felt bad for being slightly relieved that Rory was safe, but that feeling as well as the relief disappeared as quickly as it came.

"Ah, here he comes." The woman spoke as Ellie looked at the steps leading up to the stage.

The boy looked skinny. He looked useless. He didn't look like he had any skills that would help him in the arena, but he looked like he had more of a chance than Ellie, and that was what terrified her in that moment.

When Ellie looked back down, the girl who had gasped when his name was called stood, tears running down her cheeks as she attempted to keep a straight face.

It was clear she was trying not to cry, but her method was not working. The tears kept flowing.

"There we are. Our two representatives have been chosen." The dark-haired woman said, turning to look at Ellie and Silo with a smile on her face that made Ellie's blood run colder than it already was.

"Go on you two, shake hands."

Ellie looked towards the boy, who didn't seem as scared as she expected him to be. He towered over her as he stretched his hand out to meet her shaky, unsteady one before shaking it.

"Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor."

ꕤꕤꕤ

a/n- DAMN this took AGES to finish but Ellie's reaping is finally done!

The next chapter will most likely be the interactions between Silo, Ellie and their families as they say goodbye, and after that, it's Ryker's reaping! Everyone cheer!

Also, if some of this does not make sense, it's because this is not proofread, and because I'm writing this at night when my brain is close to dying lol.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed reading this! Much Love, Danni <3