Lumen Orlaith from District 3
Victor of the Twelfth Annual Hunger Games
Part 1
At first, he slept in dusty parks and wandered through the streets,
Homeless and forgotten, dirty clothes and bloody feet.
He rummaged through the trash and scrounged for any kind of food,
Taking shelter anywhere with any solitude.
His name was Lumen Orlaith and he never cracked a smile,
Searching through the paper books in take-one-leave-one piles.
The strangers passed and glared at him, as though he was a bug,
A stupid little ugly thing that no one really loved.
At noon, he spent a dollar bill to get a tasty treat.
(He kept his bills beneath his coat to keep them dry and neat).
The evening swept across the sky, a sweeping wave of pink,
And Lumen wandered toward the pond to get a little drink.
In District 3, the homeless children fended for themselves,
Raiding trash and rarely seeking one another's help.
The Capitol had killed their parents years and years before;
Soldiers or civilians that felt the wrath of war.
His sleeping bag was stolen when somebody waved a gun,
And Lumen dropped it on the ground to give him time to run.
The only thing that scared him now was living life in pain.
It wasn't death that scared him; it was peacekeepers and trains.
The reaping was the only time he cleaned himself each year:
He shaved his face with rusty razors, then he combed his hair.
The mayor gave a speech before the escort drew the names;
His spiel described the pageant that they called the Hunger Games.
As punishment for rising up, rebelling 'gainst the state,
The Capitol demanded that they pay the price of hate.
The districts of Panem selected one young man and woman,
Taken to the Capitol and forced to kill each other.
The escort grabbed a sheet of paper firmly in her grasp.
The girls within the audience let out a little gasp.
She read the name, and right away a girl began to cry,
A girl named Gadget Ryan who had chestnut hair and eyes.
It now was time to choose a boy; the square drew in a breath.
The name was "Lumen Orlaith", and he stumbled toward his death,
Dodging looks of pity that the others sent his way.
His eyes were firmly locked upon the looming wooden stage.
An hour passed, but Lumen didn't have a single guest;
He had no friends or loved ones, so he took the time to rest.
And really, what was he, to be expecting meets-and-greets?
A homeless boy with matted hair who lived upon the streets.
The train was filled with tongueless servants and with plates of food.
He swallowed every bite before he took the time to chew.
The Capitol would soon be near, and so he was inclined
To think about the homeless life that he had left behind.
Every day was torture, and a struggle to survive,
But now he lived in luxury, with fancy cakes and pies.
A welcome change; but then he'd have to go into the games,
The terrifying scuffle where his life could well be claimed.
He saw the towers looming on the mountainous horizon,
And Lumen watched the city that the train would soon arrive in.
Surviving was his second nature; maybe he could win.
He felt the train slow down and whispered, "Let the games begin."
Part 2
The first day in the Capitol, he stuffed himself with food,
Watching all the city's colors: yellows, pinks, and blues.
He thought and talked and ate a lot, he hoped and wished and prayed.
Tonight, he would be live on air; the night of the parade.
His district partner, Gadget, seemed in awful mental health;
She cried and cried and paced around and whispered to herself.
And Lumen tried to comfort her, reduce her sense of fear,
But Gadget only turned away whenever he came near.
She must have been a wealthy girl, the homeless Lumen thought;
She ate her food politely like her parents owned a yacht.
There weren't many wealthy families in District 3,
But Lumen thought, she's clearly so much wealthier than me.
That night, their stylists dressed them in a net of tangled wires,
A flashy, shiny costume that the viewers all admired.
And after the parade was over, it was time for training:
Three straight days of learning, fighting, practicing, and gaining.
He focused on the weapons, like the axes and the knives;
He knew already what he had to know to stay alive:
Eating plants and building fires? Purifying water?
Been there, done that, Lumen thought as he learned how to slaughter.
Training days were over now, and now it was his turn
To show off to the gamemakers the things that he had learned.
They watched him closely while he toyed with firewood and knives;
All the things he'd taught himself to help him stay alive.
Gadget scored a four, while Lumen scored a healthy five.
The sponsors started gambling who they thought would stay alive.
He wasn't much, but he was fierce, and he was deeply skilled;
The only thing that worried him was who he'd have to kill.
The only districts he ruled out were Districts 8 and 12;
Their tributes were all poor, and they were dirty and they smelled.
The girl from 2, Lycinia, would be a big contender.
In this year's pack – the great careers – she'd be the strongest member.
He wondered if the others shared his life of scraps and streets,
Calling home whatever place he had to set his feet.
He took his time observing them and wondered in his head
How he'd survive while all other tributes were, well, dead.
His interview was Lumen's chance to make a great impression.
It wasn't long; each tribute had a short three-minute session.
His stylist gave him, once again, a wiry silver outfit
And on the stage, the master, Caius, asked him all about it.
He panicked slightly at the sight of such a massive crowd.
They all were dressed like idiots, in colors bright and loud.
Caius laughed, and always cheered at all of Lumen's jokes:
The interview went well and gave him quite a lot of hope.
The room in which the games began was small and underground,
A little place with padded walls and cameras all around.
A countdown started, ticking downward: sixty seconds left.
His heart began to pound as Lumen broke into a sweat.
The boy from District 3 had what it takes to stay alive,
But, just as much, the others would be fighting to survive.
Only time would tell if he could make it through the day.
He smiled a bit; this was a game that he knew how to play.
Part 3
The sun was hot, the sky was clear, the wind was faint and slow.
It would have been a lovely day if not for, well, you know:
The games would soon begin, and then his life would be at risk.
He saw the girl from 7 and the boy from District 6.
They were on either side of Lumen, flanking him like guards.
He saw the gears inside their minds, their scared and broken parts.
The tributes all looked scared; this was a scary place to be,
They stared ahead and glanced around to see what they could see.
They stood within a giant junkyard, spreading far and wide:
A million miles of endless piles of garbage, steel, the like:
A mound of tires here and there, a mountain made of cars,
A broken forklift, shattered glass, a lake of filthy tar.
The games began, but Lumen didn't run into the fray;
He only quickly turned around and sprinted fast away.
He heard the screams, the sprays of blood, but didn't look behind;
He only rummaged through the junk to see what he could find.
A rusty sword, an axe, some food, a hidden stash of knives:
The only things he needed in the games to stay alive.
Eleven cannon shots then pierced the silence of the day:
The fierce careers had triumphed, and they'd soon be on their way.
So Lumen armed himself and then began to find some shelter.
The sun was getting hotter and the boy began to swelter:
He saw another boy at noon but jumped out of his way;
He wasn't in the mood for combat. Later, not today.
When night began, he crawled inside an old abandoned truck;
A hidden place, and full of rats, and gunk and trash and rust.
It felt a lot like alley nights and garbage days back home:
He had no place to live, and yet a hundred miles to roam.
It wasn't till the second day that Lumen made a kill,
Beating up the girl from 8, the little girl named Twill.
She wandered in the truck, and Lumen hit her with a brick,
And then he stabbed her with his knife to kill her nice and quick.
The next few days were brutal; fires spread, and wild mutts.
Garbage burned and billowed smoke that covered up the sun.
That night, the gamemakers sent giant rats the size of cars
To tear apart the tributes under cover of the dark.
Our Lumen didn't know it, but the giants were a blessing;
They killed the whole career alliance, bloody, wild, messy.
His district partner Gadget's face was in the sky that night;
The boy from 7 ambushed her. She died without a fight.
By Day 11, only three competitors remained:
The boys from 6 and 7, and, of course, our leading man.
Lumen watched with terror as the fires blazed once more,
Forcing the remaining tributes closer to the horn.
Lumen and boy from 7 clashed that very day,
Fighting for a quarter hour while the fire raged.
The hatchet boy was powerful, but Lumen's strength was higher;
He hit him with a rusty tool and made his cannon fire.
The games were over quickly, for the boy from District 6
Was battered, bruised, and bloody from a fallen mound of bricks.
So Lumen Orlaith took him down while coughing from the flames;
The homeless boy from District 3 had won the Hunger Games.
The boy who trusted nobody, the boy who was alone,
The boy without a single little thing to call his own:
He now was a celebrity; his new life had begun.
Although the games were over, Lumen's fight was far from done.
List of Victors
District 1 (2 Victors): Luxor Dodge (1st), Citrine Whitacre (9th)
District 2 (2 Victors): Tyrell Crowley (3rd), Lancaster Percy (6th)
District 3 (1 Victor): Lumen Orlaith (12th)
District 4 (1 Victor): Mags Flanagan (11th)
District 5 (1 Victor): Electra Wilty (4th)
District 6 (1 Victor): Jaguar Stratton (7th)
District 7 (1 Victor): Rowan Dobson (2nd)
District 8 (1 Victor): Georgio Bronte (8th)
District 9 (0 Victors):
District 10 (0 Victors):
District 11 (1 Victor): Bluebell Singer (5th)
District 12 (1 Victor): Canary Roselock (10th)
A/N: Hope you enjoyed reading about Lumen, the victor of the twelfth Hunger Games (: I've been getting into poetry lately and wanted to try writing an entire chapter in verse. Please let me know how I did. Stay tuned for more chapters!