District Seven
Timber "Saw" Carther's POV
They were happy, and I was glad for that.
I watched as my two younger brothers and two younger sisters held each other's hands and danced around in a circle while screaming at the top of their lungs. They were smiling happily as they chanted out with glee.
"No school! No school! No school for today!" It was all right for them to act that way. To act like excited, little children, because that's what they were. At ages ten, eleven, and twelve years old, they didn't have to worry about reaping day.
My twelve year old brother, Jack, wasn't scared at all, and why should he be? He's only entered his name once, no tesserae or anything. His odd of getting drawn were extremely low. The rest were too young to worry about the reapings.
But I was also angry at them, because they didn't know how serious the reapings were. They were all goofing off without a care in the world, and there was a chance that someone in this family could get reaped. And this was the tenth quarter quell, and for some stupid reason, they hadn't told us what the twist was. For all I knew, they could reap an entire family!
They were all smiles and laughs, all because they were missing school. Well school should be the last thing on their minds, someone, or maybe some people, were going to be taken away from this district, and all they cared about was missing school!
"Why don't you all take this thing seriously?" I shouted at them, angry at their happy go lucky attitudes. "Especially you Jack! And you too Chip!"
If there was one thing wrong with the group of five kids jumping around in front of me, it was that one of them wasn't a kid. In fact, one of them was older than I was. My seventeen year old brother, Chip, second oldest of the family, second only to my sister, Oksana, didn't belong in that group. He shouldn't be acting like a stupid ten year old, if it was a good day.
Hell, Jack was more mentally mature than him, and that was saying something as Jack could be incredibly stupid as well. "Act your age!"
The room was quiet now. My siblings, older and younger, were looking at me with surprised and confused expressions on their faces as their singing had come to a halt. Chip stared dumbly at me, and that really got to me. "What the hell's with that look? You too stupid to understand the words that are coming out of my mouth? Huh? Are you?"
The room was completely silent for a few short seconds as everyone seemed to absorb my words. Then Chip started to cry like a fucking baby. "Shut up!" I yelled, throwing a punch to his face. The fist connected with his face, sending him stumbling backwards until his back hit the wall. All he did was cry louder. "I swear god damn it, shut up! Please! Shut up!"
Despite being six feet tall, having strong arms and broad shoulders, Chip was such a cry baby.
"What the hell's going on this time?" I heard the voice of my older sister shout as she entered the kitchen, if you could even call this a kitchen. It was small, rotting, and a poor excuse for a kitchen. But it was the best that we could get.
Even though I wasn't even looking at her, I could tell that she was looking at me with angry eyes and a look of disappointment on her face. "Did you make your brother cry again!" It wasn't a question.
"Its his own fault! Him and Jack and everyone else!" I told her, throwing my hands towards my siblings that had been dancing up and down like crazy.
"I heard what you were saying to him!" My sister yelled at me, getting in between me and my brothers and sisters.
"Then you should of heard them as well! Its reaping day, and none of them are taking it seriously! It's like they don't even care! Chip of all people should know just how dangerous this is!"
"What Jack and the others get through reaping day is none of your business!" My older sister told me. "And for Chip, it's not his fault that he doesn't understand the danger that he's in. You of all people should know about that!"
"Well he damn well should! There should be something in what's left of his brain to tell him that this is no laughing matter!" I said as I pointed a finger towards my older brother. Reaping day, seventeen, slips of paper with his name on it, drawing of death, death in the arena, how hard was that to understand?
I grabbed my brother by the shirt collar and pulled him towards me. He didn't offer any resistance, all he did was stare at me with a scared look as my sister tried to rip my hands off of him. "You hear me in there! This is serious!"
I felt my hands get thrown off my brother before I felt the strong arms of my sister hold me in a headlock. It really hurt. Oksana may be a girl, but she was as strong as grown men. Not only that, but her headlock was suffocating me! "Let go!" I demanded as I felt myself get dragged against my will. "Let go!"
I then felt myself get thrown to the floor before hearing a door slam behind me.
"We'll let you out when it's time to go." My sister said before her foot steps started to fade away.
I got up and ran to the door, tried to open it, and discovered that it was locked. I pounded my fist on the door, trying to force it open. It didn't budge, the thing was made of solid wood.
With anger boiling inside me, I let it all out by attacking the walls and screaming out my frustrations. My younger siblings and Chip were all stupid! They were fucking retards that didn't understand just how serious this was! Jack, even though it was his first reaping, could get his name drawn, and here he was, acting like nothing bad was going to happen to him. And Chip, he had a bigger chance of getting picked, and was acting just like Jack. Carefree and childish.
No school? That's what reaping day meant to them? No fucking school day? I should- UGH!
I added new dents and marks on the walls as I continued to slam fists and feet into the walls, thinking of how I wanted to beat some sense into them.
I continued to hit walls until I couldn't hit them no more. I got tired, and my fists and feet hurt.
Chip. Jack. Oksana. Everyone.
With my energy disappeared, so did my rage. I fell to the ground as I curled up in a ball, holding my hands and hugging my feet at I felt tears start to stream down my face.
Oksana was right, it wasn't their fault that they were acting this way. They probably didn't want to think about how scary the reapings were, I sure didn't, but the thought of Chip, and now, Jack, getting reaped kept on getting into my head. The thought of them going into the arena, facing whatever horrors were in that dreaded place, wasn't something that I wanted to think about, but kept on thinking anyway.
She was also right about how I should know about Chip being a retard better than anyone else. After all, I was the one that dropped that two handed saw on his head. I didn't kill him, but I did something worse, I made him the way he is now. He's not the Chip that I had grown up with, that Chip was dead, and in his place was a kid that would never grow up.
Just once, I wish that I could have retard Chip fight back, stand up to me, or even say something at least half intelligent, letting me know that my brother was still in there somewhere. I waited and waited, but I've still gotten nothing from him. He can't even say his name.
I know that it's not his fault, it's mine. I acted stupid, and because of that, everyone suffered. Oksana worked almost constantly, I couldn't get a job that involved sharp tools, which eliminated nearly every legal job that paid, and Jack was working after school. That left the youngest to take care of themselves, and Chip.
It pained me, but last year, because of my stupid act, Oksana had to take out even more tesserae than normal. This year, I did the deed to taking out tesserae, because I knew that while I didn't have a good chance of coming home, Chip's odds were even worse.
I felt myself start to cry out.
I just want things to go back to the way they were.
Willow Jacksmith's POV
My mind wondered if I should worry about getting reaped. Sure I hadn't put my names in too many times, my name was only in there six times, but my friend Haley, kept on reminding me that there was still a chance that I could get picked. That, plus the quarter quell had never been announced, so the twist of the game was still a mystery to us all.
What was this year's twist? What nightmare would they put those in the arena? Would I be put into this year's arena? The thought scared me as Haley kept on going through what sadistic twists that the Capitol might of thought of for this quarter quell.
I covered my ears until we reached the town square, and even then, I couldn't escape my friend, because she was the same age as me, and I was standing next to her.
"What if we only have twenty four hours to kill each other?" Haley asked with panic in her voice. "What if we have ten times the tributes? What if-"
"Haley," I said, still covering my ears and was beginning to panic myself. "Please stop. You're scaring me." I was scared before this day even began, Haley was only adding fuel to the fire. And her own fears as well.
"Oh," She said with shame as she cast her eyes down. "Sorry."
"It's fine." I told her. "Just, don't talk for the rest of the reapings."
"Ok." She said quietly.
I wasn't saying that to hurt her feelings, and I wasn't just thinking about myself for this, I was thinking of the both of us.
We both got scared easily, in fact, we became friends when we got lost in the forest. We were both wondered off into the forest, got lost, found each other, and held on to each other to keep each other safe and make ourselves feel safe in the progress. It wasn't until the next morning that the lumberjacks found us huddling together, our arms wrapped around each other as we continued to shiver in fright. We didn't sleep that entire night, and we thought that the lumberjacks were monsters, so we ran away from them as soon as we saw them.
We eventually found out that they weren't monsters, but not until nearly fifteen minutes of running away later.
It was something we laughed at now, and it was my most prized memory. I was always afraid to talk to the other kids, but our bond was forged without words.
"Hello District Seven!" A high pitched female voice shouted into the microphone, scaring me and making me jump a little. "Welcome to the tenth quarter quell. Now, you all may be wondering why you're inside those cages right now,"
Cages? We didn't walk into any cages.
I looked around to see if she was joking. She wasn't. Us seventeen year old girls were inside a black steel cage that was barley big enough for us to fit in.
I must of not noticed it due to how scared I was before. "Due to the drawing of the card, and the high spike in the Panem population, we'll be operating things a little differently this year. This year, we'll be drawing pieces of paper consisting of an age group until we get a volunteer."
That news struck me hard. A volunteer? She'd pick an age group, and then choose someone from that age group to volunteer? I hoped that she didn't draw the number seventeen for the girls, I was in it. And who knows how long it'll take for someone to volunteer. "Those outside that age group are allowed to volunteer, those of the selected age group aren't allowed to."
Suddenly, I heard the sounds of peacekeeper guns getting ready to fire. I scared me. Why were they getting their guns ready?
"Willow." Haley whispered sacredly as she grabbed my left arm in fright. I grabbed onto her as well, holding her for mental support.
What was going on?
"For the girls, the first age group is...Sixteen."
Suddenly, I heard the sound of cracking thunder behind me.
I turned towards the sound to see that the peacekeepers were firing their guns into the sixteen year old girl section.
I closed my eyes and tried to block out the screams of the girls getting slaughtered in the cage behind us and the spectators of the killing.
I held on to Haley as the killing continued, until it stopped as suddenly as it started.
I didn't look back to see if there were any surviving sixteen year old girls. If there were any survivors, I couldn't imagine the pain they'd be feeling right now. "Any volunteers?" Our escort asked. Her only response was the screams and cries of sorrow and shock. "No? Okay. Our next age group is...Twelve."
Another round of thunder occurred, and I knew who was getting killed this time, girls who were twelve years old, girls that should of been safe from the reapings. But all of them were getting killed by the peacekeepers around their cage.
I held on to Haley even harder as I buried my head into her shoulder, as she did the same thing with my shoulder.
Those girls. Those innocent, little girls who were supposed to be safe, were now all dead. And our age group could come up. Or worse, more kids could die in senseless killing if someone didn't do anything. "Now, is there someone who will volunteer for the game," Our escort said, free of emotion. "Or will we have to draw another card?"
No. No more killing. No more of this. Someone! Volunteer! Someone stop this senseless slaughter!
"I volunteer!" I heard and felt myself shouting.
Even though I couldn't see them, I could feel the heads of the entire district turn towards me. And even though I wanted to do nothing more then to curl up in a ball, cry my eyes out, and hold onto my dear friend, I knew that more were going to die if I didn't do something other then volunteer.
"Willow." Haley whispered in shock, disbelief, and sadness.
"I have to Haley." I sadly told her as I released my arms from her and let the rough hands the grabbed and drag me away from my friend. "It's me, or hundreds of other kids."
Haley only dropped her head, and cried. I knew she understood, but that didn't mean that she liked it. Hell, I didn't like it myself, but it had to be done.
One life, or hundreds. My life, or the lives of other brothers, sisters, and friends that would be lost?
"What's your name dear?" My escort asked me when I got on stage.
"Willow." I told her quietly, but loud enough for her to hear me. "Willow Jacksmith."
"Let's give a round of applause for our brave contestant, Willow Jacksmith!" Our escort shouted happily. Her only response from the audience was crying.
Our escort then walked over to the boy's reaping bowl, which only contained seven slips of paper, and picked one of them out of the bowl. "Seventeen." She announced.
She didn't even get to the half way point of seventeen when a voice cried out from the crowd, before more screaming erupted, before the peacekeepers fired into the cage holding the unlucky seventeen year old boys.
Timber "Saw" Carther's POV
"NOOOOOOOO!" I shouted as our escort said seventeen. Chip was in the seventeen year old cage, and he was about to be killed!
No, he was getting killed, right in front of my eyes. I couldn't see him directly, but I knew that he was getting killed in front of me. Somewhere in that cage, he was getting killed by a bullet or two or five.
Chip was an immature, stupid, seventeen year old who got on my nerves, but it wasn't his fault, I made him like that. He used to be the smart one in the family, until I dropped that saw on his head four years ago.
I was being stupid with the saw, holding it above my head like an ax about to be swung. Chip nearly died because of that, and now he was dead, and the last thing I ever did to him was yell at him in a fit of anger. He'd never hear me apologize or give him a good comment ever again. The thoughts going through his head before he died must of been horrible.
Chip may of been stupid, annoying, and a cry baby, but he was still my older brother who I played with when we were younger.
That Capitol lady. That fucking Capitol lady! The way she calmly said our ages and reacted to the sound of gunfire and death, it was like our lives meant nothing to her. I saw the peacekeepers, I saw that in their eyes, they didn't really want to shot us, but they had to, it was their job and their lives were on the line as well. That fucking bitch up on that stage with that annoyingly high voice didn't give half a fuck about our lives. We were sub-human to her. She was murdering more then fifty kids, and didn't even bat an eye. The anger inside me boiled as I thought of those lives she was destroying. The life she was destroying for Chip. For Oksana. For me. For the rest of my siblings.
After the sound of gunfire finished, the escort emotionlessly asked for volunteers.
The anger inside me exploded as she asked for volunteers so calmly. What just happened in front of her was like a walk through the forest. It meant little to her, if anything.
"I volunteer!" I shouted angrily as I ran to the cage door and grabbed it before shaking it with my hands. "I volunteer I volunteer I volunteer!"
A peacekeeper unlocked the door before I ran out of the cage, past the peacekeepers, and up the stage.
"Well, look who's eager to get into the-" The district's escort started, but didn't finish, as I picked up the microphone stand in front of her and swung it as hard as I could at her head.
I heard a thick crackle of static as the metal objects hit her across the face before she fell onto the stage. Blood sprayed out of the escort's mouth as he spun in a half circle and fell to the ground without so much as a grunt. I heard the voice of my district partner scream out in fright as I the Capitol body hit the steel below our feet.
My district partner had thick, shiny brown hair that was tied in a loose pony tail, her green eyes wide with shock, and she wore a clean yellow dress. She was tiny framed, but she was a little fat in arenas of her body. She was probably a rich girl who never saw violence committed in front of her.
"You bitch!" I shouted as I slammed the microphone stand on the Capital escort again. "You fucking bitch!" Slam. "Do." Slam. "You." Slam. "Know." Slam. "What." Slam. "You've." Slam. "Done!" Slam.
I was about to hit her again, but then I felt thick arms wrap around my throat, cutting off my air supply. I fought back, but darkness washed over me, and the world turned black."
Willow Jacksmith's POV
The boy, the infamous Timber "Saw" Carther, got choked out by a peacekeeper before his body went limp.
Timber was infamous for both her anger, and his deadly accidents that involved saws. He was a walking disaster with saws for some reason. Give him a saw and something bad'll happen. That's what I've heard from the kids at school. I've never seen him in person, but with all the talk about him, I feel as if I do know him.
Black haired with dark brown skin, a green and black flannel shirt that was dirty and torn over a dirty white shirt with equally torn up black pants. It showed that he was from the poor side of the district. The very poor side. Either that, or he chooses not to wear his best wears for the reapings.
Either way, he was scary. He had beaten the escort with little remorse. A violent boy with an anger problem, I didn't like the way things were heading for me.
With our escort down, we were lead to the justice building for our last goodbyes by the head peacekeeper.
For me, I knew it was my last goodbye. I'd never survive the arena.
I sat down, and cherished the time I had left with the people who meant something in my life.
A/N: Edited as of July 6th 2014. Not much of an edit, but I hope that it's something.
Ok, well, that's the D7 reaping with my own characters, just to show you how the reapings are going down.
Basically, the quarter quell was kept a secret from the districts in order to bring surprise to them when the reapings came. And instead of name getting drawn, an age group is drawn before those of that age get murdered. The escort then asks for volunteers, and if nobody volunteers, another age group gets massacred, until someone finally volunteers.
Fiddlegirl, if you've noticed a striking resemblance between my reapings and your reapings, it's because I got the idea from you. Hope you don't mind.
