Shine
Chapter 17
District Eleven Reapings
A/N: Sorry, I had to plot now that I have everyone. The plotting is done! So, enjoy our last Reaping, and… May the Odds Be Ever In Your Favor! Special thanks to CandleFire45 and Katie75 for our wonderful Tributes featured in this chapter!
Brianna 'Bri' Tribiani –16- -D11- POV
I wake up on the cloth roll that suffices as my bed. Today is Reaping day. Great fun. Mandatory attendance, less time to find food. I grab some of the food we found last night and scarf it down before shaking Patricia awake. Patricia is my best friend, she has been ever since I was kicked out.
"Hey, Pat, wake up," I say shaking her shoulder gently. "It's Reaping day."
"Is that today?" She asks as she looks at me with her bleary brown eyes. Her curly blonde hair is all messy around her face. It's dirty blonde. Probably because it's actually dirty.
"It is," I say, "and we don't have a lot of time."
"Oh," she says. "Okay. We should go then. Going to do something with your hair?"
"Why should I?" I ask, running my hand through my long red hair.
"It looks like a rat's nest," she says.
"So does yours," I retort.
"Fine," she says. And we leave towards the Reaping, with Patrica eating on the way. We never do our hair. We don't even wear nice clothes, don't have 'em. Such is the life of living on the streets of District Eleven.
Tontu Heinburg –18- -D11- POV
I pull my grey suit jacket on and look at myself in the mirror. My light brown eyes look at themselves in the mirror, and my thin lips purse into an even thinner line when I look at what used to be my left ear. My lips never worked, but the ear did. Then again, lips do have another purpose… one that I hope they will find with Noami. I walk out into the living room, not needing to do anything with my buzzed dark brown hair. My mother is there waiting for me.
"Ready?" She asks. Oh my goodness, I almost forgot! I run back into my room and grab my book, quickly flipping to the page that says Yes. She nods, and we leave.
Brianna 'Bri' Tribiani –16- -D11- POV
I and Patricia arrive at the Reaping. No friends, and no family. Or, I do have a family, but I'd prefer to avoid them like the plague. I still remember when my dad kicked me out…
3 years ago… Brianna's house, District 11
"She needs to be punished!" My father screams from the kitchen.
"Honey, I'm not so sure that we need to-" my mother starts, but she's cut off.
"Need to what? We need to punish that little b—h! The little whore!" My father shouts.
"How can you call our daughter things like that?" My mother asks.
"You just shut up now, woman!"
"I will not- ah! James! You come back here right this instant! James!" My mother shouts. My father emerges from the kitchen.
"Out of here! Out of here now!" He slaps me on the face. I'm still sitting on the couch. And to think, this all started when my brother told them I kissed a boy. My brother was lying, he always is. And they punish me for everything he says I do. Even though he lies. My brother and father hate me. My brother tried to kill me himself but stopped when I fought him off and he realized that mom and dad might catch him. No, he has dad do his dirty work for him. My dad hits me again, this time breaking my nose. I scream and fall back into the couch. He grabs me and goes to the door. He tosses me outside.
"Don't you ever come back, you hear me? Don't ever come back, or I will kill you! You ungrateful little b-h, disobeying my rules! I provide for you, you hear me! And this is what you do? Now you'll get a taste of providing for yourself!" Then my father slams the door, and I can see my mother running towards him, trying to stop him, but she can't. It's too late. I look up and see my brother waving at me from his bedroom window. He drops a sharp rock, and I try to roll out of the way. I partially succeed. The rock doesn't land smack in the middle of my chest, but instead only grazes my arm, making me bleed out onto the ground. My brother smirks and closes his window.
"Hey," a voice says softly from the shadows. A blonde girl crawls towards me. "You look like you need some help. Name's Patrica, but my friends call me Pat. Do you want to be my friend?"
Back to the present…
I look at my shoulder absentmindedly. I still have the scar my brother gave me. I wince at the thought of that pain. I look over at Pat and smile. She did patch me up, and we did become friends. Best friends, in fact. It turns out that she was in a similar situation with her family, except they kicked her out when she was twelve, instead of thirteen. We're the same age, so she had already had a year of street-living experience when I joined her.
"Ready for the Reaping?" I ask her.
"As ready as ever," she says. "Suppose we'll get picked?"
"We have the maximum amount of Tesserae," I say, "so chances are good." I smile at my own dark joke.
"I guess," she says. "No goodbyes?"
"No goodbyes," I say, and we shake hands. We do this every year. No goodbyes. Our pact. If one of us is Reaped, the other one won't look back. No use in being sentimental, right? We're not going to win, ever. No volunteering for each other either, not that we're that crazy.
"Everybody to their sections! This Reaping is about to start!" Maris announces from onstage. The conversations quiet down, and people run to where they're supposed to be. "The Female Tribute from District Eleven is..." I wonder who it'll be. Hopefully not Pat. As much as we joke, I do really like her. She's the only good friend I've ever had. I look at her and can tell that she's thinking the same thing. We share a glance in the few moments it takes Maris to read her slip of paper. "Brianna Tribiani!" Welp. I guess it wasn't Pat. I look at her and see that she's crying just a little bit. I smile at her.
"No goodbyes," I say, and she smiles, starting to cry now. "Bye, Pat. It was nice to know you." Then I turn away and walk up to the stage. I shake Maris's hand and wait for the Male Tribute to be called.
Tontu Heinburg –18- -D11- POV
I leave my mom at the edge of the Reaping. I start to look around for someone. Someone special. Then she walks in front of me. She came around from my bad side, I didn't hear her. At least she doesn't try to sneak up on me. She's nice like that.
"Hi," Noami says. "How are you doing?"
I pull my notebook out of the inside pocket of the shirt. The notebook that Noami gave me, all those years ago, right after the incident… right after my dad died and I lost my ear. I still remember, the terror of my dad jumping onto me to protect me. The gunshot, the stabbing pain in my ear. The screams of the man who tried to help us and his own wife and child. I wonder where that Peacekeeper is now. Hopefully dead. He deserves it. "Tontu?" Noami asks.
I quickly flip through my book. Sorry. I was just thinking about -it, that's all. Thank you again for this book.
"No problem," Noami says, and she smiles at me. She has the most beautiful smile. Just a hint of mystery woven into those beautiful lips. Her blue-grey eyes light up as she smiles, and she blushes just a little bit, turning her rosy complexion a slightly darker shade of red. She twirls a lock of her beautiful, light brown hair around her finger. She has it down today, she usually does. Not that it matters, she's always beautiful, to me. Even here in District Eleven, where nobody has fancy clothes or makeup, she's beautiful. My mother says that part of Noami's beauty is her high cheekbones, and I can see that. I just love her for who she is. And I think that she's beautiful, all of the time. After the incident, after my father died and my ear got shot off, she would visit me. She would talk to me and tend to me when I was recovering, and one day she brought me a notebook, a new one. Up until that point I had been using cards to communicate with people. Then she brought me the notebook and helped me to write down words and phrases in it, to learn where everything is. She worked with me while I was healing until I had to go back to school. And by the time I did, I could communicate as well as anyone who could talk. "Uh, do you want to hang out later? Celebrate our last Reaping?" Noami asks.
I would love to, Noami, I say. Her name is one of the few I have in my book.
"Sounds good! I look forward to it," she says. "See you later, Tontu!" Then she turns and walks away. She moves gracefully, like a deer in the forest, her slender figure easily cutting through the crowds. She once told me that she was unhappy that she wasn't very curvy, as she put it, compared to girls her age. I told her that I thought she was beautiful regardless. It's the only time I've ever called her beautiful, and I'm okay with that. She blushed redder than a cherry when I did. It was so cute. I watch her disappear into the crowd and turn to head to my section. Hanging out with her after the Reaping sounds like fun. I could spend time with my mom, but what's the use? She's depressed, and I'm the cause. She loves me, and she would never admit it, but my dad dying for me took a toll on her. She's been depressed ever since, and she blames me. Maybe she's right, a little bit. But I didn't ask my dad to throw himself on me. I do feel sorry for her, but I won't make anything better. I like spending time with Noami though. Maybe one day we'll get married. If I ever have the courage to tell her how I feel. I arrive at my section just as Maris starts the Reaping. I see the girl who gets Reaped. She looks dirty and malnourished. I feel bad for her, I don't think she'll last long. Poor thing. Maris pulls a slip out of the Male bowl.
"The Male Tribute for District Eleven is..." I know what I'll do if I'm Reaped. I've had a plan since I was eleven. But I won't get Reaped. I won't, what are the odds. This is my last year, I've survived this year, I will continue to survive. It's Noami's last year too. She's safe. That means that after the next few seconds, my Hunger Games worries will be over. Until I have kids, at least. "Tontu Heinburg!" I don't know what to do. It can't be me. It can't. If I go up to that stage, what will happen? I'll die, I know I will. I can't die. I don't want to die. I've never kissed anyone, I haven't told Noami how I feel. I haven't even hit twenty. There are so many things I haven't done. I can't go. I don't want to die, I don't want to die. Then I hear my mother crying from the edge of the Reaping. Crap. I need to go up, I need to look confident if I want to have a chance of winning. So I do. I walk quickly up to the stage, trying to appear confident, standing tall and proud. But my vision is blurry, and although I grip Maris' hand firmly, nobody in the Capitol or here can feel that. And as I stand on the stage as Maris does whatever it is she does, I feel tears running down my cheeks, and my vision blurs. I find Noami in the crowd, somehow. She's crying too. She looks up and I try to smile at her, but it fails, and we both cry more. I want to come back to her, to tell her how I feel. I guess I'll have to make it happen. But can I?
A/N: This was a long one! What did you think of our wonderful Tributes for this chapter? And now that we've met all of our Tributes, who do you think will win? Who do you think will lose? Who do you hate and who do you love? Anyway, next up is the D9, 11, & 12 Justice Building Scenes, then the train rides, then the training, then the interviews, and then the Games! Start placing your bets now, and please leave a review with your thoughts! Also, May the Odds be Ever in Your Favor!
Tribute List (Last Time):
D1M: Lustero Aldor, 17, by Yugi-Smallymcsmall
D1F: Diamond Knowles, 18, by Tyquavis (Previous character connection)
D2M: Ares Moretti, 18, by Andii99
D2F: Giselle Serpentine, 16, by Red Roses1000
D3M: Becquerel 'Bec' Grey, 15, by foxfox12
D3F: Clear Palatino, 12, by foxfox12
D4M: Falcon Lockdust, 17, by Nautics
D4F: Thia Zollis, 15, by JustAPersonReading
D5M: Emery Colt, 17, by Hawkmaid
D5F: Serena Holden, 16, by Andii99
D6M: Andrew Spayler, 15, by AspiringSteampunk0909
D6F: Harper Satin, 16, by Primione394
D7M: Aster Ochs, 17, by Red Roses1000
D7F: Vallory Stensland, 16, by Hawkmaid
D8M: Silk Daisly, 16, by IIJamesII
D8F: Rhylee Kaski, 16, by Primione394
D9M: Isaiah Lemont, 15, by edespeedy123
D9F: Athena Rye, 14, by Primrue394
D10M: Kayne Lytch, 13, by IIJamesII
D10F: Kayra Dawnbreeze, 13. by Yugi-Smallymcsmall
D11M: Tontu Heinburg, 18, by CandleFire45
D11F: Brianna 'Bri' Tribiani, 16, by Katie75 (Guest)
D12M: Char Afland, 14, by GrimlyFiendishly
D12F: Camelia Lloha, 12, by Primrue394
