Ha ha I finally added the ages to the first chapter so now they make sense.


Aurelia Jackson- District Five female

My grandpa was older than he should be. He was only sixty-three, but he looked older than that. He always had a shadow on him, like there was a ghost pulling him down. It pulled him down so he didn't stand straight and so his face was wrinkled and worn. He got mad a lot, but I knew it wasn't really whatever he was glaring at. He was mad at something from a long time ago that all the glaring in the world couldn't help.

But he never got mad at me. Even when I asked him for help on my homework and he explained it eight times and I still didn't understand. I knew he was frustrated that sometimes it seemed like I coudn't even read. But he was never mad at me, just sad at how hard it was for me. That was why I asked him for help and not my mother. Mom would have helped, but I was always afraid she would think I was stupid. I was stupid sometimes, or at least not very good at learning things. I knew Grandpa didn't think that.

Sometimes I felt like I was like Grandpa. I got jittery sometimes just like he did. Every once in a while if there was a sudden noise Grandpa would jump three feet in the air like he was a teenager again. It wasn't sudden things that made me nervous. It was constant for me. I just always felt a little edgy, like there was something I should be scared of and I couldn't tell what. That was part of the reason why I talked so much. Talking was doing something. It made me feel like I was getting something done. Grandpa didn't talk much. He would sit and listen to me talk for a long time, even if it was about something silly.

I got nervous a lot and Grandpa had a hard life, but there were still lots of good things in the world. I was getting through school. Maybe not with very good grades, but not the worst grades. I was passing all my classes. Mom was really proud of me for that. I knew things could be better someday if I worked hard and prayed hard. I prayed a lot, since I worried a lot about all the rules I broke and the things I did wrong. I wasn't too good at going to the gatherings or following the rules all the time, so I tried to make up for it by praying a lot. I prayed that I would do well in school, and that Dad would be happy in the underworld, and I prayed a lot for Grandpa. Grandpa didn't believe in any of the stuff me and Mom did, but he was still happy whenever I told him I prayed for him. I liked it when he smiled.

In the stories we told at the gatherings, the heroes always had to go through a lot of trouble before they had happy endings. Hercules had to do all his labors and Aphrodite straight up got eaten by her own father before she broke loose. The things that were hard for me, like schoolwork and being scared a lot, could actually be a good thing. I always prayed that I would keep trying and get through them, and I made sure that I lived my life in a way that did that, too. After all, the gods help those who help themselves. There were a lot of things that were hard for me and Grandpa, but that wouldn't stop us. It didn't stop him from being a great grandpa. I wouldn't let it stop me from being big someday too.


Remus Ray- District Five male

YOU ARE WHO YOU ARE
By Remus Ray

You are who you are! No one else can tell you.
Only you know who you are inside.
Some people say you have to be like this or like that.
No no no!
You are who you are.
It doesn't matter what you look like.
It doesn't matter what you sound like.
Maybe you look like a cat
But you're actually a dog!
And people say 'No no no! You can't play fetch and go on walks! You're a cat!'
No no no!
You're a dog!
Be a dog!
You can try to sleep in a cat bed, but you won't fit.
You can try eating cat food, but it will be yucky.
If you try to be something else, maybe it will look right, but it won't be right.
It will just make you sad.
So be what you are.
If everyone else gets mad, they're just wrong.
They don't see what you really are.
Don't listen to them.
Only you know what you are.
You're you. No one else is you. You're not wrong. You're the best you ever.

Over and over I read the picture book I'd written on sheaves of white cardboard. I'd written it, but I didn't really know what it meant. I know how it made me feel- like I was missing the most important piece of my life and didn't know where to look. I knew if I showed it to anyone else they would say it was ugly. They thought I was like anyone else. The ending of my book seemed to happy. It was so impossibly, painfully beautiful. Maybe someday I wouldn't be stuck in the middle, right at "No! No! No!" Maybe someday I'd find the ending.


Aurelia: Millie Bobby Brown

Remus: Remus is tall and willowy, at about 5'10. A fairly pretty face - mixed white and Latino with hazel eyes and sand-colored hair with white streaks from stress.