The First Hunger Games
Chapter 1
It had been almost 30 years since the beginning of the revolution. I hadn't been born yet, not even thought of.
I had been told that, before the war, a girl like me would be attending high school and would go shopping for pretty things. After the war though, that wasn't possible. The Capitol had stripped all 13 districts of whatever wealth the war had left them with and reduced the people to little more than beggars. Somehow though, some people, like my family, had been more fortunate than others.
My father used to be in construction, but slightly changed fields after realizing that carpentry held more money in my district. My family was now considered among those "better off" in our district. There wasn't too much money, but it kept us off the streets.
"Stacey!" I turned to the direction of the voice that called my name. It was my little brother, Ryan. He had just been released from school. He was 14 and it was his last year.
"Hey kid, what's up." Ryan dropped his school bag in the doorway. I smiled at him before resuming my work on that night's dinner: chicken stew.
"Sofie."
"What about Sofie?"
"She's going to the district social with Ryan Sloring." I chuckled.
"Maybe she got her Ryans mixed up."
"Ugh! This is no laughing matter, Stacey! This is serious!"
"Yes, you're right." I turned away from him, so he wouldn't see me trying to fight back my smile. "I'm sorry. So, what're you going to do about it?"
"I don't know! Ugh!" He stomped away to his room and mumbled "girls are stupid."
"Hey! I heard that!"
About 45 minutes later, dinner was ready and I called Ryan over to eat. He did so quickly and ran back to his room. I could only hope that it was homework he was so eager to return to. As I sat down with my own bowl, I heard a knock on the front door. When I opened it, I was greeted with the face of my best friend, Kitty. We would sometimes joke that, when she was born, her parents hadn't agreed on a name and, just at that moment, a cat walked by. We knew it wasn't the case, but it made us laugh. Once we sat back down though, I offered her some stew and we both started eating.
"What do you think about that meeting tomorrow?" Kitty asked, her mouth full. She was addressing the district-wide meeting that was to be held in the district square the next day. Attendance was mandatory, and if anyone failed to show up, their home would be raided. I wasn't really sure how the peacekeepers would be able to tell in any one person didn't go to the meeting, but a part of me didn't want to know. It was rumored that every district was scheduled to have the same meeting throughout the next few days.
"I don't know….maybe they're going to announce that someone in the Capitol bought a new dress." That made her laugh. The rest of our meal was filled with other meaningless chit chat.
"I'm taking some of this out to my dad. Wana come?"
"You mean a chance to see Taylor? Why wouldn't I?" I thought it was pretty creepy, but Kitty had some kind of weird crush on my dad.
My father's shop was next door, so we had to go outside in order to give him his dinner. He sometimes worked late, making sure all his projects were finished in time. When he got into one of his working moods, he sometimes forgot to come home to eat. I didn't mind bringing him his meals though; it gave us some time to talk about things he was working on. If he was especially weighed down, I would even help him get something finished.
When I was younger, and got back from school, I would usually go over to his shop, instead of going straight home. It gave me a chance to learn how to do what he did, so I wouldn't go hungry when I grew up.
"Hi dad." I said before realizing he wasn't seated in his usual spot. In fact, I couldn't see him at all.
"Taylor!" Kitty called out, wandering around the front area of the room. I put the tray of food I was holding on the nearest table and made my way towards the back of the shop.
"Stacey?" I jumped as my father walked out from behind a rather ornate dresser. It couldn't be for anybody in our district, by the looks of it.
"What's this?" I asked, motioning at the dresser.
"Special order from the Capitol. They sent the plans for it last week. The numbers didn't all add up, so I had to make some adjustments. I think they'll be happy though."
"It's very pretty." Kitty chimed in, having discovered our location. "Oh! Taylor! I brought you some dinner. Don't want you getting hungry." I rolled my eyes and gave my dad a look of exasperation. He returned it with a knowing smile.
"Thanks, Kitty. It's almost done. Maybe another day or two, and it'll be on its way home."
"So soon?" I asked.
"Mhm. Steven, from a few streets down, came by asking for work. Apparently his family's having a rough go and need some extra income. So, the boy's been helping me out for the past few days."
"Oh." I was a little jealous that my father had looked elsewhere for help, but I understood that Steven needed the money, so I didn't complain.
He walked with Kitty and me to the front of the shop, where he dusted off the counter, sat down and began eating his stew. If it had gotten cold, he gave no indication of it.
"So what are my two favorite ladies up to tonight?"
"I don't know. Maybe we'll see if the Capitol's airing anything interesting on TV."
"Nothing past 8."
"Yes, yes. I know." Television was supplied by the Capitol and was free in our district until 8pm. After that, we would be charged for it. It was pretty annoying sometimes, if there was something good on any of the five channels. Most times thought, there was either static or a continuous video montage of the 13 districts.
"Ryan home yet?"
"Yea, he came in a while ago." I turned to leave, gesturing towards Kitty to follow me, but she was too busy staring at my dad. "Kit!" She jumped up and speed walked out the door, without even glancing at me. I shook my head behind her and waved goodbye to my father.
When I returned to the house, Kitty already had the TV on and was switching through the five channels. Static.
Static.
Montage.
Static.
The fifth channel was airing the broadcast about the following day's district meeting. It was pretty generalized, so it must have been aired in all the districts. It featured a tall, tanned, gangly woman standing at a podium, addressing the audience. Her purple highlights distracted me for a few moments, but when I heard her mention District 13, my district, my interest piqued.
I sat in the tattered rocking chair in the corner of the room, while Kitty resigned herself to lying, stomach down, on the floor. She swung her feet back and forth as the woman in strange clothing continued to explain the procedure expected of the people in the districts, when attending the meetings on their assigned days.
"And remember: dress to impress!" she finished her speech. After the camera showed a shot of her smiling face, the entire broadcast started over again. Kitty and I hadn't seen the beginning before, but this time we were able to see that a man with graying hair originally stood at the podium. He looked very stern as he read of a series of announcements, mainly concerning the Capitol.
"I don't have anything interesting to wear tomorrow." Kitty complained.
"How dressed up do you think they mean?"
"Oh, I don't know. It doesn't matter, because the only nice thing I had burned away in the fire." Kitty's house caught fire two years ago. It wasn't too terrible, most of the house was fine, but it started in the kitchen, and the fire burned through a part of that wall, into Kitty's bedroom, giving bad smoke damage to the entire space.
"Maybe I have something you can borrow?" She perked up at that and followed me to my room. It was small, without much standing space, but that didn't mean anything to Kit. She sat on my cot as I pulled out semi-appropriate dresses from a drawer.
I owned three. The first one was knee length with a flowery pattern on the top, with a dark blue skirt. It was several years old and didn't fit me anymore. I thought it might work for Kitty; she was quite petite anyway. I handed it to her to try on. It was a little snug, but would do. She liked it and I guess that's what really mattered. I let her keep it.
We got bored after a short while of debating which of the other two dresses I looked better in. We ultimately decided on a soft yellow sundress, with a big light blue flower on the right hip.
"What time is it?"
"Hm, I think it's probably past eight," Kitty responded.
"No more TV then."
"No matter. I should be getting back home anyway."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Mama probably wants some help with Claire and Bobby." We both smirked, thinking of her younger siblings, twins and four years old.
"Well, have fun with that."
"Oh yeah, it's gonna be super fun," she replied, her words dripping with sarcasm. As she turned left outside the house, I closed the door behind her and noticed that I hadn't cleaned the kitchen after making dinner.
My father walked in as I was washing the dishes.
"Kit left?"
"Mhm, a little while ago."
"Oh. Alright then." He took off his boots and sat them in their usual spot, next to the door. "I'm going to take a bath. Could you help me with the water?"
"Sure, just a sec." I said, drying my hands.
Our home was one of several in our area that had a well to supply it. For little things, like dish washing, we used a small pump by the sink, but for bathing, we needed to go outside and get the water in buckets. It was a long process that took several trips to collect the necessary water, and I sometimes envied the poorer families that just bathed in the river, but then I reminded myself that they were unable to heat their water.
After nearly an hour, my father's bath was ready and I went back to cleaning the kitchen. I was tired, but thankfully, not sore. I had been helping my father get bath water for years so, by this point, I had reasonably strong muscles. I finished my work and checked to see if Ryan was sleeping yet. We would both be taking our baths the following morning, before the meeting.
I cracked his door open and saw him sprawled out on his cot. I shut it again and continued to the next door, my room. I changed from my day clothes, into an old, big, orange t-shirt and long, blue, flannel pants that had tiny, yellow stars on them. I tried to take good care of those pants; I felt like they were the only cute thing I owned.
The following morning I woke while it was still mostly dark out. I looked out the window and could see the horizon was just barely turning to the light purple that precedes the bright orange. I sat in my bed for a short while more, in case my eyes were tricking me and it was actually the middle of the night. But when I checked again, the sky was lighter than before, so I climbed out of bed and got dressed.
I looked to the pile of clothes in the corner from the past few days and remembered that I needed to do laundry. I decided I would do it when we all came back from the meeting.
As per our routine, I went into Ryan's room, tried to wake him, and he made a drowsy attempt at swatting me away. In the end though, I convinced him to get up, get dressed and help me get and heat the water needed for our baths. Because we had to fill our two tubs, it took twice as long as it did the previous night.
My father had woken up while Ryan and I were almost done heating the tubs of water, and by the time we finished our baths, he was fully dressed in his nicest shirt, had set out Ryan's clothes on his bed, and prepared our breakfast.
"My, my, don't you look pretty today," my father said, seeing me in my dress, with my red hair in a clip that my mother had given me.
"Thanks dad." I blushed, not used flattery. My brother walked in, with his light blue button down shirt.
"And what a strapping young man we have."
"Mmmm, " replied Ryan through a piece of toast he had stripped from the table.
When we all finished eating, we left and made our way to the plaza. Peacekeepers were there, ushering people into different directions. When we started walking towards a long set of chairs, one of the peacekeepers stopped us.
"Children in the center of the plaza."
"What for?"
"I've been told that children between the ages of twelve and eighteen are to report to the center of the plaza. Everyone else may take a seat."
"It's ok dad. We'll go. Meet back here after?" I asked.
"Sure." As I led Ryan away with the peacekeeper, I saw my dad slowly sit down as he watched us go.
"Young men to the right; ladies to the left." We followed instructions and, since I couldn't find Kitty yet, I started talking to some girls I knew from when I attended school. When Kit did show up, she joined us.
It wasn't long before the speakers crackled and a man was standing at the podium at the front of the congregation.
"Good morning one and all," he read from a paper. He didn't look up at all. "It is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the first annual Hunger Games." I looked around to see if anyone else understood what this short, fat man was talking about. Most people were still staring at the podium, so I turned back to continue listening.
"It is for this competition that I will be selecting one young man and woman to travel to the Capitol and participate in this greatly anticipated competition." There was a growing commotion at the mention of traveling to the Capitol. Few of the people in our district had ever been there, and the ones that had were very old. I felt a bit of excitement pass through me.
The man went on to explain how the selection process worked and that the competition would be televised. I looked over to where my father had been seated. He had a frown on his face and his forehead was creased in what looked like something akin to confusion. He saw me looking at him. I gave him a bright smile. He returned it with a slight, supportive one.
Once more I turned back to the podium, as the red-faced, fat man was about to draw the name of the female contestant.
I hope I win.