Everyone you know, is trying smooth it over,
Trying to find a way to make the hurt go away,
But, I won't let you make the great escape,
I'm never gonna watch you checking out of this place
I'm not gonna loseyou.
'Cause the passion and the pain are gonna keep you alive
Someday.
Hey! Find your favorite quote(s) in this chapter for sponsor points! :)
District Seven
A small seventeen year-old girl sits criss-crossed on the oak wood floorboards of her room. She wears a tired, yet stressful expression with elbows on her knees and her fists on her cheeks. As she huffs a sigh a piece of her light brown hair falls over her face. Nina Rane thinks hard. The decisions she's about to make in the next few hours will change her life entirely.
Should she volunteer this year? Nina feels that she needs to. Her father abandoned her and her family seven years ago, when Nina was ten. The vision flashes into Nina's mind, like it does perpetually. Her father's stony face remains burned into her memory forever. The words he said before leaving, when he thought only Nina's mother could hear, however, will haunt her.
Nina will never do anything with her life.
They eat away in the back of her mind, causing pain and longing. Mr. Rane didn't stop after insulting Nina though. He went on to inform Mrs. Rane that her son Dao was and will always be an idiot. Nina always felt like she was the reason for her father's abandonment until a year or so ago. She had been looking through her younger sister Daise's things and realized how little Daise looked like her father, but much like her mother. When Nina told her mom this, Ms. Rane had grimaced. After a month of interrogating and sneaking around, the truth spilled out. Daise wasn't Mr. Rane's son. Mrs. Rane had an affair. Shortly after feeling betrayed, Nina felt relived. At least it wasn't her fault he left. But the words still mock her… there must have been at least some truth behind them.
Nina shakes her head and stands up. She's made her decision.
Lukas Seon walks across District Seven. He's on his way to the reaping. When a small child approaches him, Lukas smiles.
"Sir, do you have any spare change?" The young kid is merely six. Lukas fumbles around in his pocket, pulling out three small gold coins.
"Yes, here you go,"
"Thank you!" he boy grins, then toddles off.
Lukas smiles back, then turns back to the winding road. When he sees what lies in front of him, his happiness sinks into the bowels of his heart, slowly fading.
Dead Man's River meanders through the woods, rushing water spills out onto the bottom of some of the trees. The river got its name years ago and has held up to its reputation. Three years ago, when Lukas was fourteen, he and his best friend Emmaline had wandered by it. Emmaline had dared Lukas to go in to prove he wasn't chicken. Lukas had laughed and waded in the water to his knees, which was good enough. Emmaline smiled at him and dove in giggling. She went much further in than Lukas, who couldn't swim. She came up for a moment, on her tip-toes. Then, a small wave rolled across her face, pushing her under for a while. Emmaline came up again and started to swim back to Lukas when another wave, this time much bigger swallowed her. Only that time Emmaline didn't come back up.
A lump forms in Lukas's throat, but he moves on, like always. He has to, right? Minutes later Lukas arrives at the town square, standing in the crowd of seventeen year-old boys.
"Welcome tributes! Happy Hunger Games!" The escort for District Seven, named China chirps. She shows the video from the Dark Days with a smile plastered on her done-up face.
"Now, for the moment we've all been waiting for!" China reaches into the reaping bowl and takes out a slip. She reads, "LULU CURBER!"
"I VOLUNTEER!" A girl calls, with determination in her sea green eyes.
"Oh goodie! A volunteer! What's your name, precious?"
"Nina Rane," she says.
"Lovely, Nina! Now onto the boys!" China takes another name and reads, "LUKAS SEON"
Lukas gulps, his heart sinking once more. As he walks onto the stage he envisions Emmaline crying in the crowd. As the citizens part for him he grimaces and meets Nina. They shake hands then are left awkwardly staring into the mob of people.
District Eight
Calico Weft smiles when her father appears in the kitchen. She hands him a plate with two scrambled eggs on it. He smiles back to her then sits down at the small table in the center of the kitchen with Cali's younger sisters Cashmerete and Lilli along with five year-old brother Tex.
Cali's been left with her father to maintain the household after her mother's mysterious disappearance three years ago. Lilli still thinks she's out there, waiting for them to find her, but Cali and her father have their own suspicions. In the rebellion nine years ago Cali's mother's father- Cali's grandfather had been one of the three leading rebels that attacked the Capitol. They've always thought it was for revenge.
"Are you ready for the reaping?" Mr. Weft says with his mouth full.
"Could I ever be?" Cali says sarcastically.
"I'm excited Daddy!" Tex shouts, spitting his breakfast across the room.
"No you're not!" Mr. Weft says seriously.
"Only joking!" Tex smiles sweetly. Then he plops out of his chair and walks into his room.
"You better be mister!" he replies, shaking his pointer finger. Mr. Weft laughs and gets up from the table.
Then Cali goes up to her room to change into her mother's dress, which she's chosen as her reaping outfit.
Raiden Brown's face twists when he hears the door to his room open. It creaks loudly, hurting his ears.
"Mr. Brown, I'm afraid you need to get dressed for the reaping," a nurse says, her voice monotone. She doesn't wait for Raiden to respond before leaving.
He frowns, looking up at the white bland walls and ceiling. The floor is made of black tiles that make Raiden's feet echo. Raiden takes the set of black pants an white shirt sitting on his bed. It's the only piece of furniture in the room. After Raiden gets dressed he waits for the nurse to return. He isn't allowed to leave until she comes back for him. In fact, the door is locked on both sides.
After a few more minutes Raiden's nurse comes in with a guard to escort him to the reaping.
As they leave the building Raiden looks back at the sign hanging over the door.
Home for the Mentally Unstable
Has been crossed out and underneath it reads in sloppy red paint
INSANE ASYLUM
Raiden frowns at it. It's true though… he lives at an asylum. It's for killing three girls and two boys in his grade and injuring fifteen. He had gotten his hand on a gun somehow. And now everyone in the District loathes him. Raiden is forced to wear a white gown from the mental hospital along with a set of shiny handcuffs.
When he finally arrives the escort has already started blabbing on about the Games. Then he fishes around in the reaping bowl for a slip.
"Calico Weft!" A girl with fiery hair and light freckles lets out a small cry. She puts a hand up in front of her face and cries behind it.
"And now for our male!" Nilo, the escort acts oblivious to the fourteen year-old's pain.
"Raiden Brown!" Several people gasp when the boy with a wild look behind his crystal eyes takes a step forward. Cali gulps with dread- an insane boy as her District partner… could it get any worse?
District Nine
Rye Thicket smiles at her long dress. It's her dead mother's. Her father has passed as well. Both of her parents had been killed the day after she was born from a couple of peacekeepers who thought they were smuggling food, which wasn't even true. Rye misses them, but she never knew them so there isn't much to miss.
Instead she's grateful that her aunt and uncle have taken her in. They have children so Rye's grown up with her headstrong cousins in this little shack of a home.
"RYE!? Are you ready yet?" Cousin Nancy asks. She's the oldest and a tad bit grumpy.
"Yeah, almost!"
She huffs a sigh and Rye finishes pushing her head through the neck hole of the dress. It's light pink with a lacey skirt and spaghetti straps. She slips her feet into a pair of shiny black flats and pulls a black headband through her bouncy light brown hair. Then Rye stomps into the main room to meet her cousins Nancy, Rose, and Baer.
"Ready?" Rose asks. She wears a gold dress with her hair in a fancy side pony.
"Yeah. I guess," Rye frowns slightly and follows her cousins out the door.
"I feel ya'. The reaping sucks, we all know that, but at least it's only once a year," Nancy pats Rye's shoulder. She's nineteen now and officially out of the reaping bowl. Baer just turned eleven, so she won't be in either. That leaves Rye and Rose, who's fifteen.
Across town a boy with auburn hair creeps by the riverbank, which is shallow enough to walk to the other side and only get your knees wet; he plans to wade across it.
Evan Keers lurks into the water, not wanting to be see be anyone, not because he's doing anything bad though. It's because he's trying to keep a secret. He and his blind brother Jeffers have a secret garden just past the river in which they grow food for their mother, who is unaware that her sons do this for her.
When Evan arrives Jeffers is already there. It's a miracle that he's able to manage to get across the river by himself, even with his cane. It might be because the brothers venture here often. Now's a special occasion though.
"Evan?"
"Yeah, it's me Jeffers," Evan smiles. There's a bush that lines the garden with a low wooden fence.
"Are you ready to try them?" Jeffers asks, referring to the only two strawberries left.
"Yes, on the count of three! One, two, three!" Evan shouts gleefully as they both pop the tasty berries into their mouths.
After that the boys go to the town center for the reaping, Evan guiding Jeffers along with their elbows linked. When Evan leaves Jeffers with their mother since he's outgrown the reaping this year, Evan walks briskly up to the seventeen year-old section.
"WELCOME DISTRICT NINE!" Nika, the escort's microphone is on a bit too loud. They watch the retched video and continue on in the reaping. When it comes time, Nika sticks his long pale bony fingers into the glass bowl, and they pull out a piece of paper that matches Nika's skin tone.
"RYE THICKET!" He blares into the microphone. A seventeen year-old girl steps out from the crowd. Her face is stony, except for her sea green eyes that search the crowd frantically. When she gets to the top step of the stage, slightly moping, Nika takes another slip and reads, "EVAN KEERS!" Another seventeen year-old makes his way to the stage. A soft cry comes from the adult section- Jeffers. He can't see his poor younger brother look sadly back at him, hoping that this won't be their last day together.
District Ten
A flash of strawberry blond hair comes for around a corner as its owner rushes to her house. Ash Sphere sprints up the cobblestone path, opens the door, then slams it. She plops onto the dingy brown couch. She's on the run from a couple of peacekeepers. They don't know where she is- and she doesn't want them to find out. It's all because her birth parents died when she was three. She doesn't even remember them, or know how they died. After that she moved in with her adoptive mother and father. They all lived happily for years until her father found something out- something he shouldn't have. Then, when Ash came home from school the next week both of her parents were dead, shot multiple times by a couple of peacekeepers.
They would've taken Ash's life too, but she hadn't been home and she wasn't the one who knew what she shouldn't. In the end, Ash managed to escape the orphanage and break into her old house, in which she stays in now. Ash doesn't want the peacekeepers to know she's living without parents and breaking in to houses.
Right now Ash sits down and twiddles her old wooden pencil in her boney fingers. She's a writer. A good one, too. The man who sells paper gives Ash a stack for free each month, but only if she'll share her work with him and the rest of the District. Today she writes about the reaping, which makes sense, she supposes.
Across the town a small orphanage sits tucked in-between two tall factories. Its humble brick walls keep the building standing. Matthias Stitch sits inside, curled up into a tight ball in his covers. When his alarm goes off he jumps up and smacks it, but misses barely and hits the side, shooting it off of his nightstand. He sighs and gets out of his warm bet to turn it off and return the alarm clock.
He sets it down next to an old picture of his family. This was before it got ugly. It was nine years ago, when Mattie and his brother Match were only four. His sister Mahogany was six and the time and Mattie's parents looked happy. It's weird how much can change in a few years. Exactly eleven months after the photo was taken Mr. Stitch died in the rebellion. The family never regained itself after that. Then, in the fifth Hunger Games in some horrible twist both Match and Mahogany were reaped and later on killed. Mattie became an only child. A year later Mattie came home to find his mother slouched against a wall with blood surrounding her. A knife was a few inches away from her body. Mattie found a suicide note in her hand.
And now Mattie sits alone and broken, although he'll never admit it.
"Hello District Ten!" Quati Lupa says an hour later. Both Ash and Mattie stand in their age group without a parent or guardian praying for their safety. She continues on, grasping a name tightly in her pudgy fingers.
"Our female tribute this year is… ASH SPHERE!" the citizens of District Ten give Ash sympathetic looks, but she ignores them, keeping her face expressionless, although she's dying inside.
"Welcome Ash! Now we'll also be taking… MATHIAS STITCH!" she calls. More melancholy glances are given to the tributes, but no one has the heart or death wish to enter these Games.
District Eleven
A small girl by the name of Ivy Kludge sits nestled in between piles of books. Their pages are filled with picture of animals and facts corresponding to them. A dark red one sits in her hands. It's filled with birds and all things about them. Right now she has it open to a page about ravens. Apparently they used to be common in poetry and were seen frequently. Now, however, they are extinct and the poems have been lost long before the Dark Days.
"IVY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP THERE!? COME DOWNSTAIRS THIS INSTANT! ARE YOU AWARE THAT IT'S NINE O'CLOCK THIS MORNING ALREADY AND YOUR PARENTS HAVEN'T HAD BREAKFAST YET!?" Mrs. Thompson, Ivy's adoptive mother yells from downstairs.
Ivy takes a second to huff a deep sigh, but then she scrambles up from the mass of books and runs downstairs to make breakfast. After taking the last step Ivy stops, Mrs. Thompson has a small stick in her hands. She twirls it about and a sick smile crosses her face. Ivy gulps and races into the kitchen, but her "mother" grabs her by the wrist and whacks it ten times, then once on each cheek.
"I better teach you a lesson you foul brat. If it wasn't for Mr. Thompson and I you'd be a vagrant, mindlessly wandering the streets." She hisses. Ivy nods, sadly then goes to make breakfast.
In the Adams household, today is more than the reaping day. It's also an anniversary of something. Today for them represents death and potential death. Three years ago today Morgan Adams and his twin Morgana had been playing in the kitchen where their mother had been cooking. On accident she's started a small fire that eventually devoured the whole house. Mr. Adams had been upstairs working on making a bed frame. He never made it out. Morgan's older sister Yvonne had been out of the house for a moment, but then came rushing back it. She saved everyone, but her father and youngest brother Teddy.
Now, instead of getting ready for the reaping, the siblings and their mother mourn at the graves of Teddy and Mr. Adams. Morgana grasps Morgan's hand tears streaming down her face. Morgan looks over to Yvonne, who hangs her head down, her dark hair covering her face. Morgan can see little droplets of water coming off of her cheeks though. Yvonne's always believed she's the reason Teddy died, but Morgan thinks otherwise- if it hadn't been for Yvonne they'd all be ashes.
Morgan's other sister Angela has a worried expression on her face, but she never says anything.
Half an hour later the Adams family arrives at the reaping. Morgan and Morgana go into separate gender spots in their age group. Natashatia stands on the stage, her heels almost as tall as Morgan is wide. He secretly thinks the lower half of her body's plastic.
"Let's get started now ya'll," Natashatia has what was once called a "southern accent." "Our girl seems to be… uhm… PLUTO GREENE!" She calls.
"I VOLUNTEER!" A small girl pipes up. As soon as she's said it she regrets it, but only momentarily. Then she remember that it's either this small glimmer of hope, or death at the hands of her guardians.
Before she reaches the stage Natashatia already has reaped the next tribute, obviously not fazed by a volunteer from District Eleven.
"MORGAN ADAMS!" She yells. Everybody freezes. Then a boy jerks sideways into his sister's arms.
"'ANA! Please don't make me go! Please! I need to stay!" He cries. Then his sister cups his face with her hands and whispers in his ear. Before she can finish he's pulled out of her hands by peacekeepers and thrown on the stage.
"OUR TRIBUTES OF DISTRICT ELEVEN!" Natashatia grins, her job is done. Theirs is about to begin.
District Twelve
Sixteen year old Autumn Eshaya flips her head over and ties her hair into a loose ponytail. She slips on a long leather coat, property of her older brother and rushes out of the house and down the street. She doesn't stop spriting until she reaches the Animal Safe Haven. Autumn grins in excitement an pulls open the glass door. When she steps inside she's met with the smell of wet dog. It's comforting for her, it smells like home.
"Welcome Autumn! I didn't think I'd get to see you this morning!" Doctor Rufa grins. She's the secretary of the organization. Autumn volunteers here and spends most of her time with the animals, walking them, petting and playing with them and feeding them. She knows every inhabitant by name. She has since she was five.
Autumn decides to spend time with one of her favorite dogs, Tide. He wags his tail, his shiny coat reflecting the bright lights above. Autumn pets Tide and feeds him, slipping in a little extra.
Then, ten minutes later Autumn tells Tide and Doctor Rufa that she has to get ready for the reaping. The Doctor wishes her luck.
"Hey Aiden-"
"Wake up-"
"The reaping's in five minutes-"
Aiden Jones jumps out of his covers. Three ten year-old triplets stand at the foot of his bed.
"WHAT!? FIVE MINUTES!?" He yells.
"Oh Aiden,"
"You're so gullible,"
"We were only joking! It's in an hour!"
Rusten, Ryan, and Reese alternate. Aiden glares at them for a moment, but it soon turns into a grin.
"I'll get you guys!" He jokes.
When Aiden stomps into the kitchen he finds that his mother has already prepared breakfast. Aiden smiles at her and thanks his mother, then gulps down three small pancakes. The triplets each stuff four pancakes into their mouths then gallop outside. Aiden's about to leave as well when his father calls to him.
"Aiden! I have a reaping-day-present for you!" Aiden's father owns the sweetshop in town. Now he holds out a handful of candies, most of them Aiden's favorite- chocolate. Aiden graciously takes a quarter of them and tells his father he'll save the rest for after the reaping.
Thirty minutes later the reaping is about to start. Midas Rapolio, the escort for District Twelve stands up at the microphone, although he's a good two feet too short. The mayor lowers it for him awkwardly.
"Now, now, now! Everybody! The reaping is among us! Our lady tribute is… AUTUMN ESHAYA!"
The small girl's eyes grow wide. The arena isn't a good place for a girl who can't kill a fly.
"And our gentlemale is… AIDEN JONES!"
This can't be happening. No. Aiden can't leave his family.
"Welcome tributes! I hope you're ready!" Midas smiles at them like the deranged Chesire cat.
…
Everyone you know, is trying smooth it over,
Trying to find a way to make the hurt go away,
But, I won't let you make the great escape,
I'm never gonna watch you checking out of this place
I'm not gonna loseyou.
'Cause the passion and the pain are gonna keep you alive
Someday.
…
The next chapter will be way shorter than this one- heads up!:)
I saw a review saying voting was illegal and stuff, so now there is a POLL! It's on my profile. You can still choose five tributes to give points to an each time I update I'll redo the poll, so this is just like a legal way of doing it… I LOVE YOU! Thanks so much everyone for the bajillion reviews! Each one made my day:). After this chapter we'll be off to the Capitol! Whenever you want, you can check out my profile for my status on typing the next chapter, I'll tell you how far I've gotten and what to expect! Here's a tip for writing- listening to music helps SOOO much for writers block... KM.6000 actually told me that a while ago!;)
Also, I highly recommend listening to The Great Escape by P!NK. I can easily relate it to the reaping and it's a really pretty song. Each step in the story I'll have a different song. Both reaping chapters had this song by the way. If you're still reading this say "apple" in the review somewhere, but try to hide it, like say- One moment, I must fetch myself an apple… Okay? You'll get a point for your tribute if you do so!
So don't forget the poll, or to review:P I know, I'm quite greedy with them:D Thank you a bajillion times for all of them the last two chapters specifically! You guys rock! If this story gets 50 reviews by next chapter I'll do something… tell me what you'd want me to do in a review! OMG! Guys I got five stars in "Disturbia" in Just Dance 4. O.O I'm so proud of myself!
So far, every tribute submitted has gotten at least two points, but the average is about 5.8 so I think ya'll are doing pretty well! The favorites will probably get a POV in the Bloodbath countdownO.O Who has a fun run? Anyone? It's an app by the way… yeah, if you want to add me go ahead- my name's Pofa2 which is totally random. So yeah! Add me, but tell me who you are first! BLEHHHH! I just got spacers! I'm getting braces in a week or two- and up to 12 TEETH PULLED! O.O
Now you all are probably sick and tired of my babbling, so carry on (I love that song). Carry o-o-onnnn…. Carry on, carry on! Okay, for real this time…
SPONSOR POINT QUESTION (2 pts.)- What was your favorite line/quote in this chapter?