Capri Newport, 15, D6F
That is so disgusting. Marree, my little sister, thought it would be a good idea to give me a mud pie on my morning oatmeal. "It's for you!" She said with a little smile. Ugh she's so annoying. "Go somewhere else you little brat!" I pushed her away and she fell flat on her ass, mud covering her hands. Haha the little ass had it coming. "Clean this up." I spit at her as she starts crying. I'm basically the one who looks after her 'cos my mom's dead, the little bitch just left us, and my dad's a drunk, what an asshole. They left me to deal with the extra baggage that they laid down on me and they expect me to deal with it. Yeah right, I'm not doing anything to help out the little brat. I want to live in my own house with luxuries and gourmet food and great variety. Just to myself. And I'll get it, don't you doubt me, I'll earn it. I have my ways.
I get dressed in a light pink dress that I bought with my savings and slipped it on over my skin. I never wear undergarments, I like the breeze. It's so cool and refreshing that I don't even own any anymore. Why buy it if you're not going to use it anymore? That's what I say about buying my sister food. It's worthless, so why keep the thing alive? I think It'll save all our skins if that thing is gone. The little ball of crap just barges into my room uninvited. "What the hell are you doing in here? This is my room, now get out!" She's so annoying, I wish she'd just die. She's still not going. "Sissy, I wanted to give you this." Marree holds out a paper covered in shitty drawings of me and her and sunshine. "What the hell did I say about calling me sissy? Now get out you piece of shit!" I shove her to the ground. I slam my door and continue getting ready for the reaping.
I go to the reaping by myself, I live pretty close so I don't have to walk too far. Exercise is the worst, who invented something like that anyway? Who wants to get covered in sweat like a little pig? Not me. I get to the reaping and have my finger pricked. It's pretty uneventful, except for the little brat who start crying; it brings me joy seeing them so weak. I get in line with all the others and stand there until the Escort Zeal Golan comes out. He looks like her just had a fucking glitter bath. He's covered head to toe in sequence, you can't even see his face for godsake. "Now let's go head on with the girls." he says, voice muffled by his sparkling suit. He pulls out the name of some bitch who starts crying and I yell out. "I volunteer as tribute!" Every looks right at me, like they should. I smile as bright as I can and head up to the stage. I snatch the microphone away from Zeal and say, "My name's Capri Newport, and I'm going to keep our streak running for you saps."
Aero Miller, 16, D6M
"No!" My hand is caressed around my mother's, the other holding on to the ledge. "Mom, hang on! I'll- I'll get you back up!" She's not speaking, only crying. Tears are streaming down her face and her nose is sucking up the air in an attempt to keep back what's pushing out. I grip her hand even tighter but my hand is getting unusually sweaty. Possibly from the terror of letting go or the fact that it's blazing out. Either way I can't drop her now. Not ever. Then something strange happens; her fingertips became pale and it kept spreading down her hand and arm until she looked like a ghost. I could feel her grip on me loosening and I watched in horror as the unthinkable happened. Her whole body started to quickly turn to a thick vapor and she whisked away, a wisp in the hot sticky air. She was gone. I, was gone.
"No, no, no…!" I woke up in a sticky puddle of sweat, my roommate standing over me. "I wanted to wake you up, but you were kind of scaring me." I silently looked around the room, taking in the hurtful reality. Although she never turned into ghost, my mother slipped through my grasp and plummeted to her death on a hot summer day and leaving me an orphan. My dad died from sickness months before and my mother just couldn't take it anymore. She took her life and my freedom with her. "Aero, are you okay?" I turned back to my fellow friend who lives in the orphanage with me. He never talks about his parents. I guess it's just too painful for him. "Hey, it's cool, it's alright Ranald." I reassured him and myself. "I'm okay really. It- it was just a bad dream, that's all." I glanced at the rising sun peeking out the great window of the cramped and dusty room. Honestly I'd rather go back to sleep than start the day. It's reaping day today. The worst and most awful day of the year. Unless of course you're reaped, then it's the worst and possibly last week. Last year a guy from this district won, although he had to cut off his own twin's head. I was rooting for him too up until that moment. "But that's just the Games!" They said. "He didn't have another choice." They said. "He was delirious!" They said. Well frankly, I don't give a damn. I'd never do that to anyone, let alone a sibling if I had the privilege to have one.
I was so caught up in my own ranting that I hadn't realized I just spent half an hour lollygagging. My good pal Ranald from earlier nudged my leg with his spare elbow as he pulled his way through a green sweater. "A sweater? You'll die from heat exhaustion in that thing." He stuck his head out to reply. "I don't know, it might save me if I get reaped." We gave a sort of chuckle for it wasn't entirely a laughing matter. Getting reaped isn't something you joke about. If the headmaster was here and if it weren't reaping day, we would have gotten our knees slapped. That's how they deal with trouble makers around here. I joined Ranald and buttoned up a salmon colored dress shirt. I don't like salmon but people say I look good in it. Just as I finished combing my hair, Ranald came up behind me and ruffled it all up again. "Hey, come on, don't do that!" He laughed but after seeing the seriousness in my face he raised his hands and backed off.
The headmaster was leading the way to the reaping with his grayish mustache combed to his liking, all split up into sharp points on either side of his lip. They looked like peppered wings ready to fly off his face. Be free little mustache bird. Be free while I can't. He ordered us in his low grumbled voice to line up in our designated places for the choosing of the tributes. Ranald stood four kids away from me but I can see he was wearing that "too cool for this" look. He never gets nervous. I don't think I've ever seen him in a panic. The Escort struts out donning a wild array of rainbow sparkles. Zeal always wears the latest fashion and it looks like this year, it's full body sequence suits. You can see tufts of pink curly hair jutting out of a cut hole at the top. I hear the familiar laugh of Ranald to my right and already know he's making up another stupid joke. He makes a few every year to make me laugh during class and then laughs some more as we both get slapped on the knees. Zeal walks over to the girls bowl. It's always the girls first. That makes it even worse for the boys especially if said girl is tough. He unravels the slip of paper to reveal the name of a good friend of mine. Her name is Vex Peletier. We used to hang out all the time before my parents died. My face drooped low until I heard a girl's voice. I know those words. She said "I volunteer as tribute." To all of Panem. Her name is Capri and apparently she thinks were all saps. I'm not a tree. Gosh I have to save that one for school. Zeal walks over to the boys bowl with lower confidence. Who wants a brat for a victor? He stuffs his hand inside and announces the tribute's name. My heart filled with ice water and it stuck in my throat. The name they called was mine. Aero Miller. I heard a gasp about four kids away and a small yelp that may or may not have come from me. My brain was clogged with denial. I don't even remember walking up to the podium and shaking hands. All I remember was the cool rush of air as I walked into the Justice Building.