Chapter 2

I felt like I had been hit by a metal ball.  I slowly walked up to the front.  I saw my mom's head disappear into her handkerchief.  Lily hugged herself tightly, muttering under her breath.  I looked at Nalin, who was mouthing "No."  Tulip's mouth hung open, and her brown eyes were blank, as her tiny brain struggled to understand what was happening.  Violet was smiling happily, like always, not having any idea what was going on.  I was on the stage now, probably looking chalk white with a tinge of green.  Lilia said, "Any volunteers?"  She  looked around, but it was so quiet, I could have heard a pin drop.

Lilia said, "Well,thank you, Rue."  I din't bother to ask her how she knew my name, but instead realized that this was being televised, and I'm going to be noted to the other tributes as a weakling.  I straightened up and walked over to the chair and sat down.

Lilia walked gracefully over to the boys glass.  I vaguely wondered who it was.  It was some boy named Thresh that called up as the boy tribute.  When Lilia asked for volunteers, nobody did, just like me.  There were rarely volunteers, because everyone knew of the death that will almost certainly happen to them.  Thresh was large and burly, and he scared me a little.

When he reached the stage, Lilia smiled at him and the mayor made us shake hands.  Everyone started applauding for us, then we were led away by the Peacekeepers.