District 10 Reaping:

Trigger Warning: Contains scenes of abuse for Buck

Buck Adler, 15,

District 10 Male:

The sun beamed through the slight crack in Buck's window to his bedroom. The sun shined in his eyes as he woke up, glum for the day to come. Today was The Reaping - the day where two innocent souls would be put to a death sentence - in District 10 at least. Buck gave a slight yawn and woke up from his hard mattress with no blanket to cover him.

His father - who he preferred to call Thomas, his real name - had absolutely no care for him and abused him on the daily, whipping him with his belt and smashing him against walls, just because he was the one who pushed his mother over the edge and killed her when he was born. It was all terrible, his life, his father, his friends - who were non-existent, everything seemed horrible. The only person that kept him motivated to live was Doe, his empathetic twin sister who was 9 minutes before him and was treated with tons of empathy and respect from Thomas.

Doe wasn't like most girls, though. She had a rare disorder that made her metabolism extremely high and she had to eat at least twice a day, or she could die of starvation in under two days. Doe also wasn't like most girls in the empathy department. Doe knew how much Buck went through - the constant abuse, the lack of meals, the time he had to spend on the fields - he was always exhausted and miserable and Doe understood.

Buck forced himself out of bed, and made his way down the wooden steps that led to the kitchen where he saw Doe eating a bowl of cereal. She sipped a bit of her milk and chomped on a few pieces before noticing Buck and smiling.

"Hi Buck," she would say, with her kind and delicate voice. Buck smiled back at her and waved.

"Hi, did y-" He was interrupted by his father.

"Stop chit-chatting and go work on the field or else..." Buck gave a short sigh. Buck didn't want him to finish the 'or else...' so he reluctantly made his way outside, in the hot, beaming sun and started his work on the field. He decided to milk the cows first, milking the milk into the midnight gray bucket below the cow's utters. He set the unpasteurized milk aside and decided to work on feeding the pigs next.

Buck grabbed the slop known as pig 'food' and dumped it into the food container. The 'food' was the leftovers he, Doe, and Thomas - well, mostly Doe and Thomas - ate. There were a few banana peels, bits of chicken breast, and some random types of oils.

The pigs gathered to the food and chomped down on it like it was a delicacy. He sighed and continued on with his job of pasteurizing the milk in a small room that was specially designed to have no top so Buck would never get any shade to rest under. He pasteurized the milk to his best ability, doing all the steps needed, and finally entered the house, two hours early, as he had nothing to do.

Buck stepped up the creaky wooden steps to the front door and entered, smiling as he did so. There he saw Doe, standing in her pretty pink floral dress covered with roses and tulips. It had the touch of a simple gown, but a hint of a complicated dress.

"Thank goodness you finished working out there, you might want to grab some water and take a shower, The Reaping's in two hours." Doe gave her sympathetic smile and he sighed.

"Like Thomas's going to let me do that..." Buck said, as he sat down on a stool leaning on the kitchen island.

"He's not here, just wash up, your face is bright red and you look exhausted." Buck looked around the room for any sign of his 'father.' He saw only Doe in her floral gown and only heard the sound of his own breathing, so he decided that he was safe.

Just as Buck was filling his plastic see-through cup of water, though, Thomas walked up the stairs, and saw Buck, taking a drink of cold, ice water. Buck could only freeze as his father walked closer to him, giving an irate face.

"Drinking water, huh? What a privilege you deserve, murderer." Buck backed away, trying to avoid what ever abuse would come next, but it was too late. Thomas grabbed him by his shirt collar and continued talking, giving a fake smile as he did so.

"You think that's funny, huh?" Doe was frozen in fear for Buck as Thomas dropped him over the kitchen counter, making him hit his head against the countertop and collapse.

"Your lucky I didn't use the belt..." Thomas said, giving an evil smirk. The second he walked away, Doe ran over to Buck and comforted him.

"Oh my goodness! Are you okay?" she said, her voice sounding unclear as colors mixed and there seemed to be a clone of her, saying the same words over and over. Voices repeated in his mind and he felt delusional. His vision slowly cleared up and he saw one Doe, not two, trying to help him up, but struggling to lift him.

Buck pulled himself together and stood up himself feeling dizzy and tired, and he leaned against the countertop to keep his balance.

"You okay?" Doe asked, giving a comforting look. She put her hand on his shoulder and gave a frown, signaling how much of an evil person Thomas is. Just then, Thomas walked down the birch-wood staircase and smiled.

"I see he's hurt, good. Work on the field for another hour, you murderer." Thomas gave an evil grin as Buck scratched his head and Doe gave a frown.

"But dad..." Doe whined. Doe eagerly wanted to say 'Thomas,' but she knew she would be in a load of trouble if she had said that.

"Princess, he has to do what he deserves. No go out there you scum!" Doe frowned again as she faced Buck, who gave a saddened sigh and made his way to the door, down the staircase, and went to the field, where he would miserably work for another hour.

Doe Adler, 15,

District 10 Female:

1 Hour Later...

Doe walked down the small, narrow road in her bright pink floral gown that had various flowers scattered all over it. She looked over at Buck, who looked glum and tired, bright red and sweating frantically.

He stood by her side, and she held his hand, keeping him cool for the walk to come. The sun beat down on the both of them, but Buck was by far more heavily affected, and she knew she had to do something.

Doe gave a smile, but Buck didn't exchange one in the slightest bit. He was in a sure-fire bad mood and nothing could change it. He could only complain about the heat and how warm he was.

"I feel like I'm in the core of the earth..." Buck said, looking down to the ground, wiping sweat off of his forehead. "Burning alive in molten rock..."

"I know, I get you..." Doe didn't get him, though, but wanted to comfort him as much as possible. He had been abused for drinking water so she couldn't imagine what other pains he had gone through for doing far worse and she knew he needed comforting.

"Okay, whatever, I just feel like I'm on fire, today's...today's just so hot..." Doe looked back at him, only noticing something else as she glanced at him. Buck was wearing a heavy-duty sweater with a jacket over it which was keeping him extra warm - something he didn't need at the moment.

"Buck, why are you wearing a sweater?" Doe asked, examining the thick wool material and scratchy fibers on the fabric of the jacket.

"T-Thomas forced me to..." Buck stuttered, this time looking up at Doe's confused face.

"Makes sense..." Doe wished she didn't have to say that, but it was true. Thomas would to anything to humiliate, hurt, or abuse Buck, such as what he did right now. It was a shallow form of abuse, but it was still awful to do that to an innocent 15 year old boy.

"Do you think we'll get reaped?" Buck asked. Doe shook her head, knowing the chances that let alone one - but both of them getting reaped were extremely slim.

"Okay Buck, we're at The Reapings."

"More like pre-child slaughter..." Buck added.

The town square was filled with scared, dreadful parents, hoping their child isn't the one to be reaped and given a death sentence this year. Doe and Buck walked into a sectioned off area labelled "Line for Identification" and entered there, both eager to be released from The Reaping once the dread and fear of getting reaped was over.

This year, they would try to hide out watching the Hunger Games, not watching one bit of it. The tribute from their district would hopefully be a well-prepared one, knowing the basic rules of survival and having some sort of skills in weaponry.

"Next!" the man with the blood-drawer machine yelled - most-likely eager to be done with the day. Doe stepped up, sighed, and held out her finger, and the machine pierced her finger, leaving two drops of blood on her soft, delicate finger.

She said nothing as the man flipped through the various pages, not having to go to far before finding "Adler, Doe" and commanding Doe to put her finger on the rough piece of paper that had Doe's name on it in bold print.

She placed the blood on the piece of paper, drying up in seconds, and called the next person up, which was Buck.

She assumed Buck did the same thing as her, and she stepped into the girl's section and filed in to the section where a sign read "15" and walked through. She chose an empty spot next to two girls that looked the complete opposite of each other.

Doe looked fairly similar to the girl to her right. The girl had her same chocolate brown eyes and long, dark brown hair, and she was only a little heavier than Doe, being slightly underweight. The girl to Doe's left, though, was a completely different story. The girl had light, blond hair that was short and was over 5'8, towering over Doe and the girl next to her.

The line for the identification had completely cleared up and The Reaping's had begun. She tried to spot Buck, probably somewhere across from her, but she couldn't tell. All she knew was that she couldn't comfort poor Buck for the dreaded fifteen minutes of standing in the tiring sun.

Shea Soppe, the escort for District 10, walked out of the Justice Building and gave a swift applause to try to cheer the mood of the glum District 10, but it didn't work. All that worked was that her outfit of all orange was completely ridiculous. She looked like she was dressed up as a pumpkin, but she doubted that was her goal. Shea cleared her throat and began speaking.

"It is such an honor to be here in District 10!" She said with her posh Capitol accent. It most-likely wasn't an honor, though, as District 10 is one of the lowest districts an escort can be in, but she said it - most likely - for the reality television The Hunger Games is.

"Without further ado, let's begin..." She gave a flashing smile and arched her hands outwards in an oddly proper way. "As always, ladies first..."

She walked over to the bowl filled with the girl's names, her bright orange high-heels making loud thumps! every time she took a step. She waved her hand in the bowl, hovering over the mountain of names and selected one at the very bottom. She very elegantly walked back over to the microphone, unfolded the envelope that it was in, and read the name.

Everyone held their breath as the name was announced.

"Doe Adler!"

Doe had a false moment of relief that it wasn't her, but then quickly realized, out of all the names, people, slips - that she was the chosen tribute. Doe was in utter shock when she realized this, her heart skipping definitely over one beat, maybe three, and she was frozen in time. Frozen in her breathing, frozen in thinking, frozen in her life.

"C'mon now, don't be shy!" Doe stood in silence, and she uncontrollably fell to her knees and started to cry as the moment started to sink in. She would be dead within days and Buck, poor Buck would have to be left alone, Thomas blaming him for the fate of herself, being abused daily.

Buck Adler, 15,

District 10 Male:

Buck's mind was racing with questions. What would happen to Doe? Would she survive the games? Should he volunteer to comfort her in the games? All the questions came to him fast, but he had first instinct which was what he always did: hug Doe.

Buck raced through the crowd of 15 year old boys, pushing them out of the way, some falling over and some crashing into each other, frantically racing to get to Doe.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he reached Doe, who was frantically crying, and hugged her. He thought it would help, but instead, it made her cry even more, tears streaming down her face like a waterfall, and a small tear fell down his face as well.

After only a mere 15 seconds of hugging, Doe was carried away by peacekeepers in tears, her crying with fear, not knowing what to expect. Buck had already made up his mind. He would volunteer for who ever was reaped as Doe's district partner, keeping her company and safety throughout the games.

"You have anything to say, darling?" Shea asked. All Doe did was cry and shook her head, meaning an obvious 'no.'

"Well then, time for our male tribute!"

Before Shea even could unfold the envelope, Buck knew what to do. He screamed two lone words that could potentially save his sister in the games, but would seal his fate in his.

"I volunteer!"

Hey! Thank you for reading! A big thank you to "curiousclove" for submitting both Doe and Buck! They are really cool characters and I can't wait to see how they develop in the games! Next reaping will be district 11. If your going to send, please do it quick as the spots are filling up! I'll see you guys soon!

Open Districts are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12 for both genders.

Until next time, it's RVTWriter :)