Chapter 2

I spend the next half hour pondering over what my deranged mother is talking about. Is she even aware what she means by that? She just called the sadistic capitol smart…well hypothetically.

"Talon, come over here." My mom whispers.

"Why you whispering, Ma? This is our house."

"Cause, ok, I'm not supposed to tell you this but," she gestures me to come in closer and finishes once her mouth is practically in my ear, "I signed you up for tesserae."

"You did what!?! Mom, I don't even need tesserae, we're getting along just fine!"

"Yes, because of the tesserae, I thought you were smart enough to know that."

"W-well, h-how many ent-entries do I have?"

"Hmm--," she calls out to my father, "How many entries how she have?"

I'm right here and my mother calls me by "she". Pathetic, right?

"No clue, but really, who cares?"

"I do you dumbass!" I call out to my father who is sitting on the floor.

"Talon, that is no way to talk to your father, now go be useful."

Without another word I "go be useful", which my mother uses to get me out of her skin.

I dress into a baggy t-shirt and a pair of thin tracks and slam the door behind me when I leave. The crisp morning air stings my eyes so I'm forced to stop and rub them. I keep walking until I've ended up in the Seam of my district. It's absolutely horrible looking here. The poorly made houses could topple over at any time, some scraggly old men and women beg at my feet for money, which I easily wisp away. Some look dead under piles of garbage, some play cards and bet all their miniscule savings, but they should always keep a little bit of money for the Reapings. It's disgusting these horrible creatures; they have no care in the world and bet on the children to get picked in the district.

"You people are all vultures! Waiting on the deaths of us children and winning and loosing large amounts of money once we die. You should all be ashamed!" I speed away from that certain alley before a commotion starts.

~*~

"Some people are said to have black magic. But, it only happens in the Seam. If they're poor, they can bet on a child to get picked for the games so they could win the money."

"Could they also pick the fate of the person?"

"I don't know, it all depends on who they betted for, you know what I mean, right?"

"Yeah, I just hope—that they don't bet on me…"

~*~

"TALON!"

I spin around to set eyes on the speaker. "-CLAYTEN!" He opens his arms wide and I happily jump into them.

"Mum tells you to piss off again, sweetie?"

"Not piss off," I mock my mother, "To go be useful."

"Because that's all the better, right?"

I roll my eyes and kiss him on the cheek. "I've missed you so much, how was the trip?"

"It was amazing!" he fumbles around in his jacket pocket and holds out a mini silver bird statue, "I got this for you, the Capitol was just giving them away, and it reminded me of you."

I take the silver bird from his hands and embrace him in another tight hug. "How were the Capitol people? I heard they have strange accents and look Un-like any human."

"Well sure, most of them are a little strange, but some of the younger ones are peachy keen, just like you, Talon. I am so thankful it was only a one month trip, I don't think I could've stood another minute of the Capitol haughtiness."

"Well, whatever the matter, I'm just so happy your back. I felt so alone without you, even Falton couldn't comfort me." My mouth goes dry and I lick my lips; whatever I do when something is on my mind.

"Uh-oh, something's bugging you isn't it?"

"Yeah, well, last night I had a dream, that t-th-that you got k-killed in the Capitol."

He takes the silver bird from my hand and strokes my brown hair. He freezes without talking and runs from me; he's playing with me again.

"GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE CLAYTEN!" I yell to him from about fifty meters away.

"You're gonna have to catch me!!" he replies back, waving the silver bird above his head.

I run towards him and stop within an arms reach from him, "Give me my bird, NOW!!!"

"Talon, tell me, what's the magic word?" he taunts.

"NOW!"

"Has Mum driven you to her crazy world too? Last time I was here, the magic word was please." Clayton holds the bird for me to grab, then puts it above his head again.

"Give it, or else!" I threaten teasingly.

I jump up and thrash my arms at him but I'm too short to reach the bird 6'6 above his head. "Oh, c'mon, Talon, I can't believe your so short!"

"Three consecutive years, dude."

This little game lasts for about five minutes until I, either get tired or he gets bored.

"So I hear the Reaping's next week?" he says gradually returning the bird back to me.

"Yep, Falton's all exited for it, his first reaping, he want to be picked ya know?"

"Wow, I think your friend has been hanging out with Mom too much."

"I know, he wants to be the youngest victor in the games. But I'm not going to let him volunteer, that'll make him seem desperate."

~*~

A/N: Thank you for reading this so far! I'd like to shout out to the people who reviewed my story so far; 3ta, brianne135531, xxx-Fran-Cullen-Melark-xx-97 and DailyChocolateMilk

BTW, if any of you are reading The 59th Hunger Games, I won't be updating that for a while, sorry for the inconvenience.