Districts 9 and 11 Reapings: Morceaux
-Nora Baumgartner, 15, D9-
The air was charged that day. I could feel it when I woke up. I knew that everyone I would talk to wouldn't be able to sit still.
If only it was because of a delivery of food, or a makeshift concert by some of the District's musicians, or the celebration of the mayor's birthday.
I always loved when the District came together in celebration. The air became charged with excitement, positive energy. People would smile at us and greet us as we were walking to the Square. Young men and women held hands and liked to dance together. People smiled and laughed together. People were amiable and made friends.
I laid awake in bed and allowed myself to daydream.
The mayor's birthday was last month. There was a huge celebration for it. Not everyone from the District was there like a reaping, of course, but a lot of the wealthy and some, like us, who can put food on the table and have a night off every once in awhile. Every year the celebration's been watered down by the Capitol. Even so, we're still allowed some music, and some food.
The violinist was young and beautiful, with dark hair and eyes. She played so easily, the rhythms tapped out by an older gentleman were infectious.
"Take your dearest by the hand and give her a twirl!" the man shouted gleefully. My father took the hands of my mother and I and twirled us both around at once all laughing and smiling together.
We smiled and laughed and danced the night away.
I was walking to the table with the bread on it when I saw Kellon and waved to him. Behind the bread baskets on the table, I noticed, was a little face with a pair of wide, mischievous, dark eyes. Almost black, I remember. They belonged to a toddler that was giggling as he was hiding.
I could hear his parents calling, "Beowulf!" as he giggled and toddled out from his hiding spot, the happy noise crescendoing in volume as his father swept him off his feet, saying, "Got you, you little rascal!" which caused another whirlwind of giggles.
The energy was so high, everyone was smiling. Wes was there too, they showed me one of their newest sketches, of the lady with the violin. It was quite good, really. Wes was just really good.
Even Emilia danced. Emilia didn't like to take risks like the rest of us did, and didn't get into trouble nearly as much. That was fine with us, we never wanted to pressure anyone.
My mother's face poked through the doorway just then. "Nora?" Mama's eyes held an expression of sadness in them.
No, the energy that was here today was negative. It was nervous, anxious, sad. It was reaping day.
I got out of bed and put on a blue shirt with capped sleeves that matches my eyes and a jumper over it. Then, after doing my best to tame my fine, choppy, short blonde hair, I cover it with a cloche, almost as trademark as a Nora Baumgartner smile.
I went out to the room we use as a kitchen. It's dim and dusty and has a wooden table in the center with three chairs. This morning, there was food by each of the chairs, pieces of bread with raisins in it.
"Get some food, Nora." Dad's usually cheery disposition was toned way down. The usually calm and happy energy of the room had been replaced by a dreary, somber, anxious energy.
I didn't like it, not at all.
Mom hugged me around the shoulders from behind on my chair. She didn't usually talk much but I knew she cared for me from her actions. My father, however, is almost never silent.
I sighed, breaking the negative, nervous silence the best way I knew how: a joke. "You're acting like you're at my funeral. Should I say my own elegy? Nora Baumgartener. Nora was a hero. She was beautiful, courageous, and perfect, of course. She never did anything wrong. Ever." That got my father to laugh. I smiled proudly.
"You're right, Nora. You're still young. Your name's not in there a lot."
"Exactly." I smiled and nodded, satisfied. I finished the bread and dusted off the tiny plate. "Can I go see my crew?" I ask, smiling sweetly.
"Not without a hug and kiss goodbye!" Dad got up and did just that, hugging me and kissing the top of my head. "Bye Nora. Good luck, duck."
I giggled. "Bye." I hugged my mother and kissed her cheek, saying goodbye to her too.
"Now, don't get into too much trouble!" Dad said, his eyes alight with humor. Dad never got actually angry when we got into trouble. Most of the time, he ended up laughing with us. He was definitely, in the words of Kellon, "The cool parent."
I left the house and started to the usual meeting place of my friends. It was easy to find, and away from the crowds, which we all needed.
Kellon was already there when I arrived. His brown eyes held all the positive energy he had, which I really needed. It was much easier to be optimistic when someone else was smiling with you.
"Morning Gart," Kellon said, giving me a cheeky grin.
"Watch it, Robbins," I warned. We both ended up laughing though.
"Have you seen Wes at all?" he asked, to which I shook my head.
"They live across the way from you, not me." He sighed, but I just grinned at him. "Watch out, Kel. Your pan is showing."
He blushed bright red and muttered something about how he never should have told me about that. I just laughed and raised my eyebrows at him. The message was clear: he wouldn't have had to tell me about it for me to have known. He knew it as well as I did.
"They gave me a drawing yesterday. It's my silhouette through my window last night." He unfolded a piece of paper with a quick drawing on it. Wes's style was more impressive than anything I could've ever done. They were truly an artist. I admired them for their creative spirit and vision. They always want to design flags for us when we find new places to mark our territory, but we're in District 9, where extra paper and colored pencils an unheard of luxury.
Kellon and I thumb-wrestled until Wes showed up, their short hair in a small ponytail fanning from the back of their neck. Their freckles showed, their eyes were bright.
"Good morning," they said cheerfully. Seeing my friends' smiling faces had lifted an amazing weight off of my shoulders. Just by seeing them I felt energized. I knew that together, there was nothing we couldn't face.
Corilee showed up next, squeezing Kellon's sides and causing him to squeak, Wes giggling.
Corilee grinned at me over Kel's shoulder, and I grinned back.
"Hey there!" she said.
"Hi Lee!" I greeted cheerfully."How're you?"
She darkened, expression falling. For a second, the energy changed to that miserable, anxious negativeness that I hated.
"I've been better," she finally said, deflated.
We stood in that dark silence, until Kel spoke up again, brightening up and recharging the energy into positive again.
"Well, we can go exploring this afternoon! No school!" he beamed.
"No school!" It was easier to smile when you weren't alone in the action.
"First, though, this shit show," said Corilee, who was the baby of the group and also had the dirtiest mouth all at once.
"Right." We gave into the low, heavy, lingering cloud of misery as we all started to the Square, all holding hands. Kellon held my left hand, Wes my right. Having them there, I knew it would all be just fine no matter what happened.
We had to let go to be checked in, and after that, lingered. I gave Kellon a long, tight hug, and then Wes, before we separated to go to our own sections. I took Emilia's hand, as Corilee walked to the 14's section and I walked with Emilia to the 15's. I looked around, getting excited again, for a friend that we had met a couple years ago at the reaping. I noticed her by her long blonde hair that went all the way down to her waist, and Emilia and I ran over to greet her.
"Tessie!" I smiled and let go of Emilia's hand to give her a hug when she opened her arms to me.
"Hi Nora," she said. She had a quiet voice, and was very quiet and withdrawn even though she was sweet. She had no friends where she lived, about an hour's walk away in the opposite direction of us from the District, but we became close friends and now spent every reaping we could together.
"Hi Tessie," Emilia said, hugging her next as Tessie greeted her quietly.
Tessie stood in the middle of us, I held one of her hands and Emilia held the other. It wasn't very long before Adriano Wheatley (yes, he changed his name to "fit in" to District 9) walked onto the stage.
"Welcome, District 9, to the reaping for the 27th annual Hunger Games!" he smiled at us, his teeth perfectly white and straight, framed by his bright red, almost blood-colored lips. I shifted uncomfortably, causing Tessie to look over, her brown eyes wide with concern.
"I'm okay," I said quietly, just as Adriano started to walk over to the bowl for girls.
He reached a hand in the bowl, and picked out a name. Walking back over to the microphone, he cleared his throat, obviously stalling. I tried to escape, daydream, think of the places we'd go after the reaping, but the tension was too strong for me to run away, reality was sinking in-
"Nora Baumgartener!" I felt like I've been hit in the gut, the air being pushed right out of me.
I started to walk to the stage, not sure what to feel. I wasn't really sure what exactly what was happening. I felt eyes on me, following my every step.
Suddenly, I heard a loud shout, fizzling into sobs from my mother. As I started up the first step, she kept shouting, and my eyes started to fill with tears. By the time I reached Adriano, I was full-on crying, practically sobbing as he walked to the dish for boys and picked out a name.
"Scott Granger!" he announced. A boy stepped out from the 16-year-old section. Seeing him, I accidentally locked eyes with Kellon, bring on another round of sobs. When he came on stage he held his hand out towards Adriano who hesitantly took his hand into a handshake. Scott shook his head and gestured to the microphone. The boy spoke once the microphone was close enough to his face.
"It's Scotty G. Just so you know. Not Scott. Not Scotty. Scotty G." There was an awkward silence and I even forgot my misery for a moment due to the sheer audacity of what he was doing. He didn't seem fazed by any of what was going on. Adriano snapped out of his confusion and nudged Scotty G towards me.
"Shake hands now," he said faintly. I shook my District partner's hand, trying to control my sobs, as they were being picked up by the microphone and broadcast across the entire District, the whole nation. But I couldn't do anything to stop them.
"Everyone, your tributes, Nora Baumgartener and Scotty G!"
I was going into the Games.
I was going to die.
~.~.
-Dmitri Cairn, 16, D11-
"Dmitri, Dmitri, Dmitri, Dmitri, Dmitri!" The persistent voice calling my name belonging to one of my little sisters was something I thought I could ignore; maybe roll over and pretend it didn't exist for another 10 minutes.
"Oof!" I felt a solid weight drop onto my stomach and knock air out of my lungs….and I had been completely and utterly proven wrong.
I opened my eyes to sunlight and two concerned pairs of eyes. "Dmitri, if you don't hurry you won't get any breakfast!"
"I don't need breakfast, you guys do…" I groaned hoarsely. Anya's face twisted into a pout. She had been the one calling me, but Elena was the one to divebomb into my stomach.
"Kali says she doesn't care what you think, Dmitri," Anya declared.
"Yeah, she says you gotta eat!" Elena exclaimed. She looked much brighter than Anya.
"But-"
"You gotta!" they chorused.
So much for that hope.
I plucked Elena off me, who squealed with excitement and set her down next to Anya, whose eyes had gone wide.
"Dmitri are we gonna be as big as you someday?" she wondered.
"No, but maybe you'll be as tall as me. Who knows?" I yawned. The twins were both six years old, and full of more energy than me, my older sister, and my younger brother put together. "Now shoo, I need to get dressed since today's going to be a special day."
"W-wait are you going to look all nice?" Elena gasped, clearly getting more excited.
"You'll have to wait and see. Go tell Kali I'm coming, alright?" Elena nodded and shot off towards the kitchen. Anya gave me a sharp look- "you better not go back to sleep"-and trotted off after her sister.
I dug through the bins my brother Yasen and I shared. He was 13, and unlike me at that age, was still fairly small and hadn't really been scathed by puberty yet. Luckily that meant that it was pretty hard to mix our clothes up. I found my only nice cotton shirt buried at the bottom of a the bin on the very bottom of the stack. It was wrinkled beyond belief but I couldn't care less, it was presentable enough. It took a few minutes after slipping the shirt on to stack the bins neatly enough so that Yasen wouldn't complain about not being able to get to his futon.
The moment I opened my door, Elena was standing with her head tilted the whole way up so she could look me in the eye. "Oh my gosh Dmitri you look so fancy!" she squeaked. Her wispy ginger hair had just been trimmed this morning, and a little bit had been pulled into a high, short ponytail...if it could even be called that. It was pretty short after all.
I picked her up and hoisted her up to sit on my shoulders. She was so short she didn't even have to duck to avoid hitting her head off the ceiling. She wrapped her arms around the top of my head for security and I walked to the kitchen.
The moment I walked in, Kalina spun with a scowl on her face. Her spin was so tight that the ties of her apron were still catching up with her moving when she spoke, "Dmitri, it's Reaping Day, do you really think you can get away with sleeping in, and not eating anything?"
I set Elena down next to Anya who picked at a sunny-side up egg. Yasen sat across from her, his short, almost bright orange hair cut fairly short to his head. In fact, all of us had red hair in some sense of the word. I would be inclined to compare to our parents and try to apply those genetics things we learned about in school, but they've been dead awhile now. Kali and I took care of things, for the most part, and it worked out alright enough.
"Come on, answer me," she growled, aggressively grilling up the last egg for herself.
"Erm...yeah. You all need it more." I took a bite and tensed, ready for a scalding.
"Dmitri, I don't care what you think about everyone else needing it more. You're eating," she declared, "and you're not skipping another meal. You need every bit you can get." The moment she turned and her egg fizzed and crackled loudly enough in the pan, I let go of the breath I had been holding. Kali was in a better mood than I thought she would be, considering it was Reaping Day.
I couldn't even begin to fathom what would happen if I were reaped. Only Yasen and I were eligible for the 27th Reapings, but it was still hard to grasp. The Reapings had been going on longer than my entire family had been alive and then some.
"Get out the door you two," Kali sat down with her egg and gestured gruffly at Yasen. "You don't want to be late." she softened marginally. If our table were bigger, she wouldn't have had to kick us out earlier than need be. But the chances of us getting a bigger table were low. Not with us struggling enough to feed everyone.
I steered Yasen with a hand on the back to the door. "Bye Dmitri!" Anya cheerily called. Elena waved equally enthusiastically. I dreaded the day I had to explain to them about the Reapings.
I waved as I closed the front door, as best I could. It didn't quite fit the doorway but it was good enough. Yasen glanced up at me moodily. He was usually a little more conversational, but the Reapings still made him too nervous to speak. He was only 13 after all.
It was a surprisingly chilly morning. The dew stuck to the soles of our worn shoes. I knew Yasen's would be good for another month, as well as Kali and Anya's, but Elena's were starting to give. I forgot to tell Kali to start inquiring to the tailor for Anya and Yasen so we could start saving-
"Good luck, bro." With that, Yasen swallowed and split away from me to get his finger pricked by a bored-looking Peacekeeper who ran out of fingers to prick for only a moment.
I hated getting my finger pricked. I hated needles. That burning stabbing feeling and the throb afterwards made me feel so tense.
"Name?"
"Dmitri Cairn."
"How are you today?"
My eyes snapped up to the Peacekeeper. She met my gaze with patient eyes and a small smile. I was so shocked I forgot about being tense about needles.
"Um...good. Fine. How...about you?" I awkwardly stammered.
"I'm well. Enjoying the cool weather? How's your family today?" She effortlessly picked up the conversation while flipping for my name and filling out the appropriate blanks.
"Fine. Most of them are still home today luckily. But my brother Yasen is at the Plaza here with me. He's only 13. I'm sure he's scared stiff, even if he doesn't say a word to anyone-SHIT!" I gasped.
"Sorry!" she apologized, with genuine sympathy and dabbed at my pricked finger with a tissue. "You can keep the tissue."
"Th...thanks…" I still couldn't believe she noticed I was tense about the needle and distracted me precisely so she could stick me with the damn thing in a timely manner. I knew there had to be a good reason a Peacekeeper would talk to me without threatening me. I should have known better.
I sat at the highest bleacher on the edge so I didn't obstruct anyone's view. With Elena and Anya being so small, I had become aware of how annoying my height could be. I also knew that only the latest person that slept in obnoxiously late would sit next to me. I'm not really sure why, but that's how it always was. This was my last Reaping, so I didn't need to worry too much about it anyway.
The escort this year was Tuscan Nieth, a willowy man with too much elegance to be escorting for District 11. Every step he took firmly planted his heel to the ground first with confidence. It looked a little ridiculous, to say the least.
"Good morning District 11!" he cheered. He was new here. He would learn soon that no one would meet his enthusiasm. "Let's watch our annual history video, shall we?"
The volume was so loud it blew the speakers out every few seconds. I couldn't remember the previous year being so bad. You could barely understand what the narrator was saying, even if you wanted to.
"What a lovely creation! It's due to be updated next year, I'm sure you all can't wait to see it!" Tuscan purred. He paused for a crowd response and predictably didn't get one. Without skipping another precious beat, he jumped back into action. "Well let's get onto picking this year's tributes then, shall we?" He strolled over to the right bowl, the one that always held the names of the males. I seethed when I noticed how his perfectly tailored suit pants hung over his ankles just barely not touching the ground. They were designed so they never would, of course. Those pant legs were perfectly tailored in a way that mine never would for the rest of my life, unless one of my siblings took up the needle and got particularly skillful with it.
Tuscan drew a name without even fishing around in the bowl. He plunged deep and true, as if he knew with conviction what slip he wanted. He unfolded the slip. "Dmitri Cairn!" My body acted while my mind remained frozen where my seat was. I was walking up to the stage, calmly, my face a mask. What was I doing? I felt like a puppet, like someone else was moving my legs at a steady pace.
Tuscan held a hand out to me to help me up the stairs. Whoever was operating my body took it firmly. "We certainly have a fine boy this year, ladies and gentlemen!" I stood where he let go of my hand, facing out at the crowd through eyes I wasn't sure if I had control over. The crowd stared impassively back. It's hard to feel bad for someone who looks like a man full-grown. In my peripheral, Tuscan strode to the other bowl.
"Our female tribute… Cecily Jarvis!"
All was silent, no girls stepping forward, until a 12-year-old in the back started screaming and sobbing. She ran up to the stage, her head down, staring at the ground, releasing sobs.
The wide-eyed girl looked wholly terrified in front of me. I felt like I was shaking hands with one of my tiny sisters. Why was she, out of everyone, chosen? Better her now than the twins later. It had been a young girl from here for three years now, though. Maybe they would make the lottery less "random" to keep things interesting. Maybe that would keep the twins safe.
I shook Cecily's hand. Her tiny hand was barely half the size of mine. It shook so badly I squeezed it to try to make her feel a little better. As soon as we let go, screaming erupted from the male's section, accompanied by two powerful voices on the other side.
"District 11, your tributes!"
The puppetmaster forcing me to take every step towards the courthouse made my steps even, my face a mask impossible to get through. I only wished they would let go when...when…
I can't believe this is really happening to me.
The first person to burst through the door is Kalina.
"You!" she huffed tears in her eyes. "Dmitri, you are coming back to me. You aren't leaving me alone to take care of our siblings." She threw her arms around my neck and I had never felt as much relief as I did when I was able to wrap my arms around her dangerously thin waist. "I can't do it without you, brother."
"I-I'll make it home for you. For them. Are they coming?" A Peacekeeper with disdain written all over his body language nudged Yasen, Anya, and Elena through the door with the butt of his rifle. The twins joined Kalina and turned this whole thing into a group hug. Yasen hung back warily. He's never been one for physical contact.
"Dmitri, when will you be back?"
"Dmitri, where are you going? Why are you so sad?"
"Dmitri, we're gonna miss you…"
"Dmitri you've gotta make it back!"
I breathed in their scents and shook slightly, the rigidity in my body slipping ever so slightly. If it slipped anymore I didn't think I could stand.
"Let's goooo." The Peacekeeper's muffled voice couldn't have sounded more bored.
I kissed each of the girls' heads. "Yasen. I need you to keep it together. I need you to keep the twins safe."
He nodded. His eyes were steel. I couldn't tell if he blamed me for getting Reaped or not. "Good luck, brother."
And then they were gone. Elena was the only one who looked back with lingering, honey eyes. She didn't understand. She wouldn't for a long while.
And the puppetmaster snatched the reins from me once more. It was like my veins were filled with ice. They marched me to the train. They didn't stop when the blistering air met the cool, air-conditioned, controlled condition inside the train where hell awaited. Hopefully they wouldn't stop until they got me home.
A/N: Another chapter! Reviews are much appreciated! Sorry for the delay, as school's been kind of hectic. But hey, only one more reaping chapter after this! And it's gonna be a good one~