-Ashlyn Bayard, 17, District 12-
Three Years, One Month Before the Reaping
Ashlyn kept looking over her shoulder to make sure he was still keeping up. She had run ahead of her twin brother Aspen, challenging him to catch her. He was up for the challenge, but the head start she'd gotten was substantial.
She saw him coming, getting closer, and took off, laughing like crazy. Soon she could hear the giggles of her twin behind her, and knew she would have to run even faster. She powered forward, only stopping when she could no longer hear his voice or his footsteps behind her. She immediately felt bad for separating from him, and started to backtrack.
District 12 wasn't all too bad, but she started to worry that something might happen to her brother while they were apart. The possibility of something happening to her existed as well, but Ashlyn wasn't focused on that. She kept backtracking, looking around, but Aspen was nowhere to be found. She couldn't even see footsteps to give her some idea of where he was.
Maybe… Maybe he had gone a different direction after losing sight of her. Surely he wouldn't have gone off the path they knew. They were fourteen, so they could find their way back if they strayed a bit, but Ashlyn didn't think it was a great idea to stray too far away. It appeared as if that was what Aspen had done, which confused Ashlyn. She looked around, puzzled.
"Boo!" her brother came running out from behind a tree, and Ashlyn screamed, startled at the sudden loud noise. She stared at her brother's tanned skin as the details of his freckles came into focus. His brown eyes turned from amused to concerned when he noticed how spooked she looked, and he became apologetic immediately. "Aw, I'm sorry Ash, I didn't mean to scare you!"
"That was not funny!" she said, crossing her arms and glaring at him. "I thought you went off the path completely and were lost or something."
"But I wasn't. I won't do it again, I promise." She knew he meant it. Even if his jokes were important to him, if it really bothered her (which it did, she was worried sick), he would stop.
Ashlyn crossed her arms. "You'd better not." She wanted to be mad at him for scaring her like that, even if it was kind of funny in hindsight. He just looked so sad, and she knew that he hadn't meant to upset her, that she couldn't be too mad for too long.
"We can just start home," he said, and he sounded so guilty Ashlyn couldn't help but forgive him.
"Not so fast. We still haven't visited the bush." The twins' father, who had shown them the importance of walking just for the sake of walking and shown them different paths he liked to take home from work, had also pointed out the bush of wild berries that grew about fifteen minutes from their house. The twins checked it every day, hoping to find at least a handful of the delicious black beauties, though they rarely found any. They knew that there were strays and wild animals that ate from the bush, maybe even other families that were worse off than them.
The Bayards were middle class, and when money was poured into District 12, they were one of the many families that benefitted. They were never hungry and lived comfortably, like many other families that had once been starving.
They walked along the road together, this time not chasing each other. Instead, they walked slowly, enjoying the sun on their skin and the promise of spring. After a long, cold winter, the sixty degree weather felt absolutely perfect. Ashlyn had a certain spring in her step at the thought of berries, sweet and juicy. They hadn't eaten any in the winter, when the weather was biting cold and neither twin had hats or scarves.
When the snow came, they couldn't afford to stray off the path like that. It was just too cold. Now, though, the weather had seemingly broken, and the twins were out on their first walk of the spring. Ashlyn felt enlivened and rejuvenated as they walked. The breeze was slightly chilly, but compared to the weather of the past few months, it was nothing.
Ashlyn felt so happy she sang. She sang and had a skip in her step as she became more and more confident. Ashlyn just couldn't keep the music inside any longer, she was so energetic and happy. The sky was perfectly blue, the clouds were fluffy and floating carelessly in the sky, and the sun was shining bright and warm. She spun around as she sang her favorite songs, upbeat songs about love and friendship and happiness, and it felt absolutely amazing. She could almost hear the big brassy accompaniment as she sang out loud.
Under President Rutilus, the radio-waves opened up, and a mass revival of music happened. Everyone that had compact discs of songs from the past, anyone that had music was encouraged to share it. Now, listening to the radio was common practice in all Districts, and songs from all different time periods were popular. A lot of artists in the Capitol were recording songs, whether it be their own renditions of old songs or original music. Ashlyn's mother liked to listen to classical music: the Capitol symphony and such. They always talked about the various performers of concertos and such: Viridian Turner, Brio Leighton, Padme Bundren, Venetia Savage. Recently, the big buzz was about the Wallace twins, both of whom made history by playing with the Symphony at the young age of 16.
Ashlyn, however, preferred songs with words. She loved Brid, a female artist with an amazing voice and awesome hair.
But, no artist in the entire country could compare to her love of Upward Voyager. She loved Upward Voyager, and not just because Philander Markov was out of this world hot. Not only were their songs amazing, they also started in the Districts: District 3, to be exact: and got famous because Pluto Nicastro performed with them when he went to University, which caused the Capitolites to go crazy for them. Ashlyn often daydreamed that someone like Allegra Pakulski would hear her sing someday and help her become famous.
Ashlyn couldn't believe that people in the Capitol got to see their favorite artists perform live… Ashlyn wondered if they'd ever tour the Districts. She dreamed of seeing Upward Voyager live.
She sang anyways, barely thinking about the idea of being made famous like a Victor and meeting Upward Voyager in person, just enjoying the springtime and the sun and being with her brother. They checked the berry bush and were pleasantly surprised. The twins picked berries, a handful for each, grinning at each other.
"Cheers," Ashlyn said, and Aspen grinned at her, eyes alight, flipping some of the brown hair out of his eyes.
"Cheers," he responded, and the twins popped the handfuls of berries into their mouths happily.
"How's Vera?" Aspen asked, his mouth still full as he savored the sweet goodness of the berries. Ashlyn closed her eyes, enjoying the explosions of flavor in her mouth.
"Not bad," she said. "How's Conway?"
"Same old, same old."
Ashlyn sighed. "We should get home. Mom and Cedara are going to need all the help they can get if Juniper throws another tantrum." Their younger brother had some anger problems, but what could they do living somewhere like District 12? Their older sister Cedara was not very good at helping and preferred to be out of the house, but the twins were always willing to try to calm their little brother down. Ashlyn advocated for letting him let out his anger with music, but that didn't seem to work. Nothing seemed to work. The twins loved their brother anyways and tried to do their best to help him, so they started home together.
They walked together, in silence, just enjoying being together. Suddenly, Ashlyn heard a menacing growl behind her and jumped. Aspen looked alert, but had a protective stance. Ashlyn appreciated how he protected her, even if she felt like she was capable of fighting for herself. He meant well, he really loved her and wouldn't want harm to come to her. Ashlyn glanced over her shoulder and saw the silhouette of a man, just walking his dogs. A normal scene, really.
Before they knew it, though, they heard noises behind them, and just as they turned around, the dogs were pouncing. They were huge, and Ashlyn could have sworn they were some kind of muttation they were so strong. The twins were defenseless against them, and Ashlyn felt intense pain as the dogs treated her like a piece of prey. She heard Aspen screaming too, and struggled to get the giant animal off of her. She kicked and pushed as the dogs' claws ripped at her body, causing her to scream in pain. She felt a swipe across her and screamed louder, fighting harder to get the dogs off of her. She fought as she felt the dogs biting at her, ripping off a chunk of the flesh on her arm. She finally wiggled out from under the dog and stumbled to her feet. Aspen kicked the dog off him and yelled, "RUN ASHLYN! I'M BEHIND YOU!"
Ashlyn did as he said, turning and running the other way.
Ashlyn kept looking over her shoulder to make sure he was still keeping up. Blood fell into her eyes and she saw red, but she kept running. Her head throbbed as blood stained her face. It was thick and hot and it stunk, and it hurt more when it was mixed with sweat. The dogs were close behind, but Ashlyn kept running. She ran until she saw a tree, and knew what she had to do.
"The tree!" she said, "We need to climb!" Aspen shoved her forward towards the tree, causing her to stumble as she grabbed the trunk and started climbing. She felt weary and light-headed from the room, and was suddenly hyper-aware of the blood that was trickling out of her wounds. Every single step, every pull was a pain, but she kept going as fast as she could, taking labored breaths as she got to a sturdy branch. She looked down and saw Aspen climbing, much slower than her. His face had lost all of its color, his eyes were becoming lifeless before her. She helped him up as tears started to collect in her eyes.
Her heart hammered in her chest and she closed her eyes. She couldn't speak. She gasped for air, feeling sick and light-headed. She clutched the tree for dear life, afraid of falling off. She could only quiver and whimper as she watched the man catch up, telling the dogs to stand down and reattaching their leashes. He walked away without saying a single word to either of the twins, but Ashlyn would never forget his face.
"We have to get help," Ashlyn gasped, quivering. She felt horrible and could barely see straight, but knew that this was totally necessary.
"I'll go down first," she whimpered, swallowing sobs the best she could. She climbed down slowly, tears blurring her vision as she went. Aspen hadn't made a single noise since they'd climbed the tree. She was so glad to be on the ground again she almost collapsed as soon as she let go of the tree.
"You have to come down now," she called up to Aspen. He didn't move for a second before he silently uncurled, whimpering, and started down. "Careful," she called, voice shaking. A sob escaped her and she couldn't stop it. She could feel her own blood leaking out of wounds all over her body, and the man didn't even say a thing. She would have gone after him if Aspen weren't in such bad shape.
The world seemed to go into slow motion as she watched Aspen put his foot in the wrong place and fell right before her eyes. She screamed as he hit the ground on his back, quickly ran over and knelt beside him.
"Aspen you have to get up," she said quickly, quietly, quivering with sobs. "Aspen!"
Her brother could barely speak. He just whimpered quietly, tears streaming down his face, blood staining his shirt from his injuries. He'd gotten it much worse than Ashlyn, she could already tell.
"Aspen get up!" she shouted, her cheeks becoming wet with tears that came out of her eyes.
"Go get help," he choked out. She quickly ran off, trying to find someone that could save him.
By the time the healers came to find the young man that fell out of the tree, he was already dead.
-Jacques Noir, 18, District 12-
Three Years, One Month Before the Reaping
"Good morning, dears!" Marie Noir tried to remain optimistic over breakfast, playing the radio as the family ate. It was early and bound to be a long day of work for all of them, but Marie always tried to stay joyful.
"Are you sure you want to come today?" Adrien Noir asked his son. There was a reason that he didn't want Jacques to come, but left it up to the fifteen-year-old to decide for himself.
"I'll come. I have to experience everything," Jacques wasn't afraid of the family's line of work. He never had been before. "I'm ready to work for the business." He seemed sure about it, so Adrien let his son come along as he did every day.
The home was just as dull as Jacques remembered, the rooms trying to look homely, trying to provide comfort to people.
"We have a 12:00 and a 3:00 today. "
"Okay. I'll go light the fireplace."
Adrien hesitated, and when Jacques went into the room, lingered in the doorway. Jacques lit the fire, hoping the room would warm up before people arrived. After he lit the fireplace, his eyes found the body, and froze.
Lying on the table wasn't some old man or woman. Lying on the table, eyes closed, deathly pale, was a boy that had to be younger than Jacques. His brown hair was slightly shaggy, probably in need of a cut, and Jacques could see freckles dotting his cheeks and nose.
This boy didn't die of old age. He didn't die peacefully. Jacques hadn't been allowed to oversee tribute funerals yet, so seeing this boy lying in a casket was something he hadn't been expecting. Adrien strode into the room, knowing that something like this would happen.
"Jacques?"
The fifteen-year-old was surprised that his father's voice sounded somewhat tender. He was usually pretty solemn, working at the home his whole life. Jacques swallowed a lump in his throat as his father put his hands on his shoulders in an attempted gesture of comfort.
He was surprised at seeing the boy, that part was true. He wasn't scarred or traumatized, though.
Just like many things in the world, death was a matter of perspective. That was how Jacques saw it.
For people like this boy's family, death was a monster. Death was unfair and cruel, death was a thief, death reached out and stole this boy away from them. To them, death was eternal darkness, death was a villain, death destroyed everything. Death was heartless. Death was cold. Death was this family's worst enemy.
However, for people like Jacques, death was more like… A business partner. An old family friend. Death took, but death gave. Death was inevitable, and death was the reason that Jacques was a blond merchant boy instead of rotting away in the Seam. Death was necessary. Jacques looked at the boy, and felt numb. He had spent his life surrounded by death. After losing his grandparents, Jacques knew that death was inevitable. No one can defy death. Why waste time fearing it? Why waste time being upset and fearful of a natural process that happens to everyone? Jacques didn't understand. He didn't understand why his sister Susan married at sixteen just to escape it. He didn't understand why she refused to step foot in the home. He felt fine.
"I had to embalm the body yesterday," Adrien said quietly. "I'm sorry I didn't warn you."
"It's fine," Jacques said. He turned away from the body and locked eyes with his father. "I'm fine." He meant it. His father looked just as solemn as always, but had a new expression in his eyes. Jacques thought it might have been pride.
"Good boy. Go light the fire in the Gray room. I'll dust in here and put the flowers out."
"Dad?" Jacques wanted to prove that he could take his father's place. He had to do this. "Let me."
Jacques knew the look of pride now as it grew stronger in his father's eyes. "You've matured so well," he said quietly. "You're going to make a fine funeral director someday." Jacques's heart swelled as he gave his father a hug. The truth was that he wanted to run the home. After Susan left, Jacques knew that it was on his shoulders to take up the family business. His parents told him all the time that he didn't have to take the business just because Susan left, but Jacques could see that they really, really wanted to keep the business in the family. He wasn't going to disappoint them. Besides, the life really wasn't all that bad. It made good money, as well. Even with poverty rates lower, District 12 still wasn't the strongest or the healthiest. And, because it was so small, the Noir Funeral Home was almost always the first choice, as it was incredibly well-known and had been in the family for generations and generations.
Even if with the decreasing of poverty-related deaths the number of tribute deaths, old-age deaths, and incidents like this boy's remained high enough that the Noirs were living comfortably.
"How did he die?" Jacques asked quietly, glancing back at the boy as his father let go. Up close, he could see places where there had been cuts that had been stitched and covered so well it looked as if nothing happened to the boy from a distance.
"Dog attack," his father said quietly. "His twin sister was with him."
She must hate death right now, Jacques thought.
He made a mental to be extra kind to her. For most people, watching someone die in front of their eyes was a traumatizing process. Jacques knew that, and he knew that everyone that attended the funeral would need as much kindness and sensitivity as he had.
"Wow," he said quietly. He didn't know what else to say.
"I'm sure it'll be a full house," Adrien said. "I'll run the funeral, but I want you to be there, sit and watch and take note of the process." There was a pause before he added, almost as an afterthought, "If you think you can handle it."
"Of course," Jacques said, nodding. His father nodded and started out the door, on his way to begin preparing the Gray room for the funeral that would happen in there at 3:00, almost immediately after they would return from burying the boy.
"Father, wait."
Adrien turned around slowly, worried that he pushed his son too far.
"What was his name?" Jacques was perfectly calm. Maybe a little but sullen, but overall just calm. Numb.
"Aspen," Adrien said quietly. He sounded miserable when he spoke next. "Aspen Bayard. A name I will not soon forget."
Jacques nodded as his father left, and went to the supply closet to get dusting supplies. He dusted the chairs and shelves in the room, then he swept the floor, polished the casket, and made sure that not a wrinkle of Aspen's clothes was out of place. He felt fine, being in the room alone with a dead body, it was just another day's work. After everything was looking clean and homely, Jacques went out to get flowers.
As he walked, he tried not to imagine what it must have been like for Seam families that couldn't pull together funds for a funeral. Some people thought the Noirs should have given a funeral anyways, but this was their work. Adrien often said that if they started giving funerals for free, soon everyone would expect free funerals. There were families that were angry about it, but it was only fair. Their home, their rooms, their time, their supplies. They needed money from their work just like the miners and bakers.
Jacques visited the florists. The girl behind the counter didn't look up in recognition when he walked in, so he just cleared his throat. She was only a year older than him, if he remembered correctly.
"Excuse me, Lucy?"
The girl twirled some of the dark blonde hair around her finger shyly. "Hi Jacques," she said.
Even though she was blind, she knew his voice from all the times he'd visited to pick up flowers on behalf of his family. It was one of his first jobs, and he enjoyed the Pine family enough that it was really no problem to pick up flowers.
"I'm here to pick up an order for my father," he said.
"Oh, yes!" she went back to pick up the cart with various nice-looking plants on it her parents had selected when Adrien put in the order. Jacques was amazed by her independence, but she always just told him she did what she had to. He respected her immensely because of that, because he knew how it was.
She brought out the cart. "Want anything else?" She knew well that sometimes Jacques would buy extra flowers when he could, sometimes for his mother, sometimes for his friends Sofia and Isabella Romanov. He knew how much they liked the plants, and that receiving flowers made their day. Sometimes he considered giving some to Mitchell, a boy that was Lucy's age, but figured that Mitchell would just laugh at him. Jacques was pretty sure Mitchell was out of his league, even if the Romanov sisters insisted he should make a move. He didn't want to be laughed at in front of the whole school. He was decently well-liked, and wanted to stay that way if possible.
"Not today, thanks though," he said kindly, getting out the money that had been set aside for floral arrangements. He always paid exact change, but Lucy always insisted on counting just in case. He didn't mind, though, the Pine family deserved money for their flowers. She released him with a kind smile.
"Thanks Jacques. Have a good day."
"Thanks again Lucy." He wheeled the cart back to the home and got to work putting the flowers in the room. He adjusted them a few times before he took the cart to the Gray room for his father to use the rest of the flowers.
He heard the door creak open and footsteps as people entered the room, and quickly realized he was still wearing his working clothes. He and his father went to change into their nice black suits. Jacques was changed first, and was the first to enter the room and greet the family. They were huddled around the casket and all dressed in black. There were two parents, a younger boy, and the girl, who Jacques could tell was his twin. He still wasn't exactly sure how to interrupt a scene like this, so he waited for his father, who was more skilled and knew what to do. Adrien adjusted his hair and when he entered the room, Jacques followed.
"Welcome," he said, shaking the man's hand. "My name is Adrien Noir."
"Grover Bayard," the man said. "This is my wife Myrtle, and our children: Cedara, Ashlyn, and Juniper." Cedara and Ashlyn were still staring at the body, but Juniper turned around and put his hands on his hips.
"I want to go home!" he said, and Myrtle crouched to his height to whisper to him.
"This is my son Jacques." When he was introduced, Jacques gave a polite smile.
"I'm so sorry for your loss," Jacques said kindly.
Grover's eyes were dark and heavy, but he tried to smile.
"Please let us know if there's anything we can do to make this time more comfortable for you," Adrien said.
"Thank you," Grover said quietly, wrapping his arms around his oldest daughter, who buried her face in his neck. With both parents distracted, Ashlyn was left alone. Jacques stepped beside her.
"Hi," he said, as kindly as he possibly could.
"Hello." She sounded upset, but Jacques knew that this was normal. She flipped the wavy brown hair over her shoulder and glanced over at him, which was when Jacques noticed the scars. They were hard to miss, four parallel lines running down her face to her neck, the ends covered by her hairline and the neckline of her nice black dress shirt. He immediately frowned and felt nothing but pity for this poor girl, she must feel horrible.
He frowned at her and said, "I know this is a hard time for you. I'm so, so sorry for your loss. You must be in so much pain…"
"Shut up and leave me alone!" She scowled and looked away from him angrily, moving her hair back over her shoulder so it became a curtain, keeping him from seeing her face as she looked into the coffin. Jacques understood that people grieved in different ways, so he decided to let her be for the time being and stepped back. When he looked up, he noticed that his father left the room, and quickly left after him.
More people entered the funeral home and crowded into the Green room where Aspen's body lay, and Jacques looked between the crying people, Ashlyn, who looked angry and devastated. He knew that, just like every other event that could happen, there were two sides to this story. It was just a matter of perspective. To them, this was a loss. For the Noirs, it was a gain.
Jacques watched his father talked, watched Grover and Myrtle break down as they gave eulogies, Cedara talked and tried to reassure everyone that Aspen was in a better place, Juniper even started crying in the middle of the service. Ashlyn sat, curled into a ball, and said nothing. Barely even shed a tear.
Jacques was respectful, but didn't feel a thing.
Death was inevitable. Death would take everyone. Death would take his parents, his sister, death would take him.
He just didn't understand why people were so mad at death.
They lowered the fourteen-year-old into the ground, and Jacques just felt anxious.
This was going on pretty long, after all.
They might be late for their 3:00 appointment.
~.~.
AN:: Both of these POVs ran a little long, but I hope you didn't mind!
So it's been a while since I last updated, and the reason for that is because I spent my break feeling weak and horrible because of the good old stomach flu. So yeah, that wasn't great. Now I'm back at school and feeling better, so updates will get back on track, I promise.
Also, just a side-note, but not every District of tributes is going to be connected, I promise. I just thought that this was a good way to contrast them and characterize both of them with the same story. I hope you liked it.
Big thanks to Golden Moon Huntress and AmericanPi for Ashlyn and Jacques, respectively! I hope you liked them, I feel like I was able to hit both tributes in this chapter. Obviously they're kind of young in this part but we will get to see more of their friends/family/evolving relationships as the story progresses.
Alright, so yes. More consistent updates starting now, and I'll try to get a blog up sometime this weekend. Sound good? I'm doing my very best here.
Chapter Question: Same as last chapter. Thoughts on the tributes? Who'd you like better and why? If applicable, how'd I do with your tribute?
Thanks for all your reviews and support, I'll see y'all soon (hopefully!) in District 2!
