Romeo Auto, District Six male- 18
The Hunger Games was about the only show worth watching in Panem. Every year I recorded them on my very expensive big-screen television. As for the ones before I was rich enough to own a television, I bought recordings. Some people watch silly romantic comedies when they're upset about something. Me, I just wanted to see some people die.
I can't believe she did this.
To a guy like me? I was the perfect catch. I was handsome, I was rich, I was gentlemanly. I was powerful. I was everything a woman needed to keep her safe and treasure her. And I wanted her. Even after all she did to me I was still trying to find Valencia and make things right.
Valencia wasn't like the other girls. I could have had anyone I wanted but most people just bored me. They were tools for me to move up in the world or obstacles to shove aside. I even thought that of Valencia at first. She was just some naive pampered rich kid I could use to get a payout. Even better, she was my biggest rival's pampered rich daughter. There's nothing better than killing two birds with one stone.
I never thought it was possible that I'd underestimate someone. The most impressive thing about it was how easily Valencia wormed her way into my life. At first I just flirted a little, living up to my image as a roguish mobster. Nothing serious- I knew she was just flirting back to stay alive and nothing real could come out of a romance with a hostage. But then after I let her go... she came back. Sheltered little Valencia came back for more. A girl like that- brave enough to take me on and make me her own- I had to have her. And it made me feel like king of the world that she had to have me.
Until she didn't. Until she vanished without a word. Twice, after I found her the first time. I didn't even hurt her when I did. I just made it so we could be together. Her father's two-bit lackey wasn't anywhere near man enough for Valencia. He wasn't even man enough to put up a fight before I killed him.
If I'd been a more vengeful man I would have wanted to destroy her. Pathetic as it was, I just wanted to win her back. I couldn't bear being just dumped like that, especially not by someone as special as Valencia. So I just had to find a way to win her back. There had to be something I could buy or someone I could kill to show her how much I cared. Something big. Something no one else would do. Something that would show her I was one in a million.
"Boss?" One of my underlings poked his head into the room. "The Fiari hit still going through?"
"What? Oh, yeah. Take care of it," I answered absently, my eyes still on the screen. I was far enough into my funk that I'd gotten to Games decades before I was born. I was way back on the first Quarter Quell. It was a real knockout. This guy on the screen- from Five, if I remembered right- was plowing through everyone to get back home. To get back to his girlfriend and their unborn children... It was hard not to get invested when I had my own little one I'd never met.
That's it. I'd volunteer for the Games. No one volunteered for other people, not even siblings. I'd show Valencia I loved her so much I was ready to bring her the world. To kill for her. Girls love that.
Valencia Cadillac, District Six female- 18
I froze at a knock on my door.
It wasn't Tyra. She was gone for the weekend, visiting her parents. It wasn't Giada. She worked the night shift. If it wasn't my roommates then it had to be trouble.
I could have assumed it was a neighbor, here to borrow a cup of sugar. I could have assumed it might be the landlord, here to check on the faucet that had been leaking for a month. But I didn't have that luxury. Someone was looking for me and it wouldn't be the first time they'd tracked me down. My only comfort was that it wasn't Romeo himself. He would have said something instead of just knocking.
I stole into my bedroom and plucked Niccolo from his crib, nearly crying with relief that this had happened when I was home instead of while I was at work. Giada had picked up overtime and that meant I had to leave early to watch my little boy. The only thing that could be worse than Romeo's goons coming for me was if they came while I was gone and took my child.
I clutched Nico to my chest, begging him not to wake up, as I quietly shut the bedroom door and locked it. I went into my tiny bathroom and opened the tampon box behind the toilet, taking out the handgun inside. I silently checked it for ammunition as I strained for any sign of noise from the front room.
The knock came again. Most people would have been scared, and there was a time when I would have, too. But you don't grow up in a drug lord's family without getting used to danger. I'd been kidnapped eleven times before my tenth birthday. The only reason it hadn't been more is that I'd learned to protect myself. When I heard the knock on my door I felt the same cold precision I felt when I knew all that was between myself and kidnapping or worse was my own actions.
Already I was going through the list in my head. I'd have to change my name again, move again, start all over again. I thought of the PO boxes I had stashed around Six and how much startup money I'd saved up. If I found a way I'd try to let Tyra and Giada know what happened. They had no idea who I really was but they were my friends. Giada had watched Nico so much he probably thought she was his mother and Tyra had bought him more onesies than he could ever wear.
The window by my bed was barely big enough to fit a person. It was big enough, though, and I knew that because I'd tried it. I squeezed myself out onto the little ledge that must have been to give repairmen easier access to the long-dead air conditioning unit. It had taken some doing to convince Giada to switch rooms with me but this was the only window that led to an escape route.
The concrete ledge was maybe two feet wide and four feet long. I carefully arranged myself lying on my back with Nico tucked safely between the wall and my underarm. I crossed my arm over his chest and with both hands I aimed the gun up at the closed window above me. With any luck Romeo's goons would think I wasn't home and would leave. If they didn't, at this range I couldn't miss. And if anyone saw some weird lady lying down outside her window four stories off the ground, they better mind their own business.
I lay there, breathing slowly and feeling my fingers cramp around the pistol grip, for what felt like half an hour before I dared to move. I hadn't heard anything in all that time and I couldn't imagine two goons would ransack an apartment without making a little noise. I finally saw up, moving slowly so my numb legs wouldn't slide off the edge, and passed Nico through the window before I clambered in after him.
The apartment was untouched. The front door wasn't even open. I opened it and found a piece of paper on my door.
Potluck in the basement on Friday! Bring some food or just bring an appetite! It read, with some hand-drawn doodles.
I stood there almost crying as I held the note. Sweet old Mrs. Carmichael must have left it. A lovely little old lady had left a kind invitation on my door while I was grabbing a gun and loading it. That was what Romeo made my life into.
Romeo: Romeo is short for his age and covered with lean muscle. He has straight, longish black hair which he keeps slicked back. His skin is always pale and sickly. His eyes are a pale greenish-hazel. There's a long scar running down the side of his face. Romeo considers himself handsome and dresses up in the finest clothes he can afford, often with a lot of cheap jewellery. Maybe he is handsome but in a cruel, sharp way that most girls find absolutely repellent.
Valencia: Valencia is of Mediterranean descent, with olive skin, black hair and brown eyes. Her eyesight is really bad so she wears thick black glasses. She constantly changes her hair's colour and style, since she's trying to hide from Romeo. At the time of reaping, it's in a messy, shoulder-length bob and dyed white with blood-red streaks.
As soon as I read these forms I was like "I definitely read these before". I dunno where I lost them the first time LOL