A/N Hello, and welcome to Welcome to Panem. Welcome to welcome to...
Whatever.
This is a 13-part oneshot series about the districts of Panem, the 12 Districts and the Capitol. I won't include District 13 because technically, it isn't part of Panem. This is what I think Panem is like at the time of the 65th Games, and I hope you enjoy! Keep in mind that this is a side project; my focus will be on my SYOT and two collabs.
District Twelve
Smoke rises from the many chimneys, and candles and gas lamps are being lit throughout the town in District Twelve. The dirty streets are starting to fill with people crossing through to the coal mines. Their faces are weary, and there's coal dust between their fingernails, in their black hair, and even on their clothes. Hopelessness is written on their faces and reflected in their eyes.
In the houses, the lighter-colored residents pay them no attention. Some are starting breakfast, a few women are brushing their blonde hair.
In one of the small bedrooms behind the bakery, a little blond boy, about seven years old, climbs out of bed and washes his face, staring into his own blue eyes. He smiles and runs down the stairs, breathing in the warm, homely smell of bread. When he's in the kitchen, his father, with his kind eyes, gives him a bit of bread to knead before eating his breakfast. His mother is out buying groceries; he can have a bit more than usual. The father looks to the back door, hoping that the hunter will stop by now, rather than later. Generally, Town and Seam don't get along.
On the other side of tiny, tiny, District Twelve, in the slum-like Seam, a mother shakes her young daughter awake, looking into her grey eyes and brushing her black hair away from her face before tying it into a braid. The girl yawns before getting up, and she plants her feet on the hard, uneven dirt floor and washes her face. Her father has a little more than two hours before he has to report to the mines; they have time to hunt.
She quietly slips out of the house with her father, careful not to wake her sister, and he leads her under the dead fence and into the woods. He teaches her the plants and the animals, the food and the poison, and the beauty of nature. Little does she know that this quality time will, in the future, save her life.
Meanwhile, others are not so fortunate. A blind man, deathly pale, lies helpless in the streets. People pass him by, knowing that they cannot possibly afford to help him. A boy in the Community Home is beaten for just wanting a bit more food. The mayor's daughter cries at her mother's bed, knowing that her mother could leave her at any time without warning.
A man is found dead in the streets, starved to death. A woman coughs and coughs in a small shack, her lungs suffering from the coal dust that has settled in them. The fence around the district is like a prison, keeping then from the bounty outside. They know that they don't have to worry about beasts, the fence keeping them safe, but they still starve.
District Twelve, where you can starve in safety.
A/N To be honest, that last line, taken from the book, is what inspired me to write this fic. You'll see what I mean.