reaping day was always the worst day of the year. always. without fail. even though she didn’t often know the people whose names got called, she hated watching them be forced up, forced into a fate that was set in stone for them. it was her third reaping day, at least, third since she was eligible. her fear had grown with each time the day came around, the more slips of paper that held her name. it was humid and awful outside, with so many cats forced to be in close quarters with each other. velvet didn’t know anyone around her, with so many unfamiliar faces. she knew that her parents were out in the audience somewhere, though begrudgingly. her parents loved to work, or really, just chose to work day in and day out. she didn’t blame them, it was hard enough to feed one mouth. she couldn’t imagine how the families with so many kits were. they had wished her good luck before she had to leave them, smoothed her fur and told her what they were going to have for dinner that night. no one had expected what could happen. the mayor had gone on a tangent during their speech, as they always did, but the announcer finally walked up to the bowls. they held so many slips of paper. and then, time stopped. normally she started to space out during the reaping, not expecting her name to be called, but there it was. the sound. “velvet maren.” and suddenly, her face got hot. her eyes were already glassy with tears she had yet to shed, and everyone was looking around. everyone was trying to see who it was. and it was her. struggling to breathe, velvet tried to gather her composure, starting to push through the crowd. they would find her if she didn’t go up, and it would be worse to be forced. “is that you, dear? are you miss velvet maren?” she was barely able to nod, a few tears slipping out despite her best attempts. and what shocked her, too, was how no one volunteered. not even her friends, who had promised that they would. and then all of the tributes were shuffled inside, and the floodgates opened. tears were falling endlessly. she wasn’t going to make it out of this.
