Zezza Fritts, 15
District 5
Zezza wished that she could say that the noises coming from her father's room were abnormal. She had heard them for as long as she could remember, but only learned what they meant in the past couple of years. While she didn't always know what was going on, there was one consistency throughout the years; she really didn't like it. Even before her friend Maleah broke the news (and completely ruined Zezza's innocence), the noises from the next room made Zezza's stomach feel heavy, as if she had swallowed a rock whole.
It was a crisp and cool March night in District 5 when the Fritts house was filled with those sounds that Zezza knew all too well. It was Zezza's birthday, but she had almost forgotten about it herself since her father never said anything to her, and his partner Vince was working a double shift at the powerplant. It was with that remembrance that Zezza realized that there must be another man in the room with her father. She signed deeply through her nose and rubbed her thumb against the cool smooth plastic of a 20-sided die.
"Don't be sad, dear," Phillis said, looking at Zezza with love in her big blue eyes. "You know I'm always here for you. Even when you feel all alone, you know you'll always have me."
Phillis had been in Zezza's life for years. Whenever she felt sad or lonely because the other kids had moms and she didn't, she just had to remember that she had Phillis, and those other kids never would.
"Thanks, Phillis," Zezza said. She hopped down from her bed and sat down on the floor next to her friend's large body. More than anything in the world, Zezza longed to give Phillis a hug, but every time she tried, it just went wrong. She didn't know how to explain it.
"Why don't we see if Maleah is free?" Phillis suggested.
Zezza's eyes lit up, and a smile spread across her face. She and Maleah lived on opposite sides of the District, but thanks to her dad's money and intelligence, they were able to set up a wire and light board in each of their bedrooms to communicate. They developed their own system of communication including different colors and lengths of light times. She pressed the button for the white light two times in quick succession. Their quick code for "are you awake?" or "I need you" or "I want to talk." There was a brief pause, then Zezza's own board started to light up. Maleah was responding.
"What's up?"
"Dad's loud. Want to play?"
Some people said that Zezza and Maleah were weird and childish for still playing imaginary games together at the age of fifteen. These kids still got into Zezza's head sometimes, but Maleah was a superhero. She was always quick to tell those kids to mind their own business and that they weren't hurting anyone, and the two went right back to playing knights, princesses, and most importantly, dragons.
"Yeah! Meet in the middle?"
"Can I bring Phillis?"
"Always."
Without wasting any time, Zezza gathered her dice, her game board, and her costumes and set out to see her friend. The two girls lived just about as far apart as two people in District 5 could, so they had a special meeting spot near the District Square for the rare times that they could see each other in person. Besides, even if they did live closer together, neither of them particularly enjoyed their home lives. They didn't want to also subject each other to what went on under their roofs.
After about an hour of walking with Phillis trailing behind her, Zezza got to the usual spot where she found Maleah waiting for her with pretend swords and shields, and real snacks. The two girls embraced, then separated to take inventory of their supplies.
"Did you bring Phillis?" Maleah asked, bouncing between the balls of her feet.
"Sure did!" Zezza beamed, looking at Phillis and all of her pink, purple, and blue scaled glory. She was about double the size of the mountain lions that sometimes escaped the woods to roam District 5, but she was also a hundred times nicer. Her claws were just as sharp, but she luckily never had to use them.
"I wish I could see her, too," Maleah said wistfully. "It must be so cool to have a friend that's a dragon."
That was one of the other cool things about Phillis. She was invisible to everyone but Zezza. As much as Zezza did sometimes wish that she could show Phillis off to Maleah, she couldn't deny that it was really cool to have a friend that only she could see. It made her special to think that out of all of the kids in Panem that she was the one who deserved to have Phillis all to herself.
Sure, Zezza knew in her heart that Phillis wasn't exactly real. But what was the harm in having an imaginary friend? And what was the harm in that imaginary friend being a 400 pound dragon with shimmering blue, purple, and pink scales and long talons with every color of the rainbow? Even if Phillis wasn't real or tangible, she made Zezza feel better. On days when her father's anger got out of control or when she longed for a mother, Phillis was there to dry her tears, lift her chin up, and whisper encouraging thoughts in her ear.
Zezza and Maleah played together late into the night until the sun started peeking up over the tops of the barren trees. Together, the two girls (and Phillis) fought monsters, rescued damsels in distress, and battled evil wizards, all using magic. Finally, when the two could barely keep their eyes open any longer, they gave each other one last hug and parted ways.
On Zezza's walk home, she ran into Vince, her father's partner who had just finished his double shift. He had tired lines around his eyes and walked with his head ducked, but when he saw Zezza, his features softened.
"Zezza?" he called. "Is that you?"
She walked over to him, briefly forgetting that she was still wearing her cardboard and rubber armor, a cardboard sword in her hand. She knew Vince wouldn't be too embarrassed to be seen with her, though. After all, he had helped her make it in the first place. While Zezza's father wasn't exactly supportive of his daughter's hobbies, saying that she should be doing things more feminine and more productive like cooking or mending clothes, Vince didn't think it was smart to stifle a child's creativity.
Vince wrapped Zezza in a hug, and she pretended for a moment that it wasn't awkward to be alone with him, and simply enjoyed the safe feeling of being wrapped in his caring and accepting arms, knowing well that pretty soon, the two of them would be under the same chaotic roof together.
Teo Ramaigyan, 17
District 5
Nothing frustrated Teo more than when people pretended to know what they were talking about. He learned from a young age that if he only ever spoke when he knew for sure that he was correct, he would never be wrong. And Teo hated being wrong, so much so that he would rather just clam up.
So when his statistics teacher, Mr. Loeder, prattled on about probability, Teo found it difficult, excruciating even, to listen to him. He knew that math was hard, and that probability was usually people's least favorite part of the class, but he hated the fact that the man teaching the class was making such an elementary mistake.
"Mr. Loeder?" Teo called, leaning back in his chair. "Why does it matter that the last roll was a two?"
"Excellent question!" Mr. Loeder didn't seem to understand that Teo wasn't asking for his own clarification, rather to make the teacher see that he had explained it wrong himself. "See, since we just rolled a two on the die, it's very unlikely that we'll roll a two again immediately afterwards. It's far more likely that we'll roll another number, like a five or a six."
"But that doesn't make sense," Teo said, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Just because we just rolled a two doesn't mean it's less likely to happen again. There's still a one in six chance we roll a two, just like there's a one in six chance we roll a four and a one in six chance that we roll a five."
"I'm afraid that's where you're incorrect," the teacher said, setting down his chalk.
"Really?" Teo asked, giving the man one last chance. He looked at him expectantly before Teo sighed and pulled out his book, pointing to a sentence in the middle of the page. "Because it says right here that past outcomes do not influence future events."
"That's enough, Mr. Ramaigyan."
"What do you mean 'that's enough'? I just want to know what's going on. You and the book are saying different things."
"I will not tolerate this disrespect in my classroom."
"I'm really not trying to be disrespectful, I just-"
"It's fine, Teo," Hanei said. "Just let it go, it's not worth it."
Hanei had been Teo's best friend ever since they were kids, and Teo was grateful for him every day. They did a great job of balancing each other out. While Teo had a tendency to be a bit of a know-it-all, Hanei was definitely on the more passive and shy side. He always said that that was one of the things he had admired about Teo before they were friends; how he would stand up for himself and speak his truth. So for the past seven years or so, Hanei helped Teo figure out when enough was enough. That seemed to be his favorite pastime. Well, that and making Teo's heart beat out of his chest.
After school that day, Hanei went home with Teo, as usual. While Teo's family was definitely unique, at the end of the day, it was stable. The same couldn't be said for the Sorauto family. Teo didn't like to ask too many questions, since family seemed to be a trigger for his friend, but he'd gathered that his parents abused drugs and trouble seemed to follow his twin sister Jisai everywhere she went. Although, Hanei liked to say that that was her fault for constantly running her mouth. So more days than not, Hanei and sometimes even Jisai stayed at Teo's house for dinner and didn't leave until they absolutely had to.
Teo didn't pity his friend, but seeing his home dynamic made him more grateful for what he had. Not a whole lot of kids in Panem could say that their father died in the Hunger Games before they were even born, or that they were on a first name basis with their mom. But Teo's grandfather had always been more than enough of a father figure, and Teo liked to say that having a more relaxed "cool mom" just meant that he didn't get in trouble as often as most of his peers. His family was definitely different than most, but at the end of the day, he was grateful to have two adults in his house that cared about him.
After dinner, Teo insisted on going back into the statistics textbook, much to Hanei's dismay. He knew that he was right, but he needed to find some piece of blackening evidence to prove himself in class the next day.
So for upwards of an hour, the two boys sat side by side on the floor of Teo's bedroom, each going through their own books. Occasionally, their knees would bump each other and Teo would feel his breath catch in his throat, but he always kept his cool. By no means was he trying to suppress his feelings for Hanei; he knew they were there and acknowledged them fully, just only to himself. He was just afraid that if he admitted his feelings, he would lose his friend forever. So Teo was content having a secret crush for as long as it would last. The way he saw it, an unrequited crush was no doubt better than rejection.
"I found it!" Hanei finally exclaimed. "Right here, the exact example from class. 'Suppose you roll a six-sided die two separate times. These two rolls are known as independent events, meaning they are separate from each other, and one outcome will not influence the other.'"
"I knew it!" Teo said triumphantly. "I can't wait to show Loeder tomorrow. You're a genius, Honey."
Hanei grinned and rolled his eyes playfully at Teo's nickname for him. Truthfully, the nickname might be a bit of an obvious allusion to Teo's feelings, but he couldn't help it- it was just too perfect. Besides, he had been calling him that since before he developed feelings for him. Or at least before he realized he had developed feelings.
Adam Day, 30
Victor of the 85th Hunger Games: District 5
The way Adam saw it, he had the best of both worlds. Sure, he was Reaped for the Hunger Games when he was 15 years old. But luckily for him, he was the only Victor in Hunger Games history who didn't kill a single tribute. Being a 15-year-old boy in District 5 with a bland name, he flew under most people's radars. But between his simple powerplant uniform on the chariot, a training score of 4, no allies, and no big personality for Caesar Flickerman, it was a wonder that even the Gamemakers remembered him.
While the other tributes faced death and betrayal, Adam spent a week and a half in the arena camping out in a cave and eating nuts and berries off trees and drinking water from an underground spring. It got cold and lonely at times, and he even had to fight off a pack of grizzly bear cubs with a tree branch, but he never watched anyone die, and he never died himself.
After the tenth day in his cave, Adam was shocked to hear four consecutive cannon shots, followed quickly by the announcement that he had won. It wasn't until he watched the Games back on stage that he learned that a mountain near the Careers' camp had malfunctioned and caused a rockslide that killed both tributes from District 1, the girl from 2, and the boy from 4 just as they were packing up supplies to hunt him down.
So now Adam got to live his life in peace, taking away nothing bad besides a dislike for camping and a fear of bears. He still got the big house and the riches that came with being a Victor- they couldn't exactly take that from him, as he did technically win the Games- but he didn't have any trauma associated with the Games that almost all other Victors had. Not to mention, since he was widely considered the most boring Victor in Hunger Games history, he was largely kept out of the public eye, brought out only once a year to mentor the next crop of tributes.
Of course, since he won his Hunger Games based on pure luck, he was undoubtedly a terrible mentor. Over the years, he wasn't able to offer any real advice other than to stay out of everyone's way and learn all the edible plants.
So Adam felt bad for Teo and Zezza. They both seemed sad to be Reaped, of course, but there was also an undeniable spunk in them. The fire lit inside of them was going to die. And it was going to be all Adam's fault.
Thanks to Ripple237 for Zezza and FlawlessCatastrophe for Teo!
1. Who did you like better, Zezza or Teo?
2. What did you like about them?
3. What didn't you like about them?
4. Thoughts on Adam?
5. Any predictions?
