Chapter 3: New Lifes
Dimona Summa, 18, District 3, day before the reaping
And it's not fair
I keep on writing a sequel to stories
I know that are not there
I don't wanna die but I don't wannna live like this
~~Feel something by Bea Miller
Snakes were fascinating animals. They could cause fear and disgust, but still they were extremly noble. Dimona loved them. She put the book down and looked through the old window.
District 3 was a sad place to live. No green gras or trees, just grey buildings and smoke from the fabrics. Dimona was lucky that she lived in the richer quarter of District 3, where people at least cared about their surrounding.
„You're already awake?"
Dimona turned around and looked at her mother. Once she was a beautiful woman with soft hair and smelled like mimosa. Now, nothing of that beauty was left. There was no curiosity or kindness in her eyes, just sadness. She looked like she hadn't showered in days.
„I came back quite early. Should I make breakfast?", Dimona asked. She knew the answer was no, but maybe today her mother would say yes.
„You don't have to. Take some money and go to the bakery", her mother said. She seemed to notice that Dimona wasn't sure if she was serious. „I'm not hungry anyway. And tomorrow is reaping day. Go and get yourself a little luxury, Mona", she added.
Dimona got up and put the book back in the bookshelf. Her mother never understood why she was reading so much. Well, the main reason for it was that Dimona wanted to know there were people who had far less luck in their lives than her.
When Dimona was still in her mothers' womb, she didn't know that she would have such a miserable life. At the age of twelve her father kicked her and her mother out of their beloved safe home. Financially, they are doing well, but yet their mother and she were rejected by the man who fought for his life in the Games, only to be with them. Dimona never really understood that decision. And since then she wanted to find out why. She knew this father's new family. His new step-daughter was her former best friend Xaviera. Stupid, arrogant Xaviera whore herself through the Dimona found out, she couldn't stop crying. Normally she never cried because of anything.
Crying was weak and Dimona wanted to control her stupid life at least for a bit.
But to be replaced by her hurts.
Eventough the years passed, Dimona still didn't found any answers to her many questions.
Probably she never will, but Dimona needed to. She wanted to close this chapter of her life and start all over again.
She tried everything. Eating didn't help her at all, obwohl it was at least delicious. It made her just feel more empty than before. So, Dimona started reading this ancient book, called bible.
The bible was a book full of stories about hope and despair, about death and life. She read it again and again, trying to find the reason why she was a sinner. She was sure that she had to be one, otherwise her father wouldn't have left.
„I'm gonna run. The bread is in the oven", she said, luckily to escape this sadness for a few hours.
Her friends were a funny group.
Today they hung out in a abandon fabric on the east side of the district. It was dirtier than the center, but this place felt more alive. Many families lived here and it was close to the fabrics.
When Dimona arrived, Vista and Derek were already there. They sat on a stair, snogging and kissing.
"Take a room, you two!", Dimona shouted. Vista shrugged and looked at her apologetically.
Derek rode his jacket sleeve over his mouth to remove the remains of Vista's lipstick. The two just couldn't let go of each other, but they didn't want to be right together.
"Where's Express?", Derek asked when he came towards her.
"Haven't seen him. Do you have stuff or do we have to wait?", she responded and saw how Vista closed her blouse. Vista noticed her gaze and drove provocatively down her neck to the décolleté.
She smiled as Dimona closed her eyes to remember what happened last week.
"Mona! Do you even listen to me?"
Dimona turns her gaze away from Vista, just to see how angry Derek was.
"Sorry, calm down. Express is gonna come and he'll bring the pills."
A person dressed in black clothings came into the warehouse. Derek beckons him to come here.
"Where have you been? We said we're meeting at nine not at ten," Vista says.
"Traffic was bad, sorry. I've got the pills." Express pulls a paper bag out of his jacket pocket.
Blue pills with different letters fall in his palm.
"Everyone can take a maximum of three, otherwise it would be an overdose," Express said, putting three pills in his mouth. Dimona reached out. If she is already a sinner, then at least she wanted to have fun. Vista asked the group to sit and opened her old backpack. Scratched, she looked at the others.
"What else is missing to make it a "hopefully-tomorrow-will-not-be-our-death sentence" party? Exactly, the right alcohol," she triumphantly pulled out two bottles. Both were filled with crystal clear liquid. With a broad grin on her face, the girl opened the bottles and drank a big sip. Dimona took it away from her.
Express looked at her anxiously, as if he knew what a fucking life she had.
Dimona put the bottle on her mouth and took a sip. The alcohol was pricking in the nose. Derek asked for the bottle, but Dimona wanted or couldn't give it away.
Not today, when she wanted to take the courage to watch her father sit on stage tomorrow, dragging the next family into the abyss of grief.
Hopefully he'd go to hell for it.
Jeddison „Jedd" Ranger, 18, District 10, day before the reaping
And I just can't keep living this way
So starting today
I'm breaking out of this cage
I'm standing up, I'mma face my demons
~~Not afraid by Eminem
Blood splashed on the white wall. Jedd leaned against a garbage can that stood abandoned in the street. Derek dropped the butcher's knife. Jedd could see remorse on his face. More and more blood is on the deep leg wound. The knife should have hit him elsewhere, Jedd knew. It had been his decision to leave the past behind and start over.
But not everyone wanted to support him. Derek looked back and forth between the injured boy and the exit of the side lane. Should he leave him here, hoping that he would bleed to death? Or should he help his former brother, his friend?
As rooted, he stopped and watched his best friend slowly bleed to death.
"Please, help me, Derek. Please," Jedd whispered. His voice cracked.
Jeddison woke up wheezing. The nightmare was always the same. Derek how he left him after being sent by the old gang to kill him. His former best friend. He pushed the duvet aside and saw that the wound had now scarred. He quickly covered them up. A nice farewell gift from his old family.
In District 10, people were already sweaty before breakfast. It was depressingly hot and Jedd was glad that he would be standing in the cool shop behind the counter and didn't have to get out on the pastures. Tomorrow, fortunately, no one would have to work. No, only two families would mourn for their soon-to-be-dead children. It was Jedd's last year and he was pretty sure he wasn't drawn. But who knew if the probability was reliable?
The chances of being attacked by his old gang were also low, but he still had the scar on his leg.
Mrs Ingram was a busy woman who often came to the store to stock up on supplies. On one occasion, Jedd had tried to explain to her that stockpile with supplies was forbidden in District 10, but she had given him 20 dollars. In the evening, Mr. Cervantes had explained to him that in District 10 you help each other and sometimes turn a blind eye.
"We are a big family, Jeddison. And do you know what you do in a family?" the old man asked. The boy shook his head.
"We help each other. Sometimes that means anger, but deep down you know you've done something good."
Since then, Jedd has left the woman alone in the shop at Mister Cervantes and played with her twins Eve and Everett outside the store. The two children were very awakened and curious. Although Jedd was 14 years older than her, he didn't mind playing with the two children. He quickly realized that Eve was the naughty and Everett was the cunning one. One day Everett had discovered the scar on his leg.
"What is that?" he asked with childish curiosity.
„It's a scar. You know, I slipped a butcher's lobe. It hurts quite a bit, but some have to learn like that," he said, quickly covering his leg. It was part of his past that he would be only too happy to leave behind. Before Everett could ask any more questions, his mother came out. Once again, her basket was filled to the edge.
"Children, you don't always have to bother Jedd. Thank you for taking care of them. They can sometimes be exhausting," the woman told him, leaving the marketplace with the twins.
A truck was just driving into the marketplace. It was heavily loaded and Jedd could see from the beams, from which the paint was already peeling off, that it was the stage for tomorrow's reaping. Jedd groaned. Only tomorrow, then everything would be over.
"Two will stand on the ash wood and go straight to death," someone behind him said. Bryam looked at him with a big grin on his face.
"You're optimistic," Jedd joked, getting up to hug his friend.
Bryam timidly replied to the hug. He was not the person who necessarily advocated physical contact. Jedd didn't care. For him, the body belonged to a human being as much as the soul.
"Well, you know that District 10 hasn't brought home a winner in a decade. I wouldn't be optimistic for this year," Bryam said.
Jedd buried his hands in his pockets. "The only thing I hope is that it's not anyone I know personally," he said, watching the peacekeepers set the stage piece by piece.
We got to know our first tributes!
Thank you for Dimona and Jeddison, 20 and Joseph! They were fun yet hard to write.
Thoughts about them?
Next chapter, we'll get to know Shasta and Fen from District 4!
Please send me a little PM if you want to reserve a tribute. Otherwise it's hard for me to plan the next steps. By the way, we already have 2/3 of the tributes!
Love, Athena
