District 5

2 days before the reaping

Aleksandar 'Alek' Boltzmann 18

"Raise" Neeme states with her evil beady eyes.

Neeme is the greatest poker player in the District and she almost seemed insulted when I challenged her a few hours ago.

"Fold" Nino says

He is the last player to fold other than me and Neeme. I can see it in her eyes, she is expecting me to do the same but I know she is bluffing, I know by deductive reasoning… I think.

To match her raise would cost all the money I have left but I don't like losing besides, I know I can beat whatever she's got with my full house.

"All in" I state confidently

I place my hands behind my head and rest my feet on the table cockily. She looks at me with both anger and mischief, shocked by my attitude.

With a smile on her face she then reveals her hand as a straight. I keep my confidence and reveal my full house.

"Looks like you owe me a lot of money" She laughs

"What are you talking about? A full house beats a straight" I argue

Everyone looks at each other confused.

"No, a royal flush beats a straight flush" Nino says

"Exactly and a straight flush beats a four of a kind" Neeme says

"No a four of a kind beats a full house but a full house beats a straight" I add

Everyone now just looks more confused than before.

"That may be so but there's three of us and only one of you" Neeme threatens as they all stand up

"Alright but I've got an ace in hole" I state while pulling out my gun

With my gun, I order them to hand me all the money that they owe me. I swing the bag of money around my shoulder.

"Well, I better be off…we should do this again sometime it was fun" I say smugly

"I'm free Wednesdays" Nino replies

I mainly said that to be clever but I guess Nino didn't catch on. With that I leap through the door into the dark night and race towards my home. I am careful to avoid Peacekeepers roaming the streets, they will probably be wondering what a young man like me with a bag on his shoulder is doing out at this time.

I finally find myself at home, entering through the back door quietly. I dump the bag of money on the table and with a laugh pop open a beer.

"Alek!" My mom's voice makes my heart jump.

"What are you up to?" My dad asks, entering the kitchen.

He walks over to the bag to check what's inside it.

"I knew it! You've been playing poker again haven't you!"

"Maybe"

"We told you to stop doing this Alek!" mom orders

"Why? I know I can win…I'm just that good and I'm bringing the family in more money" I reply

"You can't win every game and who's going to pay them if you lose?" My dad replies

I shrug and walk past them.

"Isn't that the point in having rich parents?" I state, patting my dad on the shoulder.

Neither of them answer me, they know they can't control me anymore and so do I! My brother kind of hates me for it as well.

"Night ma…night paps" I yell

With that I take myself to bed, another successful day! I throw myself onto my bed and stare up at the ceiling, life is good and nothing could possibly go wrong right?

Emmanuela "Emmy" Ruby Chai 15

Reaping day

My eyes slide opens to the sound of my alarm. I force myself out of bed, I stretch out my arms and let out a yawn before feeling the scars on my face from where I had chicken pox. Then I remember! It's the hunger games today! I know I supposed to be scared about that but in truth I'm not, I never have been really. I despise the careers, they've killed so many people from my district! My first crush died last year to the boy from district 2, I still haven't got over that! They are nothing but a bunch of psychopaths who get a kick out of slaughtering innocent children. So no, I wouldn't be that sad if I got reaped because it would give a shot at killing one of two of those murderous psychos! I don't necessarily think that killing is always wrong I don't think but you have to have a good reason to do it I guess.

I head to my wardrobe and pull out a green dress to wear to the reaping's. After I have put it on I head downstairs. My sister Moon is already there, looking impatient.

"You're late as usual" She tells me

"Emmy is never late

Emmy decides when to come

Because that is Emmy's fate"

She rolls her eyes. She is used to the weird way I talk…I think.

Dad walks with us to the reaping's, wearing a smart suit. Ever since our mum died me and Moon have been making money by setting up fake séances and getting grieving family members to think that they are communicating with their dead loved ones. I'm not really proud of it but you gotta make money somehow right?

We arrive at the reaping square slightly late, Moon is still obsessed with the fact that it's somehow my fault.

Sam Donnelly is waiting for us, I think me and Moon are his only friends but we form a kind of strange trio I guess.

"Good to see you guys" He says to us

"Well we would have been here earlier if it wasn't for Emmy" Moon replies

"If she has a date then Emmy is never late" I say

"Why can't you just talk normally" Moon sighs

Finally, the reaping's are about to start. We get our fingers pricked and wait in our age groups. Our escort starts by picking out the boy's name first.

"Aleksandar Boltzmann"

A young man appears out of the 18-year-old section. He is tall and slim (probably about 5'11), he has shoulder length brown hair and his eyes are a bluey-grey color. He seems to try and act confident, but deep inside I know he is probably scared shitless and wanting to cry. I always find it intriguing, people's reactions to get reaped, knowing that they will have to kill others if they are ever going to have a chance to live a full life. Many of the families that we pretend to help have had their loved ones die in the hunger games. It means I also have had to watch past hunger games to do my research.

The escort picks a name out of the girl's bowl.

"Emmanuela Ruby Chai"

What! I can't believe it's actually me! I shuff le forward to the front and join Aleksandar. I struggle to hold back my tears. So this is how it feels to get reaped? Now I know what my own reaction would be at least. I take a deep breath and clear my throat.

"Oh no I've been reaped, for all the cameras to see

But soon at least, dead the careers will be" I announce

Hey guys as you can see these chapters are getting shorter and shorter however it does mean we will get to the games quicker so there's that! It's not that I have anything against these tributes it's just that I'm getting tired of writing these chapters. Also there are still 5 spaces available in this syot so that would be greatly appreciated if you could submit. I can't do any more chapters until I have at least 1 or 2 of them. Thankyou!

Thank you to RakTurtle and contemporarydancer2 for these two tributes!

Theme songs:

Alek:

Emmy: No Roots by Alice Morten