The Five submitters aren't being slow, I just left one slot unfilled in case I double-booked. Now I'm going through the waitlist, so that's why it wasn't ready yet.


Antonio "Tony" Gear- District Six male

My hand jerked away at the sudden cutting pain. I hadnt even noticed the shard of glass embedded in the car's dented bumper. I took my hand in my other hand and examined the palm. The glass was visible sticking out of the cut. It made me queasy. Blood was kind of welling up around it- not fast, just oozing.

It's nothing. Just a little cut, I told myself. But for once, I wasn't convincing anyone. I hated cuts. Not that anyone really likes them, but it was more intense for me. I had a higher pain tolerance than most people, but I also felt things more acutely. I tried to tell myself it didn't really hurt. My hand wasn't fooled. It hurt. It stung and throbbed and felt like a tiny little fire burning in my skin. Some people are good at taking pain. I really wasn't one of them. I also wasn't good at seeing blood. It always brought pain with it.

I wiped the cut off and spread some antiseptic from our little garage first aid kit on it. As I did I wondered if it was expired and made a note to get more someday. But it didn't matter that much. I had a really strong immune system.

As I was putting the first aid kit back on its hook on the wall, Catullus walked into the open bay doors of the garage. Most of our customers were Peacekeepers, since it wasn't often someone other than a Peacekeeper could afford their own car. Sure, we did taxis and things too, but most Six citizens would do any repair they possibly could on their own before spending money on a mechanic.

"Hey, what's up?" Catullus asked just to make some small talk. "Is it gonna be ready by the end of the week?" he asked, patting the hood of the car.

"Yeah, no problem. It's a pretty easy fix," I said.

"Really? This whole big piece is dented," he said, pointing to the warped sheet of metal from the fender bender.

"It's not as bad as it looks. Besides, we're just that good," I shrugged. "That's why you always come here."

"You always do this," Maxon said as soon as Catullus left.

"Do what?" I asked.

"Overpromise. You know there's no way we can get that fixed in a week," he said.

I looked back at the damage and made an unimpressed face. "I can do it," I said.

"If you could do half the things you think you can do you wouldn't be stuck in a run-down garage in Six," Maxon said.

"What do you even care? It's not your business," I said. My brother had no interest in the family livelihood. He just liked the money.

"I'll never be a Peacekeeper if you keep antagonizing our customers. Who are Peacekeepers," Maxon said.

"Oh, you'll do fine," I said. "You're strong and all that. Just like I'll do fine here. We're going to do great things, both of us. We were meant for it."


Siobhan Hearse- District Six female

Ella and I were in my room playing dress-up. We didn't have much to work with, but we made up for it by using whatever we could find lying around as accessories. Feather duster? More like fashionable hat.

"Look at these two beautiful women," Ella said as we looked at each other in the mirror.

I took a harder look and scrunched my face. "You know, sometimes I don't feel like a girl," I said.

"You feel like a boy?" Ella asked, half jokey and half intrigued.

"No, not a boy either," I said. I looked at the chest just starting to poke out that my mother said would need a bra soon. At the crazy poofy hair so wild and huge it didn't tell you anything about the person underneath it. The mishmash of clothes I'd chosen, from a skirt over a pair of pants to a clip on plastic earring on just one ear. Soon I'd start growing into an adult. I liked my body just the way it was. I didn't want to start getting all lumpy and big. I was perfect this way.

"What do you feel like then?" Ella asked.

"I think..." I said. I shrugged. "...Just Siobhan."

"Well then it's good your parents named you that!" Ella said. She giggled and threw herself onto my bed.

"Let's play trains!" I said. I ran to the middle of my room, where my train set was still spreading out. It grew slowly, since we didn't have that much money, but I took every opportunity. Birthdays, perfect report cards for a semester, babysitting money... trains. More tracks, more trains, little traffic signs with blinking lights. Against the wall, my bookshelf was overflowing with library books about trains.

"You always want to play trains," Ella said, but she wasn't mad. She liked trains too, just not as much as I did. And we played other things, too. Trains was just my favorite. I'd already shown her the new train I'd just gotten. It was a hybrid coal-solar engine from before we got good enough with energy and stuff to not need to burn fuel. I was glad they were cleaner and everything, but it would have been cool to ride on the trains back when they still shot smoke everywhere.

Ella and I made train noises as we pushed the trains around. Trains nowadays don't make that noise, but you have to make train noises if you're going to play with trains. I liked to read about the history of trains and see how they were put together. I also liked to crash them off the tracks and scatter dolls around while Ella and I made exploding noises and screamed. Someday I'd like to work with trains. I'd like to design new ones and put them together and see the big slabs of metal and parts formed a massive behemoth that shot all the way across the country like a giant bullet. I'd also like to be the one to honk the horn.


Antonio: Tall (6ft 4) and muscular (toned would be a better word). Piercing grey eyes and grown-out blonde hair (to his ears). He is a good-looking man. He slicks his hair back a lot of the time for his work but will wear it down at the Capitol.

Siobhan: Looks like Nneka Ibeabuchi but younger and shorter