*Hey guys ! Sorry this took forever to write because well I was procrastinating and was very busy . But anywhere here's Chapter 8 . Review please guyss ! Chapter 9 will be coming up much faster I promise you .
CHAPTER 8
In the hush of the morning, a tired toddler's cries echoed out into the morning serenity. "Shh," Ophelia whispered to the little. "Hush, Angel. Shh, it's too early in the morning now isn't it?"
The toddler continued to cry as Ophelia rubbed his back to soothe him. He was obviously had a nightmare now as he hugged his little, chunky arms around Ophelia's thin frame. She continued to rub his back as to quiet him. It was too early in the morning and she didn't want to awaken anyone. "It was just a dream Brayden, it was only just a dream.
"It wasn't a dream Ophi, it was a nightmare," replied the sobbing boy.
"But it's over now, Brayden. Once you have a dream, you cannot have the same one again. Now go back to sleep, Angel."
With sleepy eyes, Brayden nodded at Ophelia's soothing advice as he soon nestled back to sleep.
Ophelia quietly and softy tucked him back into his training bed in the corner of the room that she and Brayden shared. She watched him for a few minutes as he slept shaking her head silently. No matter how loud Brayden cried, Nelly almost never came running. True, she was a very good, nurturing mother and older sister in the daytime but in the morning when Nelly was still cuddling with Chandler, her boyfriend who impregnated her four years ago, to understand the purpose of poor, little Brayden's cries. However, usually by the time Nelly pulled herself out from the covers, Ophelia already got to Brayden.
Ophelia peered out of her semi-filthy window out into the hilly landscape of District 6. How different it looked from her original home in District 12 buried in the corner of the Seam—her home district which she still remembers so vividly. Sharp memories began to flood back as Ophelia hazily remembered the death of her mother at the age of 3.
She never quite understood death before, nor had she really recognized the fact of her mother's death… or at least she doesn't remember it. She was only 3 and it was so long ago. But the intense memories of her poor, injured father who had to give up his daughters to an aunt Ophelia did not even knew existed in District 6, parting them from their father… forever. Ophelia has not talked to her father ever since and in fact, still cannot recall whether or not he was still alive or not.
All the painful memories…
As Ophelia was staring out of her window, the bedroom door creaked open. Nelly, her elder sister, came walking in slowly, slightly concerned. Noticing Ophelia up and near Brayden's training bed, she smiled a grin a gratitude and went to stand by her son's bed. "Thank you again," Nelly replied as she smoothed down her haphazard, bed-head as she knelt next to the bed.
"It's no problem. We're in the same room anyway."
"Yeah. I always wished, he could stay in my room with Chandler, but with the late nights Chandler gets home out plus the minute space in my room…"
Ophelia sighed to herself. She knew the real reason why Nelly did not sleep in the same room as Brayden was because at first she did not want to fulfill the duties of being a mother. Even now as she has sharpened up and learned to accept the responsibilities, she still was not the best mom ever. After all, she was rather young, only being 22. Ophelia understood, to a point.
Remembering what day it was, Ophelia backed away from the window and went to her bureau to begin getting ready and to stop by her Aunt Kellie's flower shop to do some work before the Reaping. "Is Aunt Kellie at work yet?" Ophelia asked.
"She left a note on the table. I saw it on my way here."
Ophelia began to tie a buckle around her merchant dress and walk to the kitchen to get breakfast. Nelly followed her outside and made some bitter coffee to drink with Ophelia. As nine o'clock approached, Ophelia finished getting ready just as Chandler and Brayden came waling down the staircase. "Ophi!" Brayden called with his gap-toothed grin. "Where are you going?"
Still to innocent and young to understand the Reaping, Ophelia picked Brayden up and replied, "I'm going to be a big, important meeting in the District square. I'll be back soon. And then we can play tag in the backyard okay?"
He nodded happily as Nelly embraced her and replied solemnly and sisterly, "Good luck."
"Thank you." Chandler repeated he process as Ophelia walked out the door to her aunt's flower shop down the street. As soon as she arrived, Aunt Kellie jumped up to greet her niece.
To be honest, Ophelia never even really considered Kellie as her aunt, more like a close family friend who somehow got lost after the rebellion. She didn't even think Ophelia was blood; she look nothing alike the memories of what her father looked like or anything like Ophelia and Nelly at all.
After a few hours of assisting her quiet aunt in the flower shop business, Ophelia gathered herself to leave for the Reaping. "Good luck Ophelia, I'll be there later." Ophelia nodded and walked amidst the other nervous teenagers to the square. Arienne and Willo, her best friends, joined her on the way. No one said anything as they walked slowly to the nerve-wracking piazza. They waited in line shaking slightly to get their fingers pricked. Willo noticed her shaking as Arienne chatted with others Ophelia did not know. "Why are you shaking? You've gone through this at least five time already," Willo replied.
Ophelia shrugged and said as she stuck her hand out to get pricked, "There's always a chance you will be reaped." Then she took her place in the sea of children, anxiously awaiting for the Reaping to be over.
The whistle of the train engines echoed from the operation platform down the hill. Eugen was perched at the peak of the hill, watching intensely as the silver, titanium train that had just pulled in. It was a Capitol train, set to distribute the escorts and other important Capitol officials to the Reaping today. He didn't even need binoculars to notice the outlandish attire the Capitol escorts were wearing as they stepped out of the train with their huge umbrellas to "shelter their faces." They could be seen over a mile away in any of the Districts.
Eugen loved to watch the trains pull in and out everyday in the morning and late afternoon. He found it so intriguing. Being from 6, the District of transportation and engineering of transportation, he was supposed to hate traveling and et cetera, but in all honesty he found it so intriguing. He could never understand why. Everyone in his family—despised his father who consistently traveled all over the Districts with his state of the art trains—hated traveling. Eugen was supposedly the odd one out. He always had been in general, he was very quiet and could go long hours without speaking. He did only have one friend… but other than he basically was a big wallflower.
He checked his wristwatch to calculate his time. Ten o'clock. He had two hours left but figured he should start getting home to get prepared for the wretched Reaping. Climbing down from his high hill, he sauntered home.
Eugen was not too nervous about the Reaping today. He was only 14 but his name was in there only 3 times, whereas his sister who is 18 and participating in her last Reaping had her name in their approximately 35 times due to tessarae. She had a higher chance than him to be Reaped… But he could not think about it. Not with family.
As soon as he got home, both his sister and brother were frantically running around, adjusting ties and dress skirts'. He didn't understand what they were in such a complete rush about. There was still another hour and a half to get ready. Maybe it was because his siblings hated being late, he didn't know. But Eugen gathered himself and went down the hall to get himself ready.
As he got prepared for the Reaping, he couldn't help but peer over at his work desk shoved into the crammed corner of his room where a bunch of engineering mechanisms and tiny engines for trains that he had been working. He desired so badly to put it all together, to create something cool but he knew there was absolutely no time for that. Even as he was tying his checkered tie, Kiva—his elder sister—was yelling him to hurry up.
"Okay, okay calm down Kiva," replied Eugen as Kiva materialized in the doorframe.
"You know I hate to be late."
"I know, I know."
He noticed out of the corner of his eye Kiva's uneasy foot tapping on the carpet floor. His sister was never this sketchy or ill at ease. "What's wrong Kiva?"
She looked up and peered at her brother with shaky eyes. "I'm nervous. I just need to get this over with. It is my last year, I don't want to be picked because… I have gone through all these years, unpicked."
Eugen nodded, he understood. Every kid in the District had the constant fear of being reaped. No one wanted to die at the hands of other teens their age. He walked over to his sister and rubbed her arm, soothing her. She smiled gratefully and led his arm out the door. "Come on, it's time to go."
The walk to the Reaping was filled with silence. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of their footsteps rubbing up against the gravel and Kiva's shaky breathing. Even as they got to the piazza, there was as if an eerie presence lurked over the whole area.
After checking in, Eugen joined the crowd of fourteen year olds and searched to find his friend, Byke. There amidst the crowd, he saw his tall, blonde-haired friend. They both noticed each other at the same time and acknowledged each other with a scared nod of the head. Eugen always found it so funny how he and Byke were always pushed together when younger, being that they were next door neighbors. At first, the two hated each other; mainly because they were so incredibly different. But now, through all they had been through, they could never be closer. No matter how much they bickered and argued over the most idiotic things, they were still best friends.
Suddenly the outlandish, bright Capitol citizens sashayed onto the stage with their incredibly vibrant pink, orange and yellow hued hair. As the District 6 escort, Femmi Nim, tapped on the microphone Eugen knew as his heart began to beat rapidly, that the 13th Annual Reapings were underway.
"Ladies first," Femmi replied as he placed his hand in the glass bowl.
Ophelia grabbed Arienne's and Willo's hand as tradition and closed her eyes, praying it wasn't her. She was too young, she had too much to live for. Her aunt, Nelly, Brayden…
Suddenly, she looked up and towards the back of the plaza to try to find her aunt, Nelly and Brayden. Within a few seconds, she found her aunt clutching Nelly's hand who tried to simultaneously keep Brayden still and hold Chandler's hand. As soon as Ophelia locked eyes with them and began to smile as if to reassure them, Femmi announced, "Ophelia Vix."
The smile that was on her face for a second completely morphed into a look of sheer terror and shock. As if on unison, her family members—all besides clueless Brayden—put their hands to their mouth in shock. Nelly began to cry silently and Chandler pulled her into an embrace.
No, she thought in shock. How could this happen? She dropped her friends' hands and wordlessly stepped out of the crowd and walked towards the stage. She found her knees shaking as Femmi ushered her to center of the stage. Everything was a haze. The thought of being picked diminished all other thoughts due to her surreal.
"And now for the boys."
Usually the
drawing of the actual was so drawn out and extensive, that the crushing suspense was painful. Maybe it was because the Capital citizens liked the expressions of the young, pained kids. Maybe it was all just for the show. After all, this is sick entertainment for the Capital.
However this year's was relatively short and quick. Simple. And Eugen did not even have time to be grateful that his sister was not reaped on her final year when his name was called out.
Terror swept through him at the surreal thought. Was it him? Yes. It had to be. There was no other Eugen Langen in the whole District. He, at only fourteen years old, would be forced to fight to the death.
He felt tears in his eyes as he looked at Byke. Byke himself looked utterly depressed and shocked. Eugen's name was only in there three times whereas many other people in the District had their name in there many other times. Like his sister for example.
Eugen guessed Byke had urged him forward a little because suddenly Eugen was walking towards the stage, Peacekeepers surrounding him. He sniffed back his tears that were dancing on the edge of his eyelids and tried desperately not to show too meek. Other Districts would be watching this later on the trains on who was pitiful and worthy to be slaughtered in the Bloodbath. Eugen did not want to one of them. He had to be tough.
The rest was a blur. Only up to the part where the tributes had to shake hands. He looked straight into Ophelia's eyes as she lifted his right part of her mouth as if an acknowledgement to give Eugen a sense of good luck. But he didn't acknowledge it back. For he was too shocked to believe what just occurred and he could see it in Ophelia's eyes too.
Within minutes of being in her room, Ophelia's family flooded in. Nelly was hysterical, her aunt was silently sobbing and Chandler was trying to keep everyone together, but it was evident that he too was holding back the few tears that were going to flow. It was rare to see Chandler cry, even on a situation like this. Ophelia could not understand why. Chandler never talked to Ophelia much, he really only was interesting in Nelly. In fact, she never really knew where she meant but her ditzy, wild, pregnant sister began normal and calm after getting impregnated by Chandler. Maybe he was tearing up a little bit because Ophelia was important to Nelly but even then that was a little odd.
Brayden was the only one who seemed normal but however he was completely clueless to the situation. Brayden came in skeptically noticing everyone crying. He sat tentatively on Ophelia's lap and asked innocently, "Ophi, why is everyone crying?"
"Well Brayden, I, I have to go away for awhile. It's somewhere far, far away where the buildings are all tall, silver and pretty. And I'm going to play a game because I was, uh, picked to play."
"What game?"
"It's like a hide and go seek game, except there's a slight twist. But it's okay because you can watch me play on the big screen at home."
"Really?"
"Yeah," Ophi replied sadly.
"Well I hope you win Ophi."
"Yeah, me too," she replied with tears beginning to come down. She took Brayden off her lap and gave him a gigantic hug, whispered 'I love you' into his ear and moved onto the rest of the family. She grabbed Aunt Kellie first and whispered into her ear, "Take care of them Aunt Kellie. Please. Thank you though, for taking Nelly and me in. Thank you for raising me. I love you."
"I love you too," Aunt Kellie replied softly.
She moved onto Nelly and quickly spoke to her hysterical sister, "I'm sorry. It will be okay. Just take care of Brayden. Don't let him watch it! Find a way to cover his eyes! I don't want him to see. But please, take care of him."
Suddenly the Peacekeepers came barging through, signaling their time to leave. As Ophelia whipped around suddenly to try to grab somebody to hug, she yelled out to her family as they left, "It will be okay!"
But she knew it wasn't.
A little while later, her friends Arienne and Willo came in together to wish her good luck and that they hoped she would win. In a way, Ophelia felt like she could not believe them. After all, Arienne was popular and knew almost everyone in the District. Willo however probably would miss Ophelia but Willow was smart. And she knew very well the odds of her actually winning the Games were one in a million…
Kiva was more hysterical than Eugen himself as they sat together in his waiting room. Brunel and his mother just sat there on the edge on his loveseat appalled at what just was laid down. "It should have been me. How was it not me but you?" Kiva questioned, tears streaming down her face. Though she was the eldest out of the tree siblings, she was somehow finding it hard to keep her emotions together. Eugen just kind of sat there motionlessly trying to comfort his sister. "How could this be?" Kiva asked, through her hiccupping sobs.
"I guess the odds were not exactly in my favor," Eugen spoke in a dead-pan, robotic voice. He was so shocked he could not even comprehend his emotions or what just occurred outside either that is.
His mother looked at him with shocked eyes. Eugen was not entirely sure, maybe hearing her son's words really got to her because suddenly she became to cry. She embraced her daughter and together they cried together.
Eugen had been crying only a little before. And he was not going to cry now, not under these circumstances because now if Eugen were to beginning bawling like his sister and mother, Brunel was no doubt to begin crying. And Brunel had to stay strong because now, he would be the only true man left in the house being that their father is gone so often.
Suddenly Eugen understood that he needed to take action and give Brunel discrete instructions on what to do now that Eugen might not be at home anymore. So as Kiva and his mother were crying, he motioned for Brunel and pulled him over to the corner of the room.
"Look you have to be strong now, Brunel," he said softly and without emotion.
"What do you mean? You are, you are coming back right Eugen?"
Eugen looked him in the eye and his heart broke. His twin brother who was always less mature than Eugen, yet now he had to be. Eugen was untrained and weak, mostly likely not being able to stomach the fact of killing some other innocent person. He was only good at mechanical things and that was not going to get him incredibly far in the games.
"I want you to make sure you, Kiva and Mom have enough food. Sadly you might have to apply for tessarae because Kiva cannot anymore. Get the chores done. Sell whatever useless junk we don't need to get some more money to buy food. We're not terribly poor but make sure we do not ever get that way—"
"But Eugen, you are coming back right?
A moment of silence lingered over the room. Suddenly it seemed as if Kiva and their ceased their sobbing to hear Eugen's answer. He was greatly loved by his whole family and Eugen knew they wanted him to return. But even they, who were currently hanging onto the last wisps of hope for Eugen to return, they all knew deep down it was inevitable.
Yet they were all hoping for the answer and if Eugen were to deliver another, the family would be torn. In fact, it was almost as if they all knew the answer because it was almost kind of given.
"I'll try."
And Eugen genuinely did mean it, deep down. He just didn't know if he would be able to fulfill it.
