The Warpath
I vaguely remember my time in school as a young girl. Schooling in District 7 was never much of a priority, most children dropped out of school by the age of eight to join the workers in the forests. But I do remember a teacher asking us once what our biggest fears were. One child in front of me whispered, barely audible, "The reaping."
"As is most of our biggest fears" another said. Many others nodded, the fear tangible in the classroom. But even as a young child, I remember fearing the reaping was never in my mind. When the teacher asked me what my biggest fear was, I responded, "Being overlooked, seen as weak."
I'm not very noticeable, I'm not the prettiest girl of District 7, but I am strong, I guess. I am simple, but significant. The only person that really sees me is Tobias. I don't know if I can be classified as a girl. I've never cared much for clothes and beauty other than trying to keep my wild hair out of my face with a braid. I am thin and small, and other than my face, kind of boyish. But I have long, bleach blonde hair that reaches my mid-back and hazel coloured eyes. I'm not very noticeable, and I do have a tendency to shrink back into the corners of the room, but I am not ignored. Tobias sees everything in me; he's the person who knows me best.
"Paisley," he whispers in my ear, his hands on my cheeks. "Don't you dare put your name in the tresserea. " I pull him in front of me. I can feel his warm breath on mine, and I burrow my fingertips in his hair. Hair so brown it matches the bark of the trees around us.
"I know you're strong, Paisley. But you can't, you just can't." I can feel his emerald-navy mixed eyes on mine.
"Then why will your name be in the reaping thirty-nine times?" I say, my breath catching in my throat. He pulls me into his arms and my head falls onto his shoulder, my eyelashes flutter against his neck.
"I have eight brothers and sisters, in case you've forgotten." Tobias sighs. "And I know your parents have been gone for a long time now, but you and Tara can survive without the tresserea." We sit in silence for a few minutes, mimicking each other's breaths of the cool, pine air. Just his arms around me and the night air on the trees are all I think about. I push my older sister Tara out of my mind, and the upcoming reaping, too and just focus on Tobias' heartbeat on the same rhythms as mine. If I could stay here forever, I would. If I could just stay hidden in the woods of District 7 with Tobias by my side, I wouldn't trade places with an angel.
Suddenly, Tobias slowly inches his face before mine, our noses just an inch apart as he stares me down.
"Promise?" he whispers. I nod slowly.
Reaping day came faster than I imagined, I had pushed the thought far away for so long and now I was forced to face it. I didn't put my name in the reaping more than I had to, which is five times since I'm sixteen, just like I had promised Tobias. But that didn't stop Tara from putting her name in twelve more times. Tara is almost nineteen, this is the last year that she will be eligible for the Hunger Games.
"Might as well put my name in as many times as possible so I can support us." She said. At first, I didn't know what she meant by "us". Our pay checks that we earned monthly from our work in the forests, although small, were enough for our tiny cottage and food. But it didn't take me that long to figure it out. "Us" should be just two- Tara and I- but I know that Tara is pregnant, even if she won't tell me. "Us" means four people – Tara, the baby, her boyfriend now fiancé Dominic, and then me.
I didn't see Tobias the morning of the reaping. But the night before, we met in the woods again, long after the lights of the wooden houses that scattered the forest had gone out. He held me so tight and I knew he was scared. It was the perpetual fear that came along with every reaping in every child, just like I had learned in school when our teacher asked us our fears. The common fear of losing those that we cared for made us value what we had, while we still had it. Tobias' name in that reaping bowl thirty-nine times is not a comfort. And I know that I am on his list of worries, as well, along with his eight younger siblings and his old aging mother. Tobias' father had died in the same forest fire as my parents, making him the head of the family. We both quit school and went to work in the lumber industry together at the age of eight, and that's when we became friends, then at sixteen, something more than that, but I can't put my finger on the right words of what Tobias is to me. Tobias is usually strong and unbreakable, just like me, but I know that he has a lot that can be taken away from him, that's why he held me so close the eve of the reaping.
Our nightly vigil through the woods flashes through my minds as I stand with all the other sixteen year old girls at the reaping in District Seven's town square. Tara stands not so far away from me, and as I watch her file in with all the other eighteen year olds, I say a quick prayer for Dominic. She would be broken if he was gone, just as I if it were Tobias whose name was called. Soon, I see Tobias through the crowd and we exchange a glance. He doesn't even smile, but his eyes show the same frightened look I saw last night, just a flicker of it, before he turns away.
"Welcome, welcome." I hear blasted over the speakers. Some Capitol woman is dolled up in everything green, even her hair. Green for lumber – District Seven's trademark. I swear she looks like a giant piece of broccoli, especially the way her hair sticks our so much in an outrageous puff. I want to laugh, but I find her get-up more revolting than comedic. She goes through the regular procedures of the anthem, reciting the treaty that created the Hunger Games, etc etc.
"Now, for the choosing of our tributes!" she announces excitedly. "As usual, ladies first." She moves over to one of the huge glass bowls at the side of the stage and digs around to the very bottom to pluck out a name. My heart pounds. I can feel it in my stomach, my rib cage, my fingertips. It beats faster and louder until I feel I shall burst. I can't breathe, and I wipe my sweaty hands on the smooth of my hand me down dress.
"Tara Pine!"
"Oh shit." Is all I can think. After that, my mind goes completely blank. Nobody in the crowd moves a muscle, but I soon see Tara slowly making her way to the stage, with a swish of the blonde hair I'd always envied. She mounts the first steps and I think, "That lady might as well have called two names", and this very thought propels me into action.
"I volunteer!" I shout before thinking. And for a moment, hundreds of eyes look toward the sixteen year old section and wonder who has just lost their minds. For a moment, I wonder too until I realize it was me. Another mind controls my body and I step out of my age group and walk calmly up to the stage. I put my hands on Tara's elbows and push her down the stairs, but she's crying and begins to refuse.
"Stop! Tara, stop!" I yell over and over. Before I know it, Dominic shows up behind her and wraps his arms around her mid section, ripping her from my grasp. He looks me in the eye for a moment, tears threatening to spill, then finally says,
"Go up, Paisley." I do as I'm told and the woman in green pushed me in front of the microphone.
"What's your name girl?"
"Paisley Pine." I say in a voice that belongs to someone else. I look to the side and see Tara throwing up into a decorative Capitol pot and Dominic by her side. Mourning sickness. Dominic looks me in the eye again as he's holding my sister's hair. I don't know how long we stared at each other, but the next thing I realize is my world falling apart.
"And our male tribute is… Tobias Elm!"
