Elias Alto
Have you ever felt lost? Anxious? Used? Angry? Pathetic? Ashamed? Curious? That is just normal, you people always feel that. No wonder you are so easy to manipulate, I just take someone you love and use it to control you.
Take a look at me? There aren't many things you could use against me. My friends are strong, my brothers are stronger, and my parents, well, whatever about them.
They were working too much in life, so they didn't really have time for showing their affection toward their child; and look at their sons now.
Loc, the eldest, he is quiet and confident, but he is also cold towards people unknown to him. He also has to deal with a great deal of stress, since he is the one keeping the household together, and there are times when he cannot hold it anymore, and he explodes. We know he doesn't mean it; it is a natural reaction to stress, a way of dealing with it.
Then there is Niko, not the brightest bulb in the box, but nonetheless he is more human than others. He talks a lot, and sometimes does that without thinking of consequences. He is kind of our personal happiness generator. He is too very kind and caring, and I'm sure he would do anything for his friends and family. Since Loc is cold towards alien people, and I'm being myself, he is the one talking to other people.
Me, well, I'm the odd one out. If Loc is quiet, I am mute. I never talk when I'm alone with an unknown person, and I only feel safe in the circle of my friends. Even in school, I never do group work, because my group mates would be ignored completely. They wouldn't mind, not many people 'mind' me at all. I am the kid who doesn't talk in class, the one who always gets good grades, the one who works all the time and never has fun.
Truth is, when I work, that is the time I have fun.
I hope you know that District 5 is the district with the doctors and knowledge. It is here where we create new biological beings. Unfortunately, my parents do not work in that field. Father is an electric guy and mother is a scientist. Luckily though, well, double-sided-blade luckily though, there were some experiments on genetic material and its effects on the organism in my family, namely on me.
Exactly, I was the subject of experimenting. Not only me, my brothers too.
Niko's nervous system was played with, and now he doesn't feel pain, any pain. There are times though when he doesn't feel anything, so he needs to take some medication. Loc was the subject of internal heat experiments, meaning he can control his body heat, and he is unaffected by external heat. My dear body was altered too, my nervous system. As you might already know, the brain sends tiny electrical signals to different parts of the body. Well, today electricity cannot kill me or hurt me.
Fun. No?
Two knocks on my door and Niko enters my room.
"Elias, do you know when the Reapings are?" He asks worried, still wearing his boxers.
"Fifteen hundred, today."
"I knew it! Oh, and would you please tell me what to wear?"
Silly boy, of course.
I sigh and stand up from my working desk. I was working on the DNA sequence of a bird smart enough to sort the words it hears, and to know what to say when. "Sure thing Niko," I say.
We go to his room, everything's a mess. As usual, but hey, he knows where everything is.
"Did you take a shower?" I ask.
"Yes, yes I did. I'm not that forgetting."
I cock an eyebrow questioningly, but I'm sure he did. People don't smell like peaches for no reason.
"Well now, it is I who should be worrying for the Reaping day. You and Loc are over eighteen. Why do you need to look fancy and dandy?"
"You know how people need the Alto Brain to do things?" He asks. When saying 'Alto Brain' he refers to our intelligence and creativity to solve people's problems for a hefty amount of money.
"Yes?"
"Mrs. Thorne?"
"Oh yeah, the splicing lady, what about her?"
"Remember your DNA map about a small animal helping bad humans?"
"Bad? Don't you mean defected?" I correct him kindly. "But yes, I do remember that, why, they finished it?"
"Well they did, and there is also a kid in District 6 that needs one."
"Ah, okay then. Easy, wear your usually clothing." I open his closet, take out a leather jacket, a pair of jeans and a short sleeved shirt. "Here you go," I give him the clothing.
"Thanks Elias."
"Sure thing," I give him a thumbs up.
I decided to go over Switch's house to hang our, maybe Lillia will be there too. I hope I won't need to talk to any humans. It is just not the same.
When I'm with my friends, I'm perfectly normal, just like a good teenager boy, but with people I do not know, I start to worry of the randomest things, like, will I weird them out, or something different. Like it matters? Please.
Switch is also the person I usually open to my 'real' self, the one that things of humans as creatures of nature that should be taught a lesson, and not my sweet kid one. Not like the kind kid is a separate personality I need to play, it is just…what would you think of a seventeen years old kid who says that some people should suffer in endless agony for their sins against creatures? Exactly.
I wonder what kinds of mutts will be in the Games. That gives me something to do, figuring out the ways and means of their creation.
"Hey Elias," Switch catches my attention. My imagination often disappears in my abyss of thoughts.
You might never guess that this innocent looking boy is obsessed with order and justice. He has baggy blond hair and green eyes, with very childish looks.
"Y-yes?" I ask as I look at him. I was looking at his mother's flesh eating plants.
"Do you still need help with the DNA sequence?"
"No, no I've finished it this morning, thanks though. I just need it to be tested."
"Oh…that's sad. I've been working on alternative sequences," he says, his green droopy eyes a bit disappointed. He is the perfect friend for a little creator like me. I only wish he would accept some kind of reward.
"How much did you do?"
"…Twenty-five," he admits, somehow, I hear shame in his voice.
"Holy hot damn! That is a lot!"
"Yeah…I know. They may be completely wrong though…"
"I don't care. That is a lot! You are a genius."
"Thank you," another person says. "I am a genius." It's Lillia; her red hair in a bum, wearing a long white skirt.
"Looking beautiful as ever," I tell her, with a bit of irony. She doesn't like skirts, at all.
"I know. I am. Beautiful. Always," she says. "You two don't look bad either. What'cha doing?"
"Discussing work, as usually."
"And now we are going to the Reapings. You do not want to be late for that, do you?"
Aurora Thorne
There is one thing I enjoy in District 5, is the fact that it is the birthplace of all that is scary and fairy. Even a hundred years ago, we were the one that made those mutts. We were the creeps who made the mutts for the revolution, and for the games. We still do, I'm not going to hide it, because it is obvious.
And not like it is boring or stupid. Don't get me wrong, we are not all that bad…just mildly insane and antisocial.
We make creatures to help people. Dogs that hear better to alert their owners. Cats whose ability to feel their owners' feeling is greater, hamsters that do not spontaneously explode and all that fun stuff. Then we make animals that never existed and never will exist according to Mother Nature.
Did you ever see a cat with fairy wings? I don't think so.
But I do know and I am surprised, because according to Gran-Gran my mom had a Catairy, the cat fairy, and after her death no new ones were made.
"Hrm?" I make a weird sound as I try to get my eyes to adjust to the lights.
I was sleeping, or at least, being in a half dream state, when this ball of dark purple fluff landed on me.
"Mreow!" The Catairy says. Interesting fact about Cataries, they can talk. Or at least, speak words.
"What do you want?" I just don't know what to do now, seemingly the last Catairy, and the last Catairy belonged to mom. So is it mom's?
"I love you," the Catairy said. Well, not really said, repeated. They repeated whole sentences and say individual words with a weird purring sound. It definetly repeated the sentence, because it was mom's.
"Gran-Gran!"
"Aurora, I'm sorry."
"Gran-Gran!" I scream as I flip the sheet of me and run down the stairs.
"I've failed you…"
I am pretty sure I ran down the stairs screaming my head off, because Gran-Gran was pretty scared.
"Darling, you look like you saw a ghost."
Gran-Gran looks pretty good for her age. I love her so much.
She allowed mom and I stay with her when Friderick left us.
She has short long curly hair. It looks short, it goes until the beginning of her neck, but when she straightens it, it goes until the middle of her back. She has gray eyes that are always seem to be concerned about something, but she is actually very carefree.
She is also not, but she looks good rounder than most people. It gives her this caring grandma stereotypical look. Don't imagine her three meters wide, just…chubby. She usually wears gray poncho over some light coloured blouse and dark pants with sandals.
The doctor told her not to use glasses, but she sees well without them.
"What's wrong hun?"
"You know mom's Catairy?"
"Bubblegum?"
"Yeah, and she was the last Catairy?"
"Yes…she ran away when poor May…died." Her eyes darkened. She is a strong woman, never cries. Doesn't allow herself to cry.
"She's back."
"What?" Her eyes widen.
"Bubblegum's in my room."
"Sweet Swedish cheese," she said and she went upstairs to my room.
I was about to warn her about the mess in my room when she stepped into…but my room was perfectly organized, and Bubblegum sleeping on mom's dress that I was going to wear for the Reapings.
Bubblegum has neon blue eyes and she is pitching black with a blue tongue. Her wings, those translucent fairy wings, were now on her back. She had two pairs, coming from the same spot.
She opened her eyes, noticed us, and started to flap her wings happily.
"Mom, Aurora!" She said, actually with her own purring voice and flew to us.
"She is Bubblegum…but how? And why now?"
"There are so many things I want to tell you," Bubblegum repeated.
"Where were you?" Gran-Gran asks.
"Away."
"Aurora darling, go and have breakfast. Charlie made pancakes."
Charlie, my grandfather, is the best cook in the whole world. He is starting to go bald; he's losing his dark brown hair from the top of his head.
Gran-Gran and Papi have a rather great little animal farm and genetics laboratory. Gran-Gran is the head for now, but she says that when the time comes, I'll take over.
We splice animals for the good and the bad. A lot of people send orders for us, like this one kid from District 6, he is slowly but surely going blind, so his family, some five years ago, asked us if we have an animal that can help him with his everyday life. Dogs were too boring and large, and smaller dogs do not have the mental capabilities, making them smarter takes too much time. So we started to think in other animals. I'm proud of myself because I came up with having an owl. Not really coming up with it…just…oh fine, this is how it happened.
I had a plush owl called Monsieur Pudding, and I was bothering Gran-Gran with him, and that's how she got the idea.
From Monsieur Pudding
And now the kid actually has an easier way of getting around his District, his parents and Gran-Gran have a good relationship; we get e-mails and letters from them regularly.
We live in a large house, and our backyard is the smaller version of our large pet farm. We have two Kangabits who just gave life to four babies; they are a cross between a kangaroo and rabbit. A family of Turtle Ducks. An old male Slanth, mix of a sloth and an anteater, Papi's pet. A Cippo, a hippo-cow mix, Gran-Gran's pet. Whistling Groundhogs, Meadow Voles, lot of birds, Armadillo Wolves, and my pets, five Pentepuses.
They aren't big, the biggest they grow is palm sized. They are little five legged octopi. Their head is usually lighter colour then their legs, and they are adorable!
They leave red marks on your skin, because they suck on it, and the only way to remove them is to tickle them.
After eating breakfast, I wash my teeth downstairs, because I'm too damn scared to go upstairs and then feed our little critters.
First, two cabbages for Range and Koo, the Kangabits; bread and little fish for the Mork Family of Turtle Ducks, a whole ant-bread for Brutus the Slanth, and a chunk of meat and a lot of veggies for Poofcake the Cippo. The Tituses and Kalos, well they are herbivores so they usually just graze on flower and random greens, but I give them carrots, cucumbers and melons.
Gran-Gran also takes care of our birds, they are in their birdhouse. Inside, it doesn't even look like they are in District 5, more like in a forest. I just refill their food supplies and leave in a hurry…they dislike me.
I feed my little booboos some fish and kelp. There is Bosnia, Hungary, Slovenia, Russia, and Spain. The reason I named them countries is because I always used to forget those countries, but not the others. And they seem to like their names.
I go and check on Gran-Gran and Bubblegum before I meet up with my friends. I'm still in my night gown.
It feels awkward knocking on my own door.
"So…anything you found out?"
"Well, she told me in words where she was and how she survived, how she was catnapped and all that, but she insists to talk to you, because May wanted to tell you something."
"Uhm…okay?"
Gran-Gran hugged me and left, leaving me with mom's messenger.
"Come on Bubblegum, talk," I say to her and scratch her under her chin.
"Aurora, I'm sorry. I've failed you. I always wanted to see you grow up, graduate, have a family, live your life. Apparently that will be impossible," Bubblegum made coughing sounds. "It's getting over me. Not even the doctors here know what this is or how to stop this…You are so young, but you'll have to grow up so fast…" Bubblegum coughed again.
I didn't know what to think, I just listen, for hours. Hours about the truth, about the man I do not refer to as father, everything.
And I was listening.
Elias Alto
It is good that we are all seventeen; at least we can sit together. Lillia sat at the end, then me, and then Switch.
It was awkward, being quiet, hearing quiet. When I'm quiet, it is all normal, but when Lillia and Switch were quiet, now that was awkward. They are never quiet, always talking about something.
The whole Reaping felt like a funeral.
Maybe they were quiet because it was raining.
I like rain, it makes people depressed, but not me. I was actually smiling.
Our Escort, Shviga, came on the stage without making a sound. He talked, told us that the tributes' family will be used in the games.
Great.
Shviga was wearing all gray clothing, his large dark brown eyes filled with misery. His pale skin never saw sunlight. He had contacts that made his pupil yellow, and the white of his eye black. All in all, he looked pathetic, a human wreck. Dark circles around his eyes, it was just…misery.
"The male tribute is by the name of Elias Alto!"
Oh.
Well.
Whatever.
Lillia held her breath, and I swear I could read Switch's thoughts.
Should I volunteer for him?
But he'd be used no matter.
Maybe I can save him and Lillia, and my family, and survive.
No Switch my dear friend, do not volunteer for me.
I walk up the stage, and stand beside Shviga.
Aurora Thorne
I decided not to tell my friends about Bubblegum.
Antoinette, my brunette would go all pity on me. Not like that's bad, but I don't want people's pity. I'd want to be talked to. She is actually a good person to talk to, she knows a lot, and she sells it. She's tall with curly chestnut brown hair and dark eyes, and a funny accent that I can't really decided on.
Then there is Rickvard. He is tall and he is bold, but he is confident. Or stubborn. Depends how you look at it. He is very sure about what he says, even when he is wrong, he can almost make you believe that you are wrong, and not him. That is one of the reasons I failed to get an A+ in math a week ago.
Sofiea is the one I feel the closest to. She is always cheerful and happy. She is just a little sunshine, with her reddish blonde hair and always happy eyes. Yes, her eyes are happy. I don't know how to describe happy eyes, it is just…her eyes always seem to, well, I don't know, be happy I guess.
But we did go to the Reapings together, and we will come back together and have a bowling party.
Sofiea was wearing a medium length sunny dress with orange flip flops. Rickvard was being Rickvard and didn't change his everyday clothing. Jeans and a shirt. Antoinette was wearing a mini skirt and dark leggings with a pretty white blouse.
And then it started to rain, hooray.
Good thing though that I always bring an umbrella, but I don't know why. I guess because I liked to play with it on boring days. I'm actually really good with sticks and rods, making them spin and all those really showy things.
So now we are huddled together, like homeless children, under one umbrella, waiting for the Reapings to end.
Shviga is an interesting person, always depressing over everything, but because of that, I am sure he is actually kind. Or he is an evil sadistic person. One of the two.
"The male tribute is by the name of Elias Alto," he announces.
Elias Alto? That sounds familiar…Elias…Hm…Oh I know!
Isn't he Niko's brother? Man, that is horrible…
"The female tribute is by the name of Aurora Thorne!"
Isn't that me? Man…that sucks.
Well, I can do a lot of things I don't look like, so I may just play my cards right and possible end up killing the kid who helps people.
Oh well, get ready young man.
Elias Alto
Great.
Amazing.
Lovely.
I'm in the Games with Mrs. Thorne's granddaughter. Ha, I will never come back alive.
Niko cannot say anything, and Loc only writes and writes.
"Look, guys," I start feeling awkward. "Looking at just my partner, there isn't much chance I will come back alive, or maybe in one piece. So-"
"Shut up!" Niko yells. "Don't say that! Do not think like that!"
"Considering the fact of the twist and that I am not exactly the fighter type, I'll be happy if I get you two and those two safely out of there."
"And how do you think we will live without you?"
"And how do you think I will live without all of you? It is either at least four people living without one, or families living without their kids? Think now brother," I knock on his head. "Look, think logically. I could make an alliance, but even they will have some people in the Games, so evidently they will try to have their friends saved first. Either way you look at it, it is the best to place you guys before me."
It was time for them to go, we gave each other a silent hug. Before leaving, Loc gave me an envelope and ruffled my hair.
"Go crazy on them."
Well, basically the same thing happened with Lillia and Switch.
Lillia was crying and I had to explain things to her, and then she'd disagree for no reason and have a tantrum, then cry because she had one. Switch was mourning quietly, but I know he was also thinking about the Games. The other players. The mutts and traps. I might even risk of thinking that he is working out a plan.
After they left too I open the envelope. It has a metal charm that looks like a roman numeral three and a letter.
Aurora Thorne
So I'm with the Alto Brain.
That has its setbacks and advances.
He is very smart, and if I get the smarts together, we could eliminate all the others and then I can kill them off with my bow and arrow. But that also means that we will be prime target of careers. And what if he and I got attacked? He is almost useless, not to be whatever.
With the right mindset, I could achieve great things.
And that is being objective; don't get the feelings get to you.
The Games don't start in the Arena.
They start right now.
My three friends come in, all talking at the same time, babbling about the Games and me, all scared of my death…and theirs. I can feel their nervousness and anxiety.
After talking to them, calming them down, Gran-Gran and Papi came in.
"Oh darling…" Gran-Gran embraces me. "I don't want to loose my daughter and granddaughter."
"You won't. And I won't loose you."
"This goes from mother to daughter darling," she says and gives me a leather bracelet.
"Remember what I thought you right?" Papi asks me. "About where to shoot for different people? Indirect hitting?"
"Yes, yes, knowing one's weak points and not only the physical ones."
It's funny how now I await the Games.