*All right, this is from a narrator's POV (3rd person this time – I know, it's random). ALSO, if you have any questions about this story, message me and I can explain some things to you. ANOTHER ALSO: if you message me/review, I will give you a preview on the arena!*
ABOUT 14 YEARS BEFORE THE 24TH HUNGER GAMES (IN DISTRICT 10)
A dark form moved beside a river. It was tall and slender, and beside it walked one of taller, firmer build. Behind the two moved two smaller figures, with exactly the same build. Looking at them, anyone could tell that they were twins. And, if one had an apt eye, they could point out the similarities between all four of the figures, and assume that the twins were walking with their mother and father.
And anyone with any sense could see that they were frightened. The twins, who seemed to be toddlers, hurried after their mother, and were clearly trembling. Their mother was crouched down, gazing about her like a startled bird. Under her arm she held a small basket. The father and mother began to wade into the river. Their toddlers let out a quiet, startled sound, and hurried after them.
The family made their way to the center of the river. When the toddlers became too short for the walk, the mother scooped up one in her arms, and placed the other in the basket that appeared to be full of food. They trudged on.
The family was about halfway to the center of the river when the mother made her fatal mistake. Her mind full of terror and caution, she thought not of the river floor, and she stepped on a twig.
The snap echoed throughout the river, and the family felt in that instant that everyone would hear it. For a moment, they all were still, and then there was a dog's howl in the distance. "Move," the father told the mother "Move, move!" And the two waded faster through the river, now stumbling downstream occasionally to get away from the hounds that hunted them. More howls joined the first, and the sound came closer, closer.
"Here, Mary," said the father, pointing towards a thick clump of water lilies at near the middle of the river, further downstream. "We'll hide there."
And the family slid with the currents into the water lilies, burying themselves inside it, and trying not to move. They did not speak, did not dare breathe. Even the twins understood the need for silence, and clammed up their tiny bodies – one in the basket, the other huddled beside her parents.
For a long time, all was silent. There was no sound of any hounds. The family relaxed slightly. It was because of this, it seems, that what happened did.
A hound howled nearby – it seemed to be only a few meters away.
The mother, Mary, gasped, her hands flying to her mouth in an agitated manner, and the basket, which was in her hands, slipped out of her reach, out of the water lilies, and into the open.
Mary let out an audible cry, thinking of her baby in the basket, and splashed after it without a second thought. That father stood, his eyes on his fleeing wife. "Mary!" he called in a hushed yell "Mary, no!" But she disappeared from his sight, and was gone. The father stood up from his crouched position and hurried after her. All thoughts of the other child, still crouched amongst the water lilies, had disappeared from his mind.
The child heard a frenzy of barking, yelling, a gun shot . . . a cry of pain, a cry of rage, another gunshot . . . wailing, crying, screams . . . silence . . .
The child began to cry in terror, and stumbled out of the water lily patch. There they were – her mother and father, bleeding into the water, their bodies slowly being tugged away, dead. She wailed in despair and tried to follow them.
A man on the bank rose his gun to shoot the child, but another restrained him. "No," his gruff voice said "it's just a child. Let's take it to the orphanage." And so they did so – wading into the water and tugging the screaming, child away from the dead bodies of her parents. They put her in the orphanage, where she lived her life. Her memories of that night were vividly clear, and she could remember her twin's and her parent's faces clearly.
But she never thought that the basket might have escaped.
For it did, going down the river. The people of District 8 found her, and put her in their orphanage, where she lived her life. Her memories of that night were vividly clear, and she could remember her twin's and her parent's faces clearly.
Fate is a powerful thing.
Fate brought Mazie into the Hunger Games, and Nich along with her.
Fate brought Lystra into the Hunger Games.
Fate brought both of the twins into the Hunger Games.
Their names are Echo and Totsie Griffensong – Totsie being the child in the basket, Echo being the child in the water lilies.
And now they have to kill each other.