Meredith Strekker ~ District 11 ~ Complete

I was second triplet to be born. I'm 12 minutes younger than Fornax, and 17 minutes older than Amity. My parents are Kyle and Sue Strekker, and they had us when they were both young, about 20, I think. I was okay with my parents trying to keep my sister�s and I together, so being with them all the time became something I loved. My dad had to work so much I hardly ever saw him unless I stayed up late at night. Until we were about 5, my mom stayed at home to take care of us, but then she began to work as well, which left us alone in the house, or walking around in the square out of absolute boredom. Well, there was my brother Callum, who was 10, but he couldn't do much. He's 17 now.

We didn�t have much food still, and we had to beg, or find things off the ground. Most people wouldn�t give us anything. Amity was good at finding food, but I found it more often than her. Even with the food, it was still difficult to go on in life. Of course, one must always think positive for life to be positive. I told Amity and Fornax reassuring things, to keep them up and going. Although I must admit, more than once Fornax had to coax me out of bed to continue working. When we turned 7, we began to work in the orchards after school. They were nearby, so it never took too long a walk. Even with our hard working bodies, we didn�t get paid much. It was so unfair. So while Amity and I worked up in the highest trees, Fornax worked on the ground.

When I was 9, I was waiting for my sisters to come out of the school, because they forgot their coats inside. While I waited, a boy came and started to tug on my braids. I had smacked his hand away, but he kept doing it. He started saying I was evil, and that I came from fire. That I had a sour temper. Well maybe I did have a bad temper, because I kicked him in the shins and shoved him away. No one jokes about my hair and gets away with it. I would much rather they make friendly conversation, isn�t that always better? Really, if everyone in the world always fought, we�d be dead. Oh wait, we�re near death.

When I was 11, I was met by a snake in the orchards. Screaming my head off, I fell from the tree and landed on top of the watchman. At first he had been raving mad at me, but seeing my pale face, and shaking body, he assigned me to lower trees. I think maybe we became friend, but I don�t know. Maybe though, but he moved away after a few more months. That�s when we got a new watchman, and he was nowhere near as nice. He sent me right back up to the highest trees, but luckily I didn�t meet any more snakes. Maybe I�ll never meet one again, because those things are creepy.

I�ve never had my name in the Reaping Ball before, but I don�t know how I should feel. I want to feel fine, since I have this thought already prepared. �A few slips, within thousands of slips, with people who have more than 50, is bound to put the odds in your favor.� So my name most likely won�t be chosen, but there is always the chance it will. I certainly hope it won�t.