District 44
Chapter 1
Life in The Isle is tough. Tougher than in Panem. In Panem, people had the chance to revolt. Here, we can't. People here live in constant fear that if they do the tiniest thing, step out of line for even a second, their lives would end. Here, Peacekeepers don't have any mercy. Just the other day I witnessed a public flogging of a man. I don't know his name or what he does. Did, I mean. But I do know why he was flogged. Why he was beaten senseless and repeatedly till he was on the edge of death itself, then dragged away into The Hall. He questioned why April Snow, Panem's Presidents granddaughter, had been smuggled out of a prison in Panem.
We all know what really happened in Panem. Prime Minister Nitro Snow tried to show us a broadcast about what a failure their revolution was and how we should never even think about doing it ourselves because of the casualties and loss of life. But, in District 44, we're not so easily fooled. Being the only District that serves as entertainment to the Capitol, means we control what's televised and what's televised and what's hidden away. But sometimes we let things slip through. For our eyes only of course. If the Capitol had seen what we've seen there'd be panic on a scale greater than they can control.
Believe it or not, even though we are the District that entertains the entire Isle, we are still the poorest. No, we're not the smallest District. That would be District 17, which is strange considering their main output is Power. But I've heard there aren't that many sectors in District 17 so their Games aren't that big and don't last that long.
That's another reason life here is harder than over there. Every year, as punishment for being here, we have 44 Hunger Games all being held at the same time. Each Sector offer up a male or a female, dependant on the year, and they compete in a District Hunger Games. Then the Champions of those Games compete in a huge Game to be Champion of Champions. A Victor to go down in history as a God.
In District 44, amazingly we have 2 Victors still alive. There was Theodore Adams. Last year he passed away at the age of 72. He was quite old and was the first District Champion. Herbert Benson is 24 years old. He won his Games 6 years ago when he was 18. Then there is Steenie Watson. At 32, she has a family. Two sons. I've never met them though. They don't go to school. They get taught at home by their father who is a retired professor. I know it is young to be retired at 35 but being family of a Victor gives you special treatment.
By 'Special Treatment' I mean immortality from the reaping's. All of them have no worries because they won't have their babies go into the horrifically gory Games. They don't live near me either. They live with The Centre. The Centre is where all the talented people live and work. It's located in the centre of the District. They don't mingle with us. With the commoners. With the filth. Not all of us are talented. They need people to wait on those who are. That's what I'm being taught to do.
If I was ever reaped from the glass bowl I would try to win. For Teddy, my little brother. We don't live with our parents or family. Mainly because they're dead. I don't remember who they even were. That's why we live in Legacy Hall. People would take one look at me and think I'm an easy target. But I'm not.
I know how to fight. I mean the technique of it anyway. I watch carefully when the Games are on. You need to, just in case. I first started to watch when I was six. Your chance to get reaped starts at 10 and ends at 19. Being 15 I am a strong competitor. Not that I wasn't to go in because believe me I don't. I can't compete against 118 other people.
That's right. 118.
More than in Panem. If their Mockingjay has seen such terrible things then maybe she should see what happens over here. Oh wait, she's too worried about getting married to that Peeta fellow. Apparently he went insane. He should come here. See the most insane people on The Isle. The most disease spreading. 10 people die out here every day. Does the Capitol care? No.
They care about whether they are at risk, whether their evening will be spoiled by a few deaths. Turns out that neither will be true. Ever, it seems. They made sure of that. Upon entering The Centre you are scanned, sprayed with disinfected and injected with a vaccination that lasts for 2 weeks.
My question is 'why don't the people of Panem help us?' I mean, it's been five years since they successfully overthrew their Snow. Why can't we be helped melting ours? After all, Prime Minister Nitro Snow is the brother of President Snow. Nitro is not happy with them. Obviously. That's why he smuggled Miss April Snow out of there. To protect her from them. I don't know what they would have done if she hadn't of escaped. Might have killed her. I heard rumours about another Hunger Games but with Capitol children. I would back that. Although we talk of death a lot doesn't mean we want to kill everyone. Sector 12 has a reputation for being soft. That's why I don't fit in.
There are 119 Sectors in District 44. The Sectors are where towns used to be before the Core Shakes. We learnt about them in History of our Isle class. Core Shakes came from the core of the earth shattering its surface. Tsunami's washed over lands killing many species of animals. But man managed to survive. Scraping by, by the skin of their teeth. Then the glorious Capitol rose up from the rubble. An army of intelligent, strong men and women who are in every way better than us. They built their apartment blocks from multi-coloured glass and began to control districts, one by one. Forcing their way across The Isle until, finally, they controlled everything. Ultimate power for the ultimate race. Back then District 44 didn't exist. It was a barren wasteland that the Capitol decided was too precious to waste so they built it up bit by bit and rounded up all the talented people from the Capitol and other Districts to live there and then sent others to do their servant work.
Cruel is the word I'd use to describe them. Other words would include; merciless, stuck up and rude. I would never call them that to their faces though. Cameras everywhere, you see. Even in the Dormitories. Anyway, I'd call them cruel. Even President Snow told them it was a bad idea. But they didn't listen. They have a special weapon back in The Capitol. They can vote. Not an ordinary vote either. A cruel, evil, psychotic vote. They call in when the Games are on and vote who they want to kill. Their excuse? There are too many children to just leave. They would take forever to kill each other. So they need to keep the initial Games short. Also, it's more entertaining that way.
Barbaric, that's what it is. But I can't share it with anyone else I'll be publically executed. I'd rather die in the street like everyone else. I never really liked being in the spot light. I prefer to be in the shadows. Just a normal person, nothing interesting to look at. Except maybe my hair. It's burgundy. I hate it but the other girls seem to like it and there's no way of getting rid of it. Unless I shave it all off, but that is not an option. I can live with people staring at me.
I only have three main friends. Twila, Dora and Joumana. They live in the same dorm as me. There are two other girls in my dorm too but I don't know them. They don't know me. That's the way we like it. They're sixteen anyway so they'll be leaving soon. We'll get two new roommates. I hope they won't be noisy or want to be friends. I don't like a lot of company. I prefer it when I'm alone. It's always been like that. Even when I was little I preferred to be on my own.
"The girl in the shadows" Twila calls me.
Maybe she's right. But I don't care if I'm alone. It gives me time to think. Think about tomorrow. Think about the reaping. My names only been in there five times. Teddy's name isn't in this year. Only girls this year for Sector 12. It was the boys last year. I remember the fear last year. I was stood behind the scratchy brown rope with all of the Sector 12's boys families. When Sector 12 was called forward to the reaping I felt all the blood drain from my face in anguish and fear. My heart leapt up into my throat, thinking that he might never come back through those doors. The family's reactions are all taped to show the Capitol, but I didn't care what I did. I just wanted so desperately for him to come back. Then the buzzer sounded. Signalling one boy had been chosen. Then the door swung open. About 70 boys all walked out solemnly back to their chairs. There, right at the back was Teddy. He smiled at me as he caught my eye. And then it happened.
The woman next to me clutching a baby started screeching. I stood there in complete shock at this mess of a woman. But I knew instantly who she was. Well, I knew her son from school. Jake Flynn, a year older than me. Nice boy. Or was a nice boy. All she would get, she knew, was a piece of paper with his goodbyes on it. I wanted to help, to hug her, to tell her it would be ok, that he was a strong boy but I just stood there as helpless as a fish out of water. Then the guards came and took her away into a room where all the tributes' families are.
Teddy's worried as usual. He gets worried about everything. Paranoia, Mrs McClaven says. She's the lady who runs Legacy Hall. A small chubby woman, who makes any room silent whenever she enters. Terrifying. Always a punishment for this, a punishment for that. Throughout my life here I've only been hit nine times. Which is impressive compared to others. I caught on quite quickly when I was younger, about things not to do. I've been here since I was four and Teddy was one. Nine times in eleven years isn't bad. Since I turned thirteen I have grown up quite a bit so I don't get shouted at so much. Everyone knows what happens inside Legacy Hall and others like it around The Isle, but no one does anything. No one cares about the orphans.
But I don't care about them. The bleak peeling walls of Legacy Hall take the fun out of you. Well, not everyone but they've certainly done it to me. I used to run around the fields with my friends or by myself but I've stopped now. That's for children.
The dorm isn't much better. It has nicer coloured walls but they are dull and peeling too. Dora has potential as an artist, Mrs McClaven says, and so has all her beautiful drawings up. Those give us something to be happy about. We all have a secure future. Dora is going to paint people's portraits, Twila is going to be a dancer for Tilda, a local celebrity everyone loves, and Joumana is going to be an editor for music videos. Well that's the dream but they'll probably end up painting apartments, dancing in a show for 40 people and a television operator. As for me I play piano. I've always admired it. But I don't have big dreams. I only want to play the piano in a café in the Capitol. No big dreams for me.
Joumana jumps on my bed startling me from my daydream.
"Hey Vivron. Did you not hear us? We were talking about the reaping. How many times has your name been in?" she beamed at me. Even in these times she still has the ability to be happy.
Without meeting her eyes, I said "Five times."
"Well, that's not that bad; I heard Zelda Ball had her name puts in 27 times." Encouraged Dora.
"Yeah, and Miriam Hurst has over 38 times. So, I think we'll be fine." Confirmed Twila. Her tone as silky soft as ever. You can't stay mad at Twila; she's the kindest, most loyal girl I have ever met. I still can't believe her parents left her here in the middle of the night when she was seven. If I was her I would never forgive them.
My parents are dead. Killed by the Capitol. They hid Teddy and I away so that when we grow up we wouldn't be a tribute. They kept us in the cellar below the shack they lived in. I don't know whether that would have been a good idea. I mean, we couldn't stay in there our whole lives. I can remember the cellar a little. I was four when I left it so the only things I remember are the days when I was scared. I remember the darkness that you couldn't see through at all. I remember the cramped conditions. Until Teddy came along I was alone. So alone I started talking to myself. I still do sometimes. Calms me down. People who walk past me on the street shoot glances. Some worried, some sympathetic, some scared. But I don't care.
"Time for bed girls" instructed Mrs McClaven.
In routine, the girls in the dorm got up from wherever they were and climbed into bed. Tucking myself into bed I stared up at the ceiling, not being able to put the thought out of my head.
"You know the rules." Mrs McClaven didn't say much but you knew that if you didn't do what she said, you'd be punished. Things only said in a stern way, she never showed any other emotion. No pity, no mercy, no love. She left the room and I could hear her heels getting further away down the corridor.
I look to my left and saw the look of fear on everyone's faces. Slowly I reached up and feeling for the light switch saw the lights in the corridor go out. Finally finding the switch, I switched the lights out and lay back on my bed. The only light source is the small red dot emanating from the fire alarm. Not bright enough to light up anything but bright enough to see the outline of the fire alarm.
Slowly, I became drowsy. I knew what my dreams would be filled with. Not dreams but nightmares. And all for tomorrow. Tomorrow is reaping day. And I don't feel lucky.