~~~~I DO NOT OWN THE HUNGER GAMES~~~~
Chapter 2: The Day of the Reaping
My name is Rain Troute. I am seventeen years old, turning eighteen in October, and my name has been put in the tribute bowl twenty-eight times. At ten years old, many children don't have much opinions of the world and just follow what they are taught. By fifteen, most know how the world sort of works. The same had been for me when I killed that boy. I followed my father's advice and enforcement, walking in my older brothers footsteps, and started my training at my young age. That is where I met Grey.
Since the day we met, both being outcasts, we were instant friends. He overlooked my mother's memory issues and simply asked if I would be his friend. Every day at training I'd see him. It wasn't until I was 12 that I finally saw him outside of training. That was my first reaping, his second. He helped me calm down when they took my blood and also when they were picking the names. Afterwards is when my father met his. They got along pretty well once they knew that their kids had been best friends for a year now.
When Grey started ninth grade, we didn't talk anymore. He was in a different age group for training, and also was now at a new high school. When that happened, I took up a job for my father, who owned his own local fish business, as a private fishermen. I would spend my days hunting fish by hand in the ocean, and kill them with a spear and occasional trident, when my father let me use his. Using the skills I received through the training, I was able to tone my reflexes and body to that of a hunter. To me, a killer.
I was in eleventh grade when I saw Grey again, finally catching up to his level in training and some classes at school. That wasn't where I saw him first. He had come to my father looking for a job, not remembering whose father he was until I walked in with a net full of cod and a few small sharks, him looking at me in shock. It was strange seeing him again. It was him, but at the same time it wasn't because he had changed so much in appearance and maturity. He was much taller than me now, me being short to begin with, and he actually looked like a young man, not a scrawny, little, punk kid with long hair. I had changed in that time from ages 12 to 16, many things had happened to me to change from the sweet girl he once knew to a colder and stronger girl.
"It's been a while, hasn't it?" were my first words to him.
"Damn, who are you." were his to me with a smile.
And it was as if nothing had changed. We obviously caught up on everything that ad changed since we last spoke, like hobbies and favorite tributes from past games. He was in the band as percussion, and I was in choir. He arranged in his free time, I collected shells or hunted for fish. I didn't like to eat raw sushi anymore; he fell in love with it. He still knew how to push my buttons and I still knew he hated when his hands were dried out, having a skin condition in the past that has always paranoid him.
My father hired him in a heartbeat, and set him to accompany me in my early and late hunting. My senior year, after Grey graduated, I dropped out of school to help out with mom more once Saxon started working on insurance more than working the store with her and the others employees. I told my dad I'd enroll this fall to finish. He understood the logic, not totally agreeing with my choice.
Before, I hunted early in the morning hours usually from 4:30 to 8:00, going to school from 9:00 to 3:00, then coming home to eat dinner. An hour after eating, Grey and I would meet by the docks again to go night fishing. After last spring, it changed from me going to school, to helping with the store. Then after we closed, I'd still meet grey at 5:00 where we hunted clams and oysters for my dad. We'd bring them home to clean them out, and as my payment for those, I kept the pearls for the store.
It was 4:45, and I simply sat up in my bed watching the clouds send more and more showers onto the glass.
Lost in my thoughts, I jumped hearing the front door open. It was Grey. He would usually meet me at my house for breakfast before going down to the beach and docks, my house being closer than his. He whispered, heading toward my room, seeing I wasn't up yet "Rain?" I hid my face even more into my knees.
"Rain, you need to get up, okay? Let's get some coffee and something to eat." Grey said pulling me up and away from the warm blankets.
"Don't touch me..." I quickly disagreed, feeling the cold air tingle my skin giving me goose bumps. I hated when people touched me, but had to get up at this time anyways. My father would be upset if I didn't, and that's one thing you never made my father.
He made me go down stairs where we made cheese and fried ham omelets with some milk for breakfast. He asked me how I slept and I told him I was okay and vice versa. We were close enough now that we never really needed to speak much. We already knew what the other was thinking.
"Get dressed and we'll go." I got my wetsuit on and met him at the door. "Ready?"
"Yep, les' go kill them fishes." I said jokingly. He smiled.
We got to the docks later than planned due to the pouring rain, but I set my things up after it stopped and quickly dove in before him. The cold water felt good on my skin after being cooped up inside and Grey wasted no time in following me in.
The way we both hunted underwater was very different than most fishermen did. The traditional way was to swim underwater, catch the octopus, and kill it by either stabbing or biting the nerves that were between the eyes. Then to tenderize the meat, you would have to beat it against a rock at least 100 times.
Grey and I chose that, but we put a little twist on it. Instead of beating it against a rock 100 times in an hour or so, we bring it home where we have meat tenderizers from district 2 that allow us to do it in half the time. Stretching it out and letting it dry also promotes the fresh meat idea that my father's restaurant uses, and gives us something to do.
Grey handed me my spear I forgot on the dock, and swam away in search for octopus. I turned on my flashlight and followed him. We found two locked in battle. On three we attacked both, each of us killing one. We brought them to the surface just to make sure they were dead before putting them in our netted bags attached to our waists. Grey winked at me before diving to look for more. In total, that day we found and killed four octopus, and six small sharks. Nowhere near what we accomplished during mating season.
"So, what do you want to do for the rest of today?" He asked me during our lunch break around noon. I was silent as I bit into my tuna sandwich. "I know what today is, but you don't need to let it get to you this badly."
"You don't know what I've been through and what I've had to deal with, Grey-"
"Yes I do! Lacking the fact you apparently didn't speak for three months, I still understood what had happened and wish I could've been there to help. But wasn't it almost three years ago?" he spoke of my experience with murder.
"Have you ever seen someone die? Seeing their scared face go blank, their body limp, and all you can do is sit there while her eyes fade to black thinking how horrible you are? It's hard to not think about when every time you close your eyes so see them. Staring at you with that same glazed over look!" My eyes stung not from the sea salt, but the salt from fresh tears threatening to spill over. I breathed and pushed them away. I wouldn't cry. I never cried.
I stared at my reflection in our clean bathroom mirror, my face fresh and clean from any imperfections of dirt or sand. My dark brown hair, reaching just past the middle of my back in length, was clean of any mud, and shined slightly in the braid I put it in. The braid started as two braids on my head, and then met into one solid fish-tail once it left my neck. My mother used to style it this way whenever we were going to a special event, and I can see why because I got my hair from her. I was also lucky enough to get her dark eyes and, basic face and body structure. She had always been smaller than my father. Freckles sprinkled my face and body, from my mother, on my almost olive skin. Unfortunately the bruise from the other day was still contrasting on my nose, telling everyone who saw me that I had gotten into some trouble.
My dress was a new one my father let me buy for this occasion. He told me to go and buy something and allowed April to go with. "Twenty minutes okay?" My father said peering into the door. He watched me fiddle the skirt to look right. "When did you get so big? You look just your mother in that dress." Alright now he was just sugar-coating it.
"Thanks, dad."
"Did you and Grey catch anything today?" here it comes…
"We caught a few octopi and some shark."
"No cod?" I stayed silent. "You know, when your brother Troy was a fisherman, he could catch over twenty-."
"Yeah, I know, dad. You tell me this every time I disappoint you."
"What I meant was maybe instead of flirting with that 'Grey' boy and dropping out of school, you could use your time doing things that will better your future."
"Like train for the hunger games? For my imminent death instead of being successful?"
"Where are you going to go to be 'successful'? You don't have a complete education! No one will take you." he laughed showing me I was in a way pathetic. Seeing my hurt, he changed his tone. "Rain what happened? You used to tell me your day and we'd go collect seashells. Now it's like I don't even know my own daughter."
"Well, I've changed. Many people do dad. Instead of asking me, ask yourself. You raised me." and I left the house after unbraiding my hair. I left it curled slightly, unsatisfied with how I looked.
Grey was waiting outside. I was almost surprised on what he chose to wear. He wore a white shirt with a beautiful, black, silk tie, and black dress pants. He commented on my dress saying it made look older and followed me to the center of town where the reaping would take place. In ten minutes, they would announce who would be going to the capital.
"What happened?"
"I'm so done with him."
"He kicked you out again?"
"No, but I'm just fed up with his pathetic excuse for parenting." Yes, he's kicked me out several times before, but the day after, he usually gathers himself and apologizes to me about it. This time, however, was different. Saxon met up with us downtown, and asked what happened.
"I walked out on our father."
"He'll come around, Rain. You know that."
"I'm perfectly fine with it, Sax. I'm done with him."
"You don't mean that. I'll talk to him for you, and Troy will pay a visit to convince him-"
"No! Troy cares about nothing but himself. Have Dad figure it out."
The clock rung twice, meaning it was two o'clock, and it was our districts turn for the tributes to be picked. We had Grey and I walked up to the peacekeeper in charge of taking our blood.
"Hand please…" I hate needles, and blood. "Hand please!" she then demanded before grabbing my hand and sticking me. I printed my blood on the paper they use, and they scanned it to make sure I was eligible to be chosen.
Troute, Rain. 17 y/o. Healthy.
Because I had a late birthday, the capitol graciously let me participate in the age group I was in currently instead of counting it in as the year. So I had one final year of all this before I was done. This was grey's last year, him turning eighteen back in January.
They kept us separated by age group, youngest in the front, and also kept our parents in a separate section behind it all where they could view most of the events on large television screens.
I know the peacekeepers never really liked me after what I did to them the first time they pricked me. I flipped out and almost punched one of them, but it felt like they had pricked me twice this time for good measure. I was still bleeding even after they announced that Deary Flitter would take the stage.
Deary tapped the microphone, and the usual exciting buzz calmed to silence.
I was breathing heavily now, close to hyperventilation, but trying to calm myself. Every year I would be perfectly fine when walking up but as soon as they were announcing the names, I got overly nervous for no reason. Grey caught my eye and told me to take deep breaths. He said he'd be there for me no matter what happened.
"Hello, hello, hello, District four!" he crowd cheered. Deary was a strange person, not because she was from the capitol, but because she dressed strange for capitol wear. Today she was sporting the colors orange and green: her dress and hair neon orange and skin a tint of spring green. "It's time for the 72nd hunger games! These past few years have been tough, but I know we can come back stronger than ever!" her accent was very out of place in this district. "Now, as you all know, our most famous victor had a rough game of his own. May I present, Finnick Odair!" he walked onto the stage and turned to see the whole town. His Famous Pearly white smile lighting up the whole stage, and the usual crowd of girls screaming his name.
"Thanks Deary." a few random declarations if love came from the silence that followed his greeting. He smiled his trademark smirk at them. "This year I am mentoring again and even though our group of last year's tributes weren't the strongest, however reaching the top five, I believe that this year's group will defiantly have major potential." Our district applauded softly as he left, Deary taking her rightful spot again.
"Okay! Onto the brief explanation to how our country and the games became what they are." A minute long video showing what happened over the past seventy-one years of Hunger Games was shown before the whole district. It ended with applause, and cheers for the tributes to be picked.
"It's time to announce the tributes!" Two clear fishbowls were carried up by two selected children, probably younger than those being reaped by their shortness, and placed in front of Deary. "Now, let's do the ladies first!" shocker there… she always picked the girls first because she finds it "polite".
As her hand circled the pile of names, I couldn't help but think about my father and family. If I was really out this time, I wouldn't have anywhere to go. Being unfamiliar with Grey's parents, I'm sure I wouldn't be welcomed by them. If I asked Troy for a place, he would treat me like a child, wanting everything to be perfect.
It's hard to believe, but I wish that I would be picked as a tribute just so that I wouldn't have to deal with my father anymore. I wouldn't hear him yelling for more whiskey or have to deal with his hangovers. My favorite part of the day was sunset, when I was out swimming. It was the only time I was away from him.
I found my eyes had fixed on Finnick. He had a slight curve of a smile in his flat face as Deary opened the note containing the tributes name. He had a strong chin and sea blonde hair. I won't deny that we has attractive, because he was, I just hated that fact. Suddenly his face went blank. I've never seen him look like that before. It was as if she was a different person. The name had been called, so maybe he knew who it was? Someone he'd known for a while asked on the paleness his face turned.
Deary said the name twice, making my ears perk up. The name was actually familiar. In a strange way, I knew who it was. It belonged to someone I had known my whole life, someone I knew everything about. Deary repeated the name a third time.
But, it wasn't just anyone.
"Rain Troute!"
It was me.