OUR DAILY TOP SONG!

I chime in with a "Haven't you people ever heard of closing the god damn door?"
No, it's much better to face these kinds of things with a sense of poise and rationality.
I'd chime in "Haven't you people ever heard of closing the god damn door?"
No, it's much better to face these kinds of things with a sense of...

-I Write Sins not Tragedies by Panic at the Disco

and...

I am not afraid to keep on living
I am not afraid to walk this world alone
Honey if you stay, I'll be forgiven
Nothing you could say can stop me going home

-Famous Last Words by My Chemical Romance


District 7, Kale Teller and Addie Cohen

Kale Teller

It is dawn and I am in the woods, hurriedly chopping up wood with my old ax. I've collected enough, to last my family three whole weeks. It has to be enough but I still cut up some extra wood in case we have to sell some stuff to have money.

My hands are covered with raw blisters by the time I am done. Nobody's awake yet in District 7 and the air is peaceful and silent. If only Panem could be like this forever, then maybe I would be liking it. But it's not. Panem is deadly and vicious and my biggest dream is to get away from all of it.

Today is the reaping. That is my only thought as I hurry back to our house and deposit the firewood near our kitchen. I run my hands under cold water, earning some relief against my painful blisters and splash my face with the remaining droplets. Returning to my dingy room, I grab an old suit of my father's and put it on. It's a little big but it has to do. The sleeves go past my hands and the trouser legs drag on the floor, making me slip. I roll it up and try to look as presentable as possible.

I dampen my shaggy, brown hair with a little bit of water so that it would lie flat on the top of my head. Surprisingly, it works and I don't look too bad by the time my three best friends; Becca, Sophie and Brianna come along, all wearing dresses.

I motion for them to shut up and tiptoe across the floor. My parents neglect us so they don't really care about Kelsy and me. Kelsy's my ten-year-old sister and she means the world to me. She's till asleep. I decided not to wake her up since I wanted to surprise her with a nice breakfast when I get home from the stupid reapings.

"Ready?" Sophie says in a hushed voice

"Yes" I whisper back. I close the door behind me and meet them at our gate. We continue on to the plaza, chattering about school and who the district tributes could possibly be. Almost nobody volunteers in our district. It's not like we're a career one or anything. We just produce lumber and paper products, nothing too big or too flashy so our tributes don't really have a lot of sponsors. Well, at least it's slightly better than being in District 12 or 13. Those are the poorest districts in the whole of Panem.

The courtyard is buzzing with activity once we got there. People, mostly teenagers, are milling around. The twelve-year-olds are all sniffling and clutching at each other. I feel pity for them because it's their first time and they're afraid that they might be chosen. My heart beats wildly as I thought that this is how Kelsy will look like in two more years.

I push that thought out of my mind and say goodbye to my friends. I slip between two boys in my line who are both looking nervous. One is slightly bigger than me while the other comes up to my chin only. They both have dark hair.

Cameras surround the courtyard as the head Peacekeeper silences us with a glare. The plaza is silent, only the buzzing of mosquitoes and the occasional cough could be heard. Satisfied, our mayor comes up to the front and goes into a very long speech. It's quite boring, actually, and I amuse myself by imagining our escort, who is a woman with hair the color of snow, working in our factories. It's amusing, really, imagining Capitol people working.

The escort comes forward and goes into a another long tirade about the glory of the Hunger Games. I roll my eyes and shuffle from one foot to another. Finally, though, she is done and she leaps like a gazelle towards the huge balls at the center of the stage.

She picks from the males first and she clutches the piece of paper to her chest. She arrives at the stand and opens the piece of paper, opening her mouth in preparation to announce the male tribute of our district.

"Kale Teller"

As she read my name, I am silently cursing.

What's going to happen now?

Addie Cohen

"This will look good on you," Cathleen, my eldest sister promises as she artistically styles my hair and puts it back with a slim, purple headband. She spins me around to face the mirror and I must say, I look pretty good.

I am wearing a red ruffled blouse and a purple plaid skirt that goes to my knees. The purple headband is striking against my chestnut colored hair and it also does a good job of keeping my curls out of my face.

I look a little behind me and see that Cathleen has already dressed in a dark red dress. My sister is beautiful, much more than me but people tend to disagree. Even if I was only 12, boys older than be had a tendency to ask me out on dates. Of course, they were usually punched or yelled at by my fourteen-year-old brother, James.

"Do you think I'd get reaped?" I asked in barely a whisper

Cathleen surveys me then shakes her head in disagreement. "Addie, you only have your name in the ball once,"

"But remember Primrose Everdeen from District 12 during the 74th Hunger Games? She only had her name in there once yet she was picked,"

"And her sister, Katniss, volunteered." Cathleen countered, "Addie…you're overreacting because this is your first reaping. Trust me, you won't be reaped."

"Cathleen? Addie? Mom and Dad says it's time to go," James walks in the room which Cathleen and I share wearing a crisp collared-shirt and khaki pants. It's far from his usual outfit of a comfortable pair of shirt and pants and he looks uncomfortable.

The three of us walk to the kitchen where our parents are waiting. Mom has set up a huge breakfast of goat cheese, freshly-baked loaves and meat but no one is eating. Today is reaping day and just the mere mention of that 'holiday' will make even the most delicious of foods unappetizing.

Dad tries to smile but fails and we all walk silently towards the plaza. Thousands of people are already there and my parents retreat to the stands. James and Cathleen hug me and wish me luck before they slip away to their own line. Meanwhile, I am directed to a group of other twelve-year-olds.

I spot my best friends Sama and Gigi and am glad to see that they have saved a spot for me in the line. It's their first time to be reaped too and Gigi, who's the most nervous of all of us, is plucking her cream-colored blouse.

"Where's Xavier?" I am referring to our other best friend, who is one year older than us.

"At the thirteen year olds already. He said to wish you good luck, by the way." Sama answers

The mayor calls for silence and proceeds to read some boring details about the Hunger Games from a piece of paper. After his tedious speech, a woman with really white hair walks towards a giant ball that holds all of the boys' names in town.

There is a collective breath around the courtyard when her hand plunges in among the seas of papers and retrieves a slip. Taking her time, she leisurely walks towards the podium and opens the slip.

She announces the name 'Kale Teller' and I scan the crowd looking for boy. The audience parts as a boy with shaggy brown hair comes up the stage, shaking nervously. As they pan the cameras close to his face, I can see that he's crying.

There's barely time to register another thought before the woman is holding another piece of paper again. I hold Sama and Gigi's hands tightly, closed my eyes and wished with all my might that it would be some other girl whom I didn't know.

"Adelina Cohen,"

Black spots dance before me as Sama and Gigi squeal. I see James looking thunderstruck and Cathleen collapsing. Mom has already fainted and is in Dad's arms. Xavier is looking angry and looks at me with desperate eyes.

Taking a huge gulp of air to steady myself, I walked towards the stage.


District 8, Dimitri Retnov and Detra Pristine Manning

Detra Pristine Manning

I dress in a pale, purple dress and twirl around my room. I look, and I don't want to sound vain but, really beautiful in it. Except for my hair, which is a golden red and reaches the tips of my fingers. It slightly ruins the effect of the purple dress but my sister, Fauna, disagrees.

"You look like a sunset, Prissy." She says as she ran her fingers through my hair

I have a large family. There are seven of us, consisting of my mother; two brothers and three sisters. All of my siblings and I are eligible to enter the Hunger Games and that worries my mother to no end. My father passed away a long time ago so at seventeen, I'm the eldest in the family.

First there's Jonas who's fifteen. He's the oldest boy in the family and he likes to think of himself as the father figure. Then there's Lysine, fourteen, and the rudest child you could ever meet, except to me. For unknown reasons, she's closer to me than any of our brothers. Lidos and Fauna are the twelve-year-old twins and they do anything together. It's their very first reaping so of course, they're as nervous as you can get. Fauna is biting her nails and Lidos is staring off into space. Last, but not the least, is Luanda or Lua. She's a year younger than me and very pretty. She's so pretty that she can charm bread out of the baker's son and straight to her hands.

"Can we please go now?" Lysine asks impatiently, tapping her foot and crossing her arms

"Okay sissy. We're going," Jonas teases her, knowing that the term 'sissy' would make her even more angry. I

t works and as our family walks out of our house, Lysine is fuming a little behind us. Fauna and Lidos are holding hands, looking into each other's eyes and I know that they're communicating. It's some kind of special thing they share. They can read each other so well that they often complete the other's sentences. Lua and Jonas are talking about the past Hunger Games where a boy from District 2 won. No big surprise.

The walk is too short and we finally get to the main courtyard of District 8. It's packed with people and I soon loose my siblings in the crowd. But no matter, I'll find them after the reaping and we'll go have a nice breakfast. Consumed with that happy thought, I walk to my own line.

I'm still happily thinking about what I'm going to do when I got home that I didn't hear the girl tribute's name. It was only when someone in the crowd screamed and a few girls from my line nudged me forward did I realize who the tribute was.

It was me.

Dimitri Retnov

The girl tribute from our district, Detra Pristine Manning, is really beautiful. I watched her red hair catch the light of the sun as she walks up the stage. She's trembling and trying to compose herself. I watch the screens as they show a close-up of her face. She has really beautiful eyes...baby blue.

I take a deep breath and force myself to watch the purple-haired woman offer congratulations to Detra Manning. It's useless though. It's as if Detra is in another world, she won't respond to the woman's questions and finally our escort backs down frustratedly.

"And now to the male tribute!" she says grandly

I suppose I should tell a little about myself. I live with my dad in the poorer section of our town. My mother left us to live in the Victor's Village with a former Hunger Games victor named Hansel Semeck. I don't see her much and I don't care for her, either. I only care for Kara and evading the authorities.

The authorities are always after me because I often speak out about the Capitol and their cruelty. It leads me to severe punishment, the most recent one was being whipped but my father often speaks up in my behalf. The only thing that hinders them for not killing me is because I am the hardest worker in our District. They would lose a lot of things if they decided to execute me.

Then there's Kara. She's a girl I met who taught me how to dance. We meet in the meadow, after school and dance together. I always wished that it would be like that forever. The two of us dancing under the sky, laughing as if the games didn't exist. As if cruelty and violence was never part of our world.

But it wasn't...and it will always be part of our world.

"And the male tribute is...Dimitri Retnov!"

I stare in shock as my feet move forward of their own accord. I am suddenly on the stage and every eye turned to me. I can vaguely make out Kara who's crying and mouthing some words to me but I can't focus right now. I'm a tribute in the deadly games...I could actually die...

I flashback to another memory as the Peacekeepers lead me away and the crowd disperses.

Kara and me were dancing and we didn't care because in our world, there was just peace and tranquility. There was no fear, starvation and the daily terror of dying and death that could hit you any second.

We were just dancing.


POINTS:

ThePrettyReckless: 120 points

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Marigold Dove: 60 points


Question for the day:

In Mockingjay, who was Peeta's childhood friend who tried to cure him by speaking to him about their childhood memories?

Answers to previous questions are:

Brutus and Enobaria...either of the two


Mentors are closed!

This isn't my best chapter:((( I didn't have any inspiration so I tried my best. Hoped you liked it anyway!