"Lunaar Dentus!" he called my name high and clear. I could hear the other boys giving out a sigh of relief, the odds are ever in their favor, I thought, at least this year.
I walked around them, making my way to the stage. Two peace keepers were standing at the bottom of the steps. They parted to let me through. I climbed the steps and stood next to Rama Long who was also chosen as this year's tribute. I started to wonder, how is she dealing with this? Her face was as calm as ever, her eyes are fixed at someone in the crowd. I knew she was staring at her sister, the one girl in the entire district she can talk to.
I looked at the crowd searching for the one face that can keep me calm. The face that can have that same calming effect on me. But it is not there.
My father owned his own boat. He used to gather a small crew of 4 men and take them out to sea for five days. When he returned, he used to have all kinds of sea food including fish, shrimps, muscles even corals…
He used to take me with him once every two months. My little brother used to cry for days before my trip with my father. "Do not trust mermaids!" he used to say, "They only want to drown and eat you."
A smile would escape from my lips and I would always answer, "The mermaids are the ones who should be worried about trusting me, I promise I will bring back a lock of hair from the mermaid who tries to drown me!"
Our life was simple but not harsh. I was lucky to live with a strong fisherman for a father, and a smart librarian for a mother. On the weekends I used to help mother sort some books (while reading most) and on the days my father was here we used to work out and practice new fishing techniques I read about in the library.
I had a lot of friends; I was very popular in school. I had good grades, thanks to all the reading I've been doing. I had an amazing little brother, who loved me half as much as I loved him (not because he did not love me, but because I loved him more). I never went to bed hungry. You can say I had the perfect life…
But it all changed exactly one year ago.
My brother just turned 12 (I was 16) and it was around the time of the reaping. My brother was very nervous for that day was the first time he goes through the horrifying event. He was always depressed, stayed in his room, and did not even talk to me.
My father returned from his fishing trip one night before the reaping. When we told him about my brother, he told mother to cook the finest fish he caught (which is usually sent out to the market to be sold for a hefty sum of money) and went to talk to him
"Little tooth" he said (my parents started to call him little tooth to help me get rid of the grade school nickname "big tooth" firstly because of my big tooth and secondly because of my last name. it is a good thing they did not notice I am named after a flower before the Big tooth nickname stuck) "tomorrow is your first reaping, and I assure you, you will not go. And here today I will also promise that if you are not chosen, I will take you with me on my next trip…"
His eyes flashed open, he had wanted to go for quite a while. And father telling him that today brought him back. He was laughing again, he was excited about the new tasty fish and he went to bed like a baby that night…
During the reaping, another boy's name was chosen and yet another boy volunteered (it turned out my father was friends with the volunteer's father and knew all along he wanted to volunteer). I remember the boy died four days after the games started one of the last five tributes. I remember that day clearly because it was the last time I saw my brother.
It was the day my father was heading out on his trip.
Little Tooth was super excited. He was dragging my half asleep father to the boat early in the morning. I remember telling him, "Do not trust mermaids! They only want to drown and eat you." He laughed and answered "The mermaids are the ones who should be worried about trusting me, I promise I will bring back a lock of hair from the mermaid who tries to drown me!"
My father laughed now because it was the first time he hears our little pre trip exchange. The boat left the dock and headed to the horizon as the sun peeked from the east.
About three days later, my father returned (we knew something was wrong because his trips usually take five days). It turned out father was busy with the nets and struggling fish while Little Tooth was drinking from the poisoned sea water.
My mother was depressed during the funeral on the next day, but fiery and angry at my father for not caring enough for his son. A month later, my father was unable to cope with the fighting and the blame, he got a divorce. Due to the rules at our district, I was forced to live with my father in a new house he rented, leaving my mother to live alone in our old family home.
Since the income was chopped by half (my mother's salary from the library is now hers and hers alone), and expenses doubled (new house rent), my father had to double his visits to the sea leaving me in a full time store selling the fish he sends whenever he can.
During winter, six weeks later, the hunts were smaller, and his trips were longer. At the time he had gone for three weeks with no word or fish. One day, he returned severely insured on another boat. He said that he went too far to the sea and a giant "thing" destroyed the boat and everyone on it (I did not believe him at the time, but now I see the Capitol is capable of doing such monstrosities), but he managed to swim away and board this boat. He was instantly checked into a hospital, my mother was on his side all the time (I figured she forgave him).
But no matter what the doctors did, he died about a week later.
During the funeral, my mother told me that she was going to apologize. But because he had to stay at sea, she never got the chance. That night I packed my bags and moved back with my mother. But when I went home, I found her hanging from the ceiling.
Three deaths in the family in less than three months was too much for me to handle. I broke and was checked into a mental health facility where I stayed for six months.
I met Rama in the hospital a month before I was released, I had shown good progress and I was allowed to roam the hospital. She used to go to the auditory ward for new updates for her hearing aid. With her help I remembered the book I read about sign language, then most of the other books I read while helping my mother at the library.
My shrink thought it was helpful to be around books and convinced the library to give me a trial part time job. My job at the library and my talks with Rama and her sister helped me return to normal, and my life was starting to get better again. So three months ago my shrink said I am healthy enough to live on my own, he cut off all my medications and sent me to live in my parent's old house.
This year was the 25th annual hunger games, or what the Capitol tells us, it is the first Quarter Quell. This is a celebratory anniversary of the first hunger games and this year was supposed to hold something special. A week ago President Baker was speaking at a celebration in the capitol where he announced the excitement the first Quarter Quell held for us all.
He announced the head game maker, Coriolanus Snow, has prepared a very exciting and incredibly different arena for this year's special event. He also picked a golden card from a wooden box. A card he said was the golden rule for this year's games.
The entire district voted, myself included, and here I was, the only 17 year old boy who had nothing to lose, no family to speak of, and no reason to live. Plus no one will miss me when I die this year.