Caesardeen

Chapter 9-Meet the family

I walk onto the front porch of the Everdeens' small (rather ominous) house, when suddenly I find myself unable to move any further. "Caesar? What's wrong? Are you ok?" Emily questions, a small frown line appearing on her forehead.

"I-I don't know if I can do this! Everybody here hates me!" I reply with an annoying stutter. "I'm from the CAPITOL. I interview children who are sentenced to DEATH. For a LIVING. I can't do this!"

I start to turn away, my eyes full of tears when Emily grabs my arm. "Caesar, they don't hate you! They just hate the way President Snow treats us! I'm sure that as soon as they get to know the real you, they'll love you!" As I bow my head, a tear falls down my cheek. A small delicate hand tips my head up and I immediately see the mystic blue waterfalls in her eyes. "Trust me, please. They'll fall in love with you. Just like I did." I cup her cheek with my hand and let myself drown in her eyes. "Please Caesar, please, trust me," she whispers, wiping the tears off my face.

"Always," I reply with a smile," But how do I make them like me? I'm not too good at making friends. Even my parents didn't want me."

"Caesar? I don't understand."

"Em, listen closely. I am going to tell you something that I have nevertold anyone. Nobody knows about this. Not even Snow. You have got to promise me that you will keep it a secret."

"Of course Caesar. I won't tell a soul."

"Good. Because I am about to tell you about how I left District 12."

It all started 30 years ago. I was but 10 years of age. My mother Aphrodite and I were living in a small hut near the border of the district, surrounded by dark alleys and malevolent gangs. My father had snuck on the train to the capitol to be with the escort from 1, leaving us with no money, no support and a baby due within 6 weeks. My mother's boyfriend, Emmett, was paying the rent and getting food. He was a hunter and snuck out every night to get game. At first glance, everything appeared to be fine. But I was worried about my mother. She was constantly yelling at everything, even when nothing was there. Everybody thought she was insane. Everybody but me. I knew what she saw. I knew about the ghosts that would haunt her during the day. I knew about the nightmares that plagued her mind. She wasn't just yelling at nothing. She was yelling at the people who threatened her and her baby. How did I know? I saw them too. Ghosts of tributes and their parents, continually screeching about death and pain. But never my death. No. They only said one thing about me. One little statement. One little lie. They whispered this lie to my mother and to me. Furiously poisoning her mind, persuading her that I was a demon, that I was Satan's malicious kin.

One day I came home from school and heard the distorted scream of impeccable agony that mother let loose. I had no idea what was happening, so I followed my instinct and ran for a healer. By the time we got back, my mother was crying in pain. The healer examined mother and sent me out of the hut.

I sat outside the hut for 8 hours, weeping and wailing whilst my mother's crying went on and on and on. Finally, the healer opened the door and told me to go inside. "Your mother has had a baby," she told me, "why don't you go in and see?" So I went into my mother's bedroom and lying in her arms was a small bundle coddled in white cloth. "Caesar? This is your little sister, Euphemia.

As I hesitantly walked towards my smiling mother, her eyes clouded over. They had come. I saw them whisper something into mother's ear. Suddenly she turned her head and stared directly into my eyes. Oh no. A smile slowly crept across the ghost's eroded face. My mother, clinging to her new born, started to scream.

"You have only brought bad luck to this family! It was because of you that your father left! He was SICK of your CHILDISH BEHAVIOR! HE LEFT ME BECAUSE OF YOU! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO HELP ME! I am SICK of you! GET OUT!" she yelled at me, as the spirits laughed at the scene. "But, mamma-" I whimpered, tears streaming down my face. "NO!" she interrupted," LEAVE US ALONE! YOU WILL NOT HURT MY BABY! YOU WILL NOT RUIN THIS FOR HER! SHE IS AN INNOCENT CHILD! YOU WILLNOT BRING HER DOWN WITH YOU!"

She stood up, laid Euphemia on the bed and shoved me out of the door. "GET OUT!" she screamed. She slammed the door in my face, and left me, own my own, at 10 years old, to live in the streets.

A tear rolled down Emily's face as she gasped in horror. "I hid in the streets for 2 years, hunting game and trading it for food. Nobody knew I was there, so I didn't get put into the hunger games at all. When I finally managed to sneak onto the train to go to the Capitol, I found my dad. I lived with him and his girlfriend for 5 years until one day I was invited to a meeting with President Snow, where he asked me to be his show host. I immediately said yes. And I've been there ever since." I finish, wiping the tears away.

"Oh Caesar! I'm so sorry!" Emily whispers, with a look of sorrow and disbelief displayed across her face. "

"I haven't seen hide nor hair of my mother since she kicked me out. I heard she married Emmett, moved to the Capitol and had another daughter. But where she is now, I've no idea."

"Caesar, why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Because Emily, if I did, then I'd have to risk everyone finding out. I'd have to risk Snow finding out. And if he does, then he can use it against me. He can make me as vulnerable as I was 30 years ago. And I can't risk that."

"So why did you tell me?"

"Because. I love you. I know you wouldn't hurt me like that." I reply grasping her hand as her face lights up in a way I've never seen before. A smile spreads across her thin face. She leans in for a kiss and whispers, "I love you too."

I pull away from the kiss and realise we are still standing outside the door. "We'd better get inside if you want to have dinner," I smile as Emily blushes and gets a hold of my hand. "Okay," she says, as she slowly opens the door and I walk into my old house…