Calix Lare, 16, District Nine

Calix feels the warmth of his bed cover engulfing him in a comforting hug. He can't help but smile as he tries to adjust his body to a comfortable position.

Suddenly Calix feels a sting, a terrible one. It hurts. His eyes tear open and all he can see is grey, not the colorful and happy home he once lived in, but… a grey and dull room.

Trying hard to get rid of the blurry vision, Calix slaps his face.

Damn it, now he remembers.

He notices the tubes stuck in his arm and the bandages covering his forehead.

He's not at home, is he? No, he's in a hospital.

Well, Calix can't say that he is surprised. He wound up here many times before, every time because of the same scenario: People piss him off, his attitude comes into play, it pisses them off, they get into a fight, either he or they end up in bandages.

This time it was him who got the shorter end of the stick.

Calix's boldness always gets the better of him.

He's just not good at keeping his thoughts to himself. And once he has thought it, he usually has already said it before he can stop himself. Calix absolutely detests that about himself and wishes he had better control over his impulses, but he doesn't, and that's a fact.

It's just that when he saw these drunken bastards on the street, he couldn't help but throw in a snarky comment or two. He really didn't mean for them to hear. Sadly, they did.

There were three of them. They were big and strong and weren't here to play games.

Trying to throw in a punch, the first one dashed forward at him. Calix evaded it, grabbing the idiot's arm, twisting it till it cracked and then finally pushed the bastard aside, as the next one came forward to get his share.

Calix is used to it. Drunk people are usually the easiest to best. They have no rhythm, no strategy, no nothing. They just jump at you, thinking that by some miracle, you'll just dangle there like a punching bag.

Calix was no damn punching bag.

As the other two drunks were keeping him occupied, the third one got up from the floor and surprised Calix from behind, wrapping him in a constraining hug, rendering him defenseless.

Calix fought and struggled and desperately tried to loosen the drunk's grip but he just wouldn't give in. As the other two started punching and kicking him, he knew he was done for.

After they had finished him off, he just lay there lifeless like a corpse.

And now here he is, waking up in this all too familiar hospital bed.

Calix couldn't help but groan. He is in pain but he knows that he could never afford the hospital bills and if they find out that he has no guardians caring for him, they would take him away.

A tear runs down his cheek because, for a moment, as he was lying in that bed with his eyes closed, he actually thought he was home with mom and dad.

His father died when he was nine, his mom soon after when he was twelve. And with her gone, he had no one left. He did have a sister, but she didn't make it past four months after her birth. Her name was Peyton. Sweet Peyton.

The anger starting to boil inside of him, he feels the blood rushing vigorously through his veins. He has nothing. No father, no mother, no sister, but what he still has is freedom, and they sure as hell won't take that away from him. Calix Lare has nothing to lose in life anymore and he plans on spending the rest of it doing what he wants when he wants.

Calix grabs the tubes stuck in his arm and rips them out, the crimson liquid creeping down his arm as if he were a leaking container. It hurts but it doesn't hurt enough, not enough for him to give in.

He grabs some bandages, wraps them around his bleeding arm and jumps out of bed, immediately making a run for it. The corridors are confusing and they all look the same: White marble floor, nurses walking through the halls, emotionless, like mechanically engineered puppets, people coughing and moaning, lots of people coughing and moaning actually.

Calix needs to get out of here.

"Sir, you need to get back into bed," a tall and slender nurse says, carefully touching his bleeding arm with her skeleton fingers.

"Don't touch me!" Calix shouts out.

The skeleton nurse takes out some kind of communication device.

"Code orange," she whispers quietly, but Calix still hears. He always does.

Pushing her out of the way, he storms down the staircase, still hearing her shout after him. Finally, he can see the exit. Having lost all sense of time, he was pleasantly surprised when he saw the warming rays of sunshine beaming into the hospital. He was free. He loved to be free.

"Sir, we need you to get back to your bed," an elephant of a man says firmly to him, grabbing his shoulder tightly. Calix doesn't like to be touched, not like that.

"I said… don't touch me."

Calix kicks the man hard in the shin.

"Agh! You son of a bitch!" the elephant winces

Calix sprints out of the building, not wasting a single second. He looks back one more time.

"Hey, big guy! I suggest you cut down on those carbs… would really do you some good!"

As he steps out of the hospital a familiar voice calls over to him.

"Get on!"

A dashingly handsome man on a motorbike waves for Calix to approach. It was Kevan.

Kevan might be the only person left on this planet that Calix cares about. He's always been there for him and has allowed Calix to stay at his place. Without Kevan he'd be rotting on the streets right now.

As peacekeepers start to approach to see, what all the commotion is about Calix quickly mounts the bike and the two of them drive along District Nine's beautiful streets. The fields of grain and wheat spread miles and miles into the sunset. Calix wrapped his arms around Kevan and held him tightly.

They stop at an abandoned building where Kevan grabs Calix and pushes him against the wall.

"How'd you know I was in the hospital…?" Calix asks cautiously because he knows that Kevan is fuming with anger.

"I know you. I know how you think, I know how you act and I know how stupid you are!"

"Hey, hey calm down," Calix hushes, still with caution.

"You think I don't know what happened when there's no sign of you for like five hours? I always know when something happened to you. Always. And that is why every single time I wait for you outside of the hospital and every single time you ask me the same stupid question as if it makes a difference why or how I knew that you were there."

Calix looks at Kevan with big eyes and then he starts to smile.

"I knew I could always rely on you," he starts while placing his hands on Kevan's shoulders.

"No," Kevan says bluntly

"What no?"

"You do this every time. You get into trouble, I bring you to safety, I get mad at you, you kiss me, I forgive you. This time I'm really pissed at y-"

Calix grabs Kevan by his shirt, turns around, and pushes him up against the wall, pressing his lips against Kevin's. It feels likes hours have passed before they finally unlock their lips.

"I hate you…" Kevan murmurs.

"No, you don't," Calix smirks

"One day you'll get yourself killed."

"I know."

Calix holds the small envelope in his hands. It has the Capitol seal on it.

They gave him this letter when he was reaped. He was supposed to open it once he entered the train to the Capitol. He couldn't stop rereading it ever since.

"Dear Calix Lare, Congratulations on having been hand-selected to represent recklessness in the 6th Quarter Quell."

So, the reapings were rigged. They made it look like he was selected by chance as if there weren't hundreds of little paper slips with his name on them; as if they hadn't planned on picking him from the beginning.

He was chosen to represent recklessness…

So, that is what the Quell Twist is. They are collecting a bunch of people with bad traits and stuffing them into a slaughterhouse. It must be so much fun for them to come up with this shit. The Capitol fails to bore Calix.

He looks around the train. What luxury! Chandeliers, carefully woven rugs, cashmere pillows, tables covered with food he has never heard of. There is even a golden cage on display with some sort of nightingale in it.

Calix scoffs.

His partner is nowhere to be seen. As soon as they had entered the train, she had run towards her cabin and locked herself in. He can still hear sobs coming from her room. She is weak. Someone who can't accept fate is weak.

Calix is sure that all the other tributes, except for the Careers, most probably, are in distress right now, lamenting over how their life is over and how they will die at such a young age.

Calix, however, is excited. A smile forms on his lips as he reads the letter one last time. Fine, they want recklessness? He'll show them recklessness.

Eydis Cuyler, 17, District Nine

Eydis feels the cold dirt rise between her toes as she steps onto the fields to start her work before the hot afternoon sun kicks in. Eydis considers Nine to be the most beautiful District with its stunningly colorful fields stretching across the landscape.

She breathes in the fresh morning breeze, grabs a sickle and starts frolicking towards her father who's already cutting down the grains.

"Father!" Eydis shouts with joy.

"Eydis…" he starts before trailing off, leaving her name to fade into oblivion.

She sees the despair and tiredness in his eyes, she sees the regret in his movements, she hears the sorrow in his words. He barely ever speaks, not after what happened to Eydis' mother. She died after she had fallen ill due to rare Macro Polymorphic Virus. They didn't have enough money to pay for her recovery, and so she slowly faded in her bed while her husband and Eydis lay next to her, sobbing quietly. She was in enough pain already.

It was hard for Eydis to recover after her mother passed away. She cuddled with her, laughed with her, cried with her and now… she's living without her. For a long time, she failed to comprehend, how she was supposed to keep on living without that vital part of her life. It was as if a piece of her was missing and she wouldn't be able to fix herself up without that missing piece. With time Eydis painfully learned to keep on living without her mother. It was hard but she did it.

Her father, however, still hasn't recovered. He got past the first four stages of grief but never crossed the last. First came denial. Her father experienced denial together with Eydis herself. The two of them would sit on the couch in silence, not making a single noise, refusing to take in what happened.

Then came anger. Her father would come home drunk and make a mess, breaking the glass and shouting around the house. Eydis would have to tackle him and hold him tightly until he relaxed.

Next came bargaining. He would go to church every day after work and spend hours praying to God.

The last stage was depression. Sorrow, grief, tiredness - they all consumed him and took over his body. The next stage would have been accepted. But he never made it past depression.

Her father secluded himself to the extent that he barely ever spoke to his daughter because every time he would look at her, he was reminded of his wife. All he cared about was work. It distracted him. He got up early every morning and started working until the sun hid behind the mountains.

What he never really realized or appreciated was that Eydis was there, all the time. She never left his side. When he got up early in the morning, Eydis got up with him. When he started to work on the fields, she picked up the sickle and worked with him. Side by side. She would try to start a conversation, try to bring out her old father. Her father who used to laugh, her father who used to joke, her father who used to play with her and who would comfort her when she was down.

The conversations were always very one-sided. He was always detached, so he never answered when Eydis asked him how his day was or if he was hungry or if he wanted to rest for a bit.

Eydis felt alone but she knew that whatever she felt, her father felt a thousand times worse, and that is why she never stopped working. Working is what showed him that she was there for him and that she wasn't going to leave him alone in his darkness.

"Eydis!" A voice screams.

"WHAT?! REED! ARE YOU OKAY?!" she shouts, running as fast as she can towards the recognizable voice.

There he is, fourteen-year-old Reed. Reed, the farm boy who often comes over to help Eydis out. He's like a little brother to her. He makes life fun in the fields. He is also the reason why Eydis got past the grief. She wishes her father had someone like Reed.

"Look what I found?" he gushed, holding up a hand full of frogs.

"Reed, you scared the living heck out of me…" Eydis says with relief, carefully holding one of the frogs in her palm

"You can keep him."

"He's a cute one, isn't he?" She holds him up high to get a better look.

"Guess who's coming over later?" Reed stands up.

"Who?" Eydis asks, while still observing the creature in her hands.

"Wren."

"W-WHAT? W-When?"

"I'm right behind you." Wren taps Eydis on the shoulder.

"W-W-Wren… uh, how, how are you?" Eydis stutters.

"Lookin' a little red there, buddy," Wren teases.

"Oh, am I? I didn't notice, hehe," Eydis laughs awkwardly.

Eydis might be having the biggest crush on Wren, the girl next door. Wren often comes over, just like Reed, to give them company and work with them. Since Eydis isn't very good at handling her emotions around Wren, she usually likes to keep a bit of a distance from her but Wren still insists on teasing Eydis.

"KIDS! TIME FOR BREAKFAST!" Eydis' grandmother shouts.

The three of them start to walk back towards the house. Eydis turns around to look at her father

"Dad…" she starts, but he's already walking away to the next patch of crops.

The house is filled with sick and wounded District Nine workers. Eydis' grandmother used to be a nurse and now she helps the people who can't afford to be treated in a hospital. Eydis doesn't really mind having all these people around. On the contrary, it makes her feel comfortable. Sometimes she watches her grandmother stitch a wound and she'd even bring the workers some food. She didn't feel comfortable talking to them, though. Eydis has a problem opening up to strangers and she usually only feels comfortable with people she's gotten close to.

She looks at all the faces. She sees how hard all of these men and women work. She can tell by their scars, their worn-out hands, and their tired demeanor. Looking at these people every day when she wakes up early in the morning to start working alongside her father, gives her determination.

The five of them: Wren, Reed, her grandparents and Eydis herself, share a big breakfast meal with eggs and sausages and pancakes and cookies. They are laughing and joking and Eydis almost forgets the pain. Almost.

Once Eydis has stopped crying her heart out, she is surprised how still the train is although it is moving at such high speed. She holds the letter from the Capitol in her hands as she wipes the tears off her face and reads it one more time.

"Dear Eydis Cuyler, Congratulations on having been hand-selected to represent diligence in the 6th Quarter Quell.

She buries her face in the pillow and starts to sob again. She doesn't care if her partner or her escort or her mentor hear her. Every day she's been working so hard to keep her father company and to take care of the sick workers with her grandmother, and now… and now she's being reaped because of her good deeds. Not by chance, not because she rebelled, but because she did something good.

Eydis gets up and takes a sip of water. No, she can't be reckless. She can't let her emotions get the better of her. She will go out there and learn how to survive because if she doesn't, there will be nobody to give her father company. She will put her fears aside and communicate with her district partner and who knows? Maybe he is an extremely nice person.

Eydis opens the sliding door and makes her way to the living room of the train.

The slender boy is still sitting there, munching on the pastries.

"Done crying?" he asks, his mouth full of food.

Eydis approaches the boy and sits across him.

"I'm Eydis Cuyler, it's a pleasure to meet you." She smiles awkwardly while reaching out for his hand.

"You can stop smiling, it's creepy." He swallows the food in his mouth. "Anyway, I'm Calix. Calix Lare," he exclaims with a hint of pride, reaching out for her hand.

"Ok, Calix, so what is the plan?"

"What plan?"

"Well, I mean… what is our game strategy?"

"Our game strategy?" He lingered on the word 'our'. "There is no 'our' game strategy. This is survival of the fittest, sweetie, and you don't seem very fit to me." Calix gets up from the table and starts walking towards his cabin.

"B-but I need you… I need your help."Eydis quickly rushes after him, grabbing his arm and pulling him back.

He turns around, facing her.

For the first time, Eydis realizes how tall he actually is. As he intimidatingly approaches his head towards her, Eydis walks backward until she bumps against the wall behind her. Calix leans his arm against the wall, parallel to her face.

"Oh, you need me? Listen, if you want to fulfill your sexual desires before you die, I'm not the right guy because I'm not into girls," he whispers into her ear.

"WHAT?!" Eydis shouts pushing him back. "How on God's earth did you deduce that from what I just said?"

"Please, I know girls like you pretending to be sweet and innocent, but in the end, you're all the same: manipulative and lustful."

"WHAT?!" she shouts again in disbelief. How pretentious and foolish can this boy be? "I-I-I'm not… I'm not into guys…"

"…wait, so you're…"

"Yeah… and you're…"

"Same here."

"Okay… uh, cool."

An awkward silence fills the room. Eydis can tell that he is blushing a bit which definitely means that she is also blushing.

"Well, um, I gotta go…" Calix quickly walks out of the room.

Eydis is still standing there, her head leaning against the wall, asking herself what the hell just happened.

Hey, friends! So, this was a pretty long chapter. Don't expect all chapters to be that long ( Don't worry xD ). This was just to get me into the flow but I'd like to keep each chapter at around 2k or so. I would like to thank Professor R.J Lupin for sending in Calix and Disordered Beauty for sending in Eydis! They are both so awesome and I look forward to writing them more! If the sudden scene change confused you, I'll explain here: For every tribute, I'll have a flashback or a scene from their past and then a small train ride chapter. That way I can tackle 'reapings' and train rides at the same time.

Please, please, please don't forget to review so I know what you guys think! (I've already been working/trying to work on my punctuation xD ). Slots are all full ( THANK YOU SO MUCH! ) but there are some people still receiving.

That's all for now.

So, see ya guys next time! ( Either this week or the next)