Ashford Linden, 15
District 8 Male
This morning, I wake up to the familiar call of Mother's voice inviting me out of bed. I roll onto my stomach, not wanting to leave the softness of my mattress and deal with all these peasants I live alongside. After a few more minutes of her patient talk, I hop out of bed and walk right out of my bedroom door. Mother has more important things to do than stay in my room all morning, begging for me to wake up. What does she think I am, a baby?
I slowly walk down the creaky, wooden stairs and into the dining room that is furnished with many colorful tapestries created by the lower-class of District 8. A dish of steamy blueberry muffins awaits me at the kitchen table, and I take my first bite. Mother knows I don't like my muffins this sweet! I need to have a word with her later.
After plowing through the remainder of my muffins, I hear a knock on the door. I open it just a crack, and after seeing the familiar face of Brocade Roberts I open it wide. "Hey Ashford. I hope you remember that the reapings are today. I mean, last year you-" I cut him off and give him a quick smirk.
"Of course I remember. I was just going to change, before you came over without invitation!" I turn around, just to find Father is standing right behind me.
He shakes his head at me and sighs. "Ashford. You must at least treat your friends with respect!" I laugh at him and push past him, walking back up the rickety stairs to go put on a change of clothes. Anything would do, I mean, I wasn't even going to get reaped, right?
I take out the first clothes I see in my closet and lay the clothing out on the floor. I guess today I would be wearing a pale blue shirt, jeans, and loafers. After taking a quick glance at the outfit, I stuff the jeans back into the cabinet and take out a pair of black dress pants instead. I pull on the clothes, comb my black hair, and look at myself for a second in the mirror. The outfit looks great with my pale skin, but I wish that the clothes would have been washed better. What is Mother doing lately, trying to make me feel inferior?
When I finally leave the house, I find that Brocade is still waiting for me outside. Ahh Brocade… He was so easy to take advantage of.
"Are you sure you're going to wear that? It looks a little… Run-down," He asks me, and I resist the urge to slap him. I mean, friends are friends right?
Instead I give him a burning retort. "Not as much as yours." Brocade was poor, at least, poorer than me, and his clothes were, to say the least, hideous. He shakes his head and continues walking. That's what the punk gets for insulting me, his superior. If it weren't the reaping today, I would do worse but I held onto the slight sliver of fear that I would be reaped, and no matter how gullible he is I didn't want my last words to him to be of contempt. I wouldn't ever admit that to anyone, though.
After 5 minutes of walking, Brocade and I reach the square. When the Peacekeeper tries to stab me with his needle, I backhand him and try to walk away. Brocade shakes his head and pleas to me with his eyes, and I relent, letting them take out a sample of my blood. How rude.
We both go to the 15-year old section, and right when we get into our places the escort speaks out.
"Welcome, welcome, to the 150th Annual Hunger Games!"
Lisle Cronin, 13
District 8 Female
I wake up this morning with a feeling of gloom overcoming my emotions. Three years ago today, my sister Saye was reaped for the Games. She was my age when she was reaped, and I can't help but feel afraid that I will be reaped this year, too. I mean, the Capitol loves irony like this. I just have to be optimistic, and try to act like nothing is bothering me.
When I enter my parent's room, I find Rayon crying on their tattered bed, all alone. I close the door, and he jerks his head towards it. "I already told you to go away, Mommy. Please leave. I don't want to talk." I open the door a crack and whisper to him.
"This isn't Mommy. I didn't know you were in here, do you know where Mommy and Daddy is?" Rayon shakes his head and begins crying again. I once again close the door and look to the living room, the kitchen… The house is oddly silent, and all I can hear is the sound of my brother's sobs. I walk outside to check our yard, but they aren't here either. I see a note taped onto the front door, and I take it off and return inside.
Lisle,
Dad and I are working an early shift today at the factory so we won't have to work tonight, and since today is the reaping it would earn us some extra cash. Don't be worried, we'll be there before the reaping.
Love you, Mom.
I read the note and sigh. We have been tight for money lately, but my parents never worked during the reaping before. I go to my room and realize that an outfit has been laid out for me. It was Saye's first reaping outfit. I put on the white blouse and navy blue knee-length skirt, and put my face in my hands. Why did Mom have to pick out this outfit? Didn't it bring her back bad memories? My hands shaking, I manage to put my mouse-brown hair into a bun and put a smile on my face. There wasn't much time left until the reaping begins, and I had to get my brother presentable.
I knock on the door and Rayon emerges, clothes already changed. "Where's Mommy and Daddy?" He asks me, and I give him a slight smile.
"They're at work, but don't worry Ray. You'll see them before the reaping." He nods, and we leave the house. Before we reach the square, my brother and I are stopped by a hand on our shoulders. I smile to see Mom and Dad had finally gotten here and watch as they kiss Ray on the cheek. They pull me into a tight hug and beam at me nervously.
I wave goodbye to my parents and Rayon, and get myself registered. I roll my eyes at some boy who just slapped a Peacekeeper and shake my head. That's just plain disrespectful, just because you think you're all that! I'm surprised he wasn't shot on the spot.
Soon after I'm situated in the 13-year old section, the ridiculous escort wearing an outfit made of peacock feathers begins her speech. "Welcome, welcome, to the 150th Annual Hunger Games! To remind us of why we are in this situation in the first place, let us watch us this video that the Capitol generously provided for us!" I roll my eyes, just like I'm sure everyone else in this whole Square is. What ridiculousness.
After watching the footage of the Capitol brutally killing people, I'm ready to just go home. I pray for myself as the escort, whose name is revealed to be Octavia, reaches her hand into the female tribute's bowl. "Ladies first!"
She reaches into the bowl, tantalizingly groping through the names. She finally grabs one and reads out the name. "Lisle Cronin!"
The world spins as I recognize the name as my own. I grab onto the person nearest to me, and she pushes me away in disgust. No one knew me as anything other than the shy, quiet girl, and now I'm going to be known as the dead girl! Shaking, I fall into the arms of several Peacekeepers who easily carry me onto the stage and drop me. The moment I see the crowd, who was in dead silence, I burst into tears as Octavia stares shamefully at me. "Ladies and gentlemen, your female tribute from District 8!"
Ashford Linden, 15
District 8 Male
I applaud with the crowd as the tiny, petite girl sobs on stage. She was nothing more than a walking corpse now. The escort picks a name from the boys' bowl, and I can practically sense everyone holding their breath around me. Octavia opens the slip, and she says the name. "Ashford Linden!"
I walk forward, trying to keep my back straight and chin up. I walk towards the stage and give a half-hearted smirk to the crowd. They applaud for me, and I know what they know – They know I will win this. This is going to be easy right? Why wouldn't it be? All I have to do is kill people and outlive 23 other tributes. It's a piece of cake.
I can't believe I was reaped, though. I mean, what were the odds with all of these people who had tesserae and I didn't! What if I-
No. I can't be negative, I can do this. I will do this. After all, I'm better than everyone else who will be participating. I mean, look at that girl. How hard can it be?
As I'm submerged in my thoughts, several Peacekeepers escort me to the Justice Building to say my goodbyes. After just a minute or two of sitting Mother and Father enter the room, and the former wraps me in a tight embrace. "Oh, Ash! I'm going to be so worried about you! Pl-please come home, okay?" She says, gasping in between each sentence. I pull away and frown at her.
"You already know I'm going to, Mother. Just sponsor me, and I'll be coming home so quickly you'll-" Father cuts me off and crosses his arms.
"Show respect to your mother! No matter how confident you are, there will always be people better than you so don't let your ego get in your way!" I roll my eyes at him and he adds one last word underneath his breath, softer than a whisper. "Please."
Peacekeepers take them out of the room and push a haggard looking Brocade in. He looks up at me and smiles. "You can do this, Ashford. I know you can." I nod and smile at him.
"Thanks bro," I say and Brocade leaves the room before the Peacekeepers can touch him. I respect that.
After he leaves I sit down and notice something in my back pocket. I take it out and see that it was Mother's necklace. She was planning to sell it soon, but I'm obviously more important than money. I hold it in my hand and sit still until the escort leads me to the train.
Lisle Cronin, 13
District 8 Female
When my parents and brother walk into the room, I'm still crying and I notice Ray still crying too. I sniff and weakly smile at them and open up my arms. Rayon goes in to hug me, and he presses something into my hand. I look, and give him a strange look. "Are you sure you're going to give this to me? I mean, it was a gift for you."
He just smiles at me and looks at the bracelet. "You need it more. Anyway, you're going to come back home and give it back once you win!" I smile at his optimism, but I know inside that we both know I won't be coming home. My fate is going to be the same as Saye's, and the knowledge hurts me. Looking up at the kind faces of Mom, Dad, and Rayon, we stay in a big hug until the Peacekeepers come and tell them it's time, time to leave, and I feel a pang in my heart. I'll never see them again, and it hurts. Hurts bad.
Big thank you to VeneratedArt for both Ashford and Lisle... I hope you like the way they're written, Ashford was easier than Lisle because he had a... Bigger personality, I guess XD
Sorry for this completely random order of districts... I did District 8 first because it was the first district to have both of their tributes submitted, and I wanted to get this started as soon as possible... The rest of the districts will also be in a completely random order, so sorry in advance if you were looking for something more... Predictable .
Anyway here are some questions for this chapter:
1). Favorite POV?
2). Anything you find that I need to improve, or any glaring grammatical errors?
Thank you to Red Roses1000 and xGred-Forgex (who I'm sorry for saying Greg instead of Gred on everything) for reviewing last chapter! Well, hopefully you'll see the next reaping soon ~