A/N: Trigger warning for mentions of abortion.
Velmire Hyeondae, age 18
District 6 Male Tribute
Four months before the Reaping
"I'm pregnant."
I just stare at my girlfriend in shock, the sounds of the schoolyard around me fading as I process what I just heard from her. "What?" I get out.
"I'm pregnant, Velmire," Hannah says with a smile. "You're going to be a father!"
"I… what… why?" I splutter, my heart racing and thoughts going through my head a mile a minute.
"The baby has to be yours, honey, there isn't anyone else I've been seeing," Hannah explains patiently, leaning forward and giving me a light kiss on the lips. I'm still in a state of shock and staring dumbfoundedly at nothing in particular.
Me… a father… no. Oh no. This is bad. This is very bad.
"But we still have school," I get out. "And a long way in life ahead of us! I can't be a father yet! Hannah, are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure, I took a pregnancy test," my girlfriend says, smiling as she pulls a clear resealable bag out of her pocket. I stare in dread as she shows me the positive pregnancy test.
"See?" Hannah says, looking down at the bag as if it's her newborn child. "It's positive. We're going to be parents, Velmire!"
"I-I don't know about that," I say, backing away. "I don't think either of us can…" I shake my head, taking a deep breath. "I'll see you later."
I don't give Hannah a chance to respond before turning around and rushing as fast as I can towards my house. A few of my friends call out to me on the way home from school, and I give them a smile and a friendly wave, but I'm really not in the mood for talking right now. I shake my head and keep walking at a brisk pace.
"Welcome home, Velmire," my mother says with a loving smile as I step into my house. "How was school today?"
"Terrible, I don't want to talk about it right now," I say honestly as I give Mom a friendly but sad smile. I could talk about how I aced my math test, or how I almost got in trouble in English class for throwing my gum at the trash can from my desk and missing, or how my friends made me laugh so hard at lunchtime that milk almost went up my nose, but only one question, a pregnant one, runs through my head.
What am I supposed to do about my pregnant girlfriend?
"I'll be in my room," I say, "and if I'm not out by dinnertime you can knock because if I'm not out by dinnertime that probably means I'm dead."
"Alright… do you need anything?" Mom asks.
A morning-after pill, I think wryly, but I shake my head. "I'll let you know if I do," I say, appreciating my mother for taking care of me on her own all these years.
"Okay, I hope everything turns out alright," Mom says.
"Yeah, I hope so too," I say as I nod, turn away, and head towards my room to sort everything the fuck out.
Velmire… I'm pregnant.
A week later, Hannah's fateful words still ring in my head.
I grip the kitchen knife in my hand. It's dark and everyone is asleep, so this should work, but I'm still struggling to keep my breathing steady. Still, I know that, after days of thinking about it, I'm going to do it.
I'm going to abort my girlfriend's baby.
There's no way I can be a father right now, I think as I sneak into the room where Hannah is sleeping. Hannah and I are so young and we both have our whole lives ahead of us. Why couldn't she see that?
I still don't understand why my girlfriend refused to get an abortion, telling me clearly - twice, in fact - that she wasn't going to abort the baby after I asked her to do it. There wouldn't be anything morally wrong with it - I mean, that baby is an embryo at most and is honestly most likely a bundle of cells without a brain right now. But Hannah insisted that we raise the child together, so that leaves me with Plan B.
Thankfully, Hannah is sleeping on her back with her belly easy to access. I quietly move aside her blanket, take a deep breath, and stab her in the abdomen.
Hannah shifts violently. Her eyes fly open, and she screams.
"Shh, it's alright, it's just me," I say, my heart rate quickening. But when Hannah realizes that it's me, she screams again. I panic. She's going to wake everyone up! I stab my girlfriend in the belly again, and Hannah gasps and tries to wriggle away. No, no… she's going to get blood everywhere! The knife goes down a third time, and before I know it, Hannah, my girlfriend, is still under me, there's shouting all around me, and there are Peacekeepers in the room. My mother is here too and I'm trying to explain to her what happened and she's trying to defend me against the Peacekeepers but…
"No…" I mutter, tears springing to my eyes as I stare at Hannah's lifeless body and the Peacekeepers cuff my hands behind my back. "No… I killed her… I didn't mean to… I just wanted…"
But I know that it doesn't matter what I meant and what I wanted.
I'm a murderer.
A/N: Many thanks to Platrium for submitting Velmire Hyeondae!
Chapter question: What are your first impressions on Velmire, our District 6 male Tribute?
Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you all soon!