District 9 Reapings

Dreama Miane

I sit in my chair that I place by my window, staring at the faint reflection looking back at me. I move closer to the window so that I have an easier time seeing through it and then let my mind wander to all of the things that I see.

As a blue jay happily singing in a tree next to my house, I wonder what tune it'll sing as its death throes.

I notice it staring contently at its young as they fight over a few worms. I look at the worms trying to wriggle and survive the juvenile animal's attack. I giggle as each one of the worms stop moving. They're dead.

I look at a little kid getting ganged up on by three bigger boys. He's getting pummeled pretty badly, but it doesn't hold my interest. There isn't any blood, they're only trying to scare the kid and hurt him for fun. He won't even be rushed to the emergency room; he'll be fine in a few days. Psychologically he may be destroyed, but I'm not interested in that.

As I fantasize about the boy getting beaten to death instead of just a mild beating, gunshots ring out that scare away all of the birds and kids away.

I jerk my head in the direction of the noise and see a young child with a pack of bread in his hand. And he's bleeding from the stomach! I listen to a few more gun shots and realize that those Peacekeepers chasing the boy are pretty far behind him. Come on, hurry up! Catch him!

My hopes are dashed as the kid hides in some bushes on a right turn. By the time the Peacekeepers arrive, they think he went right. The child runs away in the opposite direction. Plus thee wound isn't even fatal. And here I was picturing that kid getting turned into a beehive. That would have been just… so… cool!

In my point of view, I mean. Hardly anyone in a loser District like District 9 finds any pleasure out of death. But I'm not everyone, I'm me. The girl that has a mother that's terrified of her.

We've never been close ever since I was six-years-old and told her what I wanted to do when I was older. I told her something along the lines of:

Mommy, when I'm older, I wanna volunteer in the Hunger Games and kill everyone!

In an excited voice. Ever since then, she's pretty much shut herself away from me and pretends that she's a single woman without any kids. She has as much interest in mothering me as I do in interacting with people. In the end, she just wants me to go away forever.

As for people, they aren't interesting at all. All of that crap about how it's good for you to make friends is meaningless to me. The only way a person could peek my interest is if they're getting killed.

I love death! It's amazing to watch someone get killed; it excites me to no end. It's so enthrall ing, just watching the life fade away from someone's I have to stay quiet about my interest because I hate being looked down on. That's all anyone around here does. They look down on the only thing that I love.

If only I could be Reaped for the Hunger Games, it would be amazing! I mean if killing is so wrong than would the deaths of twenty-five teens be shown to an entire country. Plus the fact that the number of people getting killed is gonna be doubled; genius! Just genius!

I'd volunteer, but like I said I hate to be looked down on. Suddenly I hear the door slam shut and look at the clock. The Reapings are going to start up soon. Typical mother, never even willing to give me the time of day, and this time literally. Good thing I'm already dressed. I go through the door wearing a white lace dress with black trimmings, my black heels tapping on the stone walkway.

I take a walk and look at one of the many grain fields littering District 9. Along with Districts 10 and 11, we're the ones pretty much keeping Panem alive. It would be rather interesting if some of the grain fields were lit on fire and a few people had to starve to death. I mean I'd probably see it in the newspaper only if it was in another District, but it could happen here. Then again, it isn't the most exciting thing's to watch. It's still fun, but not as enjoyable as say a spear to the heart or an axe to the neck.

I almost bump into someone as I come out of my fantasies. I've already gotten to the square. And the speech has just started.

I look up at the escort Cardiger and I'm immediately disgusted. He has his hair dyed black; he has fangs, red eyes, and a symbol of an hourglass on his stomach. Just like a spider. I hate spiders, they're absolutely disgusting. People think death is scary, what about a little eight-legged monster that makes webbing and sucks the blood out of things? That's downright nightmarish!

Cardiger reaches into the Reaping bowl and digs out the name of some lucky kid who's probably going to whine and cry about being part of the great thing in Panem!

"Dreama Miane!"

"…" I don't say anything, I can't because I'm too happy! I'm doing everything I can just to keep from jump for joy and scream "Thank you, thank you so much! Oh my God! I'm gonna kill people *Shrieks*" I can barely contain my excitement.

I calmly walk up the stage. No laughter, no cheering, just a march up the steps. I'm heading to the Games to kill people… I'm so excited!

Twiff Lorrie

I walk out of my room early in the morning, as I tie my long blond hair into a messy bun. The sun is still rising and it's dark out, almost like it's night time. Very similar to dusk. I can even see the moon in the sky. This morning sky is strikingly similar to the late afternoon sky that me and Jessamine played under two years, twenty-eight days, four hours, and thirty-two minutes ago.

Sometimes I amaze myself with how easily I can remember things. Such as that flower on my window sill. On quick glance let me know that it had exactly fifty-three petals. Can also tell in just an instant that it grew five inches within the last year by comparing the flower I see now to the one I remember from last year. That's just a natural talent of mine.

First, I tiptoe into my brother Saxon's room and nudge him awake.

"Wh… what is it…?" He says groggily.

"We need to get food Saxon. The fridge is empty again." Saxon drags himself out of bed and puts some shoes on. He doesn't need to get changed, because he's already prepared for this sort of thing. We both wear regular clothes to bed in case we need to get up to get food. Most mornings we do.

Saxon splashes some water on his face to wake himself up and the two of us leave the house.

We walk a short trek to the house next to mine to ask Jessamine to join us, but we notice that she is sitting at her steps. Her hair has grown a half inch in the last week. A girl's hair sure does grow faster than a boy's. My brother's hair has only grown one eight of an inch.

"Hey Jessamine, how's it going? You knew that we were coming out this morning?"

"No, I kind of just guessed. With how our families have been holding up, and how long the food in our house lsted, I assumed that all three of us needed food. I wouldn't mind being wrong about it most of the time." Jessamine and I… well our families are at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to money. We're dirt poor, and we're always running out of the little food that our families can actually afford. This isn't anything that'll last forever. If there's anything that I have to be worried about, it definitely isn't, but thanks to my talent, I've gotten us enough food so that we can survive.

Super-Autobiographical memory, also known as photographic memory. I discovered when I was nine that I remembered everything just by looking at everything once. Not in the sense that I memorized something like a different language I read or the stitching pattern on a sweater like normal people do. I think.

Anyway, I remembered all sorts of minor details like one time, a person in class handed in a test he failed with a near perfect signature that had everyone fooled. I wasn't fooled. I thought about the image he had from when he failed another test and could tell right away that it was different. Things like the spacing and the slanting of the letters were all off, but I never told on him. I'd never want something like that to happen to me, besides people learn from their errors. I bet he'll learn to study for his tests someday.

By the time the three of us enter the merchant part of the District and look around to see that all of the shops are open, and the sun is high in the sky, shining over District 9. The shops are guarded twenty-four/seven by Peacekeepers to make sure that nobody steals any food, which we plan to do.

We have to be careful when we're stealing. I got caught doing it once and I was left with scars from a whip after I was punished. I was put in front on a mirror so that I could watch as the two Peacekeepers lashed at my back. I learned my lesson that day. Never piss off a Peacekeeper, they can be vicious.

The three of us still steal, and I'm more careful with the Peacekeeper's guard shifts. I noticed gaps in the schedule when food is left unguarded and ours for the taking. After handing each of them a sack to be used for storing food, I direct Saxon to a crate full of oranges a few shops down, and I direct Jessamine to a butchery where Peacekeepers on guard won't be around for a solid ten minutes.

As for me, I wait and watch a vegetable vendor's security. I hide behind another shop until the guards on duty leave, and when they do, I breathe a sigh of relief. I'm terrible at waiting for things. I always get all anxious and fidgety when I do.

I quickly steal a few carrots, a head of lettuce, some stalks of our Districts main produce, I'm sure to fill the sack that I brought with whatever I can before leaving and meeting up with Saxon and Jessamine. We exchange our food so that Jessamine has some oranges, meat, and some of the vegetables that we gathered, and so we do as well.

Those two are the only ones that know about my photographic memory. I'd trust them with any secret.

We head back to our homes and go to our own houses. Saxon and I stock up our fridge and wait for our parents to get up to get us food. They don't approve of what we do, and neither do Jessamine's parents. But it's the only way. We'll, that's one thing out of the way, and next come the Reapings. I just hope that the speeches aren't as dragged out as speeches in say the Reapings for the 148th Hunger Games, or the 199th Hunger Games. And especially not like the Reaping for the 202nd Hunger Games.

"Dreama Miane!" A girl with wavy blond hair going down to her shoulders and tanned skin splashed with a few freckles on her face walks up after name is called. As she walks up, something just doesn't feel right. I don't know what it is, but I know that this girl is different from anyone I've ever met.

There is something that seems to unnerve me in the image of her I see when she walks up, but I can't place my finger on it. It's right there, I just need to focus-

"Twiff Lorie!" My concentration is broken as I hear my name called out. No… I'm a tribute. I can feel my face go pale and images flash through my mind. Images of every death from every Hunger Games that I've ever seen. A girl getting her head chopped off, a small boy torn apart by a pack of wolves, a boy getting impaled by spikes… but then I remember how first impressions are important. Tributes who appear weak get the lowest sponsor points.

Instead of crying like any person who hated the Hunger Games and was as terrified of them as I was would do, I smile. I stand tall, cock my head, and put on a happy smile. It's fake of course, but I need sponsor money.

After getting on stage and standing next to Dreama, I see something that's missing from when I first saw her. Something that she was trying to control. The side of her mouth was twitching… she was trying not to smile. Plus her body language wasn't anything like that of someone who was scared of entering the Games. It wasn't even that of someone who didn't care. She had a spring in her step, one ever so small, that has me nervous for my own safety in the Hunger Games.

"Cory Mathis!" Cardiger Reaps a small child that walks on stage with tears in his eyes. I feel so bad for him. There are no such things as volunteers in District 9. Only a choice few who wanted to rescue their sibling or best friend, or a few other unique cases. The odds are extremely low here-

"I volunteer!" Though as unlikely as it seems, it still just happened.

Nimbus Blaire

I can feel them all, every single one. Every eye in my District looking at me. Every person in all of Panem watching me as I step up the stairs to face my destiny.

I spent over an hour with my mom making sure that I looked my best. You've got to take pride in your looks, right? Especially when an entire country is looking at you.

As I stand on the stage and introduce myself, I feel a bit of shock at all of this. In truth, I never imagined that I'd be a career entering the Hunger Games. Heck, this is District 9. Asking if we have careers is about as obvious a question as asking if we've run out of grain.

This was something my mother wanted, and she's really been pushing for this for the past few years and managed to convince me to train. Somehow she even managed to get her hands on some weapons for me to train with. I never asked how, and I really didn't want to know the lengths that she went through to get them.

She's kind of become a bit obsessive for having me win the Games, but that's mainly because of what happened to my older brother Vence. He was Reaped for the Hunger Games at age fourteen and immediately slaughtered at the bloodbath. Thank God I turned away in time to avoid it all, but my mother wasn't as lucky. She just watched what happened. She has told me that the few seconds it took for her own child to die were the longest seconds of her life.

I've been training to get revenge for her. It's kind of twisted when I think about it. She really just wants me to become a winner so that the other Districts can lose. She wants the families of the kids that are Reaped to feel the same pain that she's felt for the past six years, and I'm the one that's going to get it for her.

She certainly still cares about me, and more than anything wants me to come back, but she was scarred for life after losing for oldest son. After that, she went into serious depression and had seemed to lose purpose in life. No matter what me, my sister Alexis, or even my younger brother Norris could cheer her up. She just became obsessed about my brother. I can only hope that me winning will bring her some peace.

I'm not really into the Hunger Games, but being famous is something that I don't really mind. I'm gonna be the best of the best in the Career pack, I'm sure of it.

Before I know it, I'm dragged off by the Peacekeepers along with Dreama, Twill, and… and… someone else. A sixteen year old guy who looks pissed, even a little freaked out. Someone with brown eyes, a dark skin tone, and black hair who's tall and looks pretty strong. I wasn't paying attention to him, when he was Reaped. Whatever, I'll learn his name soon enough.

I'm escorted to my waiting room and my entire family runs in. My bro Norris runs into the waaiting room like a speeding bullet and tackles me in a hug. He's only seven, and he doesn't really know what's going on.

"Nimbus, Nimbus, did you see me? I was waving to you in the crowd! Did you see me, huh? Did you?"

"Hahaha, calm down, I'm afraid I didn't see you." Norris pouts when he hears this. I guess he really likes the attention that I give him.

"But I can see you now." I tell him jokingly.

"That doesn't count, you can see me this close any time, like I can see you. When am I gonna see you again Nimbus? Mommy says you're going away." I try to think of an answer that would satisfy him, but he'll just ask another question so I can keep talking to him. He loves it when someone gives him attention, including me.

"He'll be back in a few weeks, alright? Now hug your brother goodbye and let me speak with him, alright?" My mother tells Norris with an authoritive tone. She hasn't been anywhere near motherly for years.

Norris gives me a quick hug and runs out to some friends.

"Nimbus." I turn my head to see a very sternlooking woman with her hands behind my back. Standing behind her is my sister Alexis, as is she's waiting on a line to see me.

"Yes Ma'am-er Mom?" I can't count the number of times I've accidentally called my own mother 'Ma'am'. She really acts that serious.

"Remember, why you're going into that arena."

"To win. That's my only goal. I know alright, I'll be back before you know it. Honest." Then, for the first time in years my mother smiles. I can't even remember the last time she did that.

"Good. I'm glad you understand. Fight hard, and make sure to come back." And with a goodbye about as warm as a block of ice, my mother leaves. My sister comes in to say goodbye and just babbles on about some gossip going on at school. A typical teenage girl, who loves her drama.

Then, my friends come in and the three of us strike up a conversation. Roman is very funny, joking about how my best friend is my own mirror, and Amber and Ethan are supportive, but I'm the one that has to hold up the bulk of the conversation. I guess they're worried about what'll happen to me.

"No need to worry guys," I tell them "I'm coming home no matter what."

Orion Greenleaf

A healthy body is a happy body. I've always been an active guy in sports and I manage to stay in pretty great shape. I play basketball, soccer, baseball, anything that manages to get my blood pumping. I love spending my time playing with my friends, and I'm happy for my physical health. I just wish that I can get along with people better.

I try my best to help out my friends with any trouble that they have. I enjoy making people happy, who wouldn't? Of course, there are limits to that.

I don't really like helping people if they're needs get in my way. I can't help someone every time they have some major issue. The say that I'm not a true friend for not helping me, but it's not like it's my fault that I happen to be busy when they have problems. It's just an unfortunate coincidence.

Enough thinking, it's time for some sports.

I run near the fence at my house, drop a soccer ball and start kicking it into the fence. Each time it ces off, I run to kick it again. It's good practice and it's just pretty fun to do.

As I kick, I miss the ball a few times, but manage to keep it up for the next hour. I'm not particularly fast, but I've always had good endurance.

While I'm kicking, the clock in my house goes off ten times. Ten o'clock, I have to get ready for the Reapings.

If I could skip the Reapings, I would, but everyone knows about the harsh punishments that you receive for missing them. I hate the Reapings, they're a major waste of my time. I don't like it when I have to do pointless things like this when I could be doing much more worthwhile things with my valuable time, like doing more sports.

Well I am not getting whipped, or whatever kind of horrible torture systems they have set up for District 9. There have been issues with rebels recently, and things have gotten a lot more strict, and I don't want to have to endure anything crazy like having my skin burned or getting cut or anything! That is never going to happen to me!

Damn, these Reapings had better go by fast, I don't like being around all of these people.

"Dreama Miane!" A tanned girl walks calmly up the stage. Nothing is out of the ordinary, but something… doesn't seem normal about her. It's probably just my imagination.

Cardiger digs out the next victim from the bowl without even asking for volunteers. I doubt he'll get into any trouble for that considering there are literally no volunteers from District 9. That Capitol would only care if it happened in one of the Career Districts.

"Twiff Lorie!" A tall, athletic looking girl with a messy hair bun walks up next, uneventfully. She's just as calm as Dreama.

"Cory Mathis!" A small boy starts walking on stage, but not before I here someone shouting something. To my surprise, it's a volunteer. He steps on stage and introduces himself as Nimbs Blaire and seems excited to be there. Alright, one more guy and this whole thing is over.

"Orion Greenleaf!" What! What! I'm a tribute… you've gotta be kidding me!

I step onto the stage reluctantly, to avoid any punishment, but I don't make an effort to hide my anger. This is the worst possible situation for someone like me. I'm terrified of pain, and not like anyone else. For me it's a phobia, like someone being scared of heights, or water.

Dammit, no choice, I'm gonna have to win. I don't like people, so fighting them shouldn't be a problem. I'm strong, I've been playing sports for years, so I can outmuscle anyone whenever I want. I just have to hope that I can avoid getting hurt…

Name: Dreama Miane

Age: 16

District #: 9

Personality: She is a quiet girl who likes to blend into the background of life. Dreama sticks to herself and isolates herself from everyone else in her district. She hides herself away, but she doesn't mind. Dreama lives in her own, deranged mind. She is always thinking dark thoughts, and is the kind of person who wonders how someone would react if she tried to kill them. She loved the hunger games and has always wanted to participate. She keeps quiet about her obsession with them because it is looked down upon in distirct 9, and if she was reaped, she would want to be able to have the control to not scream in excitment. She is slightly crazed, and has always wanted to let loose, and just kill.

Appearance: She has waves of gold hair that reach a little past her shoulders. Her skin has a slight tan and she had a few freckles on her nose. Her eyes are a light blue, and people feel like she is a little strange when they look at her, though not many can really place their feelings.

Name: Twiff Lorrie

Age: 14

District #: 10

Personality:First off, Twiff has an extremely rare thing called Super-Autobiographical Memory (it's real, you can google it). This is where she remembers every single thing that has happened to her at every single minute of every hour of every day of her life. You can ask her what she was doing at exactly 2pm 93 days ago and she will know exactly. Along with having this ability, she is obsessive, a serious coin collector and is left handed. As a result of remembering everything, a series of random facts have stored infintly in her mind and she is freaky smart. Besides her ability, Twiff is a very positive and optimistic person, but also stubborn, persistent and determined when she sets her mind to something. Tends to be friendly, but from a distance is sometimes judgemental - remembering specific people in her mind has given her insight into what actions define what sort of people and so she can tell who to stay away from.

Appearance:Very tall with a naturally strong, athletic build, broad shoulders and long legs. Her skin is tanned. Twiff's hair is sand blonde with a tinge of red; it's very long, but she keeps it tied up in a messy bun. Her eyes are a deep hazel than switches between green and brown depending on the lighting. She has an angular face with high cheek bones and thin lips. Twiff also has a series of scars on her back from being whipped by peacekeepers.

Name: Nimbus Blaire

Age: 17

District: 9

Personality: He's a nice enough person, if a bit vain. He loves being the centre of attention and hates being second in anything. He's not the brightest of people, but has an amazing memory. He's super honest and doesn't like to sugar coat things but, at the same time, hates to hurt people's feelings. He's different around girls to boys – with girls he tends to be gentler but with boys he's rowdier and louder.

Appearance: Dark hair cut quite shaggily with a fringe over his right eye. Large, bright greeny-blue eyes with wide pupils. He's got soft features – a ski-slope nose and undefined cheek bones. He's quite tall, and fairly muscular with wide shoulders and a slim waist.

Name: Orion Greenleaf

Age: 16

District: 9

Personality: Orion is a very "alpha male" type of guy. He likes to take charge, and has serious issues letting other people control the situation. He is definitely a loud mouth, and tends to demean those around him. He isn't a 'people person' and doesn't really know how to act 'friendly' with someone. If he doesn't like someone, he makes it perfectly clear to them, and all of Panem, for that matter.

Appearance: Short, black hair and dark skin. Tall and muscular.