Hey guys! So I'm just trying my hand at this whole writing shindig. Tell me what you think with a review if you so desire! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nuh-thang.
Song for chapter: 9 crimes by: Damien Rice.
I rolled over as the early morning sun beamed through my trashed curtains and onto my face. The small shack I called home creaked and moaned as the light breeze outside shook what very little support it had.
"Get up boy. You'll be late," my father snapped at me through the jarred door as he walked by. A lump formed in my throat. Damnit, why do I have to be so sensitive. It wasn't that i particularly cared how my father treated me, I was aware of the poorly hidden disgust that was there, but on days like today it hurt all that much more.
Swatting furiously at my sleepy eyes I lumbered from my bed to the nearly bare closet and dug to the back until I caught hold of the reaping day clothes; a sea blue long sleeve shirt and white shorts. I thought darkly that this could be the last time I would see this closet, the last time I would feel the cool sea air blow through the holes in these makeshift walls. I gave my head a shake, vowing not to think like that, if anything I had my youth, and that was something worth at least a try at optimism.
A loud knock sounded on the door, and I knew before I answered it that it would be the peacekeepers coming to escort me to the town square.
"Let's go," the peacekeeper commanded. Without so much as a glance in my direction my father and I obeyed silently and followed him out of the house to join the masses of people walking in the dirt roads. Hundreds of children lined the roads like cattle being sent to the slaughterhouse, all blank faced, all dressed to impress in case they were called and brought to the attention of the capital. I felt someone nudge my side as I joined the pack and looked down to see the wide eyes of Annie staring back up at me.
"Hey Annie," I smiled, "where are your parents?" I glanced around realizing she was on her own.
"I told them I wanted to stand with you this year," she shrugged. I smiled slightly, touched by her wanted companionship.
The town square opened up in front of us opened in a flurry of movement as we were ushered into our respected age lines. Peacekeepers pushed us past, ticking off our names as we established who we were. I kept an eye on Annie as she was pulled to the other 12 year olds, and I to my respected 14-year-old age division, making sure she wasn't lost in the bustle of the crowd. As spunky as she might be, her frail body failed in comparison to her personality.
I knocked shoulders through the crowd as I watched her bobbing head sink into the taller statures of her peers, reaching down and grabbing her shoulder as I came behind her.
"Why does it seem like I'm getting shorter every year…" she mumbled, glancing wickedly up at the bodies that dwarfed her. I chuckled.
"You'll grow some day Annie-bear" I crooned, grabbing her cheek and pinching as she let out an angry huff and slapped away my hand.
"You're not funny Odair," she shot back, crossing her arms. The age difference between us matter little, and I barely gave notice to it over the years of our developing friendship. Unlike my school acquaintances Annie didn't ask questions, not about my father, not about my home life, not about my future, she just lived. I envied her for that. She was able to go through each day without worrying about the possible outcomes to her life.
Peacekeepers closed in on the crowd, shushing and threatening as the capitol representee walked cautiously out from the shadows on the makeshift stage that was erected year after year. Her hair was a disconcerting shade of burgundy, swirling in small curls that wrapped around her ears like vines and came together behind her neck in an elaborate knot. Her cheekbones protruded from beneath her flesh like angular knives, tinted in a deep rouge that disallowed for any emotion to be shown. She looked around nervously, unable to shake the hostile looks that she was receiving from the gather crowd.
"Welcome, district 4!" she squeaked into the microphone. The crowd shifted, and then fell silent once more. I glanced down and caught sight of Annie doing a horrendous impression of the capitol speaker, pinching the tops of her cheeks and pulling the skin out to resemble the spikes the woman had had implanted on stage. I stifled a laugh, coughing awkwardly as peacekeeper eyed me from the sidelines. I elbowed her lightly.
"It is my grand honor to announce to you the tributes from district four. Let us start with the females shall we."
Annie tensed beside me, her tiny body taught with the anticipation of what was to come…
"Amalia Hett!" She shouted shrilly. I inwardly sighed, thanking the odds that Annie had been spared on her first year, though it had been no surprise. The sea of children parted directly to my left as a tall girl mere feet from where I stood, began her journey towards the stage. Her eyes were staring ahead of her body as though they weren't perceiving what was happening, a terrified smile plastered on her pale face. This was the moment that stole my breath, that moment when the chosen child realized they were walking to the gallows, to their death, to the place they knew they would never return from. Amalia's broad shoulders rounded on the audience as she stood beside the capitol representative, her long blonde hair noticeably trembling as it sat against her shaking body.
The speaker offered no kind words to the horrified girl beside her, but pleasantly rolled the glass orb of boy's names towards her outstretched hand.
"And our male tribute will be…" she paused and plunged her claw adorned hands into the deadly sea of possibilities, grasping the pour soul who would have to join Amalia in the fight for their lives. The speaker struggled for a few minutes as her long burgundy nails fumbled with the clasp on the paper, rustling against the mic. She read the name first, the glanced out to the audience with a smile.
"Finnick Odair!" she happily said. I glanced around waiting for the children to part once more and let whomever this sad boy was pass through and onto the stage. Annie tugged on my arm. I looked down at her, shocked to find that her orb like eyes were looking back up at my expectedly. Frowning I glanced around and noticed the crowd had turned, their eyes on me…
A firm arm of a peace keeper shoved my lower back forward, and I scrambled to find my footing as I repeated the name in my head… Finnick Odair…. Finnick Odair…
Me.
I felt my mouth tighten into a thin line, my rib cage crushing in and around my lungs as obtaining air became forced and uncomfortable. People shuffled out of my way, as I robotically stepped forward and found the steps to the stage, feeling the unsafe structure wobble beneath my weight. I had thought long and hard about this day, and if I were unlucky to ever have it come into existence. I knew that I lacked the fight, the courage, the heart to do what needed to be done in that arena. I knew that the children who won these games were of a different breed than I was.
I knew I wasn't coming home alive.
The speaker ushered me to where Amalia stood, knowing that my shocked face resembled hers.
"Our tributes from district four!" the announcer yelled as the crowd clapped solemnly like they did every year, sad to see more of the children of the sea sacrificed. Peacekeepers surrounded Amalia and I, forcing us into the open door behind the stage and into a dimly lit hallway that was far too cold for my liking.
"You have twenty minutes" a peacekeeper gruffly told me, as I was ushered into a small room clad with only one chair. I knew what this was, this was the room where I was supposed to answer whomever came to this door and accept their goodbyes.
They would know by now that I wouldn't be coming back alive. A clumsy halfhearted knock resonated in the small space, and I grunted a reply as the door swung open slightly to reveal my already intoxicated father.
"S'good thing they're takin' yuh boy." He started, holding the doorframe for support.
"They'll teach yuh what the real world is about, not that fantasy land yuh call yer life."
I looked at him in rage, grasping the anger that I had so often suppressed as it made it's firey way up my spine.
"get out." I managed through clench teeth, watching in satisfaction as he looked at me in disgust, turned on his heel, and left without another word. I can't say I had expected much more that this. He hadn't been a father to me when I was living, why should he be one to me when I'm dead. Another knocked sounded, and I knew by the way the noise carried it had been made by a delicate set of fingers that could only belong to my best friend.
"Oh Finnick…" Annie gasped as she made her way across the room. She grasped my hand in hers, clenching it with what meager strength she had.
"Finnick… Fin… you have to try. Please. You have to try." She whispered, staring into my eyes with a maturity that wasn't meant for the 12 year old that she was. I swallowed, and found that my mouth was bone dry with fear.
"Annie… You know I can't, you know me. I can't kill those kids!" I said back, realizing too late that the end of my sentence had risen to a shrill cry. A peacekeeper knocked loudly on the door, advising me to keep my voice down. We had all seen the hunger games. As long as we had lived we had been fed the footage of children hacking their peers to pieces in hopes that they themselves would not meet the same fate.
I remembered as a child, watching my father take the sick kitten our household cat had given birth to, cradling it's frail boney body in his hands. The creature wouldn't live, it's claim to life cut short with a disease that had ravaged it's muscles and appetite. My father had known better than me, he had seen the agony the tiny life had been in, and with a stone-faced, had dropped it silently into the sea, not waiting for it resurface. I remember feeling the wet tears roll down my cheeks and tasting the salt of my sadness on my lips. My father had glared at me, barking that I needed to grow up and that if I was ever to be a fisherman I had better wipe those tears away.
I didn't have the heart for the cruelty of life in district four, let alone that arena.
Annie looked at my face sadly. She was at a loss for words, as was I and I knew that the only thing left for us to do was to say goodbye. I stood up slowly, and crouched down so that our shoulders matched in height and I could bring her into a hug. She sniffled quietly into my shoulder, and wiped angrily at her eyes. Never in my life had I seen Annie Cresta cry, and I knew that she wasn't about to let me see it either. When we pulled away the only evidence of her emotions was a betraying shine to the glassy green of her eyes. I gave her a defeated nod, and sat back down in my chair with a silent sigh, watching as her small figure disappeared into the hallway.
I knew no one else would come for me, and in a way I was glad.
This didn't need to be made any harder than it was.
