Oliver Powers POV:

I watched as Nester dragged the red crayon across the creased paper, his tongue stuck out in concentration. He pulled the crayon away, cocking his head to the side as he inspected his work.

"What is it?" I asked softly. Nester didn't even look up at me as he tucked a lock of his brown hair behind his ear.

"It's a person...it's not finished yet, though," he sighed, going back to work, acting like I wasn't even in the room.

"Okay then, show me when it is done," I laughed, my brother just gave me a quick nod. I decided it was best to leave the little artist to his work. I was the main carer when it came to my younger brothers, my mother and father were too busy or drunk to do that job for me. So when I wasn't working, I was wondering the house, keeping an eye on my brothers.

Our house was small but we were lucky to have more than one room. It was mostly my income as a power plant worker that kept the roof over our head but it was worth it to see my siblings happy. Their smiling faces as I passed them a warm meal, it made all the hard work and little free time, worth it.

I turned the corner from my brother's room, humming a small tune when my brother Orion bumped into me, squealing as he did so. He fell to the ground then looked up at me, laughter in his eyes. I sighed, picking up by his collar and pulling him to his feet.

"Shut up, you are going to wake dad up," I whispered, trying to place my hand over his mouth but he just pushed it away, a large smile on his face.

"Not for long, I dared Odin to wake him up," He giggled but his smile dropped when I pushed him out the way and ran into the living room to find our father, asleep on the sofa. I watched with horror as Odin held a pillow over our father, ready to hit him with it.

"Odin!" I whispered running towards my younger brother and snatching the pillow off him. He looked past me fear in his eyes as I threw the pillow across the room. I followed his gaze to one of my mother's bottles of alcohol rocking back and forth on the kitchen table.

Odin shot past me, but he wasn't even half way across the room when the bottle fell, smashing on the floor. He turned to me, trying to cry as he stood among the shattered glass. My mother stumbled into the room, confusion on her face as she tried to keep upright.

"W-w-what happ-p-pened?" She asked, her speech slurred as she swayed from side to side. I opened my mouth to defend my brother when a fist hit me in the face, out of nowhere.

The force of the punch flung me to the floor, landing me in front of the fireplace. I held my right eye, the skin around it bleeding as I looked up to see my father, his face red with anger.

"I was trying to fucking sleep, Oliver!" he bellowed before leaving the room and going to his bedroom, my mother joining him, trying to calm him down.

Meanwhile, I laid down on the floor, trying to ignore the pain from my eye. It shouldn't have ended this way but I was just happy that it wasn't Odin who had taken the blow.

Aziel Moore POV:

"And these are the plans for the trap I am planning," I said, jumping on the spot as I passed the crumpled piece of paper to the girl next to me. Crudely drawn on it was a small blueprint of my latest prank, it was a contraction that would drop water on the head of anyone who walked under it. The girl squinted slightly as she tried to make out what my scribbles meant.

"I don't care," she sighed, throwing the paper to the floor while the girls around us laughed quietly. I gave a shrug, bending down to pick my work up. As I stood up, my best friend, Caitlyn, placed her hand on my back, a smile on her face.

"I think it is pretty cool, you should build it," She laughed, a friendly smile on her face. I returned her smile, looking towards the stage where the video from The Capitol we were forced to watch every year, came to an end.

"Well, isn't that exciting?" Our escort bubbles shouted with glee. "Now, males first!". She walked towards the ball with the boys, as she did so, I felt my stomach turning in fear it might be one of my older brothers. They were always fighting and we were never close but they were my brothers and I loved them. I held my breath as Bubbles walked back to the microphone, a slip of paper in her hand.

"Oliver Powers!" She shouted into the empty air. The name was met with nothing but silence until a group of boys in the sixteen-year-old section parted ways, making way for Oliver. At first, I was ecstatic that it wasn't my brothers but when someone from the fourteen-year-old section screamed his name, I felt bad. He had a family too, he didn't deserve to be entered into a death match. No one did. Unless you are a murderer, then the Games were perfect for you.

"Now, for the girls!" Bubbles laughed, clapping her hands while Oliver was still trying to come to terms with what had happened. All things considered, he was doing really well, most people would have been a mess. Me and Caitlyn held each other's hands, awaiting the name of this year's tribute, there was no hope for a volunteer, no one wanted to risk their lives for someone in Five.

"Caitlyn Medows!" Bubbles screamed, my friend's grip tightening as her body started to shake. The girls in our row had a sympathetic look on their faces as they made a clear path for Caitlyn. However, my friend just dropped to the floor, crying. Then the Peacekeepers came.

Caitlyn's screams filled me with anger as they forced their way past the other children, trying to pull her towards the stage, I was so angered, I didn't have time to even think about the words that rolled off my tongue.

"I volunteer, I volunteer!" I screamed, pulling Caitlyn away from them. The Peacekeepers looked over to our Mayor, who just gave a small nod. They let go of Caitlyn and started pulling me to the stage but I just brushed them off. I could walk to the stage by myself, I was Five's second volunteer and I was going to come home just like the first.