Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games or it's characters.
Prologue
"Nobody is going to cry for you. What, you think all the 12 districts will start boohooing for the daughter of the head of the peacekeepers?" That was all Mr. Abernathy had to say for Michelle Boswell.
It was soon after she turned ten that everything went wrong. The rebels took over the capital and took action right way against her father. He was given a thirty year sentence and thrown into solitary confinement. Her mother had been killed by the rebels as she tried to stop her husband from being arrested. After that, their mansion got confiscated. Along with all the capital's highest officials and their families, she and her aunt were sent to a camp. There was a lot of instability throughout Panem following the murder of President Coin of District 13. There was a lot of hunger and starvation in the camp in which her aunt eventually died. When Paylor of District 8 became president temporarily she called for the already decided Hunger Games. That was when her life hit rock bottom.
All the 180 sons and daughters (ages 12-18) of famous capital officials were gathered for the Hunger Games. They were to be divided into 12 groups of 15 according to whatever type of work they did during the capital's command. Among those groups were law enforcement, industry, espionage, military defense, and high command. Just like in one of the previous Hunger Games two boys and two girls would be chosen to participate. Each boy and girl would partner up with another chosen participant of the same gender and duel. The remaining 12 chosen participants would head of to the Hunger Games.
Among those chosen for from the law enforcement group was Michelle Boswell. She had just celebrated her 13 birthday when she was taken. Being taken from the camp did not seem that bad, considering she had spent the past six months begging. She really did not have anything to leave behind, unlike many other participants.
Fighting another friend she had previously known to death was much different. The other girl from the law enforcement group, Cynthia Rogers, would duel her for a slot reserved for a girl of the law enforcement group. They had known each other in school from the age of 6, and had been acquaintances. Michelle, having nothing to lose, decided to let Cynthia win easily. For regular participants, giving up without fighting would be posthumously punished. That would be done by the death of every remaining relative reaching up to first cousins. That would work for every participant but Michelle, who had no family left. What saved Michelle from her planned suicide was the sudden death of Cynthia. That was why Michelle was chosen automatically. Now she would have a chance to fight for her right to live.
Most people would have been surprised to know that the daughter of the Head of Panem's Head Peacekeepers was a wimp. All the others chosen were top-notch people who had used to have all the money for a fighting instructor. Also, they had already managed to kill one opponent. Nobody would have considered it a disadvantage for Michelle that she escaped practice in the first stage. People thought she was one of the toughest because, after all, she was the daughter of John Boswell. He had mercy on nobody. He had risen to fame when he killed an extremely famous boxer in a match, even following the game's rules. Subsequent to that event, he became the Head of Panem's Peacekeepers. Also, when his brother tried to launch a campaign against President Snow, Mr. Boswell tracked and killed him with his own hands. To know what the daughter of this notorious man really was came as a surprise.
Michelle was never into violence. Despite the tough father she had, she pretty much spent her early childhood studying in her mansion. Her father often spent days outside the house and her mother would spend the whole day in social events. Two avoxes would take care of her during the day when her parents were gone. They were not always the same ones. In fact, one of them was executed after attacking her in an anger attack. Most sons and daughters of prominent officials would be able to request the death of any avox. It would often be for skin in order to make themselves a new skin cloak or purse. Michelle had never requested the death of any avox, even the one who tried to kill her (who was executed anyway). She understood true humiliation when she was abused by her older brother, a drunken womanizer. That is why she respected avoxes. She never felt the urge to attack anyone.
From time to time the two aunts who cared for her would visit her. They were both sisters of her mother, Francis Boswell. They never had children of their own so they would have a lot of time reserved for their lonely nephew, Michelle. One time they took her to meet the victors of the Hunger Games during the dinner in the capital. She had been horrified by what she had seen of the games as she confided to the victor, Peeta Mellark. She told her aunt she would have also swallowed the poisonous berries rather than kill the other remaining survivor of the Hunger Games.
"Yes. You are a citizen of the capital. You have the right to make that choice.
However, what type of a dirty trash of district twelve dared to do that!"
Michelle did not understand why her aunts thought so lowly of the districts. They were humans just like she was.
"Someday you will understand," was what her aunt would answer.
Nonetheless, she and her aunt agreed on most other things and got along well. The surviving aunt adopted her following the death of her mother and arrest of her father.
Michelle could always remember the time when her siblings were friendlier to her. When she was born she had four siblings, 3 boys and one girl. At first they were glad to have another sibling. Later they became jealous that their parents limited time with them would be divided into smaller portions. She was often beat; especially buy the younger brother of the three. Luckily for her, he died of over drinking when she was eight. Still, the remaining three siblings remained hostile. Her only sister died in a car accident the next year. Her remaining two brothers were drafted by the capital to fight against the rebels of which one was killed and the other was jailed by the rebels. He never requested to see his younger sibling in the short time he was able to survive in prison. Yet he was still alive at the time she was chosen for the Hunger Games and turned down his permission to leave prison in order to say good-bye. Michelle never knew anybody who liked her after her siblings stopped being friendly.
It was not a surprise do to her inactive social life that she did not have an easy time at the crowded camp. The rationed bread she got would often get taken in frequent assaults of which the rebels did not try to prevent. When her aunt died she spent the remaining six months before she was chosen for the games begging. She would be often willing to pay large amounts of money to one roll of bread. At some point in the winter she was willing to give her clothing in exchange for a basket of bread and after that clothing in exchange of hair for pillows. She was dehumanized to the lowest degree a human could ever reach. People thought of her as a survival supply basket not a person. There was no reason to think the notorious children of sadistic capital officials would be friendly to a beggar.