Reaping For District 11
Rowan Cypress
The house was quiet when I woke. I was dressed for the reaping; a white shirt and some beige trousers. I walked slowly and quietly downstairs. My mother Ivy and my father Briar were still in bed. So was Kale, my younger brother. Reed was the youngest and he was up already.
"Morning," I said quietly, so I wouldn't wake anyone else. I became more concerned when there was no reply. "Reed? Are you ok?"
"Yeh, I'm fine." He replied, sounding distant.
I sat heavily on the couch next to him. We sat in silence for a moment.
"I'm worried about the reaping." Reed said after a moment.
"You're not going to be reaped."
"It's not me I'm worried about, I don't want you or Kale to be reaped either. What if both of you ended up going?"
"That's not going to happen. Kale won't be reaped, and neither of us are going to choose each other." I avoided saying weather I'd be reaped. I hoped not, but I would volunteer if Kale or Reed were reaped and I wouldn't take either of them with me into the arena.
Reed nodded, satisfied. He didn't notice that I hadn't mentioned myself.
"I'm going out now, don't wake anyone else up, let them sleep in if they can." I told him.
"Can I come?" Kale asked in a sleepy voice from the stairs.
"I'm only going to see Ayla."
"Oh. Isn't it a little early?"
"It's ten o'clock."
"Exactly. It's early."
"I'll wake you up at six tomorrow, now that would be early."
Kale sighed in defeat and flopped down on the couch next to Reed. I left the house after a grabbed a slice of bread which would have to do as breakfast.
District 11 was very quiet; it would have been unusual, any day except today. There was a thick layer of snow on the ground. The only person out was a little girl, about fourteen years old, she was wandering around in the snow, catching snowflakes. She was a pretty girl with a tiny frame and a slender figure. Her curly honey-blonde hair ran down to the small of her tiny back. She had deep green eyes surrounded by a tan complexion and a scattering of freckles. She was unusual looking for a child of District 11, with her trademark blue eyes and blonde hair. I did recognise her, vaguely. Well, not her exactly, but her sister, five years ago.
It must have been hell, to lose someone so close, so quickly. Just one name in a bowl had the power to tear a family apart. Almost everyone knew her story. Her sister, I think she was called Ashley, was reaped when she was just fourteen. She almost won the 95th Hunger Games. Almost. She was one of the last four tributes left; it had been a long time since district 11 had been in the last four. She was so close, so close to winning. But he caught her and there was nothing she could do to defend herself. Ashley's sister was nine when she watched Ashley killed in the Games. She became distant, quiet and alone a lot of the time. I felt sorry for her, I really did.
Our eyes caught for a split second before I looked away and carried on walking. I silently hoped that she wouldn't suffer the same fate as her sister.
Ayla was smiling when I found her. She was my best friend and she was always smiling, always cheerful. But today, the smile was hiding something.
"What's wrong?" Was the first thing I asked her. She hugged me.
"If you're reaped I want you to take me with you. I know you don't want to, but if the worst comes to the worst, then you have to. I won't let you take anyone else." She said quickly. I was left speechless. Eventually I told her that that was never going to happen and she shouldn't worry about it.
We walked around the district for a while, talking quietly about nothing.
At one o'clock, we parted, going home for an hour before the reaping. The snow was falling heavily now, and it was getting very cold.
I walked with my parents and my brothers to the reaping. The stage had been covered up and there were heaters around it to keep the escort warm and dry. There was nothing for us though. We were expected to stand out in the cold.
Christmas Twain walked on stage delicately. She was less extravagant this year. She had gone for a short, white ruffled dress and white make up and shoes to match. It looked strange with her carrot like skin and deep purple hair that she had left down this year. I had to give her credit though, it was a nice dress. I think she overdid the glitter a little, which kind of spoiled it.
"I am Christmas Twain, for those of you who don't already know!" She beamed. A thousand and one Christmas jokes popped in to my head every time she announced her name.
"Ok! The girl this year is Zahra Willow." The girl I had seen this morning froze for a second before walking to the stage. Pure fear could be seen in her blue eyes. Poor kid.
"Who is going to be coming in to the arena with you?" Christmas asked dramatically.
There was a little flicker of a smile on her face before she said who, only for a split second, but it was there. "Dimitri."
Things got interesting after that.
The boy, presumably Dimitri, started screaming about how he wasn't related to Zahra. He wasn't after all, but everyone hated him, so he was really on his own, he was just making himself appear mad which wasn't going to help him in the games. People won't sponsor someone like him. He was dragged to the stage, kicking and screaming. He was then dragged off the stage before the male tribute was even announced.
"Rowan Cypress!" Now I was paying more attention. Strangely, the first thing I felt was relief. Relief that none of my brothers were reaped. The next thing I felt was fear, and then excitement overtook me, a sick anticipation of what I am about to do.
I walked to the stage and so did my best friend, Ayla. That was the most upsetting thing I have ever experienced. I shouldn't have agreed, I shouldn't have said her name. But I did. And it was too late to do anything about it now.
My family visited me; my father gave me a ring with my initials on it, it was supposed to be for my birthday, but I probably won't live that long. I hugged each of them in turn and then I was taken on the train and on my way to the capitol.
Zahra Willow
Hundreds of tiny, sparkling snowflakes fell from the sky. Gently at first, then, as the morning came, they fell heavier and heavier and grew bigger and bigger until the ground was covered in a layer of snow about half a meter deep and it was impossible to see any further than about two meters or so in front of you. It was so quiet, calm and peaceful, yet there was a sense of fear that still lingered in the air. My sister always loved the snow.
Ashley and I would go out and play in it all day, we'd meet up with our friends and we would have snowball fights. We would come in the house, freezing cold and unable to feel our fingers. My mother would give us a mug of tea and we would sit together, my mother, my father, Ashley and I as a family. We would talk about the snow and what we did, who won the snowball fight. But all that was long gone now.
All that was left was sadness and silence as I sat with my mother and father, alone. Ashley was gone now; she was reaped five years ago, when she was just fourteen. My parents had never gotten over the loss of Ashley; she had always seemingly been my parents favourite.
Suddenly, I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted to go outside, to play and have fun. I left the house in my nude dress and black ballet flats. I had left my hair down today; I had just plaited the stray front pieces around my head.
"Where are you going?" My parents both asked me at the same time.
"I want to go and play, with my friends."
"Ok, but come home before the reaping, we should walk there together, as a family." My mother told me. I brightened at that. My father smiled at me as I left the house.
Being the same age as Ashley was when she was reaped; my parents were worried that there was a very real chance that I could be reaped too.
I ran around outside, catching snowflakes and laughing to myself. I could just picture Ashley with me smiling and giggling, snowflakes landing gently on her eyelashes.
Then I saw him. I pretended to have not seen him, but he was there.
He was looking at me, watching me; I could see him out of the corner of my eye. He was frighteningly tall, about 6'2 If I had to guess. He was muscular, but that was common in everyone who worked in the fields in District 11, and his eyes were kind, his smile soft. He looked about sixteen and he had black hair and mocha skin.
I knew exactly what he was thinking. I wanted him to go away. He was thinking about me, my dead sister, the 95th Hunger Games. That's all anyone thought about when they saw me. They pitied me. I made eye contact with the boy and he walked swiftly away.
I remember the Games, five years ago. I was only nine, but it was impossible to forget. That kind of thing stays with you forever, no matter how hard you try to just forget.
Ashley was winning, she was in the top four and she was going to win. That's what I thought and that's what the rest of district 11 thought. But the boy from district 1 just came out of nowhere. Well, not exactly nowhere, because it was planned, but Ashley didn't know that.
She had allied herself with the girl from district six, whom she planned to kill later on, but the girl from six had allied herself with the boy from district one. Then there was the girl from ten who had somehow managed to survive this far.
The girl from district six called out for Ashley and she came running. The girl from ten called out a warning; she told Ashley that it was a trap. But nothing could be done because the girl from six had earned Ashley's trust and Ashley ran. Right in to a trap. She tried to run when she saw that the girl from six was fine and realised it was a trap. The boy from one came up behind Ashley and decapitated her with an axe. Then he fell to the ground with an arrow in his chest. The little girl from ten could be plainly seen hidden in the trees, holding a crossbow. Two cannons went off at once.
The girl from six was left throwing badly aimed knives at the girl from ten. There was no competition, the girl from ten never flinched as she sent the arrow through the heart of the girl from six. She dropped to the ground, dead and the twelve year old girl was crowned the victor.
She won because the tributes underestimated her, and it gave her the upper hand. She was thin when she was pulled out of the arena, but there wasn't a scratch on her. I was glad she won, if my sister couldn't. I was thankful to her, in a way, because she had called out a warning; she had tried to save Ashley.
I sometimes think about what would have happened if only Ashley had listened to the warning. Would she have won? Maybe she would. I wished that she had.
I went to find Eleazar, my best friend; he was the only one who had stuck with me since my sister's death, so were really close. I used to have a lot more friends, but we became distant since my sister died.
Eleazar jumped up behind me.
"Boo!" He shouted, I didn't jump, I saw him coming, "Aww, you're no fun." He pouted, seeing that I didn't jump.
I laughed; his puppy dog face was hilarious. Then all of a sudden he was serious, focusing on something behind me.
"What?" I asked and turned around. My smile instantly faded. Dimitri stood there with his posse pointing and laughing at us. Eleazar cowered behind me. He was scared of them, and with good reason too.
"GOAL!" Eleazar yells as he scored yet another point in the game of Football District 11's mini tournament the school kids had set up over break. I grin as the Captain of the other team shook his head angrily, shouting at his team to get into order. I had trouble working out whether they were laughing for Eleazar's good luck or laughing at the Captain's bad luck. I guessed the latter, because most of them tried to stop the tears of joy running down their faces. But of course, there were always the few foolish ones who couldn't quite control their mirth but even they were careful. They most certainly didn't want him to see. Not if they valued their reputation. Not if they valued their family's safety. And most defiantly not if they planned on keeping all their vital organs intact.
You see, in District 11 it is an honour to win any kind of sport, especially when you are the Captain of that team, but even that seems to lose its charm over Dimitri. Because if you ever, ever come up against him in your time, I advise you to forfeit. Or fake injury. Or just run away. Because Dimitri has never been very forgiving. I knew a boy once, who though he could try and play Dimtri at his own game and boy, was he wrong. That's when he disappeared. Very mysteriously, of course. Under somewhat of a cloud. It was the kid, Bracken he was named, and it was one of those instances where nobody seemed to know what really happened. But there were rumours. Rumours horrific and scary enough to keep kids away from Dimitri. Rumours that got him his own way.
Everyone knew he was dangerous. So of course, Eleazar felt it necessary to kick one of Dimitri's little goons' asses in a game of Football. Yes, he's a smart boy. At first, the sarcasm isn't needed because when you have lots of kids altogether that hate Dimitri's gang's guts, you feel somewhat braver than you would if you were alone.
But quickly, things get bad.
The smile is wiped off my face when I see him emerge from the trees. As perfect as ever. Tousled black hair, flawless mocha skin and gorgeous hazel eyes. Yes, Dimitri's a looker. But that only makes him so much worse.
He had at least a good inch over Eleazar and he was tall for his age. You could feel the effect his presence had on the remaining players. People stood with bated breath, not daring to move in case he saw them. And when HE see's you, it's only a matter of time till the disappearing act of Bracken is happening again. And you will not get your goodbyes.
The air is tense. So tense, I have considered stopping breathing to try and prevent the prolongation of this scene. Dimitri and his disciples are conferring now, Dimitri has two of his little possy flank him. Protecting him. Idiot one smirks cruelly at Eleazar, whereas idiot two has taken to beating up some six year old on the side of the field. Nice guys.
"Fancy a game?" Eleazar called out in attempt to quench the wildfire before it has even began.
"I would," Dimitri replies, "But I see you are already in the middle of one." His tone is flat. Accusing. As if Eleazar is in big, big trouble. "I hear my boy here is losing," Dimitri comments indifferently, motioning to the guy Eleazar was playing.
"Yes." Eleazar agrees. Because he is. By a mile.
"Well," Dimitri says, slinking closer with each word he vomits, "I don't think the scores have been counted correctly."
"I think they have." I hear someone say. A girl. Stupid, stupid child. Of course, I want to take all this back when I figure out I was the person that said them.
I find myself next to Eleazar now. No longer of the sidelines of this match.
"Excuse me?!" Dimitri spat in shock. He looked at me as if he really couldn't figure out what had possessed me to say such a thing. To be honest, I couldn't either.
"You heard me." I say calmly. These are not my words, stop talking Zahra, stop talking.
"Well there's a special kind of treatment me hold for girls like you," Dimitri grins cruelly, shivers shoot through my spine. And suddenly, I am imagining my corpse strewn next to old Bracken's. Bruised and bloody. By the smile on the guy's face, I'm guessing he is too.
"And a shame," He tells me, grabbing a lock of my blonde hair, twisting it around his fingers, "Your so pretty."
I guess things kind of kicked off when Eleazar punched him in the face. My jaw dropped in shock and soon it was a free for all. Dimitri's followers ganged up on the smaller kids, kicking and punching them relentlessly. Many of the others, had fled in fear, they were probably the smart ones. Because right now, in the thick of it, yielding looked good.
That's when the knives came out. I don't know where the hell they came from, or where the owner got them but at the time they were flying towards me at top speed, I was a little preoccupied to check the make. But it didn't matter. Because all knives to their jobs well. Meaning, if the owner set the sharp blade's job to be killing me then I would be with Bracken within minutes.
The fighting didn't stop though, our side just became fiercer, the hunger for survival tainting our blood, making each of our next moves the right ones. But the best we could do was hold out. We had no hope of winning, because as always, Dimitri had the upper hand. But something was new. Because what happened next surprised me.
The sea of white peacekeepers rushed straight into the mess of children pulling them from each other, taking away the knives. A sigh of relief escaped my lips. It was over. For now.
Until of course, I saw Eleazar.
Lying face down on the grass, blood splattered around him. I ran over, stumbling wildly as the abyss threatened to swallow me up. I took hold of his wrist, checking his pulse. He was alive. Just.
I don't think there was much else going through my mind at that moment. Except these three words. Dimitri will pay. I would make sure of that.
We walked quickly away from Dimitri, to somewhere quieter.
"I hate that guy so much." I said, seething.
"So do I." Eleazer agreed.
Eleazer walked with me to my house where my parents joined us and together we walked to the reaping, like a family.
I stood with the fourteen year old girls and Eleazer stood with the boys. As we waited, a plan started to form in my head. I could get my revenge on Dimitri. If I was reaped. I could just say that he was my loved one, he might deny it, but no one else would, he was probably the most hated kid in district 11. We would go into the arena, he wouldn't get many sponsors if he made a scene at the reaping, and he would die pretty quickly. That was only if I was reaped. I might be, Ashley was reaped when she was fourteen, it could be me this year. Don't be so pathetic. I told myself. It's not going to be me.
"I am Christmas Twain, for those of you who don't already know!" Christmas beamed. I hadn't even noticed her walk on stage. She was wearing a white ruffled dress with lots of glitter. It didn't seem to match her purple hair and orange skin. Eleazar liked to make fun of her skin. It looked like she had gone way overboard with fake tan. Carrot legs, Eleazar would call her. Christmas said that her skin was natural. Not unless your dad fucked a watsit. Eleazar would say.
"Ok! The girl this year is Zahra Willow." I froze. It would be me of all people. Fear was the only emotion I could feel, pure fear.
"Who is going to be coming in to the arena with you?" Christmas asked me dramatically.
I let the tiniest of smiles escape me for a second before I said his name. "Dimitri."
He started screaming instantly about how we weren't friends, or related to each other. As I predicted, no one stood up for him, not even his posse. He looked like the psychopath he was as he was dragged to the stage, then straight off again.
"The male tribute this year is Rowan Cypress!" The boy I had seen staring at me walked to the stage, then his friend, Ayla followed, she didn't look surprised, so they probably had some sort of deal worked out, it wasn't uncommon.
As I walked off the stage, I saw Eleazar crying in the audience.
My parents came to visit me. My father handed me a white flower broach, the same one my sister had in the arena with her. My name Zahra meant white flower, so it made sense for me to have it.
"I love you, honey." My mother said, her eyes filling with tears.
"I love you too, mum." I hugged her and my father joined in. We stood like that until the peacekeepers dragged my tearful parents away.
Eleazar came in next. I buried my head in his chest.
"You'll come back," He said, "I know you will." Then he smiled.
"What?"
"When you get back, you can look forward to a life without Dimitri."
I smiled, "Yeh, I guess I can."
Then the peacekeepers took him away and I was left on my own.
I waved goodbye to District 11, knowing that I will come back home.
Finally I updated! I hope you like this chapter! Did you have a good christmas? I got One Direction concert tickets, which is amazing! I get to go and see them in March!
If you're wondering why the flashback about Dimitri is better than the rest of the story, that's becaue Dyamite-Dreams wrote it! So thank you to Dynamite-Dreams!
Also thanks to everyone who reviewed my last chapter and two more revews before I update!
Please review and vote for the poll on my profile!
Thanks
~Blazing Amethyst xx
