THE DINNER
District Two. Masonry: where the land is filled with the brutal and merciless, and children are made into cruel warriors.
It was the night before the Reaping. Where everyone would gather to the main square to watch two children be chosen to fight each other and 22 others to the death. Clove was sitting at a long dining table at the Mayor's home, along with a few other people. Her mother was one of the head supervisors to the largest facility for training Peacekeepers in District Two. The other children sitting at the table also had influential parents, or a certain redeeming quality about them. Octavian, a boy with curly hair the color of aged wood, who had a father that trained a large fraction of the Peacekeepers distributed through Panem. Caius, who was observing the extravagant room with his crystal-like, cerulean eyes, was the most skilled in hand-to-hand combat at the training facility. Horatio, extremely attractive and also dismissive to compliments. Clove remembered back in the early years of school where he rejected all the girls' proclamations of love. And last but certainly not least, Cato. The Mayor's son. Blonde hair the color of wheat and icy cobalt eyes that pierced whatever he laid his gaze upon. He was brutal and fierce, excelling in physical warfare and also the best swordsman out of those able to be in The Hunger Games.
And then there was Clove. She had fair, porcelain skin, raven black hair, and her eyes a surprising brown that looked like melting chocolate. Clove was the only female teenager sitting at the table who was eligible for the Reaping. Both Clove and her mother were invited to the Mayor's home for a celebratory dinner in occasion of the 74th upcoming Hunger Games. Because this was a District where The Hunger Games didn't mean mourning or nervous anticipation. This was a District where The Hunger Games meant eternal glory, an object for honor, and of course, unlimited riches. District Two was always the main contender, because many of Panem's Peacekeepers were manufactured here, ready to be shipped around the country. And because District Two created soldiers, the children were trained in combat beginning when they were 12, and when they got to the right age, they would enter their names in for the Reaping.
"Very good of you all to come here," announced the Mayor, his voice booming across the vast room. "I know we're all very excited for tomorrow's events!" Clove's mother smirked at the Mayor and then turned her eyes to her daughter and glared at her intently, a smile still on her face, as if to say, Be good here or I'll make you wish you were never born.
"Now! I know all of you boys at the table think you're just going to lunge at the Tribute spot tomorrow at the Reaping, but I'll have you know that my son will be the Tribute, guaranteed!" said the Mayor as he shook his son's shoulder playfully. Cato gave the rest of the boys a crooked and snarky smile.
"And my daughter," Clove's mother interjected, "Will be getting the Girls' Tribute spot, no matter what. Isn't that right, dear?"
Clove stared at her mother for a while before slowly saying in a deadpan voice, "Yes, of course. No matter what."
end THE DINNER