A/N Could it be? Joseph updated? Believe it or not folks, this story is not dead. I just took a break for NaNoWriMo (which I did complete, by the way), and then took a break from writing afterward… that ended up taking way too long. Still, I'm back and motivated to finish this story, so that's that. Please do note that my writing is quite rusty...

Allio Spottedberg, 13, District Nine Male

I sit on the bench right outside of school. The sun is high in the sky today, but it's a little cooler than yesterday because there's a nice breeze today. District Nine isn't really all that far south, but in a district where there aren't trees everywhere, it can get pretty hot in the summer. We don't have much man-made shade either; most of us live in single-storey houses. We don't have any of the tall buildings that the Capitol supposedly has. The weather usually seems nice there. School just ended a few minutes ago, and I'm just waiting for Fennel to get here so we can go home. He's busy discussing something with a teacher; I think he got in trouble again.

I look up at the big, blue sky. It's not a bad day today. If I can get my homework done in time, I'll go to the yard and work on the old clock I found the other day. I've started on it, but I couldn't finish it yesterday because I was missing a piece. I think I found a similar piece before school today, so I'll have to try-

"Hey," a rude voice interrupts my thoughts. I look up to see Cape approaching, his rough, black hair blowing in the breeze. At our school, we have grades six through twelve, so that means that high schoolers, such as my brother Fennel and Cape here, are in the same school. Oh… dear. Not good… not good…

"Oh," I say, a little tensely, "Hey, Cape."

"What are you doing here?" he says, "Waiting for your brother? What did he do this time? Steal the teacher's money?"

"No," I say, "He-"

"You're probably lying anyway, just like those Capitol liars you support. All you people do is steal our food that we've worked hard for and then force us to do your bidding."

Not this again. He towers over me, a deadly smirk on his face. Last time this happened, I ended us with a bloody nose. It's not exactly an experience I want to repeat. I try to back away, then I remember that I'm sitting on a bench. Shoot. I'm stuck here.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Fennel rush over and shove Cape to the side. "Stay away from my brother. Mess with me all you want, but you are not touching Allio."

"What, you know it's true," Cape continues, "You-"

"Shut up!" Fennel says, "I'm just going to take my brother and go home. There's no talking to thick-skulled people like you."

"Thick-skulled? That's funny coming from a person who willingly supports the Capitol."
Fennel ignores Cape. "Come on, let's go."

I get up and follow him, and we leave the schoolyard. The gravel on the road crunches beneath our shoes, and there are some birds overhead.

"Are you okay?" Fennel asks. He seems tired.

"I'm fine. Nothing really happened," I say.

"Next time he messes with you, I'm ending this."

"No, really, I'm fine. He didn't really do anything," I say.

"He was about to."

I sigh. "What were you doing?"
"Oh," he says, "I just had a project idea and I wanted to talk it over with Mr. Fielders."
I shouldn't have doubted him. Of course, he wasn't in trouble; that usually only happens when he gets in fights with Cape.

The gravel crunches underneath our shoes as we walk. Fennel seems to seethe underneath his firm, pressed-together lips, and I keep my mouth shut. As great as he is as a brother, he can get temperamental.

Our house is at the end of the street, and beyond it, the green stalks of grain goes out as far as the eye can see. In District Nine, most of the residents live in small communities of a few hundred people, which are separated from each other by huge swaths of farmland. Each community is required to take care of the fields around it. This makes sense, but I can only wonder what they do in other districts, such as the coal miners in District Twelve. How do they organize their people? I'd love to travel someday, but first, I'd need to explore my own district. I've only been to the central city once — for the reaping last year. It was scary, but it's a necessary evil — at least that's what Dad says. I don't know enough to make up my mind.

I follow Fennel into the house, and he hurries into the back room to change into work clothes. Our house is relatively large compared to most other people. We have the main room, a kitchen, two bathrooms, and three bedrooms, so who am I to complain? Some of my friends at school live in two-room houses. My mom, her brown hair tied back, stands at the kitchen counter, chopping some carrots for dinner tonight, and I go and put my bag down in the kitchen.

"How was school?" she asks, looking up briefly.

I smile. "It was okay."

"Just okay?'

"Yeah." I pause. "Mom?"

"Yes?"

"What do you think about the Capitol?"

She stops cutting. "What?"

"What do you think about the Capitol? I know that Dad supports them, but it seems like everyone else hates it."

"Well," she says, "I don't support it."

"Why not?" It doesn't make sense not to. The main reason we have everything we do is because Dad supports the Capitol. Besides, most of the really anti-Capitol people are criminals. They just burn stuff down and bring in the Peacekeepers.

She sighs. "You'll understand when you get older." She washes her hands and dries them on a towel. The sun in shining in through the kitchen window, and then entire place looks nice. I hear the front door open; Fennel's leaving for work in the fields. Once I'm fourteen, I'll have to do that too. "Do you have homework?" she asks.

I groan. "Can't I go work on the clock?"

"Finish your homework first, okay?"

"Okay," I sigh. Homework sucks. It's so hard to focus on because it's so boring. Oh well. I'd better go get that done.

Ryzee Fleet, 15, District Nine Female

I watch Sonnet draw as she sits on the floor, and I clean up her other toys. Usually, Kezia would be here to babysit with me—and talk when Sonnet doesn't want to play anymore and just draws by herself—, but she had errands to run. She'll stop by with Laelia when I leave, though. We're going over to the market today. In District Nine, six out of seven days of the week are workdays, and the seventh is market day. We don't have school, work, or anything. The Capitol doesn't really care as long as we meet our quotas, and we haven't missed one for the past ten years.

Slightly bored, I sit down beside Sonnet. She's eight, and she's so cute! I smile as she colors in the yellow flowers that grow like weeds here in District Nine. Though she has trouble speaking a lot of the time, she's better at drawing than I am.

The loud roaring of a pickup truck alerts me to the fact that Mrs. Damien, Sonnet's mom, is back. I quickly scan the room one last time for anything I need to clean up. Everything looks okay.

The door squeaks open, and Mrs. Damien enters, holding a burlap bag with some vegetables.

"Hello, Mrs. Damien," I say.

"Hey," she says, "How was Sonnet?"

"She was great," I say, "She's fun."

Mrs. Damien smiles. "I'm glad to hear that." She reaches for her wallet. "I pay you today, correct?"

"Correct," I say as she takes out a few bills and hands them to me. I quickly count them to make sure everything's there. "Thank you."

"No," she says, "Thank you. I don't know what I'd do without you. No one else was available to do this so regularly."

I smile. "Well, I'll get going. I'll see you next week."

"Bye."

"Bye."

I walk out of the house and into the bright sunlight outside. Kezia and Laelia are about a block down, and I wave to get their attention before running to them on the dirt road.

"Hey!" I say.

"Hey," Laelia says, her eyes twinkling, "You'll never guess what I found out!"

"What?" I say. I see Kezia rolling her eyes.

"Guess!"

"Umm… I can't think of anything," I say.

"Lambrick Hopkins asked Vienna out on a date!" she says.

"Lambrick?" I say, "You're kidding!"

"No!" Laelia insists, "It's true!"

"I thought he liked Ambra," I said, "Didn't he?"

"Apparently not," Laelia says, "I think she friend-zoned him."

"Aww… That's so sad. They looked so cute together."

"Yeah," Laelia agrees. Kezia just shrugs. She doesn't seem to care as much.

We stroll down the road, chatting about whatever's going on at school.

"Oh," Kezia says, "You know Ms. Millford? The coordinator at school? She asked me to play a few songs for the opening ceremony of the new school building."

"Congratulations!" I say. "You're so amazing on the fiddle. I could never do that."

We approach a man walking his dog, and the dog barks. Wait, no; not a dog. It's more like a puppy. "That puppy is so cute!" I exclaim, bending down to pet it. I love dogs. They're so adorable, but I'm no good at taking care of them. I've adopted six of them, but they always died or disappeared within a year or two. So, I settle for enjoying other people's dogs. I run my hand through his fur, and he doesn't bark.

"Your dog is adorable," I tell the man. He smiles and thanks me.

Soon, we can hear the busy sounds of the market. It's the place where we get our groceries and meat, but there is so much more there since our community is relatively large, with over a thousand residents. We're the center of a cluster of communities, so we get opportunities other people would never have. We join the crowd and look at the different people selling their goods as we walk by. I stop at a stall selling bracelets.

I pick one up. It's made of round wooden marbles, painted a glorious shade of blue and strung together. "It's so pretty!" I look to the old woman at the stand. "Oh, you don't mind me picking it up, right?"

She smiles. "Go ahead, sweetie," she says.

I turn to Kezia. "This would totally match you!"

She flashes a smile. "Thanks, but I'm good."

I put the bracelet back down. I so wish I could get it, but we can't throw away money on everything I want. If we did that, we'd be broke. "Thanks," I say to the woman before turning back to my friends.

"My mom asked me to get some potatoes," Laelia says.

"Okay," I say. I stop walking and look around. "Which way…"

"Follow me," Kezia says. She knows this place the best as she lives one street down, so we follow her. I have to say, she's got an amazing memory. I could never remember this. Well, maybe I could. I just don't try to. That's what my teachers always say, but honestly, I don't have a chance, even if I did try my hardest. Only the people at the top of the socioeconomic ladder have any hope in this sick world.

We make our way through the market. Laelia quickly gets her potatoes, and we follow Kezia out of the winding streets.

"Your memory is so amazing," I say as we exit, "I go for five minutes and I don't know where I am."

I jump at a sudden pounding down the road. A group of Peacekeepers has gathered at the door of a house. This is common here in Nine, with all the moonshine and everything. Some people completely despise these Peacekeepers for getting involved, but personally, I'm kind of glad. I've heard enough stories of people dying from moonshine, and if you look at the statistics, a person in District Nine is much more likely to die from toxic moonshine than from the Games, Peacekeepers, and all Capitol interferences combined. It has to mean something when we're killing more of our own people than the Capitol is. Still, so many people seem to hate Peacekeepers. Life must be hard for them. I don't know why they're doing this job, but they signed up to be spat on for keeping order. Of course, I'm not saying that everything with the Capitol is good; only a sick freak would enjoy the Hunger Games, but seriously, cut the officials and Peacekeepers some slack.

We turn around. We'll have to find a different route to Laelia's house.

Questions:

1. Thoughts on Allio? Did you have any expectations for him? How did the actual character measure up?

2. Ryzee is a kind of character I've never had to write before, so I'm interested as to how I did. What was your impression of her and personality?

3. Do you remember the previous tributes? If so, which ones?

4. Enough questions about the story. How are you doing? Busy? Not busy? How's life going?

5. How obvious was it that my writing's rusty? Any ideas on how to un-rust it?

A/N Winter break is here for me, so I aim to complete two more chapters before the new year…. Hope that works.

See y'all,

~Joseph