Hey everyone! So this is my take on what would maybe happen if Katniss and Peeta didn't win the games! I had this story uploaded before, but I had to delete my own account, and I made some changes to the story. Let me know what you think! Thanks for giving it a chance! Oh and I know this chapter isn't the best, I promise it will get better. :) thanks for reading! I do not own Hunger Games.
"People are getting sick of these games," Said one man, who wore a blue tie. "It tends to be the same thing every year, and we're loosing our audience." Said the head gamemaker, who paced in front of the others."What do you suggest?" Said one with a red bow tie. "I suggest, we get started on the quell now. I want it big. I want it bad, and I want as many twists as possible, to keep the people of their toes, of course." The room became silent. "The quell is three years away, sir. Are you suggesting we start on the arena now?" Said the man with the red bow tie. "Yes, I want a team working on it now. I want you to make it good. I want you to make it the best games we have ever seen." The team of men immediately set to work. The man in charge, with the blue tie, grabbed the arm of the second in charge. "Do not disappoint." The man with the red bow tie nodded, before preparing for the biggest and best games in history, preparing for the 100th Hunger Games.
Three years later
"Look out!" My voice screeched as we flew down the grassy hill at high speed. I gripped my brother tighter as our make shift sled flew over a small ramp, sending both of us flying into the air. I let out another scream as we flew towards the barn. I gripped the edges as the piece of tin roof made contact with the red doors, sending them flying open with a massive bang. The chickens, of course, freaked out, all of them flying in every direction possible. Once the cloud of feathers and wings died down I stood up to find my little brother in a heap a few feet away, laughing hysterically. Once I saw he wasn't harmed a bent over in laughter too. I jumped when my older brother grabbed my shoulders.
"What the heck are you doing?!" He cried, picking up a bucket of spilled seeds from the dusty ground. I rubbed away a tear of laughter. "Jay and I were just having some fun, lighten up a little." He shot me a death glare. "I'll lighten up when your chores are done. Having you in the house is like having to watch over a baby." He snapped. I sighed. He was just in a pissy mood since the reaping was tomorrow. He'll get over it. I helped Jay dust off his shirt and he scampered off to the house. I watched him go. Sparrow shot me another glare. "For once can you just do what you're supposed to? Even Jay is helping and he can't even understand what we're saying." I rolled my eyes. "Yeah well it's fine to let him have a little fun before tomorrow, he may not be able to hear, but he's smart enough to understand the reaping." Sparrow started to head to the fields. "I don't have time for this. Clean out the stable before dinner."
I mumbled a retort that only I could hear before grouchily picking up the pitch fork. Making my way to the barn, I started getting lost in my thoughts. I'm not worried about the reaping. You have the smallest chance of getting your name pulled in district ten, seeing we're the most populated. A lot of farm land means a lot of work. A lot of work means a lot of workers. A lot of workers means having a lot of kids to help get stuff done. We try to deny it, but it's not hard science, people. I come from your average district ten family. Four kids and two loving parents. My oldest brother, Lark, left the district when I was four.
A few years ago district hopping was forbidden, but now they've loosened up on the strict rules they keep over the districts. Many people can land jobs in other districts and leave their home one for another, as long as they fill out the proper paperwork. So once Lark got his eyes on some rich and fancy district two lady, it was goodbye district ten and hello two. It never bothered my mom too much, seeing she was never fond of him anyways. I mean she loved him of course but he was never a hard worker. I never had much feeling for the subject since I was only four.
My older brother, Sparrow, has always been a hard worker. He usually worked with my father out in the fields all day, even when he was little. I usually wanted to help, too. But if I tried Father would stop me. "Now remember here, Wren, the farm land ain't not place for a lady. You stay in the kitchen with your Mama, ya hear?" He would then tip his hat and head out with Sparrow. My Mama would role her eyes and kneel down to look me in the eye. "Remember here, Wren." She said in a voice like honey. "You can do anything you put your mind to. Don't Listen to your father, no matter what, understand?" I would smile and nod.
When I was six my youngest brother came. I loved him at once, but my father and mother knew something was wrong and different. After two visits to the doctor it was confirmed that he was deaf. He would never be able to hear. My father wanted to get rid of him, send him to the orphanage. My mother refused. She said if he ever dared to think of getting rid of Jay she would leave him. I admired her for sticking up for Jay, even though some might consider him useless. He learned, slowly, but he did. Mother taught him how to do chores around the house and barn, and I was impressed.
Jay isn't an idiot, that's for sure. He's smarter then people would think. My Mothers persistence payed off, because he finally learned how to read and write when he was seven. He understood words and the meaning of them. I had gone to the library and bought some book on some old form of talking for deaf people, involving hand signs and motions. I had started to teach Jay some words, but before we could get very far Mama grew ill.
I finished laying the hay down in the horse stable. I sighed and rubbed the nose of my mothers old mare. Soon I decided I should go see if Jay had been successful with cooking dinner and left the stables. I walked in to see three bowls of soup on the table. I looked into the deep brown eyes of Jay as he looked upon the sad meal with pride. I gave a weak smile. Mama always said food was one of the greatest joys in life. We hadn't had a full meal since her passing. The two of us ate silently. That was one thing I had grown used to, living in this house. Silence.
Soon Sparrow returned. He quickly scarfed down his meal. Without another word I blew out the candle. I climbed the stairs to my room, and Jay followed me. Sparrow and I used to share a room, but now that our parents are gone he just used theirs. I climbed into my bed and Jay climbed into his. My mind was semi concerned about the reaping tomorrow, but it would work out. It did every year. My family had had more then enough bad luck, so we should be fine. I was only concerned seeing it was the quell. The 100th game. It was supposed to be bigger and badder then ever. My mind was wondering what the game makers had in store, and soon I finally let sleep take me.
I woke up before the sun was up like every morning. Usually I would wake up Sparrow and he would head to the lands, but since today no one would work, I let him sleep in. I turned on my dresser light, checking to make sure I wouldn't wake Jay. I pulled out some of my mothers old makeup. I only ever used it for very fancy occasions. As I delicately rubbed some blush on my defined cheek bones, I looked myself over.
People always told me I looked like my Mama. I had her big eyes a pretty innocent face. I could never really see it, though. I wished that I had gotten her dark brown eyes like Jay had, but I instead got my fathers piercing green ones. And instead of getting her curly brown hair I got my fathers deep red, slightly curled hair. I didn't mind it. It always seemed to fall neatly over my shoulders and down my back. I didn't mind the color either, it stood out. That wouldn't be good for the games. I thought. I quickly shook the feeling. I added some lipstick to finish it off. I slipped on my mothers old mint green dress and smoothed out the skirt. It finally fitted me. My small frame never really could pull off any of my mothers clothes. I guess I had grown a little up top since last year. I looked myself over one more time. I stepped outside and headed for town.
As I walked along the rolling hills I got lost in my thoughts again. I tend to do that on my way to town. The dress still reminded me of Mama. It still had the faint smell of her fancy daisy perfume my Father had gotten her. She died four years ago when I was fourteen. It came as a shock to all of us. A normal visit to the doctor, and she came home and gently broke the news to us. A rare condition that only gave her four more months. We made the most out the little time we had left with her. I went with her to every doctor appointment, finding the high technology fascinating. I loved learning about what the medicine would do to help her, and what the machines did. She slipped away as peacefully as possible. I'll never forget what she said to me before the line went flat. I'll never forget her eyes slowly closing. I'll never forget the grip she had on my hand, and how it left in a moment. But I'll spare you for hearing that sob story… for now.
My father took it the hardest. He became abusive. He mostly hit Sparrow and occasionally me. He never laid a hand on Jay, though. He knew how much Mama would hate that. He stopped working, leaving Sparrow on his own, I knew he would hate it, so I hid the fact that I got a job at the hospital as a nurse. I told him I was going to take the horses out for a trail ride, and I wouldn't come back until late. My lie was obvious, but he was normally too drunk to notice. His sorrow only grew, until he didn't want to look at me because my face reminded him too much of my mothers. One day I came home to find Jay making dinner as usual, and Sparrow was out working. I couldn't find him anywhere. I went to the barn and saw a note nailed to the door. The cold realization sunk in, and without thinking I flung the door open. His body hung by the rafters, the rope tight around his neck. The force of the door flying open made his body sway a little as it hung in the air. I fell to my knees and screamed. Sparrow was there in a moment. He just stood there. Like he knew it was coming. I called my friend Manthy, bawling hysterically. He came down and helped cut the body down with Sparrow. That was that.
I hated my father. I never remembered the good times. Like him teaching me to play guitar. Or him showing me how to ride, or singing by the fire. No, not any of that. I only remembered him being a selfish idiot, and leaving the rest of his family behind to be alone and figure out how to survive. He was selfish and I hated him. I never read the note. I took it and threw it in the fire. Whatever last words he had I didn't want to hear it. He could have stayed and he choose not to because he was a coward.
On that sour note I came upon town. I went to the regular meeting place and caught up with my three friends. I took a seat by Manthy. I always hung out with my three friends I had made in school. Manthy, who was a year older then I was, was kind of a looker. All that work on his land had for sure made him toned, and he was very physically active. He raised cattle and sold them to the higher districts. We had been friends since we were very little. Then there were the twins, even though they looked exactly the same, they were polar opposite. Caff was super smart, and had a job at the school. Where as Natt wasn't the brightest, but was an amazing artist. The only difference was that Natt had long, beautiful golden hair that went to her butt, and Caff had an adorable bob haircut.
We sat like any other day and caught up. It was as if the reaping wasn't even happening. Me and Manthy had a conversation on the book we were reading, A Tale of Two Cities, were the twins argued over what color looked better on them. "You nervous at all, Wren?" Manthy questioned. I picked up a piece of straw and put it in my mouth, rolling it over my back teeth. "Nah, it'll be fine." I said and leaned back, taking in the market place that was unusually empty. My piece of straw moved around as I rolled it to the side of my mouth, the other side hanging lazily out of my mouth. "Yeah." He said and looked down. I cracked a joke to lighten the mood and he laughed. To be honest, I was a little nervous. It was the quell. It's only a big deal. We talked like usual before we had to start making our way to the town square.
"It'll be fine. There's like a billion people in our district." Manthy smiled at me.
"Yeah. We'll be ok."