Author's Note: Well, I'm done with lengthy author's notes. Anyway...PEOPLE. I NEED TRIBUTES. I would like to have them earlier, but I can't start the reapings until I have everyone filled out. So...start filling out the forms!
I guess I'm going to be cursing a lot more in this story...
Well, here is our first POV character, introduced at the end of 99th Games:
The wood splits easily under my five-year old axe, little splinters breaking off and flying into the cold winter air. Snow was piled all around District 7 and the surrounding area; no doubt it covered most (if not all) of Panem. My medium brown hair was slicked with sweat, which dripped onto my coal black winter jacket, as the cap I was wearing didn't exactly absorb all of the sweat.
I brought another log up onto the stump, pulling the old iron axe away from my shoulder. It was covered in a slushy mixture that reminded me of the sleet that fell over my District sometimes.
My name is Grant Sobil. I am 17 years old, and I am quite possibly going to be District 7's male tribute for the 100th Hunger Games.
You see, I have three sisters and a little brother, and my father is a lazy bum. My mother takes all the stress while my father, the dick that he is, goes off and bangs some other chick or gets drunk off of white liquor. Urrel Sobil is a total asshole, through and through.
My mother, Ardenna, has a job carting wood back and forth between the lumberyard and the processing plants. She's much stronger than my father, and a lot more clean and beautiful at that. I don't even know why she married him in the first place. But then again, if that hadn't happened, I wouldn't exist. She talked to me about it one afternoon:
"Fuck him. All he ever does is spend all our money on booze."
"Honey...don't talk about your father like that."
"Why? You're not telling me you don't agree." She turned to me, and I shrank under her gaze.
"Urrel hasn't always been like this. He used to be a nice guy, carefree and always getting the top mark in his class."
"What happened?"
"I...I got pregnant. With you." My gaze shifted.
"And?"
"He didn't want to bear that commitment, but he still loved me. He doesn't give two shits for you."
"And the little ones?"
"Probably not. Eat your vegetables." She picked up her plate and walked towards the kitchen, not giving me a second glance.
He probably didn't care about anything but money and sex, but I didn't give a fuck about him. I cared about my siblings, though.
Little Baby Miki was usually throwing random crap from her toy box at me (which only consisted of a doll, a toy car, and some old dog toy that my brother, Josef, had fixed up). She was short-tempered and usually spoke in broken sentences. She didn't care for anybody else's opinion.
"Candy now!" I remembered fondly.
Kalea was seven, and she was already starting to help me out in the winter, as she always had some sort of warm drink ready for me when I came back in from cutting wood. She seemed to be quite the cook, and I was pretty sure she had helped my mother with a few meals.
Josef was thirteen, and he acted like your average nerd from District 3. He was always messing with different gadgets he had found in the trash when he was walking back from school. He was a bit mischievous as well, but luckily he hadn't done anything too bad. Yet...
Yeula was sixteen, conceived almost right after I had been born. Her birthday was coming up. We were close, and she shared most of the household responsibilities I had, but most of the work she did was inside the house. She was the reason our house was spotless.
My thoughts came back to the task at hand. Ardenna would be angry if I didn't come back in with enough wood for the whole night, so I went back to chopping wood with my trusty axe. Splinters stuck like burrs on my blue jeans, some falling onto my newly-bought snow boots.
The axe I held had been mine since I had been twelve. Urrel, that cunning motherfucker, had actually used some of his goofing-off money to buy me a present (but only because it had been "useful"). It was a cheap, iron axe, no bells and whistles, but so far it had lasted me five years. Another wood block fell under the might of my old friend, the axe.
The sun was starting to dip behind the horizon, and that's when I made my mind up to go back inside to my family. Well, the members I was allowed to call my family. Urrel had gone out to "do some errands," which probably consisted of going to the grocery store, getting drunk, and gambling at one of District 7's many hidden gambling dens.
I picked up three pieces of crudely-cut ash wood, careful not to stab any splinters through my threadbare gloves. A warm glow comes from the old window facing the backyard, a candle currently being lit by Yeula. She waves, and although I'm unable to wave back I smile for what I'm worth.
I make my way through the thick snow, kicking aside a stray basketball that Josef and Kalea never played with anymore. The door opened up wide, Kalea standing there with a cup of hot cocoa. I smiled again.
"Thanks, sis." I grinned, and she smiled. "Dad's not home yet, but dinner's almost ready." Typical Urrel.
"Don't worry about Dad, honey." I said, kneeling down to Kalea's level. "He'll be home eventually." I sighed, dropping the logs near the doorstep. Kalea frowned, giving me the cup of cocoa and crossing her arms.
"Why are you so hard on Dad? I know he's not the greatest, but..." Kalea's face fell. "I just hope it's not any of us this year.."
"Hey, don't think such negative thoughts," I said, looking down at her. "Last year we just had bad luck. Anna was a good tribute, but didn't have the best of luck..."
I thought back to the afternoon I had watched that "episode" of the Games:
"And down goes Anna Garys, killed by her own District partner, who would've thought?"
I looked at Ardenna. "Why would he do such a thing? Doesn't he realize he isn't the only tribute left?"
"People do strange things when stressed." she replied.
Later on, I got to see Rupert killed by his own arrogance.
Kicked in the face by Missus Stressed-Relationship from District 3. Torn to bits by freaking piranhas.
"And Rupert was an idiot." I muttered. Kalea sighed.
"Mom's waiting for you inside." she said. I nodded, putting the hot cocoa down on our flimsy table in the hallway and going back outside to get the rest of the wood. After three or so trips, the wood was stacked neatly (enough) right inside the door and I was halfway through my mug of cocoa.
"Where's Daddy?" yelled Miki, who was only 3 years old.
"He'll be home...eventually." Ardenna sighed. "Go back to sleep, Miki." Josef walked through the door way, fiddling with two pieces of metal. "Put those down and come to the table, Josef." Josef obeyed, and sat at his usual place.
Yeula and I sighed, bored out of our minds. We weren't supposed to go out in this weather, so we couldn't exactly go and see our friends. The 10-year old phone in the corner rang, shaking the small endtable it was on.
"I'll get it. It's probably Urrel." Sure enough, as soon as I picked it up I heard his gravelly voice.
"Whaddaya want, kid?" he slurred, obviously drunk.
"You called me, Dad."
"Now why would I do that?" He laughed. "I'm joking. I got something for you for Christmas." I perked up at bit. Usually he spent no money on the rest of the family.
"But...Christmas was a month ago, Dad."
"Yeah, so what. I didn't have the money then." I smiled. He was mellow today.
"Well...thanks, then." I heard him coughing on the other end.
"See ya later, kid." I hung up the phone, but as soon as I turned to go back to the table, it rang again. I sighed, then went to pick it up, expecting Urrel again. It wasn't.
"Hello?"
"Oh, hi, Alyssa." I smiled. Apparently I still would be able to talk to my friends.
I'd known Alyssa since I was very young, when Urrel wasn't as much of an asshole. She'd been more than a friend the past year or so, though...
"How's winter for you?"
"Not bad. Not looking forward to school, though." Alyssa laughed.
"Hey, at school you'll be able to see me again."
"Yeah, and Barkus."
"What do you have against him?" Barkus Anderssen and I had a bit of a rivalry, but it was nothing more than striving to achieve the girl we both loved. And that girl was leaning towards him.
"Nothing..." I muttered. I leaned against the doorframe.
"Hey, doofus." Yeula called. "How long are you gonna be on the phone?" I laughed.
"What?" Alyssa asked.
"Nothing...I have to go..."
"Oh...well, I'll see you in a month or so. Bye."
"Bye." I frowned, putting down the phone onto the hanger.
"Why, did you miss me when I was five feet away?" I looked at Yeula. She laughed.
"Whatever, Grant." I sighed, picking up my stuff and turning towards the hallway.
"And where are you going, Grant?" Ardenna asks.
"Not hungry." I mutter. The hallway is dark, and I have a hard time making my way around the mounds of toys and random clutter that has filled up the hallway over the years. I'm kind of excited that Urrel actually did something for me, but I doubt it's something useful.
I shut my door behind me, turning on my ten-year-old stereo and playing some glitch music. Currently it's the fad in District 1, but I like it myself. There's a certain riff to the music that I admire. I laugh. My family should be part of District 3.
I guess I get it from Urrel. Ardenna says he used to be quite the craftsman before...before he became an alcoholic and totally ruined his life. Sucks for him.
I lay back on my bed, staring at the slowly-growing art on the ceiling above my bed. At first it started out with a few doodles, but I've added more and more to it so that it's starting to seem like a monster ripping a hole into the roof, staring back at me.
That's probably why I don't allow any of the little ones into my room. They'd have nightmares. Among other reasons...
My room is small. The cramped space is taken up by the shelf on which my stereo resides, my dilapidated bookcase, my old bed, and the dresser. I try to remember how long I've had this room.
I laugh when I realize what room this used to be.
"Hey, Dad."
"What?"
"Where's my stuff?"
"Moved it into your new room?"
"New room? I don't have to sleep in Yeula's room anymore?"
"Nope."
"Well, where is it?"
"Gimme a sec." Urrel grunts, taking a nail out of his mouth and nailing it into a board that he's using to make a toybox, for Josef.
"It's the back room."
"Dad? The only room we have in the back is...oh." Urrel's beer storage room. I hated the stench of it, but I guess he had exhausted his supply of beer and decided that I need a new room. Great.
The stench of beer didn't go away for months.
I sigh. That's probably the nicest thing Urrel's ever done for me. But I'll have to see what his present is. It could be even better than this room.
After all, I still sometimes find rat droppings on the floor. And this was where he stored his beer, too. Wonderful.
Turning the glitch music off, I decide I'm going to try and find Urrel. He's bound to be somewhere near the town square, and I could still use the pay phone in the square to call if I can't find him. Hell, I might even see Alyssa.
Don't get ahead of yourself, I thought.
I rush past the dinner table, totally ignoring whatever Ardenna chooses to say to me. Grabbing my jacket from the hook, I whack open the front door and step out into the frigid air of District 7.
The lamplighters have gotten to work early, and the whole street is illuminated in a warm orange glow. People walk swiftly past me, after all it is getting pretty late, and the pickpockets are bound to be out. I keep my hand on my wallet.
There's not too many people in the square, but I don't see anyone I have really gotten to know. I sigh. I don't exactly want to go on a bar crawl looking for Urrel.
But then I spot him, standing next to the giant television the Capitol brought three or so months ago. He's chatting with some of his buddies, probably other barflies. But when he sees me, he says goodbye and walks up to my position.
"Hey, Grant. Didn't expect to see you here." Well, I didn't expect to see him sober. Plus...is he wearing cologne?
"Hey...Dad. What's so special about tonight?"
"Ahhh, I don't know. I just felt like I needed to make it up to your mother for the way I've been acting the past few months." The past few years, I think.
"Yeah? Sounds nice."
"Don't get sarcastic with me, boy. I still have your present." For once, I'm genuinely interested.
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"The present."
"Ha! Get that glitch music out of your head for a moment for a second and come over here and look!" He says, motioning to his stuff, which lies on a nearby table. I pause for a second. Urrel doesn't know I listen to glitch. Oh, whatever. Maybe he found one of my discs lying about.
He opens the suitcase lying on the table, and my mouth drops. This...this is better than the room he gave me. Better than the fucking hatchet. Better than everything he's ever done for me in his life.
"Wow..." I say, staring at the glitch keyboard in front of me. It even has a strap, so I don't have to put up my old, ratty stand to play it. I feel like a Capitol kid that's gotten a shotgun for Christmas. Or something like that. I'm not that good with expressions.
"You like it?" Urrel asks, smiling.
"Hell yes..." I mutter, picking it up and staring at the shiny grey finish. How the hell did he get the money for this?
"How the hell did you get the money for this?" I say, repeating my thoughts. Urrel laughs.
"Drinking beer isn't the only thing I do in District 7, Grant." he replies. Yeah, and fuck hookers, I almost reply, but I keep my mouth shut.
"Okay..." I still can't believe it.
"What about the others?"
"The others?"
"Dad. Your other children." Urrel laughs.
"Yeah, I got stuff for them, too. You'll just have to wait until later." He smiles. I laugh, a sincere laugh I haven't done in front of him for a very long time. Life is feeling pretty good right about now.
"I guess I need to test it out."
"Hell yes." Urrel smiles. Grinning, I power the keyboard up.
The keys vibrate with life, the small computer power supply humming on the bottom edge of the keyboard. I test it out, playing a few keys. I notice there's also a line of different glitch gadgets on the top edge of a keyboard, and there's a black wraith keytat spanning the top edge.
"Holy shit." I mutter. There is no way he made this money legitimately...and to think, what could he have gotten for my siblings? My mind is going crazy. This must be a dream.
For once, it isn't. That night, I go home with Urrel and he sits at the table with Ardenna, who I actually see smiling for once. Yeula and I laugh along with them. Inside, I'm screaming and jumping for joy. Despite the looming threat of the Reapings only a few months from now, I feel amazing.
It's like I've gotten a shot of Capitol adrenaline.
Giddy as hell, I talk with Yeula late into the night, and I spend an hour or so talking to Alyssa on the phone. I'm not sure why. I test out the glitch keyboard, playing a few select songs like Raze and Criss Cross.
Urrel leaves at around midnight, and I feel a bit sad. I had assumed that he would actually assimilate back into our family. I guess I was wrong. But then he mentions that he's just going back to the apartment he's staying in to get his stuff. My spirits lift.
But I'm still a bit apprehensive about Urrel. Where in Panem did he get all this money?
I bid everyone good night and retire to my room. I'm out for the count before I even hit the pillow.
The next morning I wake up all groggy, taking a second to look at my old clock.
9:00 AM?
I'm late for school!
Author's Note: Well, I hope you liked the first chapter. The next chapter is from Grant's point of view as well, but don't worry. I'll eventually show all the POVs so you can get accustomed to them. Hopefully I'll fill the tribute list soon...
On another note, here's our first sponsor question, and it's fairly easy:
Why is Finn Yang infamous?
Farewell! And see you next time.