Becomer
Part One-Brother
The Reaping:
I'm surrounded by bodies. All dead. My brother stands before me holding a machete, blood dripping from it's tip.
"Alexander, are you proud of me? I won! I'm coming home." My brother exclaims.
"James? Why did have to be like this, you killed them!" I cry out. He stares at me.
Drip
Drip
Drip
My eyes go to his machete. He smiles. His eyes lock with mine.
"I killed them for you brother." He snarls. "I won for you!" He runs at my weapon raised. I can't move. My feet are locked in place. He thrusts his sword through my chest.
I jolt awake as I grasp my chest. I'm soaked in sweat. My head is pounding. My brother bursts through the door holding a crowbar.
"Alexander! What's wrong?" He asks. I look him in the eyes.
"Nightmare. Just go back to sleep." he sighs. And backs out the door. James won the games last year. He was the oldest becomer in the training centre. He was forced to enter the games like I will be this year. In District One you don't choose to enter the games. The District chooses for you. They take you from your parents when you are five years old. Then when and if your parents have another kid they take them too.
My brother got taken away from my family when I was three I didn't see him for two years until I was five.
He was my training partner. When he volunteered I almost passed out. I needed him. He taught me more than the instructors. We used the same weapon. The machete. It's light and you can move it easily.
He was favored during the games. He ignored his mentor and did what he want. He killed the becomers from District Four and Two the first night leaving only Shine, his district partner, alive. During the course of the games he killed both the tributes from district eight. The boy from Seven and the girl from Ten. Time came to the final two it was between him and Shine. He killed her within seconds. Slicing her head clean off. Her blood stained his blonde hair red.
When it was time for his victor ceremony his stylist permanently dyed his hair blood red to match his newfound personality. When he came home he was different. He didn't talk much he ignored me. He didn't talk to anybody. It was three months before he started telling me about his games. That's when my nightmares started. I close my eyes and drift off to a horrible sleep.
When I open my eyes the next morning it's already bright outside. Thank god the reaping doesn't start until two o'clock. If I was in District Seven I would have already missed it.
I walk down my brothers victor house stairs to see him standing in the kitchen stirring a bowl of vegetable broth.
"Xander," He says sadly "The reaping starts in two hours go get your suit on." I look at my brothers sad eyes. He doesn't want me to volunteer. Not like I have a choice anyways. I sigh and turn around to go back where I came from. I walk into my bedroom and open the closet. I pull out my lime green suit and set it on my bed. I stare at it and yell. I pick up a lamp off the bedside table and throw it at the wall. It smashes against the wall. I lean against the closet and slump to the floor. James's head pokes through the door.
I turn to look at him before I yell.
"James! I'm done! I don't want to volunteer. I want to have a normal life." I put my head in my hands and groan. James walks over to me and sits down on the ground also.
"Xander, if you don't go this year they will kill you. Like they did to the boy the year before I entered. You will win." he says with a smile. I give him a smile back. "Now go get changed." he stands up and walks away. As soon as he's out of the room I get changed.
By the time I'm ready and James and I are in the town square it's ten minutes until the reaping starts. James makes his way onto the stage to where the victors sit.
The mayor comes onto the stage and starts the treaty of treason. Everyone ignores it. We have all heard it more than once. He asks for a round of applause as he introduces our new escort this year Stella Rain. She runs onto the stage flapping her arms like a bird and jumping around screaming.
"Happy Hunger Games!" Most of the crowd cheers. "Ladies first!" She scampers over to the reaping bowl and plucks out the first name before it's even read the female becomer calls out.
"I volunteer!" every single eye goes to the girl tribute Jasmine Heart as she makes her way to the stage. There is clapping and Stella asks for her name then congratulates her.
Stella runs to the boys bowl. "Now for the boys!" her hand reaches into the bowl. I yell out as loud as I can.
"I volunteer!" I run up the stairs on the stage. "I'm Alexander Arnett." The escort stares at me then giggles.
"Congratulations! Tributes shake hands." I reach my hand over to Jasmine and she smiles.
"Nice to see yeah again Xander." She then winks. I scowl at her before standing tall and look out across the ocean of people watching me.
They herd us to the train. In my district they only let you have visitors if you don't volunteer. Since Jasmine and I have both volunteered so the train leaves ahead of schedule.
As soon a We get on the train we are met face to face with our mentors. The Female mentor is Destiny Slade the winner of the Twenty-Sixth Hunger Games. The Male is James Arnett who won the Thirtieth Hunger Games and my own brother. They congratulate us and lead us into the dining cart.
"Jasmine, Alexander, Would you two like to be trained together or separately?" James asks us. Jasmine and I look at James then each other.
"Separately." We both say.
"Perfect!" Destiny Says. "Jasmine your my tribute. Alexander your with James. Jasmine why don't we go to your room to talk." They get up from the table and leave the room. James orders an Avox to get us food. When the food comes he motions for me to get my own food. Once he's done he pushes his plate away and sighs.
"So here we are Xander." He says to me. I raise and eyebrow at him. He knew this day would come. I guess he hoped it was when I was when I was older. Not when I'm Sixteen. "Well I know what your good at already. So no surprises there. We will be getting to the Capitol early in the morning. When we get there do whatever your stylist says. Go into the television room. I'll go get Jasmine and Destiny." James gets up and goes to get the others as I make my way to the TV room. Stella makes her way into the room when I do. She smiles at me and motions for me to sit beside her. She's not that much older than me. Shes only about twenty years old. Shes cute. But she a Capitol citizen. I can't like her. The other three walk in. We sit in silence until the Reapings Recap starts.
It starts with my District. Jasmine volunteers then I do. District Two comes on TV. I take note of the girl, she's way smaller then the boy, but she has more muscle than him. The boy is tall but has very little muscle. District Three is nothing special. I ignore them. District Four, I have to watch for they are both at least six feet tall and heavy built with muscle. District Five through Eight are so skinny that it looks like they might die on stage. The two from District Nine are something special they are siblings, they both look like they have a deep secret. District Ten is horrible as is District Eleven. District Twelve looks like they have a chance this year, they are both blonde. They look well fed. The TV turns off as soon as the Reapings finish. I move my brown hair out of my eyes and sigh.
"Okay! Off to bed we get to the Capitol in eight hours so go to sleep!" Stella yells at us. We all get up from our beds and head off to our rooms. As soon as I jump on the bed I fall asleep.
I feel the train suddenly jerk to a stop. I make my way out of the bed sheets to go to the window. When I see the capitol I'm shocked. The buildings are anywhere from neon pink to metallic blue. It's amazing. James only told me about this a few times but he never said anything about it being this beautiful. My head whips to the right when I hear banging on the door.
"Alexander! Come on you have to meet your stylist!" I hear Stella saying in between pounds. Before she scurry's to Jasmines door and does the same thing.
I go into the closet and grab a pair of black jeans and a lime green tee-shirt before setting off toward the dining hall. Once I'm in there I'm met by Destiny, James, Stella and Jasmine. They bring us out of the Train and put us in the back of a limo, I think that's what it was, and drive us to where we will meet our stylists.
"Ow!" I scream as Gothica the short black haired woman put this cream on my face so I don't grow hair while I'm in the games. She laughs with the other two Heath and Fallen. While Gothica puts the cream on my face Heath the fat purple haired man chops my brown hair into a very short style whilst Fallen put these things called contacts into my eyes. When they are all done they hold up a mirror to me. I can see my eyes are purple with sparkly gold flecks in them and my hair has a wavy style to it. When they step out of the way I see my stylist.
"Hello Alexander I'm Lilonia your stylist." She tells me. The other three scamper out of the room as Lilonia walks with long strides towards me. I can't help but notice her flowing red hair, and striking grey eyes. She's tall and skinny. Not like the three munchkins. She grabs my arm and walks me over to a table where food is laid out. I grab as much as I can I'm starving. "We are going for your jewels this year." I raise an eyebrow. She smiles "Jewels. Alexander come to mirror." I get up and follow her. She walks over to a small closet by the wall and pulls out a costume. She tells me to take all but my underclothes off. She then puts the costume over my head. I look at my self in the mirror. Its black, pink and red. The black outlines the costume making it look dark around the edges and sparkly pink and red on the inside. "Harvey, Jasmines stylist, and I were going for a different look this year. This costume shows that on the outside you are dark and perhaps mean, but on the inside we are all pink and red." I smile at how mch thought they put into the costumes. She then does touch ups of makeup on my face and arms. She highlights my eyes with black and draws swirls of red and pink down my arms.
She leads me to the elevator and clicks the button that's labeled S, for stables. When we reach the stables she sends me to find my chariot. I can see Jasmine standing beside it talking to the girl from two and the girl from four.
"Here he comes!" Jasmine exclaims when she sees me. " man!" The other two laugh as I scowl at her. She smiles and winks at me.
"Who are your friends Jasmine." I ask bluntly. She points to the District Four tribute and tells me her name is Splash. I almost laugh at how stupid the name is, but the girl just stares at me. If I laughed I bet she would kill me with her own to hands. Jasmine then tells me the girl from twos name. Amelia, she's the youngest becomer here at only thirteen. "Nice to meet you." They give me half smiles. I hear a horn blowing. I turn to see all the other tributes getting onto their chariots. I follow their example. Soon me and Jasmine are moving through the streets waving at people who are cheering out names. We only stop once at President Bane's mansion. He gives a little speech then were off. We stop at the Stables once more before we are brought up to our rooms.
When the doors open we are met by Stella. "Great job!" She then pushes us to our rooms and tells us to get showered and changed. I walk into my room and take off the costume instantly throwing it on the floor. I run into the bathroom and take off my underclothes and turn the shower on. I jump in and scrub off as much makeup I can before I'm called for dinner. Once the makeup is gone I step out of the shower with a towel around my waist. I go into the closet to get a new pair of clothes. I grab grey jeans this time and a yellow shirt. As I change I hear the door open behind me and a snicker. I turn to see Jasmine staring at me.
"For gods sakes Jasmine!" I scream before throwing my costume at her. "You can't do this anymore!" She looks at me sad as I pull my boxer's on.
"Why not Xander?" She asks me. I look at her like she's the stupidest person in the world.
"Why not? You know why. Jasmine we are not together anymore. You can't walk into my room to get a glimpse of me. You were the one who dumped me for Titan. I didn't dump you." I yell at her.
"I just wanted to have some fun Xander before I die." She sighs. I pull my shirt on and stare at her.
"Jasmine out of the becomers this year you were the smartest girl that's why they chose you." I pull on my pants and walk over to her. "Jasmine, you can win this." She looks at me before pulling me in for a kiss. I back away after about five seconds.
"So can you Xander." She says as she turns around and walks to the dining room. I'm shocked why did she come here? We didn't speak for two months. Then at the reaping she talks to me. I walk out my door into the dining room where we have dinner. I fill my plate and eat as much as I can. James stands up.
"Okay lets go watch the recaps of the opening ceremonies then its off to bed you have training in the morning." The stylists, Stella, Destiny and I get up from our chairs and walk into the TV room where James already has the recaps on. We watch as our chariot moves out of the stables. We shine with every light that hits us. We are definitely the most popular. We watch the whole thing and as soon as district twelve gores back into the stables James turns the TV off and orders us to bed.
I lay down on the bed sheets and close my eyes. I haven't had a nightmare since the reaping. Maybe tonight I will.