2 Days until the reaping
2 days until 24 lives will be ruined, 2 days until we all lose someone, something, 2 days until the world will tremble and 2 days until nothing is the same ever again. Some people are happy, some are sad, some are ready, and some aren't, some can make the sacrifice and some will become a sacrifice, some will cry, and others will cheer, some will be silent and some will cry out.
People will be lost, not knowing if they will return.
There are a lot of emotions on display near reaping day, personally i just want it over with, but around this time of year things seem to take 100x longer, the days drag on and on, and sleeping is a luxury, I didn't sleep last night, im too scared and on edge to sit still what if im reaped? I think to myself, its 4 am and its pouring down with rain outside, even mother nature can't hold in her tears, every time I manage to drift off a thunder strike will wake me up again, sometimes they are near, and other times they are far, district 4 is known to be full of swimmers and water babies, everyone here can swim, but not everyone likes getting wet, I am one of the latter getting drenched in the rain feels uncomfortable,and drying myself off takes too long, sounds like im being picky and scared, im not scared of drowning, its the water that pulls me down when im not in the water, it feels out of place, foreign sometimes, wet footprints on the soft carpet are a normality here, but not for me, tracking water and mud into the house makes the place feel less special, like its just part of one continuous wet world, being dry is a luxury that nobody cares to exploit, wet hair and wet clothes are all to common in my household, my father was a fisherman before he passed away, and me and my older brother are expected to jump right onto the fishing bandwagon and not care about getting dirty my brother turned 18 earlier this year and the upcoming reapings are his last ones, but im only 16, and these are my 5th, we live with out mother and her mother in one big 2 story house, i scored an upstairs bedroom to avoid the recent flooding, so im nice and dry up here, i don't go outside when its raining or cloudy because as i said before, im not a whole fan of being wet.
Its 4:37 am and i still can't catch any Z's i decide to just get up for the day and make some breakfast, i hop up out of bed and wrap my blanket over me and walk out of the room, dodging the many buckets placed strategically around the house to collect water i make my way down the stairs, the lower floor of the house is filled up to just above my ankles in water, i take off my socks and blanket and trudge my way over to the kitchen, i pour some cereal but find im out of milk, i look out the window but can barely make anything out other than the headlights of a car going down the street, its just raining that hard, i leave my bowl of cereal on the kitchen top and just decide to wait for my mom to go to the market to get us some more milk, i walk back up the stairs, and into the bathroom where i dry my feet off with a towel i carry my blanket back into bed and try my hardest to fall asleep once more.
The alarm on my bedside table goes off with a loud beeping noise, the rain hasn't subsided much but is noticeably less intense, i turn the alarm off and get up to get ready for school, this is the last day of school before the reaping day holidays, we get the day before and after the reaping off school to just, settle in and get ourselves ready, its 7:30 in the morning and im still really tired as i got around 3 hours of sleep total last night i walk down the stairs delighted to see that the flooding on the bottom floor is almost gone, my brother sits at the table eating some toast, i don't care for toast as the bread here really isn't the best, i see my bowl of cereal that i poured has been untouched since i left it there, i check the fridge for some milk but there still isn't any, my mom and grandma are still asleep so i don't bother them, i just geuss i won't be having breakfast today. I get my school uniform on and get my backpack ready, i have a spare uniform shirt to wear incase my first one gets torn or ripped, but i take it to school in my backpack surrounded by towels so it doesn't get wet like the one im wearing, i take a peek through my moms bedroom door and see she's still sleeping, i normally tell her that im going to school before i leave, but i geuss i wont be today.
I step out the front door and into the horrid, wet, cold atmosphere outside, walking to school in heavy rain isn't anything new to me, the weather this winter has been horrible the walk to school in uphill for half to time so slipping over on the wet sidewalk is more common than you think, normally my mom will drive me if its this wet out but like i said before, she is asleep. I arrive at school drenched, my shirt is all wet and clinging to my body, quite an uncomfortable feeling, i walk into the bathroom and dry my hair and face off before changing into my dry shirt, my pants are wet, but not as wet, they are designed to be quick drying so they aren't as heavy and uncomfortable as my shirt, I make my way to class and find my friends, Harry and Jeremiah.
"Hey, Waylen!" shouts Harry, he really doesn't have an inside voice, and it ticks me off sometimes.
"You sound like a screaming banshee" i reply, he punches me in the arm in a playful way.
Jeremiah looks like he's seen a ghost, and is staring right past me, he gets a bit shaken every time of the year around reaping day, his little sister was killed in the games a few years back, and he regrets not volunteering for her, his inaction ended her life, he can never forgive himself, he's been somewhat of a husk of his former self since it happened, he doesn't speak that much anymore, but ill tell you one thing, he was almost as loud as Harry before she died. I decide not to bring it up and not say much to him, he's still a good friend though, he just can't express any other emotion other than regret, its 8:50 am, class starts seems to take like 8 hours, but when it ends it's only 9:30 am, school doesn't do much really, mainly teaches us how to fish and put fish in boxes, and swim fast and cook fish and other fish related shit like that, honestly is a waste of time, I don't really think it prepares us for anything other than being a fisherman/woman, we get a lunch break before swimming class, im pretty good at swimming, but they don't give us much to dry off with, i can reuse my towels i bring to school in the morning, but meh, they're kind of wet so they don't do much anyways, we swim around 80 laps at a time, its tiring but it builds stamina, lets us go for longer next time, but at least we don't swim in our school uniforms, we get proper wet-suits to wear.
my hair is wet once more, my towels are still slightly wet from earlier but i use them anyways, the rest of the school day goes fast, we get out at 3:00 pm, the rain has cleared and the sky is as blue as the sea, say goodbye to harry and Jeremiah and begin to walk home, the ground is wet, but walking downhill is much easier then going uphill, its calm here in 4, but at the same time very scary, everyone is on edge, what unlucky people will die this year? not matter what we will lose at least on innocent child, but that's only if we are lucky this year, the other option is losing two innocent children, which i geuss is twice as bad, but what's even worse is the child suicides and shady deals with peacekeepers going on, some kids can't handle the pressure and chance of getting picked and just end it all, and others get their rich parents to bribe peacekeepers into rigging the reapings, it isn't confirmed if this is true or not, the happiest people in the town are the previous victors as they can't get picked again, but everyone is in a state of not quite fear, not quite disgust and not quite sadness, for some people its a chance to move on, and accept death, the accepting of death is suicide, that's a saying my father held dearly to himself, he drowned, quite an ironic death for someone in 4 but it happened nonetheless, he was a great man, very good sense of humor aswell, we were all sad to hear that he died, but his funeral was a celebration of his life, and not some dreary little sad fest, as he requested, nobody was to cry about him, he was only a human to himself and wanted to be looked upon as a human when he died, and that is exactly what happened.
I arrive home early, its 3:17 i don't immediately walk in as i take off my shoes off first, but i hear my mother and brother talking in the living room.
"you HAVE to volenteer for Waylen if he gets reaped" yells my mother
"i will i will" replies my brother.
i knock on the front door and my mom comes to greet me.
"good day at school honey?"
"it was wet, so very wet" i say, attempting to push past her
"you need to get rid of your fear of water Way" she blocks my entry
"im not afraid of water mom, i just don't like getting wet" i shove through and walk up into my room, in my spare time i normally read books, there aren't many good books but im currently about to finish reading one of the oldest books known to man, the holy bible, some regard the entire thing to be true, from start to finish, towards the end we are introduced to this character named jesus christ, son of the all powerful deity known as the father, jesus walks on water, a thing i wish i could do, I want to walk on water and not become wet, but most of panem believes that the bible is just one big long fairy tale, weather it is true or not is up for debate, and personally i don't think we should all be worrying about it, as there are more important things such as reapings to take care of, its not raining tonight so i finally get some good sleep i dose off at around 11:33 pm.
1 Day until the reaping
I wake up before my alarm again, and look out my window to see a bright sunny day outside, reapings are tomorrow, and im still on edge, i don't have school today but i still bother to get up and eat and all that, its 6:57, i turn off my alarm as i won't be needing it later and walk down the stairs, my mom and grandma are eating breakfast.
"Hey William" says my grandma, she's always getting my mixed up with my brother, she's 89 this year so I really can't blame her for not having the best eyesight or memory.
"No grandma, its Waylen" i correct her
She straightens her glasses and seems surprised to see that it is me and not my brother standing in front of her "Oh sorry dear, i get a little muddled sometimes you know!"
"I know grandma"
my uneaten bowl of cereal is still sitting on the counter, untouched, my mom must have gone out to get milk earlier as they are both eating cereal, i pour another bowl and finally eat some breakfast, it tastes nice, and sweet, nothing quite like cereal here in 4, normally we are all eating seafood, you really get sick of seafood after a while, trust me, after breakfast the required viewing of the pre-games show is beginning to air, on the TV, our whole family gathers in the living room to see what is in store for the games this year.
Last years victor, Pearl Maisely is shown winning her 95th games, and securing a spot in the district 1 victors village, ive heard they had to add a whole new block to the place because it was getting to crowded, she won her games by brute force, it was her versus the male tribute from one, a 1v1 if you will, she runs up to him, taking around 5 arrows in her stomach, and swiftly punches him in the throat, he clutches his chest and spits up blood, he bends forward and she takes and arrow from his quiver, which she then uses to slit his throat open, quite eventful games that year, but this years 96th games are promised to be "different" and "new" they say that every year, but the arena is always a dull forest, we never get anything interesting, but this year we have a new head gamemaker running the show so that might spice things up a bit, nothing too crazy, not like its a quarter quell or anything, we won't be having one of those for 4 years, maybe a fancy arena, maybe an icy tundra or a blazing hot desert, but still, like i said, nothing too crazy, its all the same garbage as last year, i don't care for it that much, it finishes off at around 10:30, right as my mom turns off the TV we hear a gunshot, and then another gunshot, the sounds seem to be coming from next door, my brother rushes over to the telephone to dial 411, the emergency line for district 4, he seems panicked about it, he tells the operator about the gunshots, we all head upstairs while my brother stays on the phone, screams come from nextdoor, then 3 more gunshots, the peacekeepers finally arrive, more gunshots are heard, with a total of 9, we stay couped up in our house for a decent 4 hours or so, its 3:05 pm, we all seem scared of whoever is shooting who, apparantly this happens a lot around reapings, but i've never believed it until now.
peacekeepers come knocking on our door, they explain that 9 people were shot dead in a murder-suicide next door, a teenage boy killed all of his friends and held the gun at his head until the peacekeepers arrived, where he shot himself as they walked in, sad story, but his motives were to "free" them from tomorrows reaping day, we all just sit down for a bit, but at 7 o'clock I decide to go for a bike ride around the city, and along the coastline, nice warn sunny day turns to night very fast, i get on my bike and strap on my helmet, i ride in one direction for as long as i can, its very calming and almost therapeutic , i reach the border of district 4 at around 10pm, there is a fish themed fast food place nearby, so i go in and get some dinner, the fish tastes like shit, i've had fish too much in my life for it to be anything good, its dark out, i begin my ride home, dwelling about the suicide, and how those people would have lived, every last one died, none got out, did they even try? was it a group suicide? could have been, i distract myself from it with the pretty stars in the sky, i make a rest stop half way home and just take a few minutes it admire the beauty that is the night sky.
Reaping day
my alarm blares in my face, seemingly louder than usual, i open my eyes, the beeping turns into echoes and then into silence, i won't get reaped what are the odds anyways? like 13000 to 1? yeah, something like that it won't happen, and even if it does, my brother was told by my mom to volenteer for me if i do get reaped, but next year is a whole 'nother story, he's gonna be unable to volenteer, as he will be 19, i get out of bed, and into some casual wear, my mom drives us to the city centre, where the reapings are going to take place, me and my brother are separated into the 18 and 16 boys pens, the escort walks out onto the stage, and begins the whole "war oh terrible war" talk, they've been doing this for 96 years, and it's always been the same, never different, boring as all hell, i can't find my friends to talk to, so i just stand there watching the escort go on and on and on about the war, finally she cuts to the chase and walks over to the girls names bowl, she plucks out a name and licks her lips, getting ready to say the name of a person who has a 1 in 24 chance of getting killed, the name of someone whos life may not extend past the next 30 days, and that someones name is...
"Deity Jones"
somewhat of a district 1 name, Deity, she makes her way through the crowd and onto the stage, looks around my age, possibly older, she shakes the escorts hand and stands in her place, the escort then walks over to the boys bowl, i look around me and see many other boys crossing their fingers or praying to not get chosen, she pulls on a name, she fumbles it and it falls back into the bowl, she just picks another, she pulls in out and gets ready to say it, she unfolds the piece of paper.
"The male tribute who will be competing in the 96th annual hunger games is..."
everyone is visibly on edge
"Waylen Walsh"
I walk up onto the stage, i try to hide the fact that im terrified, my mom is crying at the back of the crowd, I look towards my older brother in the 18 year old pen, but he doesn't volenteer, he sheds a tear as me and Deity are led back into the justice building, i sit down in the visitor room waiting for my mom to come in, she doesn't, my only visitors are harry and jeremiah, they don't say much, i shake their hands and wave them out of the room, where peacekeepers lead them back to their normal lives in district 4, while im about to be whisked away to a land known only as the capitol, this seems all too surreal for me, the escort come's in and reintroduces herself to me as katy liversmith, she shakes my hand and leads me to the train, where Deity is already waiting for me, we shake hands but don't say anything to each-other yet, we get on the train as it starts pulling out of the station, I am greeted by a hug from my mentor, Richard Malgumer, he won the 90th games, and seems like the type of guy to brag about the fact that he did at parties, his arena was a desert, he survived by shear willpower, he outlasted his enemy and won without spilling blood, Deitys mentor seems to be on the older side, her games happened before i was born so i wouldn't have seen them, she seems about 40 to 50, Before I sit down i get some of the mythical capitol food on my plate, its some acctually good toast and some of the best apple juice i've ever had, th first thing richard says to my after i sit down is
"Never give up, when you are in the arena you have to go until you can't, if you are running away from someone, don't stop when you are tired, stop when you collapse, when you are fighting someone in the arena, don't stop when they're down, you can never stop, see it through to the end, if your oppenent is thrashing you around and giving you a rough time, never go weak, use whatever you can against them, go for the eyes, take the eyes out and they won't be able to find you, go for the throat, take their air away, go for the groin, take their dignity away, bite kick scratch, do whatever you can to stay alive, in the arena, nothing matters more than your survival, don't stick to an honour code, you gotta sick 'em, hear me?" play to their disabilities, if they aren't a good runner, you can outrun them if you want, keep in mind that you can still back out, all in or all out, one thing at a time, hear me boy?, hear me?"
I just nod my head to what he is saying, but he's mainly talking about never giving up, never accepting death, if death is knocking on your door don't open it, other stuff like that, he reminds me of my father somehow, he carries his ideologies with him, just like my father did, truely a great man.
i try to start a conversation with Deity but she seems to just ignore me, she's probably still shaken up about being reaped, she's kinda hogging all the food, doesn't seem like she'll make it far in the games, but who knows.
we tune in for the reaping recap after we've had our dinner, i can't remember 22 other names so i don't, ill just keep track of what type of people there are, district 1&2 are looking strong and better than ever, the boy from 3 looks around 7 feet tall and the girl looks like she really doesn't wanna be there, district 5 and 6 are the typical basic average tributes, a big lumberjack looking guy from 7, and some small little duo from 8, district 9 has some heavy hitters and the pair from 10 look quite a bit overweight, 11 are skinny little weakling looking things, and in district 12 we see a boy fire 18 rounds into the crowd when reaped, the girl looks very shaken up about that, seems like a pretty average group of people to be honest "The guy from 7 is going to be good with axes, and axes only" says richard, "make sure he can't get to one in the start or he'll be deadly as they come", i take this into account, "also watch out for that batshit crazy kid from 12 he looks remorseless after killing 18 people, don't play games with him boy, you won't be able to plead your way out of it.
I finally get away from the TV to slip into bed, and might i say, im so tired that im asleep before my head hits the pillow.
The boy from 7 is smashing my head in against the ground, my head bounces off and he picks it up and throws it into a lake, then he screams in victory and celebrates his win to the world.
Train ride
I wake up in a cold sweat, its 2:57 am, all of the bad thoughts hit me at once, all of the nasty thoughts of me dying and all that, i walk up and down my bedroom and eventually around the entire train I sit down on the couch and watch the landscape roll on by, looks like district 7 is where we are right now, we have to pass through 7 to get to the capitol, very deep forest with log cabins scattered through them, beautiful really in the only word to describe it, its peaceful, calm, serine, with the moonlight shining through the leaves it makes the place look just terrific, eventually i dose off on the couch and wake up to the sound of a bird pecking on the glass of the window, a little woodpecker bird, its cute, twitchy and small, i don't know what time it is but the sun isn't up yet so it must be early, i don't know what i want to do so i have a shower to clear my thoughts and stuff, hopefully i don't wake anyone else up at this ungodly hour, the shower is warm, but not too warm, its perfect, the wacky multicolored body wash of the capitol feels like a million bucks on my skin, and after i wash it off i feel clean and smooth, i wash my hair aswell, and it feels so silky smooth i could just feel it all day.
My skin seems to match that of a newborn and i crawl back into bed waiting for the right time to properly wake up, i dose off once again and i wake up to katy informing me that the train has broken down, she isn't lying about it either, the train is at a complete stop, we're currently in district 5, the closest to the capitol, so close infact that you can see the mountains that surround the capitol in the distance, she said its okay if we get off the train while its getting repaired, of all the places for the train to break down, district 5 is one of the worse, they specialize in electricity would have been better to stop in 6 as they probably built the thing, and will for sure know how to repair it, from where we are we can see the whole of district 5, there is a massive dam just behind us that looks magnificent in the sunlight, although when the sun sets the dam will cast a shadow over the whole district, probably not the most glorious thing in the world to behold but still is a beauty of human engineering, the place looks a lot like 4, but district 5 is landlocked and there isn't an ocean, but i can see a few big lakes.
The repairs take around 8 hours and by the time we get going again its completely dark out, the stars look slightly different than they do in 4 almost as pretty but not as much so, we arrive in the capitol at around 11 pm, and oh my god, doesn't it look just gorgeous, blaring lights and beautiful stars, light a neon world, people ar walking around with large wigs and colourful hair dyes, in the capitol people wake and sleep very late, they're awake from 11 till 2 im going to have a hard time adjusting to that, we missed the welcoming paparazi thankfully, and we are led into the district apartment building, katy looks very very excited to be back in the capitol, while that old female mentor seems quite bored with herself, i don't remember what her name was, the elevator ride takes us to the 4th floor of the building where we all get settled in for a long night, i skip dinner as im not hungry and just get into bed, its midnight right now, and the thing i want more than anything is to get a good start on training day, sleeping isn't that hard in the beds that feel like clouds, i sleep easy, and take a load off.
AN. thanks for reading this far valiant reader! i hope you enjoyed my mega long chapter of sorts, more will be coming soon i hope! any criticism you have can be left in a review so feel free to go ahead! :)