I finally found him! Ah, all is well. Sort of.
Cameron Wynn, District 6
Tom looped his arm through Rowena's, looking onwards. My twelve year old sister giggled, failing in her attempt to keep a straight face. The two skipped together down the path. I squeezed Amy's hand, rolling my eyes.
"He's a five year old trapped in a fifteen year old's body," Amy laughed. John chewed on a hangnail, glancing to us.
"I think I'll go join them. Leave you two to your own devices," he winked. Instead of a preferred skip, he jogged up ahead. "Hey, guys, wait for me. No, I'm not skipping with you."
We both rolled our eyes. "Why are we friends with them?" Amy whispered.
"They're lovable people," I smiled. I draped my arm over her shoulders, her left arm crossing over her chest to keep a hold on my hand. She slipped her hand away and wrapped it behind me, gripping my side.
"What would you do if my name was called?" I asked suddenly. Amy's blue eyes widened. She knew about my mutation. There's a whole bunch of mysteries going on in the school of District Six (i.e. random surf worthy floods at school, pencils turning to dirt, the unnamable food at school turning to metal or ice, which honestly isn't much of a difference). Most of the antics were of my workings, Tom's planning, and John's covering. Okay, it's not much of a mystery. I get a little arrogant, I will admit, but everyone agrees it's still funny as hell.
"Well, I'd wait until you came home," she said simply. "Don't think like that Cam, it's a beautiful day. We'll worry about it if the time comes. Right now, it's our time." She leaned in and kissed me softly once.
Groans and snorts of disgust cut us off. "Get a room!" Rowena and Tom yelled at the same moment. Amy giggled, grabbing my hand and running ahead.
"She so likes him," I commented. Amy shrugged, not exactly disagreeing. She's usually the first to scold me when I'm ragging on my sister.
The smaller Wynn, with her ginger hair, fair, sunburn-prone skin, and blue eyes, rested her head on Tom's shoulder. They were all the same features I had. Rowena squeezed Tom's arm and he scuffed up her hair, oblivious to the crush.
John rolled his eyes at Tom, who blinked blankly. "I'm going to meet up with the football fellas before the reaping. Calix is probably losing his mind over his little sister right now." Calix's sister, Callie, is the same age as Rowena, meaning it was her first Mutant Games reaping. I've tried to, I don't know, set them up on play dates or something. We stopped when Rowena complained Callie kept biting the heads off her old style Barbie dolls from a bajillion years ago. Callie's mutation is a little deep rooted.
Tom joined in with John and Row urgently tagged along. Totally likes the goofball. She smoothed her dress out and she self-consciously fiddled her hair into place.
A bunch of pink clad girls (apparently, pink is so in, on accordance to the fashion magazine I found in Amy's room as she got dressed for the reaping. That and kissing on the first date makes the guy think he has rule over you) waved Amy over. Her eyes reluctantly drifted to me. She leaned into me, not planning on straying.
"You go, I'll be fine. Have fun." I watched the girl's blue dress flutter behind her. No, I wasn't looking down. Maybe.
"Wynn heads up!" My eyes swiveled about reflexively. A football shot towards me at a good seventy miles an hour. Blink and it would have buried itself into my chest, knocking me to my ass.
I cold feeling shot through my veins, as if my blood was twice as thin. The ball spiraling towards me suddenly burst apart midair in a wave of water. It splashed across me and I shivered with the cold.
John and several others from his numerous sports teams sprinted over. Rowena dragged behind some.
"That. Was. Awesome!" Tom shouted. I wiped the water off my face but my clothes were already soaked to my skin.
"So sorry, man!" Calix gasped. Guy has super strength, never piss him off. Sheepishly, he added, "Got a little carried away."
I waved it off. "No prob." Other kids anxiously stepped away from us.
"Another set of freaks." I wanted to feel some discontent at such statements but found I couldn't. There were some scary people out there, scary mutts. The scary factor wasn't just the ability itself but deeper within. Some of our kind weren't exactly…sane.
I shook the thought off. Our kind. It sounded as if I were already separating everything.
My hair stuck to my forehead and John and Tom tugged me off as the escort began calling for order. "You're wet," Tom commented. I'll ignore any perverted context the sly grin following the statement carried.
I stood stiffly, searching the crowd. Amy stared off at the stage, rather bored looking. Her friend Stacy tapped her shoulder and pointed my way. Amy's face lit up and she mouthed the word Hi to me.
You okay? I asked. She nodded. Amy had no worries. She was completely normal.
Tom leaned in, following my line of sight. He took in a breath, prepared to start.
"Don't you dare sing the Stacy song," I hissed.
"Which one?" he asked. The mischievous grin made me shake my head. We quieted for a moment as a Peacekeeper glared our way. I spoke lower now.
"Either." Although, he does get points for his own "My Name Is Stacy" song that he made up himself. Sorry, I am not going to tell you the words. Trust me, I'm looking out for.
The escort with his two too-large-to-be-not-surgically-done arms grinned grandly. The thickness of his finger couldn't quite pluck the delicate individual slip. It took some grabbing and more grabbing until he finally got a hold of one. All of us couldn't help but giggle at his squeaky voice.
"Lauryn Rivera." There was the usual disgruntled murmur as everyone tried to find the girl. I didn't recognize the name so she definitely wasn't my age.
The girl, her brown hair braided down to mid-back, was standing in place, stunned, and need to be hauled up by a Peacekeeper. As his hand wrapped around her wrist, she absolutely flipped. And this was a thirteen year old girl, two sections and a gender crowd away.
"I'm not a mutt!" she shouted. The man tugged her arm rather hard but she kicked him in the knee. His weight buckled and he toppled to the dirt ground. I felt a twinge of sympathy in me at the girl. She had a lot of fight in her, for someone so young.
It took several Peacekeepers to gather the young girl up in their arms to haul her onto the stage. "Let go of me you," wow, my mom would not like me using that kind of language, "I'm not a freaking mutt! I'm normal! Normal!"
Her bum skidded along the stage. Our mirror obsessed escort smirked crookedly at her but the dark expression she casted knocked that expression off real fast. The white clad men stood at the exits of the stage to ensure she wouldn't make a run for it."
I breathed out slowly as the escort grabbed for the boy's name. It only took him one try this time. It's not you man, there's probably a thousand slips-
"Cameron Wynn."
I stared blankly up, comprehending the words. Cameron Wynn. I'm Cameron Wynn. That kid has my name.
John nudged me in the back. I looked back and found the tough yet likable guy macho off. Tears shone in his eyes. Tom's usually smiling face appeared bleak; his mouth curved forty-five degrees in the wrong direction.
The effort of moving one foot in front of the other made me dizzy. A lot of kids gave me pitied looks. Others breathed with sighs of relief.
-0-
Mom stroked my cheek one last time. "You can do this, honey. We love you, and will still love you, no matter what you do." Dad's fists were clenched tight and the pat on the shoulder he gave me was rather hard. Rowena's arms slipped from around my neck. I waved one last time to my sister, most possibly the last time in my life.
Immediately following them was Amy. I stood as she stepped in and she rushed into my widespread arms. I had struggled to keep all my emotion in up to that point and I started nearly sobbing, digging my face into her golden brown hair.
"I'm going to die, A. I'm going to die." The girl shook her head. I could feel her tears soaking my shoulder.
"No, you won't. You can win this, Cam."
"Twenty five people are dying. How am I any different?"
"Because," Amy choked out, "you're brave and charming and smart and people will like you. You can't die." I stood there stroking her hair, trying to calm myself with her touch.
"That's what I love about you, Cam. Win. For me. Come home."
I nodded. "I will."
Lauryn Rivera, District 6
I gripped Chell's hand. "What are the odds of you being reaped?" I whispered. Our awfully narcissistic escort struggled to draw a slip. The girl shook her head.
"It could happen. To anybody." I squeezed her hand. He finally managed to grip one individual slip.
"Watch, it's not going to be you." Laurel grabbed Chell's other hand while Addie hugged our friend from behind. Addie's head rested on the slope of Chell's hunched back, her blondish strands flying freely about.
Chell Reggie and Kaitlyn Rivera. Just not those names. Any name but Chell's name or Kaitlyn's. No one I loved. No one I knew. Some soul who was due to drop dead the next day any way.
The dumbass onstage took so painstakingly long to read it. He squinted down at it, taking a moment for the dopey Capitol gears to clear it into words. Chell squeezed her eyes shut and everyone hunched in around her. I held my taller head up, trying to find Kaitlyn in the twelve year old section.
"Lauryn Rivera." My stomach dropped to the deepest pit of my body. What? How could that be?
"I'm not mutated," I said aloud in a normal tone. All of my friends jerked back in shock, too stunned to react. "I'm not a mutt."
People were looking around for this Lauryn Rivera. She wasn't me. This Lauryn Rivera was a mutant. Certainly not me.
I stared straight ahead, unable to move. "C'mon, girly," a Peacekeeper grunted. He grabbed my wrist roughly and jerked it hard enough to nearly rip it from its socket.
"I'm not a mutt!" I shouted at him. He fell as my foot drove into his knee. A half a dozen Peacekeepers promptly grabbed my limbs and carried me like a log.
"Let me go," I shouted, with maybe some other words thrown in. "I'm not a freaking mutt. I'm normal. Normal!"
They tossed me onto the stage and I grunted as my butt skidded along. This was a mistake, a huge mistake. They must have mixed my DNA up with some other thirteen year old girl. This couldn't be possible. I didn't accidentally make stuff float around like Chell or turn invisible like my younger sister. To think my biggest worries was her and
The escort pulled the boy's name from the bowl. It was a mistake. I was normal.
"Cameron Wynn." The boy remained within the crowd for a few moments before finally stumbling forward from the fifteen year old section, absolutely stunned. He bit down his gaping jaw, a determined look in his eyes. He was of stocky build and slightly over six foot.
He nodded to me, a friendly glint in his eyes. He was just like the kid from last year. But he died.
"Now to display the abilities," the escort said with a wave of his arm, a little too close to the camera.
Cameron gestured for me to step to the machine. It was fricken' huge, probably to ensure bigger tributes like those from Career districts or one of those giants from Eleven space. I swallowed hard looking at it, but felt a rush of thought. It'll prove I'm normal.
I hurriedly stepped into it. Suddenly…
…nothing happened.
Laser beams didn't shoot from my eyes and the Cameron kid didn't start doing the Macarena, no matter how hard I thought for him to. I sighed.
"You're a strong little mutant, aren't you?" the woman reading the data spewing from the side of the machine said. I shook my head in bewilderment.
"What can I do?" I asked. She simply laughed.
"Whatever you're doing now. It's in your head, right?"
I stomped my foot. "I'm not doing anything." Cameron strode over to the machine, tilting his head.
"You're mad, aren't you?" he asked.
I nodded. "I'm not exactly excited here, dude." He rested his hand on the side of the machine to lean on it.
"Yeah, neither am I." Suddenly, the shell of metal began to crumple. I looked up and found specks of dirt to dot my forehead. I blinked at each trickle until the whole thing caved in atop of me. It was a mere mound at my feet by the end.
I couldn't help but giggle at the scientist lady's gaped mouth. We were instantly taken ahold of and guided to the back.
"What can you do?" he asked softly.
I shrugged. "I don't know. I swear." He nodded and allowed himself to be shoved through the Justice Building doors.
I walked into the compact little room for goodbyes. To say goodbye to my family before I go off to the Mutant Games, even though I'm not a mutant.
A minute, two minutes, three minutes passed. I crossed my legs, trying to become comfortable. This obviously would never happen.
Mom and Dad walked very slowly into the room, as if normal motion would make the time go faster. Kaitlyn shoved past them. Her body plowed into me with a hug and tears ran down her face.
"I never thought it would be your name," she sniffled. Mom and Dad gradually sat down beside me, just as stunned as me. Could you blame them? I probably wasn't crying yet because I was so shocked.
Kaitlyn wiped at her eyes. "Good luck, sis." We were practically best friends. Mom calls us twins with different birthdays. My sister is only an inch shorter than me and a few features were altered on her face. But otherwise, there was no denying her.
"You have to try," Dad said softly. "Everyone will be bigger and uglier than you."
I laughed meekly at this. "Don't forget scarier, experienced, smarter-"
Mom smacked my shoulder. "Don't think like that. You're the most stubborn little girl I know. And hell, if you're set on living, you'll do it."
Kaitlyn snuggled her head up, brown eyes set upon me. "Promise you'll at least try. You'll run and skip and sing 'til you can't. Got it?"
Today had started out so normal. I woke up, got dressed in my reaping outfit. I had the prettiest dress from last year but Kaitlyn had stared at the fabric with such big eyes I had relinquished it to her. We argued over hot water use, which I again relinquished to her. Breakfast (I won this round) and then our walk to the reaping. My sister was quiet the entire time and we walked along hand-in-hand for a while. She was scared. I was scared for her.
The Peacekeeper walked back in, announcing time was up. "Got it."
Cameron can turn solid objects into dirt, water, metal, etc. Lauryn, well, that's for me to know, and you to find out (evil grin).
And my friend just went through a hard breakup (I honestly don't see it as that big because she dated the guy for a week). I started quoting from the song "Move Along." It seems as if most of my conversations with her end up with me cracking up at my innuendos.
