It's finally here! Thanks to all of you who submitted a tribute to me, and here's the District 1 Reaping!
Musical Endeavors: The 23rd Hunger Games
by SassySunshine
District 1 Reaping
Amanda Faith
Ugh.
It's Reaping Day. I hate today. Today is the day that the terrors the Hunger Games have to bring begin. I groan and yank my sheets off of my bed and head downstairs, with my unkempt and unwashed hair dangling in my face. My mother isn't here; of course she isn't. She's probably out, getting drunk already and leaving me to my own devices. It's been like this, ever since my father left seven years ago, when I was just eleven.
He was a Peacekeeper in our district, and one night somebody came up from behind and attacked him. In the name of self-defense, he shot the guy. And do you know what happened? The guy died. My father only meant to injure him enough so he could get away. But no. The guy my father shot died. My father was in shock, and he went home back to my mother and I. My mom was already asleep, knowing he'd be home shortly. I was busy watching reruns of some of my favorite shows when he came in through the door. Before I could say anything, he broke down crying. I knew something was wrong. And he spilled to me. He made me promise not to tell mom, and I did, because he said he would at some point.
Well, some point never came.
He upped and left the next day.
My mother never found out, because back then I was a prim and proper good girl who would keep any promise she made. So my mother turned to drinking. Drinking. She left me high and dry. She still was still a trainer down at the training center, but she never really paid me much mind. So I quit the training center at thirteen and I set up practice dummies out in the woods.
Then I realized that was stupid, too.
On the way down to the woods, there would always be this girl with the same name as me. Amanda. She was poor, and for being in District 1, that's unusual. She was downright broke, always messy and on her knees begging for food or money. I'd turned my back on people since my first reaping. She should've known that, since she was there every year. Every time I saw her, I punched her. And I told her off. And since we shared a name, I began to tell everyone to call me by my last name, Faith. That's something the old Amanda Faith would regret. But no, new "Faith No-Last-Name" doesn't care now. One day she got fed up with me, took my knife, and she cut me from my forehead to the end of my chin, right down the middle of my face, and stuck that knife into my stomach, and she left me there to die.
But I didn't die. She thought I did. So now, I have a scar running all the way down my face.
And during all this, I only had one friend.
Jacob.
I don't know why he was even friends with me. Maybe he liked me. Maybe he pitied me. I don't know. But the last time I talked to him was three months before the incident. One month later, I came looking for him, but he was gone, I was told. His family packed up and moved out of the district. So I was rendered friendless and without a real family.
And now as I sit here, I still don't feel too much regret, but the anger is still there.
Now I'm eighteen. It's the last year I'm eligible for the reaping. After that, I can no longer prove to anyone I'm anything more than scum from the darkest corners of our district. I'm not scum. I'm a shell of a person. I'm a shell of a person and I just darn well show it, unlike some people. I recall a boy who was just like me from our district a few years ago. Nobody liked him, just like nobody likes me. So, he committed suicide. People must think I'm just about ready for suicide, too. But I'm not. Unless you consider volunteering for the Hunger Games suicide.
That's right. I'm volunteering. It's normally common in our district, because of all of our illegal training. But let's face it: Panem is making stupid things illegal, and people are just trying to show them that. You never know when you'll need survival skills.
The way I see it, if you put twenty-four teens with major skills into a battle for the death, well, the ratings would be through the roof. But you're taking people, like kids from District 6 who have no survival skills or skills with weapons, and pitting them against kids like those with the most training, like us, District 2, and District 4. The Games are for entertainment, and the twisted citizens like blood. If you want a bloody battle, give all of the tributes a fighting chance. Fights will be longer, more entertaining, and bloodier.
I don't get why they don't see that.
I look down at my watch right now and see that it's nearly time for the reapings. I sigh irritably and tug off my pajamas. I grab the first thing I see in my room to wear: ripped dark blue jeans and a blue-and-white plaid button-down shirt. I pull on a pair of beat-up sneakers and make my way down to the Reaping area outside of the Justice Building. I check in, and then I make my way to the eighteen-year-old section for the girls. As soon as my presence is sensed by the others, I can hear them whispering about how I am scum to them, nothing to them, a violent girl who should be in juvie instead of out here. I ignore them. They all want me to die.
I'll volunteer.
They'll be shocked.
I'll win.
They'll be even more shocked.
I want to impress my mom, show her I'm more than just the girl she left all on her own at the young age of eleven years old. I want to prove to my father, wherever he is, that I'm doing just fine. Maybe he'll finally come home, if he isn't dead. I still wonder where he is, after all of those years of being alone. I can be someone in life.
"Greetings, District 1, and Happy Hunger Games! May the odds be ever in your favor!" a voice booms. Everyone looks up to see our Capitol escort, Aelianus, walk onto the stage. He speaks about how the Games are great and it will be such an honor for whoever gets reaped to be in them. That's how it is in Districts 1, 2, and 4 as far as I know. In the other districts, though, I'm almost positive that they're the sane ones, regarding it as a death sentence. Aelianus goes on about the tributes, and then announces that he will be picking the female tribute.
"Kassandra Lunz!" he calls. Kassandra. I know her. She's only twelve, she hates these Games. She's a sane little girl. She knows what she's talking about. It would be a shame for her to go into these Games. Even coming from our district, trained, she knows she doesn't want to do this.
"I volunteer as tribute!" I yell loudly, across the whole square. Aelianus smiles at me as I rush onto the stage, and Kassandra smiles at me. It's the first time in a long time that someone's given me a smile. Not since I was eleven, I believe.
"Darling, what's your name? Aelianus asks me.
"Faith. Just Faith," I reply. I don't want my name out there. I know that somewhere else in Panem, the other Amanda will see me. See what she has done to me. Aelianus smiles and says how I should be happy I volunteered, and I smile like this is all part of a good plan I've come up with, like I'm a normal Career. Guess what, Careers? You'll all be dead in your sleep if you're all the kind of whack-jobs they want you to be. Aelianus moves on to announce the boy tribute.
"Holden Sarutobi!"
I look into the crowd. There is shuffling among a group of seventeens before a black-haired boy steps forward reluctantly. I can see in his eyes that like Kassandra and me, he's suffering too. This is not a normal year for District 1.
"I volunteer!"
A boy looking similar to Holden pushes him back and runs onto the stage before anyone could say anything.
"What's your name, young man?" Aelianus asks.
"Heathcliffe Sarutobi."
Brothers.
Not just brothers. They look the same, but not exactly.
Fraternal twins.
"I give you, the tributes of District One!" Aelianus shouts. Heathcliffe and I shake hands. Like his brother, he's sane. Like I said, this is not a typical year for District 1.
Heathcliffe Sarutobi
Today is not a good day.
Not good at all.
It's Reaping day, and the loony-heads in District 1 are excited. Except for a select few of us, of course. Like me. And Holden, my fraternal twin brother. And Aki Chung-Feng, my girlfriend. We hate the Hunger Games. They're sick, twisted, and vile. But people like my parents, so wealthy that they decided to go live off in the Capitol, and my older brother, Soren. Soren's never been in the Games. He didn't get the chance to volunteer last year. But he's been pressing Holden, Aki, and me to volunteer first chance we get. Numerous times Aki, normally calm and collected, felt like punching a hole through his head.
He should have gone to live with our parents.
"Heathcliffe," a voice calls. I lazily open one eye to see Holden standing there, arms crossed.
"Get up, Heath," he says.
"I don't want to!" I reply, throwing the covers over my head. I hear Holden tsk, and then there is movement of some sort, because I hear noise like Holden quickly constructing something. And then I feel a tug on my arm, and I roll down, off of the top bunk of my bed. I expect to hit the wood floor, but instead I find my back connecting with a mattress, covered in pillows for double the protection. Holden smirks at me while I attempt to keep a glare at him. But I end up breaking out into a grin anyway.
"Breakfast's on the table. Aki came over," Holden says. He walks over to his room to get changed while I go on downstairs to see Aki sitting down at the breakfast table, eating pancakes. I sneak up behind her and wrap my arms around her. I feel her calm a bit as she tilts her head back to look me in the eyes.
"Hey," she whispers.
"Hey," I respond.
"It's Reaping day you know. Please, Heath. No matter what Soren says, you aren't volunteering this year," Aki says.
"I won't," I say to her, kissing her forehead and sitting down in a seat next to her.
"You need to promise me you aren't going to volunteer this year, Heath," Aki presses.
"I promise," I say, and with that I take a bite of my pancakes. The rest of breakfast is eaten in silence, and Aki and I go upstairs to get ready for the reaping. I settle for a black, long-sleeved, collared shirt, red jeans, two silver studded wristbands, and black converse sneakers. I spike up my hair just the slightest and head back downstairs where Holden waits. He's wearing nearly the same thing, except his outfit is blue and black, and not black and red.
"We need to talk about outfits before we get dressed. This is the third reaping in a row that we're dressed the same," Holden says. I nod just as Aki comes down the stairs. She wears a purple button-down short-sleeved shirt, a black skirt that stops at her knees, and black heels. We all look at each other and nod before heading out the door. I remember then about waking Soren up, but I decide to let him sleep. The three of us walk to the roped-off Reaping area outside of the Justice building and check in. I kiss Aki one more time before she heads off to her section with other sixteen-year-old girls and Holden and I head out to a group of seventeen-year-old boys.
I don't have too many friends, especially because these boys are all excited to go into the Hunger Games. I still don't understand how they enjoy these things. Our district, along with 2 and 4, are known as Career districts, because we all train illegally for the Games and are supposed to be excited about this sort of thing. In the rest of the districts, though, nobody really trains for this, and they all see it as a death sentence when they go into the Games.
I just don't get it.
"Greetings, District 1, and Happy Hunger Games! May the odds be ever in your favor!" That's Aelianus, our district's Capitol escort. He'll commence the reaping and send two of us to our deaths. I suppose getting reaped or volunteering successfully is having the odds in your favor to most people, but the way I see it, staying out of the Games is more of the odds being in your favor.
Aelianus announces that he's about to pick the female tribute, and I really hope that he doesn't call Aki's name. And he doesn't.
"Kassandra Lunz!"
I look to see movement in a group of twelves. No, that's not fair. They're sending a twelve-year-old girl, who I know is opposed to the Capitol's ways, into the Hunger Games. Kassandra looks shocked and takes shaky steps up to the stage. But before Aelianus has the chance to begin reaping boys, thus closing the window for volunteers, a yell ripples across the crowd.
"I volunteer as tribute!" An unkempt, messy girl races onto the stage. Aelianus gives her an approving smile, and I see Kassandra smile as well. The messy girl is someone I'm unfamiliar with. I've only heard stories of her, and there are conflicting ones about how she got the scar running down her face.
"Darling, what's your name?" Aelianus asks.
"Faith. Just Faith," the girl says. Whatever happened to having a last name? Aelianus raises an eyebrow but says nothing. Instead, he makes a short speak about being honored to have such an eager volunteer, and I notice she's giving him a smile and nodding. More than that, I can tell it's all fake from where I stand. I shake my head as Aelianus makes his way over to the boys' reaping bowl. He draws the slip and holds it in the air before reading the name on it.
"Holden Sarutobi!"
Somebody may as well have just shot me. Holden's going into the Games? No! Holden can't go into the Games. I won't allow it. But my promise to Aki earlier resurfaces. Then again, though, some promises are meant to be broken, and this is one of them.
"I volunteer!" I cry, lunging forward and shoving Holden back. I make a mad dash toward the stage until I am up there, next to Aelianus.
"What's your name, young man?" Aelianus asks.
"Heathcliffe Sarutobi," I reply. I look over at Faith, and the shock is beginning to register on her face as she makes the connection between Holden and I. I tear my eyes away from her and look out into the crowd, locking gazes with Aki. She looks zoned, too deep in shock. She's ready to cry, I just know it.
"I give you, the tributes of District One!" Aelianus shouts. Faith and I shake hands, and I know that this is not going to be a very typical year for District 1, minus the volunteers. I don't want to be here, and she isn't looking to happy about it either. This year is going to be very interesting.
And there you have it, the District 1 reaping!