PART 1
PREPARATION
1
The sun creeps in through the curtains illuminating parts of the room. Its dawn and the mockingjays are awake and singing there tunes at the top of their lungs. The stonemasons can be heard getting to work in the distance and the kids are already making their way to the training centre.
My head is groggy and my eyes are tired. I pull the bed sheets tightly over my head to avoid the burning of the suns glare on my eyes. Hoping to catch another few minutes of sleep before my father comes in and wakes me.
"CROGA"
My father's voice echoes through the house followed by the thumping of his feet coming up the staircase as he approaches my room. Great looks like I won't be getting anymore much needed sleep. It only feels like minutes ago I was down in the training area preparing for the Games and now I have to get up again. The door blast open my father's muscular figure fills the frame.
"Wake up you runt!" he bellows "Laoch is already finished breakfast and waiting to go to training."
Laoch is my older brother. He is seventeen years old and a Prime Candidate to be volunteered for the Games this year. He has the same muscular build as my father and is as lethal with a blade as he was too. It's no secret in my household that my brother is the favourite.
"Ok, Ok I'm up" I reply as I pull my aching body from my bed. Yesterday I was some kid's punching bag for three hours and let me tell you he treated me like one too. My father is still paused in the door frame, his brow furrowed and his eyes set on an intense glare on me.
"I said I'm up Da you don't have to wait"
"Just making sure there is a bit of hustle in you" he grunts
"Well can I at least have some privacy" I say indicating that I want to get changed. He just rolls his eyes and leaves the room shouting out some comment to Laoch before chuckling too himself.
I stand there in front of the mirror looking at my battered and bruised body. Unlike my brother and father, I'm weak. Somehow despite the great gene pool I was given nature decided it was best to bless me with the worst traits. My build was thin and small and I barely had any body mass. Which is useless considering I live in District 2 and there main export is Masonry or Peacekeeper recruitment, all of which required to have as much strength as possible. I didn't even receive the lush blonde hair or the piercing blue eyes of both my parents. No, instead I have a charcoal black mess and cold grey eyes. I swear sometimes I wonder if I'm even there child.
Down in the hall my brother waits patiently, eager to get moving.
"Christ Croga, you missed breakfast again, no wonder you don't put on weight."
He is right about not putting on weight. But it has a lot more to do with me just missing breakfast. I've been cursed with it. No matter how much I eat or how hard I train nothing seems to come of it. I'm like a bottomless pit absorbing everything I put into it.
"Sorry to keep you waiting again" I murmur
"Don't worry about it bro. I seen the beating Nash was giving you yesterday, I would want to sleep too" he laughs.
I admire my brother. He is strong, athletic, charming and the girls loved him, but despite all that he managed to keep a level head and stay honest. Which is something you don't see very often in District 2 and is defiantly something he didn't pick up form our father.
"Nash?" I hear my father's voice from behind me. "That kid Nash is thirteen years old! Two whole years younger than you and you let him beat you?"
"He is pretty big for his age" replies Laoch coming to my rescue.
"Stop defending him Laoch, he can speak for himself."
But I can't speak for myself I just stand there in silence. It stays this way for what feels like an eternity. My father just standing there his arms folded and tense silently judging me. He cracks a sly grin on his face.
"Pathetic" he puffs.
"Can't even fight a battle with words" he says shaking his head before turning to Laoch.
"Go on your going to be late for training, do me proud today son."
Laoch and I walk towards the training centre in silence. He is probably ashamed of me at this point. It doesn't take bulging biceps or ninja reflexes to string a sentence together. Finally the silence is broken.
"Look Croga, the training, the fighting, all of it. I get it. It's not your thing. But you are a smart kid."
He looks at me and stops walking waiting for me to say something.
"How?"
"Well you did ace all your school tests."
"That's because I avoided going to training Laoch"
"It doesn't matter about that. The point is you studied and practiced and you got the results. If I didn't go to training I would never be considered to be a volunteer."
He is right. Again my brother is right. I did get good results in school, but in a district that focuses on manual labour, what good is it having a big brain. In District 2 the pen is most certainly not mightier than the sword.
"But I don't want to be smart. I want to be like you."
I can tell by the smile on his face this clearly means a lot to him. He must get it all the time with the other kids but hearing it from me really means something to him.
"Funny you should say that because I want to be like you" he replies. "There are so many kids in District 2 like me but there is no one like you. You are unique."
With that Laoch begins walking again. He is right no one in the district is like me. I'm sure he meant it as a compliment but to me it wasn't he just highlighted how much of an outcast I am around here.
The training centre is full of all the eligible tributes for this year's Hunger Games. We are all gathered in front of a stage in the main hall. Today is the day they announce the Prime Tributes to compete in the Games. See the way things work in District 2 is we train all are lives for the Games, to bring honour to our family and our district. Were what is known as a Career District along with Districts 1 and 4.
Suddenly a voice echoes through the hall.
"Ok settle down. Today is the big day. Today we will announce the Prime Tributes for the 71st annual Hunger Games"
There is a cheer throughout the hall and even the sounds of cheesy alpha male chants.
"Ok enough. I'm sure all of you know how this works but for the new tributes I will explain. Every year prior to The Reaping we will select our own two tributes. If their names are not selected from the reaping bowl, then they will volunteer in the place of whoever was picked. Make sense? Good.
The crowd goes silent. It's so quiet you could hear a pin drop. To the Careers this is the real Reaping because this is who will actually be entering the Games. Except in 2 it's not the anticipation of fear. It's excitement.
"Ok we shall begin in true Reaping fashion. Ladies first" says the coach as he lets out a little chuckle. The rest of the crowd follow suit and laugh along to his joke. Unlike the Reaping however there is no bowl of names the head coach just selects the two best tributes. So in a way I am lucky I will never have to compete in the Games.
"And our female tribute is. . . Daga Lancaster!"
Cheers erupt throughout the hall again as Daga makes her way to the stage; she is of medium height and has a very well-toned physique. She has short chestnut brown hair that comes down across her forehead and covers her right eye and the other side of her head has been shaved. I know who she is. She is lethal with a dagger and throwing knifes. Most girls of District 2 are but Daga is insane she can hit any target blindfolded.
"Congratulations Daga. Now our male tribute for the 71st annual Hunger Games is. . . Laoch Wildfire!"
The crowd erupts once more as my brother makes his way to the stage. He shakes the head coach's hand and waves to the crowd. My brother is going to the Hunger Games.
"Now remember act surprised when these two are selected at the Reaping" he laughs and walks of the stage.
See it's not technically legal what we do in 2. We're not supposed to train for the Games; it's supposed to be random. But the Capitol does turn a blind eye to it as it spices up the Games for the audience.
Laoch stays for training but I head home as there is really no point in me been there now. It's only when I get home and I'm in my room I realise the gravity of the situation. What it actually means for Laoch to go to the Hunger Games. I will be all alone. What if he doesn't win? Sure Laoch is amazing but Daga is also lethal and what about the other Career Districts. What if there is an upset and an underdog emerges from an outline district and wins. It's happened before.
All the emotions hit me at once. What if he dies? No one in this world treats me the way he does. He is kind and supportive while everyone else just looks down on me as if I'm some sort of scum. My eyes begin to well up with tears and meek sobs blurt from my mouth. Why did he have to be so good? Why did he have to buy into this Career nonsense?
That's when it hits me. He believes he can win that's why he believes in the Career and here I am sulking and ruling him out all ready. I can't even believe in him like he believes in me. Everybody's right. . . I am weak. I just want to be strong like him. But I can't. I can't even hold my emotions together. I lie on my bed weeping as thoughts of my brother in the Games wiz around my skull until my eyes grow heavy and close.
I'm standing in an open field, the clouds are dark and move swiftly through the sky like a raging river . . . there is a storm coming. In the centre of the field I see a figure. I start walking towards them, slowly edging my way through the knee high grass. As I get closer the figure becomes clearer. It's Laoch. I shout out to him but no noise comes out just the wind whistling as it rolls across the grassy plane. He just stands there motionless.
Another figure comes bursting over the horizon in a blood fuelled rage. His sword is heisted high above his head and he howls out with a battle cry. But Laoch doesn't budge he just stands there motionless. I scream and scream at him to move but nothing comes out its still silence. I break out in a sprint towards my dazed brother but I gain no distance he just keeps moving further and further out of reach.
The other figure is now on top of Laoch and plunges his blade through his neck. The grass is spray painted with a crimson mist as Laoch falls to knees. Suddenly I am by his side his pulse fading. I scream for help but I am still mute. No one can hear me. His pulse beats on last time and he becomes cold. I am alone.
I wake up in a pool of a cold sweat. It was just a nightmare. It wasn't real. I let out a deep sigh in relief and begin to wipe my watering eyes with the edges of my bed sheets. It takes a few seconds for me to register Laoch at the end of my bed.
"You ok?" he asks.
"Yeah I'm fine. It was just a bad dream."
"You were screaming Croga. You have never done that before."
How much of it did he hear? Better yet what was I screaming?
"It was a real bad dream" I reply getting out of bed. Laoch just looks at me with a puzzled look on his face.
"Ok then. . . "He trails off his thoughts are clearly processing what he just heard.
"You should get ready. Today is the day of the Reaping."
With that he leaves my room and I am alone again with just my thoughts.
Everyone is packed in to the square just outside the Justice Building. The Capitol requires everyone to be present on the day of the Reaping or at least viewing it at home or where ever they may be so all work and production ceases for the day. I can only imagine what it must feel like to be in one of the outline districts as the wait patiently to hear there faiths. On the stage I can see our district escort Tori Honeybee making her final preparations before going live to the nation of Panem. She is hard to miss with her illumines pink suit and vibrant green hair. She has been our districts escort for as long as I can remember and she must have been doing it long before that as well judging by the amount of makeup she has caked on her face. More than any other Capitol lady I have ever seen. She must be really struggling to hide her age now. No doubt she has gone through with body modifications as well.
She taps the mike signalling that it is time to begin.
"Welcome, welcome citizens of District 2" she exclaims in a thick Capitol accent.
"Before we begin the Reaping for the 71st annual Hunger Games we present to you lucky viewers a message from the Capitol."
A video reel begins to display on the massive LED screens that surround the square and stage followed by the boom of the Capitol anthem.
Every year before the Reaping the show the same old archived footage of how the districts of Panem rebelled and fought in an uprising against the Capitol and how the Hunger Games were formed. My mind drifts off back to my dream, of how my brother was killed. My eyes begin to water up again. I can't lose him. He has to win. The video ends and Tori begins clapping franticly with a wide smile spread across her face.
"We shall now begin the Reaping for the 71st annual Hunger Games." she says with her arms spread wide as if she was trying to embrace the audience.
"Like always ladies first."
She tries her best to walk elegantly over to the female reaping bowl but her heels are too high and she ends up resembling a baby deer trying to walk instead.
"Our female tribute to represent District 2 is. . . Bekka Strong!"
Sure enough just as the Bekka girls name is called Daga has announced she will volunteer as tribute and take her place and she heads towards the stage.
"And now to the boys."
My heart is racing all the emotions come flooding back. So much I find it hard to breath
"And the male tribute representing District 2 is. . . Laoch Wilde!"
My heart sinks as it registers that he is now officially going to the Games. I may never see him again. What happened next I can't explain? I don't know if it was the crushing pain of losing the only person who loves me or the jealousy of wanting to be him but the words just seemed to tear out of my mouth without warning.
"I volunteer as Tribute!"