Buckingham Shine, District One
It's been a year since Burgundy died. Burgundy Shine, the rightful victor of the 69th Annual Hunger Games. My twin brother came fifth and who won? Glitter. Don't get me wrong, I love Glitter. She had been dating Burgundy since we were all thirteen and she's practically a sister to me. But she could've died in place of him. He should've won. He would've killed Velvet at the first chance he got. Not like her, not waiting until she revealed herself to be snivelling and wimpy. Burgundy would've won in style, but Damper had to ruin it. She, quite literally, was a damper on the fun. District 4 will pay for bringing her into the world. Mark my words.
The house hasn't been the same without Burgundy, without his sarcastic comments that always bring out a smile in our mother. Our mother's never been the same since our father left her for some younger woman in District Nine. He used his peacekeeping role to leave us. Burgundy, my mother, Twinkle and me. Twinkle's the younger sister. I'm glad she can't remember our father. She would've hated him. Our mother lost both of her brothers to the Hunger Games, older and younger, whilst her sister won. There was meant to be a pattern. Her older brother, Grandeur volunteered for the 47th Hunger Games and came tenth. Her older sister, Aphrodite volunteered for the 48th Hunger Games and won. She was meant to volunteer for the 49th Hunger Games but her younger brother, Dasma, beat her too it. He died in the Bloodbath. He was only fifteen, after all. She was told to volunteer for the 50th Hunger Games but she couldn't bring herself to do so. Not when it was double the tributes. Since then it's all caught up to her and she spends her days wailing for Grandeur, Dasma and Burgundy.
I'm going to win for her. That's what I tell myself everyday at the training centre. She deserves one of us to win and I refuse to let Twinkle ever volunteer. She's too pure. She tried to hold up a sword but as soon as she swung it she let go and cried. I'll win for her too. She won't like it when I volunteer; she cried for hours when Burgundy left and even more when he died. I won't do that to her though because I'll be coming home.
I must be hitting the target too hard with my battleaxe because Prism, my best friend, saunters over with that shit-eating grin of his that he always wears.
"And how is our majesty doing? Everything going alright in the palace?" He asks and I don't need to look at him to know he's raising an eyebrow.
"Fine," I say as I swing my axe, decapitating the dummy and watching the head roll away from us, "How's everything in rainbow-land?"
"Excellent."
There's a pause for a few seconds as we look at each other. He knows I'm volunteering and he's said all along that Glitter will be my mentor. He's telling me that now through his eyes.
"She won't be there," I say, tucking some hair behind my ear, "She's the worst victor we've had. Surely they wouldn't let her mentor?"
"Say what you want B, but she won the Games and she outlived a cannibal. Not many people can say that."
"And not many Careers break down and cry, do they?" I retort, crossing my arms.
"She avenged Burgundy and she won for him," He says, trying to reason to me. He knows Burgundy's my weak spot, knows that deep down I know that Glitter won for him.
"Burgundy should've avenged her death."
It's clear Prism doesn't like this answer because he huffs and lets a silence linger for a few seconds.
"Do you want me to make sure Twinkle and your mom are okay after the reaping?" He asks earnestly, one of his more sincere smiles gracing his lips.
"If you could, that'd be great."
He nods and, when the bell chimes to signal us going home, he leads me out. In a few hours I'll be on my way to the Capitol. I'll leave a tribute and return a victor.
Diamond Gold, District One
My big brother won the Hunger Games a few years back and I'm going to be just like him! He doesn't know that yet though, none of my family do because I want to surprise them. Papa'll be so proud to have two victors as sons! The Golds will be the most loved family in all of District One!
I wasn't allowed to go the training centre this morning. For all they want me to volunteer, my parents think that reaping day is family day no matter what we do. They didn't let my brother, Emerald, go to the training centre either - even though he was 18! If they didn't let him go then they definitely won't let me go.
So instead I sit on the kitchen counter, swinging my legs back and forth as I take a bite into a piece of toast. My mother and father are sat at the table, smiling at each other and me as we talk about Emerald's victory. Emerald stands at the toaster making his own toast, laughing and bantering with us.
"What was going on in your head as you decided to use the brick instead of a knife?" My father asks in between chuckles.
Emerald shrugs, "It was the easiest thing to grab, so I used it."
"A lot of blood though," My mother comments with a slight grimace but smiles all the same.
The conversation shifts onto Glitter, our victor from last year.
"I for one think she's highly deserving of her win," My mother states, looking around.
"She deserves to be six feet under," My father retaliates, "Scared of Eight? Who would be that embarrassing?"
"Let's put you in front of a cannibal and see how well you do," My mother says, looking pointedly at my father who simple grumbles and shakes his head, muttering something about how our male tribute would've killed Velvet in the bloodbath if he had the chance.
"She's a nice girl," Emerald says after a second or so of silence, "She was distraught when Burgundy volunteered too. I spent a few nights talking to her and telling her to keep calm."
My father only hums in agreement as my mother says something about how poor and unfortunate Glitter is.
A few minutes later and the conversation is on the volunteers for this year. Now's my time to tell them!
"I think Burgundy's sister will volunteer, personally," Emerald says after a few moments of consideration, "She's bound to. Why wouldn't she take the chance to avenger her brother? She's nasty with an axe too, decent at throwing things and let me tell you, she has the best evasion skills this District's ever see. I wouldn't be surprised if she manages to be better at evasion than the outer districts."
"Oh that would be entertaining!" My mother exclaims with a clap of her hands, "And who do you think the male volunteer'll be."
I look around, inhale and smile, "Me!"
The room goes a deathly silence. The last time we had a tribute my age he barely made it into the top 10. I think he was mauled by mutts. The only reason he got so far was because the other Careers babied him and protected him. I won't let the Careers to that to me, though!
"Come again?" Emerald says, mouth opened slightly in shock.
"I'm going to be the volunteer!" I repeat, the same smile on my face.
My mother looks horrified, as does Emerald. It takes him a few minutes but my father breaks out into a grin and claps his hand, "Well then! Two victors! Emerald and Diamond Gold, Victors of District One! It sound's pretty marvellous to me."
My mother and brother don't want to agree, but they must see I'm so determined because all they do is smile awkwardly and nod.
Glitter Bauble, District One Mentor
It feels weird standing on stage, overlooking the District. Next to be are the other victors who pay me no attention, bar Emerald Gold. He stayed by my side when I needed him the most. He didn't abandon me when I came home. I can feel the district kids looking up at me, judging me, glaring at me. They despise me. The parents are a bit more sympathetic. If I look I can spot Burgundy's mother near the front, craning to look at her daughters. I can't see Buckingham but I can see Twinkle. I think she sees that I can see her because she smiles and waves. I allow myself a small smile and a wave back.
Our escort is an old man, apparently he's been escorting for our District since the 50th Hunger Games and had escorted for District Eleven for ten years before that. Nobody knows how old he is but he still is as preppy as ever and, if you didn't know better, you'd guess he's only fifty or so. This year he's donning magenta hair with a matching suit. Rumour's have it that he's related to Caesar Flickerman, but I don't believe that for one bit - he's just a copier of the trend. A sheep.
He goes on about the Dark Days, about how we, the Districts, owe the Capitol so much and how the Hunger Games came about. It unnerves me to think that one year ago that was my favourite speech in the world and that I could recite it word for word, emotion for emotion. I know all the words know, but my emotions have change. There's no excitement or happiness when I hear those words, only the painful memories of the 69th Hunger Games.
He announces that he's going to start with the ladies but there's no point. As soon as he walks back with a sheet of pristine white paper and opens it slightly the bombardment of shouts begin. You've got to be quick to be heard and even then it's down to who he sees and picks.
And I'm right.
As soon as he takes a breath there's so many declarations of volunteering that even he's taken aback by it. So many girls want to atone for my mistake. It takes him a while but he eventually picks one girl. A girl who's fairly tall for a female, long blonde hair with piercing grey eyes. I don't need to squint to know who it is. It's Buckingham Shine. The only girl who can strike fear into me.
She saunters up the stage, flicking her hair and glares at me as she walks past. I can't imagine how I look because I don't try to conceal my fear. She stands where she's allocated to and beams. She must ignore her mother's look of despair or Twinkle's crying face, she mustn't care.
"My name is Buckingham Shine," she says in response to his inquiry of her identity.
There's murmurs from the crowd and they've picked up on the fact that she's Burgundy's sister. The escort tries to make the crowd quiet and, when you can at least hear him from the back of the crowd he walks over to the bowl of the male names.
Except, he doesn't bother to read out the name and just allows the shouts to echo throughout the square.
Surprisingly, he settles on a weedy looking boy from the fifteen-year-old's section who puffs his chest out embarrassingly as he walks to the stage. I can hear Emerald mutter something of disdain next to me and I don't need to study the boy walking up to know he's Diamond Gold, arguably the most annoyingly enthusiastic boy in our district.
He shouts his name, a little too loudly, and again murmurs occur. We've got quite the set up this year. You've got the twin of last year's fallen male tribute who'll be mentored by his girlfriend and the younger brother of a victor who'll be mentored by his older sibling.
The two shake hands and you can tell Buckingham has no intent on being close to the younger, before being escorted away.
Hii! So the first reaping is done! I've got the tributes for District Two so I'll be able to do their's but after that we'll need submissions.
So please submit! We've got loads of spaces. Please submit via PM with the form on the first chapter of this story.
Tell me in the reviews what you thought of District One's tributes!
Remember, reviews make me happy~!
- Oli