Poison is a dangerous game.
Wyllow Cane
District Eleven Mentor
Dead. Dead. Dead! Snow is dead. He is gone, he will never hurt us victors again. Doesn't mean the Capitol won't, but Snow, the Snow is dead and gone. And in a bombing no less. The districts got their revenge. I wish I knew who did it, but it's enough to know they did. They killed Snow. I could never call him President Snow. Just Snow. Just snow, falling all over the arena as we waited for the gong to sound. Waiting to die.
I shouldn't have won. If I wanted to win honestly, I would have killed them in confrontation. I wouldn't have poisoned them. I wouldn't have used his weapon. I remember his smile when he gave me the victors crown. Looking back, I should have pushed him off the stage, even if it ended in my death. I had nothing to come back to Eleven for. The family I wanted to come back for were dead when I arrived, all my fighting for nothing. I should have let someone decent win.
Reaping day waits for me in the square. Lucky me, I get to watch some more people die. People I talk to, get to know. People I will want to live. But no one is ever that lucky. Still, I can't mope around forever. They need me in the square. I'll have to make an appearance, especially as I'm our only living victor., which makes me the mentor, even if I don't want the role.
I head downstairs, into the sun-filled kitchen. It should feel cheerful, but instead it just seems eerie, what with all the cobwebs in the corners and dust on the windows. I don't want it cleaned. It's a reminder that someone else should have lived, and this house would be covered in dust because no one would live here.
My mental checklist for the day tells me three things. Water. Breakfast. Reaping. I pour myself a glass of water. Water? Check. I get myself a small plate of fruit. It'll do for breakfast. I'm not hungry anyway. Breakfast? Check. That leaves going to the square. But I can delay a little longer. The clock gives me an hour until the reaping, and it's only a half hour walk. I wander around the house for a bit longer, getting distracted from today's reality. Eventually I have to set off, have to make my way along the dirt path outside my house. Through victors village, empty as it is. Through some fields towards the largest town in the district, the one that holds the square. Into the crowd of people who try and avoid me as the crowd moves. Parents moving their kids away from me. I bet they're thinking that maybe I'm a bad influence. I am. But I'm a bad influence who's supposed to help some children not die. So it would pay to be a little less worried about me. They don't seem to think that though.
When I reach the square it's full of people. Reaping? Check. People scurry into their areas, but I just walk straight up the middle of the square and onto the stage. My seat is on one side of the mayor, Rusonia on the other. She's alright for an escort, just a bit off put by bad manners. Manners bother her, but not slaughtering children. Perfect representation of the Capitol, to be perfectly honest. She smiles at me when I take my seat. I don't smile back. I look at the crowd, watching people file into the square, wondering who will be reaped. Who will be chosen? Who will go to the Capitol? Who will die? At least one of the tributes will have to die. Probably both.
Once everyone arrives, Mayor Korro stands up to deliver his speech. The one that praises the Capitol and calls their cruelty kindness. I effectively tune out, so I don't have to listen to it. If I do, I'll probably scream.
"Now, Rusonia, it's time for the names to be chosen." The mayor says, without looking at her. She stands, smile wide across her face, and claps her hands once.
"Thank you." She nods at him. "Now, it is an honour to be here! Thank you all for coming." As if they had a choice. "As always, ladies first!" She waits for a second before reaching for a slip. She lets her hand run through the slips, and then pulls one out of the bowl, into the sunlight. "The female tribute for District Eleven is…." She unfolds it. "Eryn Applewood!"
Applewood. Applewood. I remember an Applewood from the 82nd games. Dead via mutts. Bad luck for that family. I look over the crowd, trying to find Eryn. She's sixteen, stepping forward slowly but surely. No doubt remembering her sister. But the look on her face is telling me something. It's telling me the thought in her head. I am not going to die. And I decide, in a single second, to make her a promise that I can't keep.
I will not let you die.
Play the game.
Dominik Solandis, 16
District Eleven Male
"Ok, right. Hand it over." I give him the paper, and feel the coldness of coins in my hand. We both nod and then vanish into the crowd. I push through the crowds, and then make my way out of the building. Everyone calls it the market, but it's really a black market. If the peacekeepers found out they would shut it down, and anyone they found there would get in a lot of trouble. That's why reaping day is so good for business, all the peacekeepers are in the square or waiting to go into the square.
The crowd splits almost immediately after it leaves the market, not wanting to draw attention to itself. I head off towards my house, back to my family for reaping morning. I don't think it'll be me or Tanith. We don't take tesserae, and we've already lost Alyna. Surely we can't have that much bad luck. After seeing Alyna killed by the boy from Two, I don't see how we could get any less lucky.
I push open the front door, and the house is still quiet. Everyone sleeps in on reaping day. It's kind of a family tradition. Instead I just go upstairs to my room, ignoring the comics strewn across my desk. I should clear them up, in case someone finds them, but it would take forever to get them tidy without ruining them. I have nothing else to do, since the reaping is late here. So I start folding each one, placing it in a pile at the back of the desk. Then I go back downstairs, where I find Father in the kitchen.
"Morning. You feeling alright?" He asks me. I wait a second before answering.
"Yeah. I just…"
"It's fine if you don't want to talk this morning." He says. I give him a nod, and pour myself a glass of water. I'll feel better after the reaping, when I'm safe for another year. Tanith and Mother come in within half an hour, but no one says anything. We're generally a quiet household, and reaping day just makes it worse. Mother makes herself some tea, and offers me some. I accept.
We wait for the clock to strike the one o'clock, until we can get this over with. It takes ages, several hours, the seconds seemingly slower than most days. I go back upstairs, get out one of my comics and a pencil. Another drawing appears on the page. And another, and another. I take my time over the pictures, the pencil gliding over the paper.
Finally, finally, it's almost one o'clock. I find myself a nice shirt and some trousers that haven't been made permanently dirty by the dusty parts of the district. I suppose it looks alright, but I'd rather wear something comfy.
Then I hear the clock chiming. Finally. I rush downstairs, find the rest of my family standing there. Waiting for today to be over. Too many bad memories.
"Ready?" Mother asks. I nod, Tanith nods. Then the four of us head outside, towards the square. We make our way through the crowds. Lots of noise, lots of crying. I spot a few people from the market, those who buy weapons, or those who buy extra food, or even the people who buy random tools I can't imagine anyone uses. And one or two who buy my comics. Then they're swept away in the crowd. I also see a lot of peacekeepers, and cameras pointing at the square. For the Capitolites. The ones who want us to die for their own entertainment. What if I'm the one they want to die this year? What if I'm reaped? What if, what if, what if? The question flings itself around my head and won't go away. I wish it would, because now I'm stressing like I always do on reaping day, the same questions in my head.
We split off into the different areas. Tanith goes to the fourteen-year-olds section, Mother and Father go to the sides of the square, and I go to the sixteen-year-olds section. I find myself with a few kids I know from the market and the meetings I attend with Mother, Father and Tanith. We nod at each other, but none of us say anything. It is enough to hate the Capitol, at least for now.
The mayor stands once the crowd stops filing in.
"Hello, and welcome. I would like to thank you all for coming." As if we had a choice. He continues to talk about the Capitol and kindness, two words that don't belong in the same sentence. Unless the sentence is "there is no kindness in the Capitol".
"Now, Rusonia, it's time for the names to be chosen." He says. Our escort, Rusonia Martyria, is definitely terrible, but isn't the worst of them from what I've seen. Of course, she's Capitol, so not a great start to begin with.
"Thank you. Now, it is an honour to be here! Thank you all for coming. As always, ladies first!" She says. She waits a second and then reaches for a slip. She runs her fingers over the slips, very slip she goes over is a name that isn't picked, a child who doesn't get ripped away from their family. Then she chooses one and lifts it out of the bowl. "The female tribute for District Eleven is…." She unfolds it and the square falls silent. "Eryn Applewood!"
A girl in my age group starts stepping forwards, towards the stage. She meets the mentor's eyes as she makes her way onto the stage to look over the crowd.
"Now for the gentleman!" She reaches for another slip, and when she chooses it she lifts it in the air. "The male tribute for District Eleven will be," She unfolds the slip. "Dominik Solandis!"
That's me. I was reaped. My name was called. I start to walk up towards the stage, step by step. Then I'm on the stage next to Rusonia, Wyllow, Eryn and the mayor, watching the crowd.
"Shake hands." Rusonia whispers to us. We do.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the tributes of District Eleven!"
Hello, hello, hello. And here's District Eleven. Eight district down, four to go. I'd like to thank Averyrandomauthor for sending in Dominik. We have another career district next, so I'll see you in District One.