Ididi Ididi, District Five Female (Age 15)
I sat down in my bed. A bit of sunlight shone through the dusty air and made a path down to the floor. The room was full of dust but I didn't really care to clean it. I'd have to get some of my only clothes all dirty and doing anything was hard with one full arm. Doing anything was also hard when you'd spent most of your life in one room and only seeing real people once a year, therefore not knowing how said people do things.
I had a spider. I decided to name her Daisy because according to a book of old plants on the shelf, daisies were a pretty flower. The spider wasn't pretty like a flower but pretty like a weird eight-legged thing. She was about half the length of my pinky finger and lived in a web below the windowsill for the past few weeks.
"Good morning, Daisy." I didn't like to be touched so I figured I should leave her alone to catch all the little flies and mosquitoes that bothered me in the summer. Daisy did nothing in response.
I sat down and watched her. She wasn't moving but seemed very alive. Her web had gotten bigger overnight and was light and shiny. Good for her. It looked beautiful. There was still a suspicious lack of bugs.
I spent the next hour watching her. At one point she moved a little further away from me. She didn't need to be scared. I never did much to anything.
The door to my room opened and my mom walked in. This was rare. Usually she just slipped meals under. Was it my bath time?
"Good morning." She said stiffly. "Today is the day of the Reaping. Put this on." She tossed me a big gray dress that I fumbled with. She scoffed as I picked it up and left as I began to change.
The instant I was done she came back in and tugged me by the wrist. I flinched and tried to wave goodbye to Daisy with my other "arm". She disappeared around the corner.
"We're taking you to the square early. Your sister is still asleep. Don't make a sound and stay where we'll put you."
I blinked. Today was one of the days I got to leave? Every year I'd gone to see two people get picked for something in front of everyone. It was not interesting. I'd done a lot of thinking and I had no idea why this was the only thing worth leaving for. I nodded. Her grip hurt.
I also finally got to see the rest of the small house. The kitchen table had three chairs. There were pictures of a little girl who looked like me. But she had two arms. So she got to live and I got to barely-live. She was symmetrical and that meant she was better.
She led me out the front door. The sun was rising. It was much more vibrant in person instead of through a grimy window. It was yellow and red and pink.
I stopped to look at it but my mom tugged me along. "Come on."
So I followed her away.
Sable Isaac, District Five Male (Age 13)
"And that, kids, is the end of the tour. Thank you and have a good day."
The group began to make their way to the doors. I scribbled down a few more notes in my journal as the guide finished talking and tried to complete a sketch of one of the power generators, but my brother Al pulled me away before I could finish.
"I wanted to look more at the-"
"You can ask Mom and Dad like, tomorrow. You're gonna get left behind. C'mon."
If he was actually interested in these things he'd know it would be weeks before I'd be allowed to check out the power plant. I'd have to get an ID and approval form from one of the Head Peacekeepers, since security was that tight. They were only more lenient on us for the school trip because most of the teachers used to work there.
I shook myself out of his grip and went towards the exit with him. He was following his group of friends who were technically my group of friends too although I feel like if we weren't in the same grade I wouldn't interact with them at all. They were just... intimidating? Older? I didn't know, they just gave off a weird vibe. Besides the fact that they were intimidating and older.
When I was ten I was pushed ahead three grades to my brother's class because I was honestly bored. It wasn't too unusual for Five kids. Most were plain smart with the occasional super-smart standout and according to them I was one of those standouts.
I probably should've just gone ahead two but Al was so protective he didn't want me to be with older kids without him so I was put with the then-thirteen year olds. I was due to graduate at fifteen and then probably land a high-ranked job at one of these plants, so I had to learn all I could now.
Al led me along to the group collecting near the doors. "So, are you anxious about the Reaping?"
I felt bad for whoever would have to go to the Games but my name was only in twice. It wouldn't be me. "Nah. What about you?"
He shrugged. "Sort of."
The teacher opened the door and we ran out to the bus. Al and I grabbed our usual seats near the back before everyone else flooded in.
"Why are you worried?" I asked him. He was usually a tough guy. I was the smaller, shy one. Today he was very off.
Al looked around to make sure nobody was eavesdropping, which was nearly impossible because the bus was extremely loud. "I just hate the Reapings. I hate the Games. I hate the Capitol for making everyone so scared their kids would be sent off to kill each other. And today, we're gonna watch two of us get chosen for that. One of them could be in this bus right now."
It felt so good to hear someone else say that. The Games were always a taboo subject and nobody ever said a thing about them since cameras were everywhere. Speaking against it was treacherous and our hatred of it had to be left to knowing looks.
Even if I wouldn't be chosen, someone else would be. And they could be the most innocent person in the world and nobody would care.
Ididi Ididi, District Five Female (Age 15)
I wasn't used to this much sun. Or this much anything in fact. When I got here in the morning it was nice and cool and there were a couple of bunnies.
People gave me odd looks. I had different hair than them and my skin was much lighter. And I had nothing where my lower arm was supposed to be. There was too much noise and too much light so I didn't know whether to cover my eyes or my ears so I shut my eyes and stuck my finger in my one of my ears. Nobody came close to me although the crowd was dense.
Everyone was talking. A man and a woman sat on the stage in front of us. There were two huge glass circles filled with paper. The woman had silver hair even though she looked young and her eyebrows were bright pink. She was wearing white and talking to the man who looked like everyone else. Why was he special?
They talked some more. I didn't talk much. It often felt weird when I would try talking to myself.
The lady finally stood up and tapped a weird machine that made noise. But at least the other people stopped talking. "Hello, hello!" She smiled. Her teeth were gold. She didn't quite look human. "My name is Althea Roma and I'm the District Five Escort!"
"Today we will select two of you young people to represent your District in the Twentieth Annual Hunger Games! An honor indeed." What are Hunger Games? District Five is this place but what are the Hunger Games?
"We'll start with the ladies." She strutted over to one of the circles and chose a paper.
"Ididi Ididi!" Althea called out words I didn't know.
Everything was quiet now. Everyone was looking around for something I didn't know. I didn't know much. All I heard were murmurs.
A girl glanced over at me and said, "You? Are you Ididi Ididi?"
What's an Ididi Ididi? Why am I the Ididi Ididi?
Her friend nodded. "Oh my God, she does look like that crazy lady Alec Ididi."
I didn't understand. Did they pick me because they didn't know me? Or because I was different?
All the girls were looking at me now, even more than they had been before, and nudged me to the middle. I went along until I was standing between the two halves of the crowd. All by myself. Even Althea saw me now and smiled. "Come on over!"
I felt dazed but I stepped up to the stage. I stared out at everyone. They all looked so small from up here. Like flies in Daisy's web.
Sable Isaac, District Five Male (Age 13)
Poor girl. She was funny-looking and funny-acting but who knew why? For all I knew she was an alien, after all, I'd never seen her once in my life. The Capitol was probably laughing their butts off at some confused kid. I hated to think this but if the male tribute was anything like that Five would be a joke to them.
Althea grinned at Ididi. "Got anything to say to your District?"
Silence overtook the square, broken only by the sound of Ididi breathing heavily into the microphone.
"Very well." Her smile was becoming more and more forced. "Now to the boys."
She shuffled over to the second glass bowl and stuck her gloved hand in. After rustling around for a few seconds she selected a slip. I held my breath as she read out a name,
"Sable Isaac."
Fuck, fuck, fuck. I froze and my heart was pounding in my chest. Surely there could be another kid named Sable Isaac?
Practically every thirteen-year-old was looking at me so I guess I didn't have much of a choice. My throat closed up as I walked towards the middle and began to make my way up. Oh God, this wasn't happening.
I was dreaming. This was just a weird dream. I can wake up. I can wake up. I can wake up.
Althea shook my hand which was already violently shaking and before I could process what was going on she shoved the microphone in my face.
"Um, hi." I managed a weak smile although I could feel burning in the back of my eyes. I didn't see Al or any of my friends or parents. "Uh, wish me luck?" It sounded like a question. "Haha."
Everyone was quiet and disappointed. We wouldn't have a Victor this year and they knew it.
AN: First Reaping chapter, yay! I had a lot of fun writing Ididi and Sable, thanks to Dreaming of Starry Skies and my irl best friend for submitting them! Also, fun fact: Ididi was supposed to be illiterate but I kinda wanted to add the bit about her spider. Anyways, answer these questions in the reviews if you want, it'll help me write the story better-
1. What did you think of these two?
2. How long do you think they'll last in the arena?
3. Any way I can improve my writing? (Just don't be a dick I'm sensitive as heck)
I'll probably write the Nine Reapings next so stay tuned!