Onto the next District, then! Welcome to Twelve, everybody :) Thanks to KnockingBells for our boy Eris Ira and to our little infinity for our girl Kyra Montgomery!
DISTRICT TWELVE MALE: ERIS IRA
It's the rain that wakes me up. I struggle to consciousness as the pounding rhythm beats against the dirty window. The clouds are dark gray, the color of the eyes of Seam dwellers. The exact same shade as my father's eyes. But my father isn't stormy, not at all.
Even if it's raining hard, the water will make the flowers grow and maybe even turn the grass green again. It's been so dry this summer that the rain will wash the district clean. After the rain stops, everything will be fresh. And everyone will be happy and laughing.
Except, they won't. The reaping is today, and two teenagers are going to be chosen to go to the Hunger Games. So far, they've all died. Every last one of them, even Luis and Sara from last year. Luis made it all the way to the top three. I think District Twelve is due for a victor. We need some hope. The people here are too sad all the time, and it seems like only a select few see the good in people.
Even we haven't found the good in the Hunger Games yet. There has to be something, right? If they were totally evil the Capitol wouldn't have come up with them. Right?
I toss the bedclothes away from my legs and sit up. "Whoa!" I yelp, seeing my younger sister Ode standing right beside my bed.
"Eris!" she cries, "Finally!" I fall back on the worn, lumpy mattress, breathing hard with shock. That kid is so quiet she sneaks up on me without giving me the faintest alert! At last I calm down and stand up. "Will you play with me?" she pleads, clasping her hands together. I sigh and roll my eyes. However much I'm embarrassed playing princess or make-believe- same thing, really, we may not be starving but we're not rich- Ode is my sister and you don't take family for granted.
I follow her to her room and flop down on the floor, reluctantly awaiting the inevitable castles, fairies, and magic that will wash me away in a little-sister deluge. However, I suddenly have a face full of Ode's brown hair and I can feel her eyelashes tickling my cheek. "It's Reaping Day," she reminds me, "It's scary."
"Aw, Ode, don't worry. You're too little to be chosen."
"But you're not!" she wails, "You're thirteen! You might get chosen!" I gently push her away from me.
"Look, Ode, I'll be fine. The odds are in my favor. I'm only thirteen, after all, and I haven't had to take much tesserae. My name's in there what, five or six times?" I grin. I mean, two kids will have to go anyway, but one of them… one of them could win. And Twelve would have a victor at last.
But at least one will die…
I focus on Ode as she pulls out her make-believe equipment. Bits of sparkly cloth, a wooden 'magic wand', a wilted dandelion crown. "So what are we playing today, Ode?" I ask.
My sister turns to me with an impish grin. "You decide!"
"Dragons and knights!" I'm ecstatic. I've never gotten to choose the game before.
"And princesses!" There's the catch. Whatever I suggest… and princesses. I shrug and agree, just happy that I got a little bit of choice in the decision. Ode slips into a raggedy old pink tutu that was our mom's before the Dark Days. "You wear this!" she gives me a wooden bowl to put on my head.
"The knight's helmet?" She nods, proud of her thinking. I set the upturned bowl over my short dark hair and snatch up the 'magic wand'. A sword, perhaps, against the dragon?
Ode doesn't see my logic. "What are you doing?" she screeches, "That's a magic wand! You're a knight!" She's so particular about her props.
"What if I'm a magic knight?"
She considers it for a moment. "I guess. Knights can be magic. You can beat the dragon easier." She drags a rickety old chair to the center of the room and drapes a dark green shirt over it. "This is the dragon! You fight it and save me, the princess, from its cave!"
I grin. "You've got it, Princess Ode!" With a ferocious swing, I rap the stick on the chair.
Ode forgets her place as prisoner and leaps up from behind the chair, dancing and giggling. "Get him, Eris! Get him!" I attack the chair from all sides, jabbing and poking with the stick. Ode narrates. "He's breathing fire!" I duck. "He's biting at you!" I scamper backwards. "He's using his spiky tail!" I swipe at the ground with the stick, pretending to chop at a scaly tail. "You got him, Eris! Keep fighting!"
At last Ode decides that the dragon's had enough. "Finish him, Sir Magic Knight!" I step up to the chair.
"Abracadabra!" I use my foot to knock the chair over and Ode, not having predicted the motion, squeals in delight. I rush over to her and hug her. "You're saved, Princess Ode!" She laughs, squirming a little until she can knock the wooden bowl off my head. I make a face at her, but that only serves to make her laugh harder.
"It's time for Princess Ode and Knight Eris to come to breakfast!" a voice sounds from the door. Mom and Dad are standing there, anxious but happy. They're always happy. It makes me glad that I've got happy parents; if I didn't I would have never learned joy.
I race off to my room to change before the meal. My reaping clothes this year are a blue collared shirt and brown pants that, I'm amused to discover, match the color of my numerous freckles. Arriving downstairs, I give Mom and Dad hugs and sit at the table to eat.
We're not far into the meal when I catch Mom gazing at me. "Mom, are you all right?"
"Just worried, Eris, like every other parent in the district," she replies airily, trying to brush off the implication of the Games.
"Beryl, don't worry," Dad booms, "Eris will be fine! The odds are very much in his favor, and we all know that he'll be fine." I grin at Dad, but now anxiety still nags at me. If Mom is so afraid, then how can we all be flippant and lighthearted? What if I am chosen? What if I die?
I won't die. I won't be chosen. It doesn't make sense for me to be chosen. Our meal is continued in silence until someone knocks on the door. "Eris, I think that's for you," Dad says. I push my chair back from the table and say goodbye to my family. "We'll see you later, son!"
At the door waits my friend Gala, already jittery with thoughts of the reaping. "Hi!" I greet the older girl, "Ready to go?" She nods, smiling faintly, and we set out. I'm drenched from the second I emerge from the house.
"So, y-you prepared for your se-se-second reaping?"
"Yep. Hey, did you realize that, after today, you'll have two reapings left but I'll have only finished two?"
"Uh-huh!" Gala laughs at the coincidence. "And, after today, we've g-got another year to f-fool around!"
"Maybe we'll find an underground path that goes all the way to the Capitol!"
"Maybe w-we'll find a way to g-go back in time!"
"Maybe we'll see a giant!"
"Maybe pe-people will realize that I'm n-not different. Maybe we'll m-make more friends." I have lots of friends, but Gala only has me. And I'm a little kid to her. I want her to have more friends too.
"Maybe they'll take away the Games."
"That would be pr-pretty c-cool," Gala agrees, "Well, except for the f-fact that the G-Games are in summer anyway."
There's a fairly long line at the registration table by the time Gala and I have meandered our way to the town square, but we don't really care. In fact, Gala remembers something. "Hey, Eris, my brother's toy train broke, do you think you could do something about it?" I gladly accept the little wooden machine that Gala pulls from her bag and look at it. It's made of lots of little parts, and something inside has stopped one of the axles from rotating.
As the line moves forward, I jam my finger up into the toy and work it around, looking for a small piece lying loose inside. There! Right to the side of my finger. It probably just needs to be pushed back to the side, but I can't reach it at the odd angle I stuck my finger in.
"Eris… don't do that. I know what you're thinking!" Gala warns, grabbing my wrist. No use! I jerk my hand to the side and gasp; my finger is broken. It never feels good and I can never get it to heal quite right. All my digits are crooked. But I easily wedge the piece into place and yank my finger out.
"Here you go," I say, handing the fixed toy back to Gala. She sticks it in her bag, glaring at me.
"You didn't have to break a finger to fix it," she hisses, grabbing at my hand. Wincing, I pop the bones back into line and hold it straight. I can shrug off the pain after three years of fixing tiny things in this manner, but it still hurts.
I give a different finger to the Peacekeeper at registration, and then obediently trot off to my place. Gala's blending in with the other sixteen-year-old girls, and I can't see her over or through anyone. The downside to being small, I guess, although the rain doesn't help either. I hope she'll be all right alone for a while.
The other boys in my section know me as a friend and they greet me brightly.
"Hey, guys." I stand next to one called Novas, who's a little moody but today he's scared like everyone else. He nods a greeting to me, though, and I smile at everyone. I don't want anyone to be afraid.
The mayor steps up to read the Treaty of Treason. I can almost taste the tension in the air, among the crowd of parents and the mass of eligible teenagers. The fear is more painful than my broken finger, and I can't help but be swept away by fright. What if I am chosen?
I find my parents and sister in the crowd. It's comforting to know that they always will be there, waiting for me and believing in me. I feel safe when I know that they love me.
The escort is the same as last year. The exact same. She's wobbly on tall purple shoes and she still has the lime-green skin and purple makeup as last time.
"Welcome, district Twelve, to the Eighteenth Annual Hunger Games reaping! It is time to select your two wonderful tributes! I, Livia Verity, will be choosing the names of the two young people to compete." She steps to one of the huge spheres full of names. "Ladies first!" Her neon green hand plunges into the bowl and I can see purple nails brush against the inside edge as she selects an unlucky girl. "Kyra Montgomery!" I feel terrible for being glad that it was someone other than Gala. No one should have to participate in the Games.
No one steps forward. Chirping birds are all I can hear. Everyone is still. "Kyra Montgomery!" A stir in the fifteens section alerts the Peacekeepers, but a girl steps out before they have to go get her. Shaky and nervous, she comes to the stage. Livia is relieved. Patting the girl on the head absentmindedly, she goes to the boys' bowl.
I don't want to see someone chosen for the Games. Livia is at the microphone, unfolding the name she has selected. "ERIS IRA!" She announces the tribute with such fervor that it's obvious she's hoping for a better entrance than Kyra's.
Nobody steps forward. Because… because… that's me. I can't do anything but blink. What? No! The odds were in my favor. I wasn't going to be chosen… I was safe! But my feet move forward without my consent, and I smile at Kyra as I shake her hand onstage.
I look towards my family as Livia announces our names one last time.
I will not die. I will live. I will come home, the first thirteen-year-old victor and the first winner from District Twelve.
DISTRICT TWELVE FEMALE: KYRA MONTGOMERY
"Daly! Daly, wait!" I dash after my friend as she charges through the coal-dusted streets. We're in the poorest parts of town now, and it's all dim and melancholy and raining. I don't like it as much as she does down these alleys. I'm not as comfortable. I don't trust myself around all these strangers.
"Oh, come on, Kyra, let's go!" The other girl has stopped running, but her energy has not abated one whit. She's standing, grinning, while the rain streams down her short blond hair into her eyes. I hurry to catch up to my friend. The people in the nearby houses can hear us and they seem almost angry with us. Maybe for being noisy? Maybe for contrasting so sharply with the dreariness of reaping day? Maybe even because Daly and I are obviously merchant's kids who have so much less of a chance at being reaped than their own children?
I can't say, but I dash forward to my adventurous friend, keeping my eyes on the glistening gravel beneath my feet. I may not have a clue why the people around us are so uptight all of a sudden, but I can still have a good time with my best friend.
"Why are we even out this far, Daly?" I ask, panting. The other girl slings an arm around my shoulders and points ahead. I perk up almost instantaneously when I realize where my friend is leading me. "The fence? We're going to the fence?"
"Yeah! This is our midway reaping. I thought that, well, we should go to the edge of the district just in case we don't have another chance." I grin at Daly, bouncing a little bit with enthusiasm. We've been running for a while now, in our reaping clothes even, but this is worth it!
We're past the houses now, in the dreary area right next to the fence where nobody goes and where nobody cares what happens. It's the most exciting place I've ever been.
Daly and I step right up to the chain link barrier, listening to the steady hum of electricity racing through the metal. It would be so easy to slip across without that electric shock waiting for you, but it's pointless wishing that the electricity would go off. They've been really careful about barriers ever since the Dark Days and the destruction of Thirteen; that's what we learned in school anyway.
"What do you think is on the other side?" I wonder aloud.
"I don't know or even care," Daly replies, "I mean, even coming here is a one-time thing. We ran for a long time to get all the way out to the fence."
I'm so close to the fence that the buzz seems to be moving through my body and not just the border between Twelve and the unknown. "Imagine. A whole world out there that we'll never even know." There are trees, that I can see, but beyond the first few rows shadow envelopes the forest and I can see no more.
"Kyra!" Daly shoves me backwards, away from the fence, "You almost got yourself electrocuted!"
"Sorry… I just want to know. It's so fun to dream about places, isn't it? Other districts, even the Capitol!"
"Naw. It's fun to explore places. If you can't go there and see it yourself, you might as well stick to the paths beneath your feet." I shrug and begin to follow Daly back through the Seam. Preoccupied with the memories of the fence, I drift along in my friend's wake, not even caring about the heavy rain anymore.
The trip back doesn't seem to take half as long, and soon we're in line for registration, soaking wet. The Peacekeeper gives us suspicious glances as we get our fingers pricked but I just smile at her until I'm fully checked in. Some people say that the Peacekeepers are sadistic, but I have yet to see it. Peacekeeper is just a job. They've got families and stories just like the rest of us.
Daly bolts for the fifteen-year-old section as soon as we're in the square. Seeing the Mayor standing at the microphone, I follow her into the crowd of girls, but I can't see her anymore. I shrug, standing calmly where I am as the Treaty of Treason wraps up. Our escort steps forward happily, as enthusiastic as one could expect in the pouring rain. I can't help but smile. Livia seems very nice, especially since people like telling tales of evil Capitol people.
"Ladies first!" I hear, and suddenly I'm about to panic.
I won't be chosen. I won't, I know that. Daly and I, we're better off than a lot of people. We won't be chosen. They call out the name- I couldn't hear who it was, but since a sigh of relief rises from the girls around me it must have been all right.
But no one steps onstage. Have they fainted? I hope not. That's never good. I always feel extra terrible for the chosen kid when that happens. "Kyra Montgomery?" No! No! No, this can't… not me!
All the breath disappears from my lungs. I haven't been punched in the stomach before, but I suppose that it feels a little like this. I blink back the stinging hot tears and move out of the crowd. I can see Daly fighting her way towards me, but she stops at the edge of the section. I wouldn't expect anyone to volunteer. They don't have to; that would be too much of a sacrifice for me to allow.
Livia pats my head gently as I face the crowd. Everything's a big rainy, teary blur. I stand onstage with trembling legs; as a small boy comes up I want to let all my tears fall. How can we have a victor with these tributes? A thirteen-year-old and me?
The boy, Eris, smiles warmly at me as we shake hands. It comforts me a little bit. At least he's nice. Some years there are truly terrible people chosen for the Games.
Well, not truly terrible. Everyone has some good inside, and everybody has a little bad.
They take us inside the Justice Building and Livia leads me to a small room. "This is where your visitors will come to see you, dear," she explains. I glance around. It's really, really pretty.
"Kyra!" It's Daly, spraying water everywhere as she tackles me in a hug. "Ky, you have to come back! I need you to come back! You're one of my only friends, Ky, please! I know you can do this, you had better pull through and win this thing, Ky, I know you have it in you!" I'm shivering with cold thanks to my soaked outfit and the touch of skin on skin- Daly's arms around me in a hug- makes me visibly tremble. It's fear, too, I think, although I'm too overwhelmed… so much emotion… so many things.
Daly slows down a little bit, just ranting on and on and repeating the same things over and over. "Ky, Ky just come home, please, please, you can do this… you can win… I know you can…"
"Time's up, miss," a Peacekeeper intones from the other side of the door. Daly renews her rant, screaming and reaching out for me as they march her from the room.
"KYRA! KYRA, PLEASE! COME HOME!"
My family is already crying when they enter the room. They're all here, surrounding me with this aura of warmth and sorrow.
My niece River toddles into my lap first, bright-eyed and unable to understand why everyone is crying. I bury my face in her baby-fine hair. She squeals and leans away from me. "Kya wet! Kya co-oold!" I giggle through my tears and tickle her.
Mom and Dad are holding on to each other, sobbing. It scares me. I've never seen them cry, and they're reduced to these heart wrenching sobs. Mom, usually so witty and sarcastic, and all she can do is lean on Dad's shoulder.
My sisters crowd around me on the couch. Mira says something, too quiet to understand, about my chances of survival. "Mi, you know I wasn't ever good as calculations." She sniffles and nods, unable to say anything else. Her first reaping and I was chosen.
Ana is much the same as Daly. "Come on, sis, you can win! Just try your best and you'll come home to us! You can't say otherwise, it's the truth, you can do this!" And then, "I can't believe this happened! The first year I'm ineligible. I could have saved you; I could have gone in your place, that's what they do in the trained districts!" She keeps a firm hand on my shoulder. She's not crying but she's shaken and angry. Liora cannot speak. She shakes with the force of her weeping. Her fiancé, Lucas, is teary-eyed as well, but he can speak.
"We plan to have kids. You'll… you'll be a namesake. We've had that planned since we were engaged." Liora nods sadly, but she can't stop crying. I'm crying now too, and she leans down and clasps her arms around my shoulders. River, sitting in my lap, makes a small noise as she's squished in between us.
Ana, Mira, Liora, River, Mom, and Dad. I love them so much. I love them so, so much. I can't imagine a world without them.
How will they survive in a world without me? I suppose they'll manage, sadly going through their lives, but I won't be a part of that anymore.
Maybe I can win, but even the dreams of coming home are full of monsters and darkness.
Slowly, Lucas and Liora first, followed by Ana, then Mom and Dad and Mira, they leave.
"I love you!" they each tell me. I return the words, filling them with as much feeling as I can summon.
River sits in my lap, calm again and still wanting to know what we're doing here.
"River… you'll always remember your Aunty Ky, right?"
"Kya!"
"Yeah, Kya. Sure." I twist a lock of her hair around my finger.
"I see you've got my kid, Ky."
"Reed!" My brother, aged twenty-three, stands in the doorway with his hands shoved in his pockets. I jump up, River in my arms still, and rush over to him. "Reed, you're here!"
"Yeah, Ky, I'm here." His eyes are watery just like the others but he doesn't cry. He leads me back over to the chair I was just sitting in. "Look, Ky, you need to find someone to trust, someone who can help you. You work so much better with others than on your own."
"I work best with you and Daly."
"So find someone like us. You know healing. Mom and Dad are doctors. If you didn't know healing you'd be disowned." We both smile a little there. "You're quick on your feet. You're a good person. Use those things. Ky, I know you can come home."
"Where's Eliana?"
"E's on bed rest. Little Aran's coming soon."
"Tell her I said hi and that I love them, all right?" Reed nods. I hand him back River and then kiss the little girl on the forehead. "I love you too, all right, Rivs?"
"I wuv you Kya!" Reed wipes away a tear with the back of his hand as his daughter speaks.
"Ky. You're the best kid sister I could have ever wanted. Come home. Please."
"Don't let Li, Ana, or Mira hear that!" Reed tweaks my nose in exasperation. "I love you, Reed."
When the Peacekeepers step into the room again, it's my turn to leave.
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