POV District 10 Foemshay Odane

The polite and distant sound of birds woke me up. I looked out at the sky, and it hit me how late it was. But I stayed where I sat in my bed, playing with my fingers. "Good morning, Foemshay." I always tried to fight my memories. But I had run out of energy just thinking about what the "grand day" of the Reaping would have in store for me. "Good morning." Even my own voice in my head sounded so high-pitched I couldn't believe I was ever that young, ever that naïve. "Where's my mom and dad?" I could hear his footsteps come up behind me, I could feel his presence behind me. My hand mindlessly went to my shoulder, checking to see if his hand was really there. "Morning, Mrs. Elemdy. What brings you here so early?"

"Ah, just what I was about to talk to Foemshay about." Her voice had been pained. How had I not realized the connection between my parents and why she was there? I thought she was just being nice. A neighbor just dropping by on a sunny morning. "You see, there was a bit of an...unsettling, late last night in the Town Square." He was so much more older than me. How had he not known I shouldn't be there? Why couldn't she realize that either? "Well, you see, there was some retaliation from the peacekeepers...and several people did not last the night. And...that includes my husband and your parents."

"Stop, Foemshay," I whispered to myself. I forced myself to move, swinging my legs over my bed and forcing myself to my feet. I made a move towards the kitchen, but I could feel a pit in my stomach that froze me back. There was no way I was eating today. I turned away, slipping into one of the rooms. My house was strangely laid out, since I had done rearranging. A large entry room. Served as a living room, kitchen, and bedroom now. I had sold the couch, two of the four kitchen chairs, and I had traded in the original kitchen table for something smaller. I had dragged my bed out into the far left corner, right in front of the TV on a shelf sticking out on a shelf on the wall, eye level from the bed. My old room was left empty, filled with family pictures, mementos, and a lung full of dust.

The three doors to my bedroom, my parents bedroom, and my brother's bedroom are almost completely unnoticeable, lining the left wall. My bedroom - turned into a dungeon of memories - first. Second, my parents bedroom. The bathroom was in a room leading to the bathroom, which was a walled off chunk of mine. I had pulled the mirror next to the dresser, leaving the bathroom almost completely empty. Then there was my brother's bedroom. I had stripped it for everything except the bed frame and it's mattress. And anything on the bedside tables of my parents' bedroom, and all of it had been shoved into my room.

All my clothes had been moved into my mother's dresser. Almost all the clothes in there I had moved into my room, except for some of my mother's nicer clothes. When I made my way into their bedroom and over to the dresser, I was quick to pick out the dress she always wore to the reaping. "You know, you could wear this dress someday." I was old enough now to be able to fit into it, though I had cut it short so it would stop a ways below my knees instead of a ways below my toes. "Though I may be worried that you'll look better in it than I did." I hesitated though to take it. "Never in a million years mom."

"Stop, Foemshay." Those had long since become my favorite words. After I finally got around to getting myself dressed, I brushed my teeth before going and sitting down in front of the mirror and stand my mother had always done my hair in front of. My hair was a dark brown, though it had blond streaks running through it, just like my father and brother. "I have to admit, I still miss having mom do my hair." But it had begun to decay in my eyes, just as the wood or the un-kept house around me. "She certainly did a better job than I did." My eyes were brown, which I, my brother, and my mother had all shared. "You know, Mrs. Elemdy always says I'm your older twin." I tied my hair back in a pony tail, not giving it as much thought as I had planned. It wouldn't be long before we had to go. "Well she doesn't live with us, we're nothing alike on the inside."

My gut twisted inside me. It felt like someone had sucked the air out of my lungs, so I couldn't tell myself to stop. "Foemshay? You up?" Someone else did.

"Coming!" I quickly picked myself up, giving a final glance in the mirror and a sniff before running to the door. "Hey, T-" I began, opening the door, though I cut myself short. "...Aramdash."

"Hey," He replied with a heaving sigh, his voice strained.

"Have...have you seen Tonler on your way here?" I asked awkwardly.

His blue eyes dug into me. "No. Am I not a...welcome surprise?"

I looked down at my feet, swallowing hard as my fingers dug into the door. "Well, it's just I had expected to see my boyfriend at my door instead of...well..." It wasn't that the adopted son of my neighbor, Mrs. Elemdy, wasn't welcome. Well, it wasn't me who was unwelcoming. It was everything else. But I didn't understand why he sounded so tightly wound, why ever muscle was rigid in his silhouette.

"Right," He said simply.

"Well," I began after several moments of heart twisting silence. "Last year of the Reaping, huh? You must be ecstatic."

"Yeah well," He answered, fumbling with something in his pocket. "Not as much as you think."

I smiled a force, and pained, smile. "Of course," I told him curtly. He looked up to meet my eyes, looking hurt by response. "Well, no offense to you, but I would...appreciate it if you would...move along." He nodded, his gaze falling to the ground. "I'll see you at the Reapings," I added as he turned and began to leave, slowly and reluctantly.

He looked over his shoulder at me, pausing for a moment. "See you." He turned and continued on his way. Mrs. Elmedy was waiting for him, a ways off, and they continued in the direction of a Town Square when he caught up without turning to look back at me. I heaved a sigh, my gaze drifting towards the fields of cows far off in the distance. I lived on the very far edge of District 10. It would take a long time to get to the center of it, but I couldn't leave without Tonler. "And...that includes my husband and your parents."

My breath was driven straight out of me again, and I slammed the door. I still remembered that night. I remember eight-year-old Aramdash Nend, who had only recently moved in with the Elmedys, clinging to his mother's pants leg, hiding behind her swollen, pregnant belly. "Hey Foemshay!" I leaned back against the door, gripping my fingers into the door and dragging them through the wood. "Hi." I closed my eyes tight, letting my head fall back onto the door. "My mother said you can come over, if you want. She said you always came to see some of the things she made for the shop." I let my back slide down the door, dragging my fingers down with it. "Hello Aramdash."

My feet started drumming on the floor. "Hi, uh, Jemafy." I opened my eyes, and peeled my fingers off the door. There were splinters embedded under my finger nails. "Where's Aramdee? ...Shouldn't you be watching her?"

"Hey Foemshay! We need to get moving!" This time I recognized Tonler's voice as he pounded on the door, which banged the door into my head.

I jumped to my feet, brushing through my hair again before I opened the door. "Hey Tonler," I greeted him with a smile.

"I am so sorry I'm late," He told me, putting his arm around me and ushering me out the door, closing it behind me. "But we need to go." I followed along beside him, almost jogging. "And now, for the boys tribute." I looked down, starting to pick the splinters out of my fingers again. "Jemafy Odane." I bit back a hiccup of a scream.

"Anything wrong?" Tonler asked, trying to get my attention.

"Just, some splinters."

-X-X-X-

"I'll see you afterwards," Tonler said, giving me a kiss on the cheek before he went towards the other District 10 boys roped off in the Town Square.

"Next," I quickly stepped forward, and I bit down hard on my tongue. The holes in my finger from the splinters made the prick on my finger start throbbing as I made my way over.

"Stop, Foemshay," I told myself before I even started thinking. But something started thumping in the back of my head, the anxiety was still there. And as Gebyt Honeyband stepped out onto the stage in a bright yellow, purple, and blue outfit, I wanted to pass out. I tried taking deep breaths through the Dark Days video, but as Gebyt began her regular speech and made her way over to the bowl, my heart was pounding in my stomach. "Stop-"

"Foemshay Odane." My heart was throbbing in my brain now, throbbing in my tongue. I didn't even think about it as I swiftly turned to the side. I marched forward with graceful steps, standing on my tiptoes. I bowed down under the rope, stretching out my arms like a swan. I stopped and waited, looking over my shoulder at the oncoming peacekeepers. And that's when I finally broke.

I tore off through the dirt and straw, and I almost ran right past them. I almost got away. I got past them, I got past the ropes, I got past the tables where we signed in. But I ran straight into a man, who grabbed me by the shoulders and wouldn't let me go. "I'm so sorry," He said to me firmly. "But you'll be better off in the Games than you will on the run." He held me there, turning me to face them with his hands clamped down on my arms. He traded me to the peacekeepers, who had to pick me up by arms since I let my feet drag through the ground.

"And now for the...the um, the boys," Gebyt stumbled, trying to move along and keep attention from me. She ran her fingers around in the bowl until I had been forced up onto the stage, and the peacekeepers didn't leave my side until she had returned. She put an arm over me, delicately, but her fingers dug in my shoulders like knifes. She had to unfold the name with only one hand, though I was scanning the boys for Tonler.

"Tonler Laormech." I had just found his face, as horror set in, but my eyes darted to a face standing one group behind him. "My name is Aramdash Nend." He was raising his hand, and Gebyt had made a motion towards him, which stop Tonler. "But don't you live with the Elmedys?"

"I volunteer." I could see that he was grinding his teeth. "Yes, but my family was the Nends. They adopted me after..." I watched as Aramdash walked straight past Tonler, without giving him a single glance. "I like your name anyway." When he climbed up the stage beside me, I could see that he was still as tense as he was at my door. But his eyes were still soft, and tears ran silently down his cheeks.

"What's your name?" Gebyt asked, having him lean into the microphone.

"Aramdash Nend." His name started ringing in my head. Gebyt didn't let us shake hands very long, and she quickly had the rest of the safe District 10 citizens before hurrying us into the Justice Building. But I realized that wasn't true. No one was ever safe from the Capitol.

The two of us were separated into rooms where we would say a final goodbye to our friends and family. At first, I thought that I had no one alive that would come for me. Then I remembered Tonler. I pressed my ear up against the door, and for the longest time, I heard nothing. And then there were footsteps, and a young girl's voice, but I couldn't hear Tonler. The door beside my room opened and closed, and I opened my door a crack to see. None of the peacekeepers were paying attention. I slipped out of my own room, tiptoeing across to the other door.

I creaked it open slowly and poked my head in. Aramdash, and who I quickly identified as his little sister, were off in the corner, looking out the window. I slipped in, ice cold anxiety thumping in my veins. I press myself against the wall, slowly moving along towards a fancy dresser - which I had to pray was empty. Aramdash's water-colored eye glanced in my direction, and I froze. "Don't worry, Aramdee, I'm not scared," He said, his eyes still pointed at me, taking his younger sister's hands in his.

I kept my eyes locked on his once I reached the dresser, my fingers searching out the crack of the door and slowly pulling it open. It gave a small creak - not enough to catch Aramdee's attention, but enough to send even piece of muscle tense. Aramdash then picked his sister up, swinging her up into the air. I was impressed. He may be strong, but she was ten, and she wasn't small. Her screaming laughter brought me back into reality, and I quickly turned and darted into the dresser. It was empty, though it would be rather pointless to keep anything in a room like this. The dresser was probably just for decoration.

I could hear a small thump as he set Aramdee on the ground, and I let my back slide down the dresser, pulling my knees up to my chest. I rested my chin on my knees, my eyes exploring the darkened wood as far as they could. I heard the door open again, and I recognized Mrs. Elmedy's voice when she greeted the two of them. I could hear my breath, huffing and puffing against the confines like a horse after riding at full speed. I definitely was from District 10.

I kept myself from prying on their conversation, progressing from fiddling with my shoelaces, to the hem of my dress, to a lock of hair that had come out of the ponytail from my failed escape attempt. I almost started tapping my feet against the wall of the dresser, but I stopped myself right before I did. I didn't want Mrs. Elmedy or Aramdee to hear me. I then focused on my fingers, looking at all the bloody holes left from the splintered wood. Luckily, I had managed to get to all of them, though it was hard to be grateful when they were still throbbing and bright red, painful to the touch. Your fingers touch a lot of things. It wouldn't be a fun day - or a fun rest of my life. Hopefully they would heal before the Games. Maybe the Capitol would have some sort of cream they'd allow me to heal my fingers with. An infection would be much worse, especially if I'd need my hands to handle any kind of weapon.

"It appears that Jeramfy is taking matters into his own hands." It hadn't struck me until now that I'd actually have to wield a weapon. "It's pretty early to be breaking his alliance, but after their disagreement earlier, it seems he'd prefer to work by his own rules." What would I even use? "I think that's Skeltia he's aiming for." I had absolutely no accuracy at all. "His arrow missed! But it roused up Skeltia." So a bow & arrows or using knives as ranged weapons would be ruled out. "What the hell is wrong with you, Jemafy?!"

"If I die, I will not let my sister think I'm just like them!" I couldn't imagine being able to swing a sword or an axe, I probably wouldn't be strong enough. But I couldn't possibly think I'd get the chance to use a knife up close. The only thing I could use was a whip, or I could try to rope someone, and even if they had one of those, it would be almost completely pointless. I could feel my heart beating in my chest. The words had stopped, but I hadn't stopped. "I thought you were better than this, Jemafy." I couldn't say anything to stop myself. "I thought maybe I would die for you." They would hear me. "Well, things did not turn out very well for Jemafy, as the boom of the cannon is not for his teammate."

"Stop, Foemshay," I whispered, though I started shaking in fear that I had caught anyone's attention.

"Foemshay," Aramdash's voice came. "Foemshay, my mom and Aramdee left. I won't have anymore visitors, you can come out." I stood up slowly, my breath coming heavy as I hesitated with my hand hovering in front of the door. I creaked it open cautiously, peering at him like a mouse. He stared back at me solidly. Where had he got his bravery? I slipped out of the dresser, my muscles still pulled together. "Hey," He said gently, though his face was still firm. I didn't respond. He lifted his chin, looking down at me with a suspicious curiosity. "What are you hiding from?" I crept over to the door, peeking out. No one was there, but when I glanced at the clock in the hallway, we'd probably have to leave for the train soon. "Foeamshay?"

I glanced over my shoulder at him. He had shifted his position. He looked less demanding, and his eyes were gentle with concern. I pursed my lips, my throat tightening. Without a word, I turned back and slipped out the door. I kept my eyes locked on the peacekeepers before I slipped back in my own room. If Tonler had come to see me, they would've discovered me missing. Or Tonler hadn't said anything, just sat down waiting for me. I could almost see him, leaning into the velvet chair, bouncing his foot as he sat with a menacing smile at the door or the window, wondering why and where I had gone. The dresser in my room was open now. I pushed my lips together again. I doubted they would leave it open for me when I first walked in.

"Time to go," A peacekeeper's voice came, causing me to jump before I turned around to face him. I let my gaze drop to the floor, slipping out through the door. Aramdash was already there, waiting for me. Gebyt had returned, hurrying us off. Aramdash kept his face forward, but I could feel him glancing at me. But I bit my tongue and stayed silent. Enough secrets would be spilled in the Games, I didn't need to start the leaking now.