Hayden Topper,17, District 6 male
I stand in the cold alleyway, my body trembling not only from the cold but from fear as I keep my hand in my pocket, wrapped around the glock I have. He was supposed to be meeting me here at this time, so he should be here any moment. I look up at the sky as I envision how my life was just 3 years ago. Everyone around me was poor and dying of thirst and starvation but all I remember at home is just everything being handed to me on a silver platter. I was always curious where all this money came from so I always pryed for more info but my father always responded with "You'll know once you enter the family business." I didn't know what that meant at first and now three years later, I wish it stayed that way…
I hear footsteps coming towards me and it's him, the guy my father told me to "deal with", I don't know if I can the trigger though…
"Look at you kid, looking more and more like your dad everyday!" He slurs as he takes a swig from his liquor bottle and my hand trembles more as it remains wrapped around the glock in my pocket.
"Danny…" I mumble.
"What boy? You got the morphling right? Where is it!?" He barks at me and I can smell his liquor drenched breath from here which makes my nose curl.
"Danny, you owe us money, like a lot, a-and I need you to pay up." I explain to him trying to sound serious but I'm sure I only come off as a wimp to him instead. My father did train me for scenarios like this but I guess you can never be fully prepared to take a life.
"I told you and your fucking dad I'll pay when I'm ready to! Now where's the morphling dammit?!" He hollers at me and my hand trembles even more.
"You gonna answer me or I gotta rough you up some huh!?" he shoves me and he's about to swing at me but I pull out my glock and he stops in his tracks as I can hear my breathing getting heavier as my hand continues shaking.
"Danny…please. I don't want to do this. I just need the money you owe us." I say trying to sound as calm as possible.
"Oh so you think you hot shit cause you gotta gun now eh!? I take one look at you though and I know, you ain't ever kill a man, probably never even hurt a man, and you standing here, pointing a gun at me like you gonna do something!?" He takes another swig from his bottle and throws it on the floor.
"Danny-" I begin but he suddenly charges at me and I fire a shot but I completely miss and he punches me across the face knocking me down. He then scrambles towards the glock but I tackle him and we both end up on the ground. I make a leap for the gun but he grabs my leg and I kick him in the face stunning him for long enough for me to grab the gun and aim it at him, he doesn't slow down and continues charging at me and I close my eyes before pulling the trigger. I then slowly open them again and Danny is now on the ground unresponsive as a pool of blood is starting to form around him.
Another person…another person dead by my hands. I can't stay here for long though, I'm sure someone heard the shots by now so I pat him down for whatever money and drugs he has on him and scurry away before anyone can see me.
I can feel myself hyperventilating as I try to casually walk with my hands in my pocket and I try not thinking too much of what just happened but, I killed someone, again. Their blood will always be on my hands…
Remember when I said I wish not knowing where all this money came from stayed that way? Well it was after I turned 14 when dad decided it was "time for me to be a man" and explained everything to me. My father was apparently a drug lord and was responsible for the biggest underground morphling ring in the district. Hearing this obviously shocked me. I've seen so many times what kinds of effects these drugs have on people. How it changes them, how it leaves them unrecognizable. It's something I never wanted me nor my family to be around but it turns out we were responsible for all of this to begin with…
I didn't have any say in this, so literally right after telling me this, he forced me to work as a seller, explaining the ins and outs to me and had me out here every night selling Morphling to anyone he deemed "safe." Danny I guess was a special case, him and my dad has been friends since high school so he was willing to give Danny some morphling on credit. Rather than pay us back, he just continued taking advantage of us, getting morphling from us and continuing to stack upon the money he owed us.
My father put me out on the streets tonight, handed me a glock telling me to "deal with him" before walking away so I hope he's fucking happy now, happy that he turned me into a fucking killer!
Danny isn't the only one I killed though. When I first started this "job" I thought I can get used to it, but only a week after did I discover the dead body of a woman who overdosed on morphling that I sold to her. It was at that moment where everything took a turn in my life. I miss being funny and sarcastic but nowadays I barley uttered a word, if I wasn't in my room painting, then I was out here selling drugs...
My father would be sending someone to look for me soon so the best option would be to go home but I just can't be around him right now, I just can't be in that house.
I reach the house of the only other person I speak to in this district and knock on his door praying he'll answer. It's pretty late and reapings are tomorrow, but still I just hope he answers.
My prayers are answered when the door opens shortly after and it's my best friend Stephen.
"Hayden…Everything ok?" he worriedly asks.
"Can I come in for a bit?" I ask in a practically inaudible tone.
"Yeah of course buddy, come in!" he welcomes me inside and we head upstairs to his room. Me and Stephen are two completely different people, or at least were. I was the sarcastic and witty nerd while Stephen was one of the popular jocks in our school. After finding that woman dead, that's when my entire personality changed. I began falling behind In class, sitting away from everyone and not saying a single word to them.
One day at lunch he sat next to me, I guess he felt bad for me and I kind of pushed him away the first couple of times but I eventually just started talking to him and now he's my strongest confidant.
"Make yourself at home buddy, have a grape soda!" He goes into his mini fridge, pulls out two cans of soda and hands one to me as he opens the other one and takes a sip from it.
"Thanks Stephen…" I open the can and take a few sips of the sweet sizzling drink. Stephen knows my situation, I told him my darkest secret but he only continued to support me and I'm so thankful for that. A world without Stephen, it was a world I didn't want to live in…
"I killed someone Stephen..." I confess and I can see this takes him by surprise but he still tries to remain calm.
"My goodness, who?" He asks.
"Remember my father's friend who owed him money? he sent me out tonight to handle him, I hesitated though and I'm lucky to still be alive…or unlucky depending on how you want to look at it." I explain.
"Lucky…Lucky Hayden. I don't know what I'd do if something were to happen to you, you're my best friend you know?" he tells me and I nod.
After Stephen started hanging out with me, his popularity has dropped drastically, but he still had a few friends left.
"Thank you Stephen, I don't know what I'd do if something were to happen to you either…" I admit and we look at each other for a moment. I thought it was just all in my head at first, but I think I am starting to develop feelings for him. I know he only considers me a friend though so I won't ever tell him this.
"I wish you weren't in this situation Hayden but all I can do is be there for you, just have your back at all times!" he puts his hand on my back.
"Yeah, thanks Stephen, I really do appreciate it." I thank him.
"No need to thank me, that's just what best friends do for each other yeah?" He laughs and I nod smiling faintly.
"Right." I nod looking in the corner of his room and seeing a paint set that I bought him for his birthday recently, it looks like he's been using it too as he painted a house on the large paint book I bought him.
"Wow, that house looks beautiful!" I compliment him and he seems to blush a little.
"Yeah? Ha thanks yeah I was just practicing you know?" he laughs.
"Well let's practice some more, the both of us." I offer.
"You want us to paint together? Yeah let's go man!" He practically pulls me over to the paint set and turns to a blank page.
"So what do you want to paint?" He asks.
"The sky, let's paint a sky together." I suggest and he grins.
"Right on buddy, let's go!" He grabs a paint brush and hands one to me and we begin painting a sky together. I focus more on the sky while he does the clouds and it's coming out beautifully so far. This is what I liked to do when I wasn't outside. Painting, it was just so beautiful, and it took me away from this darkness I was constantly engulfed in. Our brushes bump into each other a few times and we just laugh it off as the picture continues to come out beautifully, Stephen, I just wish this night can last forever…
Paisley Stitchell,15, District 6 female
I finish painting a picture of me, my mother and sister and I smile as I look at my finished work. I plan on surprising my mom and sister with this later. I know today is a horrible day since two kids are going to be reaped but I just hope I can cheer them up with this picture. I begin trying to cover it up so they don't discover it before I show it to them but I see my door open from the corner of my eye and I manage to cover it up in time as my twin sister Linen enters and I do some signs with my hands telling her "Good morning!"
She then returns some signs saying "Good morning, what are you up to?"
"Nothing much, I just woke up. Ready to cook breakfast?" I sign to her and she nods in delight.
I was born with normal hearing but not long afterwards I suffered a severe ear infection that left me deaf in both ears. I do have hearing aids so I can faintly hear some sound but it honestly doesn't help much. I've learned to read lips and although I can't hear myself, I'm able to speak a little but I prefer using sign language instead.
Linen is my identical twin sister and we share so much in common. We both love to paint, cook and we usually cook a nice big breakfast for our mother who raised us all alone since my father left her before me and Linen were born.
Linen then looks over at my covered up board and narrows her eyes a little.
"What's under there?" she signs to me.
"Come on, let's start breakfast before mom wakes up!" I sign to her while smirking changing the subject and she nods before signing "I'll find out what you're hiding later!".
Once I get out of my bed, I go into the restroom to wash up and meet Linen in the kitchen afterwards where we're ready to make breakfast. We don't have much money, Mom works really hard and we help her in her flower shop so we can sometimes save up a little money for a decent meal.
"Can you make your specialty? Mom will be so happy!" she signs to me and I know what she's talking about, she's talking about my oatmeal pancakes!
I remember reading a cookbook and seeing the recipe, I tried it myself and gave some to Linen and my mom when they woke up and they were amazed by how good it was so if we have the ingredients, I'm always more than happy to make some for them!
"Of course! That's exactly what I had in mind!" I smile signing to her and I can faintly hear sounds of her cheering as she begins cracking some eggs and I start preparing the pancake batter. I always enjoy cooking with Linen, we just work so well together, we both just move on instinct and flow so well together as we make our separate dishes and occasionally join to assist one another and by the time breakfast is ready, our mom is ready to join us!
We both run up to her, hugging and kissing her and lead her to the table where our breakfast is. Mom works so hard, like so hard and we respect her so much being able to raise twins on her own while also working her job, her strength and vitality is just so inspirational!
"Wow this looks delicious!" my mom signs to me.
"Paisley did most of the work, like look at these pancakes!" Linen signs before putting some on her plate.
"We both did a lot, so you deserve some credit too! I'm happy we're all together though so now let's eat!" I sign to them and we begin eating after fixing our plates. It's not very often we get to be home together, we're almost always at the flower shop so it's times like these that I cherish.
Once breakfast is almost finished. Linen smirks at me and looks over at mom before signing to her again.
"Mom, I think Paisley is hiding something from us upstairs!" she signs and I sigh.
"Really? Well I'm sure Paisley will show it to us when she's ready, right sweety?" my mother signs to me and I nod. I wanted to show them this when we got back from the reapings but Linen is kind of spoiling the surprise.
"We have the rest of the day off though my two beautiful girls, we should do something together, either of you have any ideas?" she signs to us.
"Let's watch a movie! It's been a while since we were able to do that!" I suggest with my signs.
"Yeah that's a good idea! Yeah we probably have some old tapes in the closet somewhere, so let's do that!" Linen agrees with me.
"Yes I think that'll be wonderful, let's start getting ready to head out my lovelies!" she signs to us and after we're done eating we all help each other wash the dishes before going back upstairs to get dressed. I put on a casual grey dress with matching shoes and I look at my face in the mirror to see if there's any food on it. I have tan skin with short blonde hair, brown eyes and stand at 5'5. Me and Linen are completely identical and sometimes mom has to put a different colored flower on us to tell us apart.
It seems like both me and Linen finish dressing at the same exact time as we both exit our room both dressed alike and we both laugh. We think so much alike too. Sometimes we like to confuse our mother and have her try and guess which one is which and today won't be any different.
We both head downstairs and that's when we see mom trying to figure out who is who and me and Linen both try and contain our laughter.
"So we're playing this game again huh?" she signs as she walks over to Linen and does another sign calling her "Paisley" which causes us to burst out in laughter.
"Ok, ok I lost again now let me make my life much more easier!" She signs and walks over to a flower vase before pulling out two different colored roses and puts one in each of our heads. I get the white rose while Linen gets the red one and just like that, she can tell us apart now! We head out shortly after but mom says she has to check on the flower shop. We offer to come with her but she just tells us to press ahead and we do as mom tells us to do before me and Linen hold hands walking towards the square.
A lot of people here recognize us as they frequent our shop often and also cause we're one of the only set of twins in this district so we stand out quite a bit. Everyone is so nice and friendly and we happily greet them but once we're near the square, a towering figure blocks our path and I gasp a little as I look up at him, the biggest bully in the district and he has a devilish grin on his face as I take a few steps back from him but Linen stands her ground. His name is Adrien and he's a huge bully. Always picking on the weak and running off whenever someone competent shows up.
"So you two, what do you have for me today?" I read his lips and look back at my sister.
"Leave us alone Adrien!" I read her lips but he suddenly yanks the rose from her hair.
"Please stop! We don't want any trouble!" I sign to him and he only laughs before I read his lips again. I'm pretty sure he just said "Shut up you failed abortion!" and that hurts my feelings quite a bit as I only hold my head down but he yanks the rose out of my head and tears up both of our roses before walking off.
I can slightly hear a sound of my sister shouting at Adrien as he flashes a middle finger at her and walks away and some tears come down my eyes but Linen wipes my eyes, hugs me and lifts up my head for me to look at her.
"Don't cry Paisley, don't listen to anything he said ok? He's just a stupid bully who has nothing better to do with his life!" she signs to me and I nod before we hug each other again and register before going off to our section where she continues trying to cheer me up. Our escort Perona is on the stage going through the intros and it's not long after that she plays the video. From the pictures alone though I can make out that they just want to remind us that it's our fault why this is all happening in the first place.
Once the video is done, that's when Perona takes the mic again and I read her lips as she says she's going to start with the boys and walks over to the bowl before pulling out a name. I read her lips as she calls a name and a slightly stocky boy emerges from the 17 year old section and makes his way to the stage but he suddenly stops and another boy who looks about his age emerges from the crowd. A volunteer? The boy who got reaped looked quite a bit stronger though. I can see a shocked but disappointed look in the reaped boy's face as him and the volunteer pass by each other but the volunteer takes the stage.
He has pale skin, dark blue eyes, medium length black hair that is almost always messy and is pretty skinny, he tries to keep a serious look on his face but he has sad eyes, like he's in a lot of emotional pain. Perona asks him for his name and he says a name but I can't make out what he says and she nods before going to the female's bowl and pulls out a name. She then calls a name and by reading her lips it really does seem like she just called my name, no it couldn't be my name, right?
I look at my sister who only has a shocked look on her face and she can't even move and when I see every other girl in the crowd just staring at me, that's when I know…I've been reaped. I can't even process what's going on but I see two peacekeepers heading towards me and that's when I move. I look around in fear trying to find my mother, where is my mom? I can faintly hear a sound like her voice and I turn around to see my mother trying to run towards me with tears coming down her eyes and I try running towards her but a peacekeeper grabs me and I see another peacekeeper tackling my mother to the floor before restraining her and I just lose it afterwards, me being reaped, my mother being treated so horribly and knowing that I am almost certainly not coming back home, I just start crying as a peacekeeper shoves me to the stage.
My district partner only looks at me for a moment but slightly shakes his head before turning away and I bet Perona is asking if there's any volunteers but no one volunteers as always and I can read Perona's lips as she's declaring us the two tributes and to shake hands. I don't even know my district partner's name but he extends his hand and my hand is covered in my tears and saliva I don't want to get my bodily fluids on him so I just walk away, I hope he didn't find this rude…
Everything is a blur while I continue crying profusely as I'm escorted to the goodbye room where I'll probably be seeing my family and friends for the last time. It's just so hard believing that I'll actually have a chance, that someone would actually want to ally with me. This is so overwhelming though, all of these thoughts of me dying, not seeing my family anymore and I start getting dizzy as I can feel myself losing my balance.
My district partner turns around though and that's when my body gives out and the last thing I feel before darkness takes over me is a pair of hands grabbing me before I can hit the floor.
Here is our two tributes for district 6. I had quite alot of fun writing these two but anyways guys I'll be completely honest. Reapings are my least favorite part of these stories, i try to keep things interesting but i still can't help but feel things get repetitive after a while and that's why i want to hurry through these reapings so we can start getting to the interesting stuff! Thank you so much for your reviews everyone and I'll see you all soon, till next time!