Chapter 2: The Reaping, Part 2
~District 7~
Escort Minka Kelsen stepped onto the stage to greet the mayor of District 7 and a few prominent people from both the district and the Capitol. The anthem rang in their ears as Minka patted down her satin, puffy purple dress and turned and gazed out into the crowd, watching eligible children check in, with their parents and younger siblings trailing behind them, nervous for their loved ones.
"Come on, Bettina! We're going to be late!" Minka heard a voice call out.
"Coming!" she heard another voice reply. Minka noticed a strand of red hair out of place and cursed her luck. Once everyone checked in and was in place, the anthem shortly faded to a stop and Minka opened her mouth to speak.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the reaping for the 2nd Annual Hunger Games!" Minka announced, her voice booming from the sound system wired on the stage and connected to the microphone. "We are now going to choose which boy and girl will represent District 7 in this year's Hunger Games." Minka ignored the crowd's quietness and stuck her hand into one of the glass ball. "We'll start with the girls." Minka used her hand to shuffle the slips of paper, as if they were a deck of cards, before pulling one paper out. The crowd waited in lackluster suspense as Minka quickly opened the paper and read the name on it.
"Bettina Wilde!"
There was a gasp in the crowd, and it came from the girl who was walking through the crowd, heading towards the stage.
"Me?" Bettina cried while she was stepping onto the stage. "My name was only in there twice because I didn't take any tessarae! It can't be me!"
"But it is," Minka responded, waving the slip of paper in front of Bettina. "The odds can't always be in your favor, even if you think they are." Bettina remained silent as Minka turned back to the glass balls and reached into the one containing the boys' names. She quickly pulled out the first slip of paper that poked out of the ball and opened it to read it. Bettina leaned over Minka's shoulder to see the name, right as Minka said it.
"Jack Forrest!"
Bettina scanned the crowd until she saw Jack, one of her friends from school, nudge his way through the pack of fourteen-year-olds and walk around the crowd to make his way to the stage.
"Hey Bettina. Fancy meeting you here," Jack said with a chuckle as he stood at her side.
"Hey," Bettina replied, smiling sheepishly and quickly waving to him.
"Any volunteers?" Minka asked the crowd. There was no answer. "No? Well alright then! District 7, these are your new tributes!" Minka then turned to Bettina and Jack, and they took it as their cue to shake hands. "May the odds be ever in your favor!" Bettina and Jack nodded as they turned to follow Minka inside the Justice Building, with the anthem playing them out.
~District 8~
A sixteen-year-old boy hurried over to the other kids his age after checking in with the Peacekeepers. He mostly blended in with the crowd, but there were parts of his appearance that stood out among everyone else, such as his jet black hair, jade green eyes, and the zigzagged scar on his left cheek. Not to mention, he towered above most of the crowd at six feet, two inches. He was dressed in a blue oxford shirt, black dress pants, and shoes, similar to the other boys in District 8. He met up with his girlfriend, a petite blonde named Roxanne, and brought her in for a hug, while glancing behind him at the Peacekeepers while they continued to check in and take blood from prospective tributes. He started to drift off in thought, when a voice with a Capitol accent boomed across the town square.
"Hello everyone! It's time for the reaping for the 2nd Annual Hunger Games!" chimed the escort, a slightly pudgy Capitol woman with orange hair that looked like flames adorning her head. "First up are the girls!" With that, an orange-skinned hand dove into the first glass ball and dug through it. Her hair was entirely covered by paper until one slip was eventually extracted from the ball, and the escort had the slip opened in an instant.
"Ariani Woolf!"
A fourteen-year-old girl could feel all eyes on her as she started walking towards the stage. Her face was completely blank from lack of emotion, and her face remained that way as the escort greeted her onstage.
"Now Ariani, are you ready for the Hunger Games?" the escort asked, a cheesy grin plastered on her face as she addresses the female tribute. Ariani didn't answer, only staring at the escort stoically. "O…kay then. Well, now we'll move onto the boys!" The escort turned and reached her hand into the other glass ball and drew out a name.
"Darien Shinoko!"
Roxanne turned and stared at her boyfriend in horror, before the two hugged again. Roxanne tried to latch onto him, but he could see Peacekeepers heading their way, so he forced himself to let go of her and walk up to the stage. He and Ariani gave a quick nod to each other as he passed her to stand on the other side of the escort.
"Alright, I probably already know the answer to this, but do we have any volunteers?" the escort asked, scanning the faces of the crowd. They stared at her expressionless and without response. "I thought so. Alright then, ladies and gentlemen, we have our District 8 tributes! Go on, you two, shake hands." The escort turned and gave Darien and Ariani each a quick nudge, and the two shook hands while the anthem started up again. Darien turned and managed to have one last glance at the crowd, more importantly, his girlfriend, before the escort whisked him and Ariani away into the Justice Building. He had to find a way out of this.
~District 9~
A twelve-year-old girl shuddered in fear as she huddled with her two best friends in the midst of the twelve-year-old crowd, as they and everyone else looked up at the escort, Karine Levotts. Karine was a short but stocky Capitol woman, dressed in an elegant white suit and white, Capitol-designed boots. Her curly pink hair rested on her shoulders, and her green eyes were illuminated by her overdose of silver eye shadow and the rest of her excessive makeup. As much as she liked the outfit, the girl was too nervous to fully admire it, and she could feel her stomach drop when Karine began to speak.
"Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor!" Karine exclaimed, smiling and waving to the crowd, and getting little to no response from them. "Now, let's find out which of our lovely boys and girls will be representing District 9 in this year's Games. Ladies first!" Hearts pounded as Karine reached into a glass ball and daintily pulled out a slip of paper. The paper dangled in between her fingertips, nearly dropping to the ground as Karine opened the slip of paper and read it.
"Lita Reed!"
The young girl sighed with relief as she and her friends peered over at an eighteen-year-old girl who started making her way to the stage. She was beautiful, with her brown hair flowing behind her in the wind and her hazel eyes catching a ray of the sun. Her floral blouse, paired with white capris and white ballet flats, popped on her olive skin. The twelve-year-old felt a pang of sadness. It was a shame to see a pretty girl be sent into the Games. At least she herself was safe for the year though.
"Ah, so you must be Lita!" the escort greeted Lita once she made it onto the stage.
"Yeah, that's me," Lita responded, giving a small smile before staring down at the crowd.
"Alright, now let's pick our male tribute!" the escort continued, placing her hand into the second glass ball and using her hand to shuffle the slips of paper before taking out one of them. The escort fumbled around with the paper for a moment before opening it and announcing the name written on it.
"Felix Rice!"
A fifteen-year-old boy stood there, frozen in shock. Everyone was staring at him expectantly, waiting for him to get up onstage. Instead, the boy pushes through the crowd and starts to run in the opposite direction, when he sees a row of Peacekeepers lining the crowd, blocking his way and any possible chance of escape. Turning back around, Felix gulped and ignored everyone's gazes as he walked onstage.
"There you are, Felix!" the escort said to him when she saw him. Felix was too scared to speak, so he just quietly stood next to Lita. They quickly shook hands before turning back to the escort.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you your District 9 tributes!" the escort exclaimed.
~District 10~
A Capitol woman of medium height nervously stood onstage with the mayor of District 10 and a few Peacekeepers. Her makeup, lighter than the average Capitol citizen, made her look younger, though her poufy yellow dress and big, curly, purple hair that was styled like an 80s perm made her look twice the size she really was. The woman took a deep breath as she watched the children of District 10 be herded like cattle by the Peacekeepers to check in and take their spots within their age groups. Her name was Susana VonSchuitts, and it was her very first year as an escort for the Hunger Games. Of course, being a newbie, she was assigned one of the poorer districts, but she didn't mind. She was just excited to do this. She saw the Games last year, and between what she saw and what her friend, Sheila Flickerman, told her, being an escort sounded like a great job, so she applied for it right away. She was interviewed shortly after, and she was even lucky enough to be hired on the same day (she figured she got it because her father is a Gamemaker, but she didn't care - she was happy to get the job). Susana's heels clomped on the wooden boards of the stage as she stepped up to speak into the microphone.
"Hello, District 10!" she greeted warmly, smiling at the crowd. "Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor!" A few Peacekeepers quietly clapped behind Susana, and that was the only reaction she got, but she still continued. "We are here today to determine which young man and woman will represent District 10 in this year's Hunger Games. We'll start with the boys!" Susana looked down at the two glass balls on a wooden table in front of her, and she dipped her hand into the first one. She decided at random to choose a slip of paper that was pushed up against the edge of the glass, and she quickly opened it to read the name on it.
"Aeris Hart!"
There was an awkward silence, as the District 10 girls glanced at each other, before Susana noticed a girl around twelve starting towards the stage.
"Oops! I must have picked from the girls by mistake!" Susana said to the crowd, laughing sheepishly. "My mistake! Oh well, come on up, Aeris!" Susana turned and noticed Aeris already ascending to the stage. "Alright, now we'll pick from the boys!" Susana gently nudged the girls' glass ball aside and reached into the one for the boys. The crowd only had to wait for a few seconds before Susana was holding the name of the male tribute.
"Murphy Stock!"
Susana and Aeris could see some people in the crowd shuffling and shifting over, allowing a boy fronting the fifteen-year-old pack to pass through. The boy hurried over to the stage and walked towards Susana and Aeris before shaking hands with Aeris.
"Our District 10 tributes!" Susana announced.
~District 11~
After spending a few hours in the morning working the fields, the people of District 11 are summoned by Peacekeepers to come to the town square for the reaping. The people follow the Peacekeepers and surround the Justice Building, with the adults and younger children standing off to the side of the building while the eligible children check in and get together in smaller clusters according to their age group. A single mother no older than thirty was holding two small girls who looked around three years old with a boy and girl no older than seven hanging onto each of her legs. She looked on at her older daughter starting to disappear into the crowd. It was her eldest daughter's first reaping, and the mother was as terrified as any other parent. Her daughter's name should have only been in there once, but the family constantly struggled with making ends meet, so the girl had to take out tessarae to support the family of six. The girl ran an olive skinned hand through her black hair when her purple eyes locked with her mother's. Their eyes expressed turmoil and sadness, but they kept their emotions under control in order to stay strong for themselves and each other. The mother and daughter then turned their heads towards the stage as the escort, a middle-aged Capitol woman wearing way too much eyeliner, began tapping the microphone.
"Hello there!" the escort chimed obnoxiously. "Let's get started with the reaping! First off will be the girls!" With that, the escort hurriedly reached into the first glass ball and started pulling out a slip of paper. She noticed that there was another slip hanging off the one she had picked, so she pulled them apart and dropped the second one back in before unfolding the first one. Everyone held their breath as the escort leaned into the microphone to announce District 11's female tribute.
"Naoko Chan!"
The mother's heart sank, while the daughter's flat-out dropped down into her gut. She turned to give a quick, helpless smile to her mother before she began heading towards the stage. Along the way she smiled and awkwardly waved at people who were staring, before finally walking up the steps onto the stage. Once the escort saw Naoko next to her onstage, her hand began inching into the other glass ball.
"Now onto the boys!" the escort quickly added while her hand sunk into the midst of the white slips. She soon pulled one out from the very bottom and carefully opened it, reading the name to herself before announcing it to the crowd.
"Grant Fields!"
A gap soon opened in the group of sixteen-year-olds, and a tall, dark, muscular boy stepped out and began his walk to the stage. Upon arriving on the stage, he greeted Naoko and shook hands with her.
"District 11, here are your tributes!" the escort exclaimed, gesturing to Naoko and Grant. The escort then turned and led Naoko and Grant into the Justice Building.
~District 12~
Mayor Wood said goodbye to his daughter as she was leaving to check in with the Peacekeepers, before turning and shaking hands with the escort and a Panem government official. The Panem national anthem blared through the giant speakers hooked up onstage as the citizens of District 12 filed into the town square and gathered in front of the Justice Building. Once everyone was situated where they were supposed to be, and anthem faded away, they began to roll the tape about the rebellion, the Dark Days, and the establishment of the Hunger Games. Some people groaned, others stared at the television screen while daydreaming, and others even drifted off to sleep, resting their head on the shoulder of the person next to them. However, the latter managed to wake up right as the tape ended, and the escort was burying her hand into the slips of paper inside a glass ball. The escort nearly knocked the glass ball off the table as she hastily plucked a slip of paper out. Everyone was watching and waiting as the escort opened the slip of paper and announced the name while reading it.
"Rosemary Wood!"
Mayor Wood had also let his mind wander off during the clips from the Dark Days, but his eyes widened as he snapped back to reality upon hearing his daughter's name. He hurried over to the escort as Rosemary was stepping onto the stage.
"There has to be some mistake. She's my daughter," Mayor Wood said, almost pleadingly, to the escort.
"Nope! No mistake!" the escort replied, holding out the slip of paper for him to see for himself. Mayor Wood examined the dreaded slip of paper, before painfully looking to Rosemary, dressed in a satin blue dress and white wedge heels with her wavy brown hair tied into a side ponytail, adorned with a blue ribbon that matched her eyes. Rosemary returned the aggrieved expression while the escort was extracting another slip of paper from the second glass ball. The two turned their attention back to the escort, just in time to hear the name of the male tribute.
"Hamish Rembrandt!"
After some shuffling and nudging within the crowd, Rosemary turned around to see one of her fellow sixteen-year-olds walking up the stage towards her and the escort. He looked neat and tidy in a black blouse, green tie, black dress pants and shoes, but his sandy blonde hair was a tousled mess. Hamish eagerly took Rosemary's hand and shook it, before Rosemary turned back towards her dad.
"Do we have any volunteers?" the escort asked the crowd. The crowd remained quiet, with a few people shaking their heads. "Well then, District 12, here are your tributes!" More silence, not even so much as one clap, but instead the citizens gave the District 12 goodbye salute, pressing their three middle fingers to their lips and holding them out, in unison. The escort shrugged and began leading Rosemary and Hamish into the Justice Building, with Mayor Wood following close behind.
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