The Hunger Games
Chapter one
My fragile sister Cala sat on the cold steps on the porch. The snowflakes seemed to make her skin and the winter wonderland blend as one, that is, if you didn't notice her raven black hair. It was long and waving in the wind so I don't understand how you could miss it, unless you were blind then I could. Her bright red lips, I couldn't see them from here, but if I could they would be closed and her bright blue eyes would be squinting, not from the cold, but the tears of remorse. This was just a memory, a memory like so many others lost in the wonderland of time. Right now, I am trying to keep the feelings away, but honestly there is nothing else to think of as the capital train travels through Panem. I should now start counting the hours till I die…..
"Dad, when will you be home?" I asked, a big smile crossing my entire face.
"Good morning Aaviela, my angel," he said this not to make me feel good, but because my name meant angel ", Daddy has to work late tonight…..," seeing my dismay he smiled brightly and said ", but I'll be home before you know it." He grabbed his black jacket from the rack and kissed me on the forehead. "Say hello to my lily," by that he meant my younger sister Cala in which she was named ", and of course," he continued ", your mother." By this time he had finished buttoning his jacket which was once grey, but now is black from the coal mine, and he opened the door. When it closed a few stray snowflakes fell on the doormat, I stood there watching them melt.
Later in the evening my mom made dinner of turkey, which I had hunted with my best friend Sam. Sam and I spent nearly all of our extra time sneaking past the drunk peacekeepers into the woods to hunt. Our free time wasn't very often, because Sam practically raised his sisters, all five of them. I only had Cala, and she was my world. At the dinner table we said our prayers and thanks for another day of meat and grain. I'm not sure thanking for the grain was worth it, because to have this grain I entered my name in the Reaping for the games last year nearly 20 times extra. Either way, grateful or not, we ate the mushy, tasteless bread.
After eating I helped mom store food for father, so as not to waste. Mom was feeling ill, so she went to bed and Cala climbed into bed with her. Silly Cala, you don't climb into bed with an ill person, but I can never tell her this, she will figure it out on her own. I sat on the counter next to the wood oven, rereading my mom's book of animals, plants, and resources. The book was titled Nature, my grandma had given it to my mother as my mother will give it to me. Every generation we add to the book, what we learn about plants or animal's habitats, or even recipes that could be used in times of trouble. Before I knew it I had read it all once again and put it on the shelf. I grabbed another book, one we had gotten from the WhiteMarket, a place in District 12 for buying and trading(mostly illegal stuff or low quality), the book was called A Day in the Woods. The book's title almost made sense, but it wasn't really a day. It was a book based on the first Hunger Games nearly 70 years ago. Panem went into chaos and rebellion and the capital, took control by killing off the people in District 13 and creating the Games. The games weren't something to reward people, but to make them remember how they failed to defeat the capital and to show the capital is in control. A game that is to the death….. The first character shown in this book A Day in the Woods was chosen at the Reaping when she was 12. Her first year of eligibility for the reaping and she was chosen. The twelve year old's name was Nadielle meaning Hope torch. Even with such a name she didn't stand a chance against the other tributes, or people chosen to represent their district. There were 24, one boy and one girl from each district and Nadielle was the youngest. The youngest by two years on the next youngest. Nadielle didn't make it, at least, that's what was shown on TV. The cannon that signifies a tributes death never went off, and the cameras found Nadielle again when she slayed all of the Careers in their sleep. The Careers are a pack of tributes who spend most of their life training in case they are chosen as tribute, they actually consider it an honor to be prettied up then thrown into an area to fight for your life. It's a sick joke, but the capital citizens think of it as a show, and it only happens once a year so let's make it grand. Anyway, Nadielle was the victor of the first Hunger Games after killing a boy from District 5. A knock on the door startled my thoughts. I hid the book, not knowing who knocked it could be a peace keeper in which case them seeing the book, that was written to show Tributes have power against the Capital, would get me punished. Unless it was Albert, he likes my family because his son works with my dad at the coal mine.
I opened the door to see Albert. His face was red and it almost looked as though he had been crying, but then again it is cold out. "I am sorry to inform your family that," noticing it was me that he was talking to he asked for my mom. "She is not well," I informed him politely, but hastily wanting to know what he came for. "Your father, Gregory M. Daswell, he died." My heart stopped, but Albert's lips didn't ", The explosion took the lives of nearly 30 other men, but your father was the only one to have suffered so badly. Even so you should be proud he save many people…including."- I stopped him ", Your son." His face showed remorse and extreme sorrow. "Yes, instead of evacuating he helped my son and five others get out. Then another explosion went off when your father was helping someone else out."
"Good night," I said quickly, not trying to be rude. I just never let anyone see my tears, and yes they came as soon as I closed the door. I crumbled to the mat, my father had just stepped on this morning. I cried into it, and watched the tears act like the snowflakes had done this morning when my father closed the door. My black hair draped around my face as if it were caressing me, but it wasn't it was getting in my way. I threw on coat and ran outside. Life isn't fair. It's not right, why things like this happen. I am only ten. I ran to Sam's house my mind in a blur, I pounded on the door. He answered it and as soon as he saw it was me, he hugged me. "Are you okay?" He asked.
"My father just died…" I wanted to say something usual for me like 'Oh no, everything is just dandy' but the words didn't come out over my tears. I just hugged him back and sobbed into his shirt.
A while later Sam became tense ", Aaviela, come inside NOW." He demanded. He pulled me in not giving me a chance to object. He let go of my and ran around the house closing the curtains and shutting off lights. I instantly knew why, the head Peacekeeper was outside. If he knew that we were still up this late, it might draw attention to us, but Sam wasn't worried about himself the peacekeepers get drunk often then prey on young girls who are up late. If he had seen that the lights were on and seen me, he could come to the door. Then if he wanted he might grab me and rape me, my mother and father both warned me of this. Peacekeepers don't stay out at night later than nine, unless they are drunk. Sam peeked out the window, and then looked back at me. "Run to my room." I did as quickly as possible, tripping my way up the stairs. I heard some arguing downstairs, but it finally stopped. I didn't know who was coming up the stairs, but luckily it was Sam. He insisted that I wait here with him, so if the peacekeepers were still out and about I would be safe. I didn't object I just laid on his bed with him and talked about anything, but what happened with my dad. For a moment I thought I was happy, but in my state of relaxation my body shut down.
When I woke up I realized I had fallen asleep on Sam's bed, because he was on the ground trying to sleep. I grabbed my coat and tip-toed out of his room and down the stairs. I put on my coat and opened the door. The ground was thickly covered in snow, now and I lifted my feet high before taking the next step. The cold snow got into my poor shoes and melted. When I made it to my house I swiped the snow off of our porch's steps. My family was already up my mom looking a lot better, but when I saw them I became sad again.
"Father went to the market with me, but he is talking to people there right now, so I left." I came up with the lie instantly and I said it quickly avoiding eyes. I grabbed the book I had stored last night and put it back on the shelf. I brought out some supplies to make food that we stored in the small basement to keep them cool. Just eggs, I thought, as I broke them onto a pan I heated over the top of the wood stove. My little sister took over, she loves making eggs because she thinks it's easy. I started walking to my room, but realized I was being followed. My mother, of course.
"I noticed dad didn't eat dinner last night, is he okay."
"You could say that." I said, even though no matter how you looked at it he couldn't be okay.
"Is he ill or something, or is he," I stopped her ", dead, just dead. Can't eat food, when your dead now can you?" My voice was harsh and unstable; I turned away and hid my face. No not my face just my tears. I ran into my room as quickly as possible. Glancing behind quickly my mom was still in the frozen position I had left her. I slammed the door. An hour later I got up, my mother was no longer there and my sister was nowhere to be found. I checked my mom's room to see mom sleeping on dad's side of the bed…no Cala. I walked into the kitchen and peered out the window, My fragile sister Cala sat on the cold steps on the porch. The snowflakes seemed to make her skin and the winter wonderland blend as one, that is, if you didn't notice her raven black hair. It was long and waving in the wind so I don't understand how you could miss it, unless you were blind then I could. Her bright red lips, I couldn't see them from here, but if I could they would be closed and her bright blue eyes would be squinting, not from the cold, but the tears of remorse. She knew. I wish I could comfort her but if I said anything I would go into a crying fit, again. I wouldn't let my Cala suffer though, even if I do, that's a promise I told myself…..
HUNGER GAMES
Chapter two
(a little more than four years later)
I ducked under the electric fence that surrounds my District. The buzzing that indicated it was on was not happening so I was safe. Sam followed me closely into the forest, he had the Game bag under his jacket so Peacekeepers couldn't see it. We sprinted until we weren't visible to the District's eyes. More than four years of sneaking off, being illegal, taught us little tricks of the game(hunting). Sam stopped and set up a trap by a tree, he was obviously trying to catch squirrel that wanted to climb trees. I got out my bow and stuck an arrow in it waiting for any movements, same headed off to my right with his traps. A small squirrel sitting in a tree stirred. I shot it instantly right through the head. The momentum whacked it right off the tree. I ran over to where I saw me arrow and noticed it wasn't as small as I had thought. It could make some soup, or I could sell it to Greaster, a friendly man who sat around at the WhiteMarket selling food and wines. Greaster had a bad appearance with his missing teeth and homelessness. I pulled the arrow out of the skull and ripped the brain out, I put it on a hook and headed to a medium sized pond that loomed beyond.
The string rippled the water and I waited. Fish loved animal meat and would be instantly attracted. A small fish nibbled on it and I yanked the rod upward and reeled it in. I slit it's throat instantly killing it, and let some of the blood leek into the pond. I put the brain back in and a few other fish nibbled it, but I knew what I was waiting for. The string was yanked and I hooked it, I reeled it in and it fought back. The string nearly snapped but I got it on land long enough for me to cut it. The fish was about 17 inches long and had a lot of meat on it. I hooked both fishes onto the pole and carried them around until I found Sam. I put their bodies into the Game bag along with the squirrel. I kissed Sam's cheek to distract him, but he was to focused on setting a trap.
I carried my bow and pole until I found a climbable tree. I put down the rod and slung the bow over my back so I could climb. I sat there and watched, a buck was eating grass a few trees away. I aimed and shot it right in the eye, an instant death. I nimbly climbed down the tree and ran over to my kill. It was heavy, but I managed to pick it up. A successful day of hunting I thought and ran over to my rod.
Sam smirked when he saw me stumbled through the woods with a deer. He skinned it for me and packed it into the Game bag. I took the pelt and wrapped it around my boots. After about an hour Sam had trapped a raccoon. I laughed because he was so proud, either way it had a lot of meat on it, unlike most raccoons. He skinned it and gave me the pelt. "Happy birthday," he whispered.
We snuck back into the district and ran to my house. No one caught us, thank god. We layed out our catches on the table and "Happy Birthday!" My sister yelled.
"Can it wait please," I begged, and she shut up.
Gale took home part of the deer, raccoon, some fish, and some squirrel. We spilt it up, but we would go to the market together for the hides then split any money made.
"Happy birthday," my sister said again then hugged me. I kissed her forehead in response.
"Gale is having a surprise party for you at his house! Everyone is going to be there!" Cala blurted.
"Is mom going?" I asked knowing the answer.
"Well then that's not everyone." I said before she could answer. Mom had abandoned the family mentally- she did nothing, she said nothing. She was here physically but she did nothing, in fact she might as well have just left. Either way I put the food in the basement and headed to Sam's with my sister.
"Surprise," They all said. Yea, a real surprise, if Cala hadn't blurted everything to me. I tried to look shocked or something a surprised person would show, but it failed. Sam hugged me and his little sisters clinged to his knees and mine.
I guess I acted lifeless during this party, but I don't think anyone noticed. Maybe Sam, but his relatives were hinting at him, by saying how beautiful I was and stuff so he and I didn't really talk. I hate Carol(she doesn't deserve to be called mom) she didn't even show up for my birthday party. She has let me claim tessaraes since I was twelve from entering my names extra times in the games. I once told her at dinner that she wasn't the only one who misses him and she didn't even respond, she just left. Even with all this, I wish we had a decent relationship and then she would be here, but she just locks herself in her room. I sat in the kitchen braiding my sister's hair, while she told me what she learned in school. I had dropped out so I could keep the family going, so Cala told me what she knows. Her birthday is in a month and she will be twelve, old enough for the Reaping. I hugged her while she was talking and she stopped and hugged me back. "Happy fifteenth, "she whispered in my ear. I almost cried thinking that she is eligible for the next Hunger Games.