98th Annual Hunger Games, The Story of Poe Thembling
"Poe! Poe you need to come back, it is getting late and this is ridiculous, you cannot expect me to sit at home all day with mom"
I turn around and give my sister a sly smile, I have been alone all day in the woods and it's nice to see her burgundy hair in the moonlight. "I cannot seem to find any ginger, and it is such a necessary ingredient for the stew I want to make tomorrow, couldn't we just look a bit longer?"
She glares, "Poe, there are more important things than stew, you wasted the entire day looking for an ingredient that probably doesn't even grow here, come back now, mom is better when your around, and I can't handle anymore of her."
"But Dal, it has to grow here because trillium grows here, and ginger always accompanies trillium. Funny isn't it, sort of like us."
"No, it actually isn't funny, because you have been gone all day." She stops looking around, and then begins yelling, "If you do not come back with me now, I am locking you out and you can sleep in the damn forest!" She storms off. But I follow.
Running behind her I realize I may have pushed her too far, "I'm really sorry, I just thought it would be nice to have a good dinner tomorrow, it is such a bad day for all of us and I thought it would help to have a stew, a really nice stew."
"Yeah, it would be nice, it would be real damn nice, but notice how even though you have been searching all day you still don't have ingredients for it", I can hear her voice quieting into a murmur, "what a waste." I stop. This is a terrible time of year, even with the relief when the reaping ends and us all returning to our homes safely, my family still mourns. It was two years ago when my older brother was chosen to go into the games, he had made it to the final eight. He was kind, not suiting for the games. I remember the horror that entered my body being forced to watch that scene in the town square on the enormous screens plastered to the walls, everyone around to watch my family react to it. Alexander, at only seventeen years old, sat at a river reaching in for water and next thing we see is him falling into the water an axe positioned into his skull. I remember watching as his blood filled the pond, it swirled around creating exquisite shapes, first swirls, but then more complex things like swans, patches of flowers, and as the blood ran out more images ran into the water, as if his mind was being emptied. His mind left, and became a part of the water. The absorption of this was broken up soon after by the cackling of a boy from district one, he stood over the body, laughing for my brother's despair, and the other tributes. He had preserved large amounts of water in jugs hidden around the arena. However the pond was the only other drinkable source of water and was now poisoned by my brother's blood. He had not only killed one tribute, but brought a slow death upon all others who hadn't had enough water to survive the rest of the game. That boy went on and won the games, all that was my brother forgotten by most. With the exception of my family that is.
As I began to run again I looked down and to my surprise there it was, ginger flower sitting happily next to me as if to console me, "Dal! Dalloris! Look what I have stumbled upon, it is ginger, it has the furry stem and all! Today wasn't a waste!"
Furious now, she turns around, "Well then pick it Poe!" She turns back around and disappears into the woods, I lean down and delicately pull it from to ground, as to be sure not to lose the root. I finish and run off home. Upon my arrival at the front door I see my father standing next to my mother combing through her hair, assuring her of safety. I decide slipping in through the window in the back would be better as I know he is angry. I run around the house and squeeze through the tiny box shaped window and shuffle around the corner to my bedroom. 'Bedroom' is sort of as silly word for what this room is. It is more of a closet, big enough for a bed, and a lamp. The walls are just planks of wood we nailed up for privacy, but it hardly does its job. Light filters in from every direction and any sounds made in one room are heard in every room of our house. I crawl into bed and doze off. Though sleeping proves to be an enormous feat, I must be more nervous than I expected to be because it takes several hours for dreams to come.
Waking up goes as usual, and in the breath of morning I almost forget what today is. Today is a day of tremendous stress, great terror, and in some cases celebration, or rather relief. Today is reaping day, innocent children chosen by random to die. A day I will see someone I know, interacted with swallowed by terror, watch a family go fall apart. I clear my head and sit up. In the past two years the games have taken an overwhelmingly prominent role in my life. This year will be better. Last year there was a boy named Harrison that I had taken quite a liking to, I had found him sitting in the back of my class one day when my thoughts had brought my eyes to wonder what was in the window in the back of class, turning around looking through each window. The first window was a tree balancing a nest on its scraggly branch, it was winter and the trees, despite their strength, looked as though they had lacked the proper nutrients to continue life. The second window had a far view of the field outside. Beyond the view was the store that my brother visited often, it sold old wares for cooking. He loved cooking. I noticed the front had a closing sign hung on the door. This caused a lot of emotions to come purging up in my body, so I moved quickly to the next window. This one had perfectly framed a couple of women meeting in the middle of the street, they had both been crossing and one looked at the other, whose eyes were fixated on the rocks in her hand, she gave a big laugh and jumped to hug her, the second girl dropped the rocks and almost looked as if she would cry they exchanged items and laughs. The second girl leaned in to whisper something or possibly to breath into the other's ear. The first girl's jaw dropped and then started screaming, I swear I could hear it, however I suppose it could have been my imagination because they were really quite far away. They left and I moved to the next window. This window was blocked by a boy, at first I found his presence annoying, but I got a closer look into his eyes, he sat regal, postured. He looked sad, I was sad as well so I had taken it upon myself that from that moment on I would make him happy.
I found this boy was quiet, had few friends from what I could pick up, and he really enjoyed lemons. I think that might sound strange, but they must have reminded him of better times, a time when clouds didn't cry and when the grass stood tall and strong for him when he needed to hide. I found this out because I saw him in the market once, he stood by the lemon stand for a while, smelling each lemon and feeling the firmness. The man working must have noticed his appeal and they talked for a while and he gave the boy a lemon as a gift. They boy almost started crying. I saved for months from then on, and when I got the money I needed I bought a dozen lemons, I had found out how his route from school home and placed the lemons strategically along his path so he could find them. His first lemon was perhaps the most exhilarating one, hidden in the bushes the he crosses through as a short cut, as he pushed his way through it dropped to the ground and he stopped, looked at it and then looked around. Picking it up for a waft he started laughing for the duration of his walk he got more bounce in his step with each lemon. Then, the year after my brother died in the games, the entire community sat in the town square waiting for the reaping to finish, a girl named Patricia Gordon was picked, she was small and unprepared for such a feat. The boy's came up and like all the others I wished for it not to be me, they call out Harrison Tuttle. At the time I had still not figured his name out, so initially I felt relief that nobody I knew had been chosen, but I watched as the boy who climbed to stage was the tall, dark haired, pale boy I had left lemons for. The boy I had written notes for that told him about how the mountains were keeping him safe, the boy who I loved. He climbed to stage. Looking strong he gave me hope that one day I might be able to speak to him. He returned to seven, he returned to seven in several pieces. I left a dozen lemons for him and a letter saying how sorry the mountains were that they had looked in the wrong direction for just a minute.
I get out of bed, head to my sisters' room. They sit on their beds. Dalloris takes a quick look at me and leaves the room, "Better check on mom shouldn't I?" She says in frustration. I look over at Cecilia who sits by the window, her pale skin, hair, eyes, even pale nightgown seem to glow making her look like an angel. Our family calls us two the 'ghosts' of the family because our entire physique is so pale, our bodies do not contrast in anyway, and even our wardrobes are filled with similar pale colors and tones. I walk over and sit gently by her side, "It will be fine, rest your weary head."
"Oh Poe, please. Today is bad and there's no point to pretending that everything is fine."
"Well, that is true, but distractions won't hurt either. Would you help me find a handful of berries, it would be good for you to do something."
"Please", she says slowly, "Just stop." She looks away and moves out of the room. I sit alone thinking of what I should do. I decide to go and choose my outfit for the day, we, for some odd reason, have to look exceptional on reaping day, it is 'polite' I have been told, but that doesn't seem to make much sense. I put together an outfit of pale blues and off whites, walk into the kitchen, living room, bedroom conglomerate that is my house and sit next to my mother's bed. She looks at me and closes her eyes. She is wishing for me and Dal to be safe. Cecilia is eleven and needs no wishes till next year. The day seems to go by in a blur, lots of yelling on Dal's part, Cecilia breaks down into tears and mother falls asleep. My father calms Dal down and then the time has come. We must head to the town square for the reaping.
We all enter the square met by a horrendous looking woman standing on the stage. She introduces herself as Starla Lents, and as every year, goes on to tell us how excited 'we' all are and introduces previous victors and initiates the drawing with, "Let the drawings begin, as always ladies first." She giggles and leans down in front of the enormous bowl, reaches in with her long pink nails, grasps a ticket and pulls it out waving it around as if it were a flag. This woman's theatrics only add to the suspense. She looks out with a smile, lets a quick giggle out of her purple and green lips and speaks into her microphone, "our first lucky contender for the ladies is Dalloris Thembling. Please come to the stage my darling child." My heart drops, all noises become louder than they actually are, I can see my sister walking to the stage, but none of it makes sense, everything looks strange, I feel light headed. Words are being spoken and I can't understand them. Are they speaking a language or just making noises. I cannot feel my limbs, standing is hard. I feel water drops and its tears, my tears. Leaking from my eyes, there is a flurry of noises and everyone around me is moving, and now the peacekeepers are grabbing me, where are they bringing me? Am I going to the justice building to see my sister? I have been standing for what feels like hours it could be that time now, I can't see clearly and still can't hear. But then, out of nowhere I am taller than the people around me, much taller. I look down and I am on the stage. What are they doing? They don't bring the family to the stage, and then I see it, my mom collapsing, and above her on the screen is my name, and my sisters name. This isn't possible, siblings being picked during the reaping. How could this be? How on earth could the games take more from me? I look over at my sister and she is standing strong, looking into the crowd, straight faced. She is ignoring me. On the screen I am crying, shaking, and then I notice that there is a microphone in front of my face. "Hello." I mutter into it and Starla screams in laughter, high pitched terrifying laughter that makes me jump back.
"No sweetie, I asked 'how does it feel?'"
"Excuse me?" I still do not comprehending words properly. More high pitched laughter.
"That concludes our reaping to continue with the closing of the ceremony, here is your mayor, Mr. Walter Porting" She side steps and continues giggling, clearly excited about the drama of two siblings in the arena at once.
We now stand on the stage, I lean over and try to tell Dalloris how sorry I am, how I will do anything to make sure she comes back alive but she looks away from me. I am sure this won't aid her. She will look so strong that she will be targeted immediately in the arena.
"Welcome to the 98th hunger games, may the odds be ever in your favor" I repeat over and over again in my head as I sit in the justice building. I wait for my family to come in, they are seeing my sister first, which is good. She will reassure them how ready we are. My younger sister walks in silently, "Don't worry, ghosts can't get hurt." She whispers grimly. I used to tell her that when she first started coming into the woods to watch the animals with me.
I try to put a smile on but the flood of tears blocks it, "I'm so sorry Cecilia, I am so sorry that this is happening to you. You don't deserve this." I try to continue but she stops me.
"Poe, stop it, you know enough about plants to have a stable food source the entire time and Dalloris can throw an axe fifty yards or more. You two together have a good likelihood of coming back. So rest your weary head." She looks at the clock and swiftly reaches into her pocket and hand me a gold necklace, the locket at the end holds a single rose pedal. "The petal will keep you safe, I'm really sorry but mom has been rushed to the doctor, she collapsed at the ceremony and dad had to be there to provide information about her health, they won't be able to come and visit. I love you Poe." She latches onto me and holds tight, I feel another flood of tears coming and can tell her hair is getting soaked from them. The peacekeepers come in saying it is time and she is forced to leave. I wait a few more minutes and Starla and my mentor walk in.
"Come this way Poe, we are headed for the train station darling child." Starla pipes out. We all walk and in the hallway my sister and the female mentor join us. We make our way down to the station and when the train comes Starla is talking about how she heard the girl from district one is sure to be a star this year. I try to figure out how she could possibly know that already, the ceremonies are tapered so that we can all watch every one of them, but I figured that if you are one of the mentors that you wouldn't see them all until they show the repeats on television. On the train Dal and I sit silently for a while watching the recap of the other reapings on television. We see the girl from one, she is gorgeous. But also very strong looking, her name is Starlet, now it is clear why Starla was raving over her. Others I noticed were the boy and girl from nine, the boy seemed crazed and the girl was frightened by him, Felicia Carraway from district 11 seemed polite, tall slender she look about 16, and the couple from 12 seemed polite as well. It's sad that all of these ones will probably die in the initial bloodbath. It frightens me to think I could be one of those ones. Probably are one of those ones. Finally I look over at my sister and ask, "How are you feeling."
She begins yelling, "What the fuck do you mean Poe? Where do you think we are? I am fucking angry and fucking scared Poe, we aren't on a train to fucking candy land we are waiting our death sentence! You are an idiot, and you people…", now directing her anger at our mentors, "…you people are sick, fucking sick!" She storms down the corridor of the train and slams her bedroom door shut, we hear her screaming for several minutes and then glass breaking and then silence. I turn, now with tears covering my face again, and look at the mentors who are all looking at one another. Starla is greatly offended and blinking rapidly as f what just happened was an illusion. I tilt my head down and speak, "I am really very sorry about this, she is just under a lot of pressure." The female mentor speaks up.
"No, it's fine. You should head back to your room now. You will need the rest." I oblige, turn and walk steadily to my door stopping in front of Dal's to listen for noises, but I hear none. When I enter my room I find they have set aside cloths for me to sleep in, I slip out of my day cloths and into these ones. They are the softest fabric I have ever felt, it feels as if I am nude, but I am being kept warm by them, a very strange sensation. I roll into bed and when I awake I see there is another outfit put aside for me. I wonder when they could have done that, did they sneak in and hang that on the dresser or was it there last night and I just hadn't noticed it in my manic state. Whatever the case I decide it would be rude not to wear the designated clothing so I put it on and go out for breakfast.
In the dining room there is a massive banquet set out for us, everything I could imagine is there on plates and in bowls waiting for someone to eat it, cakes, toasts from all sorts of breads, cereals and soups, but one thing catches my eyes, they have lemons set around a large plate that holds a salad of spinach, greens, vegetables, berries, fruit and in the center are shavings from ginger root. I take this as a sign and grab a lemon and some of the salad. While walking past there is also a pitcher of squeezed lemon, but it tastes sweeter than actual lemons do so I decide it isn't what I think it is and grab water instead. All of the mentors and Starla sit at the table. I sit with them and begin to wonder why I haven't exchanged names with any of them yet. I suppose they all know my name however I don't recall any of theirs except Starla. "I apologize for this, however I cannot seem to remember your names."
Starla giggles and sighs, "Oh darling, my name is Starla Glorianna Lents of course, I know that you people of district seven have such strange names and it must be hard to remember such immaculate names for you, you needn't be modest when trying to remember it, shall I help you pronounce it darling."
"I don't think that is necessary Starla, besides I am pretty sure he is talking about the other mentors and I, we hear your name from your mouth every ten seconds. I am Julie, Poe." She smiles at me and winks. Starla is still trying to cope with Julie's obvious insult when the male mentor introduces himself.
Laughing he says, "I'm Charles, and I don't care if you remember my name, but don't forget Starla Glorianna Lents' name, here let me help you pronounce that." His voice is deep and his laughter vibrates the table, he is a big guy and it is no wonder he won his games.
Frustrated Starla speaks up, "Well where is your sister? What is her name?" She pretends to think for a minute but we can all tell she is faking, "Dadorus? Where is Dadorus?" We all look at each other and can't help laughing in spite of Starla's attempt to upset us. Perhaps this is the only time I will be able to enjoy myself before entering the arena so I decide to soak it in.
Dalloris enters the room and Charles gives out a low bellow and says, "Oh hey Dadorus, How'd you sleep?"
Dalloris notices my smirk and locks her teeth, "Do you think these people are your friends Poe?" She spits at me and returns to her bedroom. We don't see her again until we reach the training center.
Getting out of the train I look around at the city, it is humongous, so large I cannot fully take it in during the short walk from the train doors to the training center doors. When we walk inside we head straight to the elevator, the doors slide open and soft harp flows out of the small metal room, the elevator is more beautiful than my whole house. My house which is roughly as big as this elevator. I realize how strange this world I am entering is. Realizing this could be the last days on earth I begin to panic.