District 3 female – Thia Verneta, 15
I dozed off again after waiting for my mother for another hour and didn't see her until I woke up the next morning when she was already getting for work.
"Good morning, Thia," she said to me.
"Hi, Mum," I said, walking over to her and giving her a half-hearted hug. "Did you stay back last night?"
"Yes, I had to cover the late-night shift," she said. "I'm sorry, Thia. But, I won't be going to work today until after the news story telling us what the twist for that Quarter Quell is."
"Oh, alright..." I said, looking at our little holographic TV, where the host of the Hunger Games was talking about potential twists that the Quell could have.
"Do you have any plans for today?" my mother asked me, looking at the hologram.
"Um, just hanging out with Dax," I said, playing with the sleeve of my jacket. "Oh, look, here comes President Snow now."
My mother and I watched as the President came onto the stage and began talking about the history of the Hunger Games.
"It really was a horrible idea, don't you think, Thia?" said my mother. "Children killing each other..."
"Yeah, no, killing people is really bad," I said, feeling my heart rate begin to speed up. "Look, he's about to say it..."
"The twist to this year's Quell is that instead of the tributes being reaped out by chance, a male and female tribute will be voted in by their own district, to remind you that you chose to rebel against the Capitol and have a war twenty-five years ago," said the President. "The voting for all Districts will open in twenty-four hours, and close three days after that. May the odds be ever in your favour."
"Voting in our own tribute? That's awful," said my mother. "Oh, well... I'd better be off, then. I'll see you tonight, Thia?"
Will you, though? I thought but didn't say anything. I just gave her a small smile as she left the house, and I was once again alone.
The next day I met Dax at the town centre so we could place our votes, and neither of us really had any idea for who to vote for.
As we entered the line, a young girl approached me.
"Thia," she snapped, and I jumped when I realised who she was. She was the younger sister of the boy I'd killed. "Why are you even showing your face in public?"
"What do you mean?" Dax asked.
"She's evil!" the girl cried, her voice shrill.
"Selling drugs and causing mischief isn't evil," Dax laughed.
"She killed my brother!" she cried, pointing at me. "I saw it!"
"What?" Dax chuckled. "Thia would never do that."
"She did!" the girl cried.
I just laughed at her. "What are you talking about? You're going crazy. Must be hallucinating."
"You did!"
"God, you're going crazy," I said. "And since when have you had a monobrow?"
"What? I don't have a monobrow!" she said, but her finger went between her eyebrows to feel it.
"Go look in the mirror, then," I said. "I have to place a vote now, so see you later, I suppose."
"Who do you think it will be?" I asked Dax as he and I walked to the town centre for the reaping ceremony together.
"Criminals, surely," he said.
"Like us?"
"No, people who have done worse things than drug dealing and stealing, like killing and stuff," said Dax, and I felt my stomach flip.
I'd be fine, though, because the only person who knew about what I had done was the boy's sister.
"Alright, well, see you after the reaping, then," said Dax.
"Yeah, see you," I said, and we split up so he could line up with the boys and I could line up with the girls. Once I was in the line with the other girls my age, I looked to the front rows where the younger girls were, scanning for the boy's sister. I spotted her in the front row and immediately looked away as soon as I saw her staring at me.
I looked up to the front of the town centre to where our district escort was walking out onto the stage, waving to us all and holding up a tablet thing that I'd never seen before at any previous reaping.
They began going over all the things that President Snow had gone over in his televised announcement of the Quarter Quell, before finally lifting up the tablet that had the results of the votes to announce the tributes.
"Alright... first of all we have the female tribute..." they said. "The female tribute is... Thia Verneta!"
Great, I thought to myself as I walked out of the crowd of girls and towards the front of the town centre. Well, if I could deal with my mother never being around, and no father figure for fifteen years, I could deal with two weeks in an arena. It was just another challenge I had to overcome, and I would overcome it as best as I could.
The boy was announced once I was up on the stage, looking out at the crowd with no emotion – some older guy named Jonas Unix. Once we were both on the stage and shook hands, both of us were taken through a door behind the stage and into separate goodbye rooms.
I was in there alone for all of thirty seconds before my mother walked into the room, her face full of shock.
"Why were you chosen?" she asked.
"I don't know," I lied. The truth was I did know. I knew all too well and I knew she must know too.
"Don't lie to me, Thia!" she cried. "That... that girl went around telling us all that you... that you... is it true, Thia? Tell me it's not true."
I sighed. I may never see her again, so I may as well be honest with her. "It's true. But now I'm going to have to kill even more people."
"Thia..." said my mother, stepping away from me slightly. "Well. Good luck with your life, then."
As she walked away, it sunk into me what she meant by that.
She meant that even if I won the Hunger Games, I was not welcome back into her life.
District 3 male - Jonas Unix, 18
As soon as I had told my plan to Ash, I left the orphanage and began walking towards the markets, where I knew a huge portion of people would be going now after the announcement. And a lot of people there meant a lot of people I could convince to vote me into the games.
The first person I asked was a woman with three young kids. She was in the middle of trying to negotiate a price for bread with a market worker.
"Here," I said, pulling the coin I had earned that day from moving the furniture with Fionna. I handed it to the market worker and smiled at her.
"I – thank you," she said, taking the bread and walking away from the stall with it. "That was very kind of you, you didn't need to do that."
"Well I like to do everything in my power to make life easier for others," I said to her.
"How can I ever repay her?" she asked me, clutching onto her children.
"Remember my name," I said. "Jonas Unix. And tomorrow, vote for me."
"For... for the Quarter Quell?" she asked, and I nodded. "No, I couldn't do that... not to a kind young man like you..."
"Please," I said. "I just want to avoid having anyone else having to go into the games. It saves you from having to think about your vote and saves someone who deserves to live."
"Oh, honey..." she said.
"My mother was a capitol loyalist," I said to her before she could continue. Her face dropped when I said that. "And my sister – my sister was that girl who was executed a few years ago for treason. If my family has that bad of a reputation, then you must want to get rid of the last one, do you not?"
"Well... thank you for the bread," she said, quickly, then held onto her kids tightly and walked away. I supposed that meant I had convinced her to vote for me.
I continued to walk around the markets, talking to strangers, asking them if they would vote for me for the Hunger Games, to protect all of the other boys from the Games. I only wished that there was a way for me to protect all of the girls as well.
As I walked through the crowded market, I noticed a small boy sitting by himself, tears streaming down his face. He couldn't have been more than twelve or thirteen years old. I walked over to him and crouched down, asking him what was wrong.
"I-I don't want to be chosen for the Games," he hiccuped, his eyes still filled with tears.
I felt a lump form in my throat. How could someone so young have to worry about being chosen for the Hunger Games? "I don't want you to be chosen either," I said softly. "But there's something you can do to help me make sure no one else has to go through that."
He looked up at me with curious eyes. "What can I do?"
"You can ask your parents or guardians to vote for me tomorrow. My name is Jonas Unix," I said. "I promise to do everything in my power to make sure no one else has to go through the fear of being chosen, as they will all rest safe know I will be chosen."
The boy wiped his tears away and nodded. "I'll ask them," he said.
I stood up and continued to walk around the market, talking to more people and asking for their votes. I knew I couldn't convince everyone, but if I could just convince enough people, it might make a difference.
As the day turned into evening, I headed back to the orphanage. As soon as I walked in, Ash was waiting for me.
"How did it go?" he asked, his tone a little flat.
"I talked to a lot of people," I said, "but I don't know if it was enough."
Ash put his hand on my shoulder. "Jonas, I'm still not sure what I think about this idea."
I nodded, feeling a sense of relief wash over me. At least I had tried. Tomorrow would be the day of the voting, and I could only hope that enough people had listened to me.
The week dedicated to voting and waiting for votes to be counted flew by in what seemed like just an hour. I had voted for people who were such bad criminals that I prayed their families wouldn't miss them and I wasn't going to destroy any families.
The reaping day came a lot sooner than I had anticipated, and before I knew it I was lined up between hundreds of other boys who were all terrified for their lives. I wanted to tell them. Tell them everything would be OK, that none of them would be going into the games because I would. Me, with no family, and no purpose but to give myself to others, would go into the games. I wish I could say the same for the girls.
I listened patiently to the escort on the stage talking about the history of the Hunger Games, and the reasoning of the Quarter Quell. At least my death would bring entertainment to the people of the Capitol.
The escort smiled down at us once they were finished with the long speech, they looked down at their tablet to announce the voted tributes.
"Alright... first of all we have the female tribute..." they said. "The female tribute is... Thia Verneta!"
I watched as the girl walked up to the stage. God, she looked young. She didn't look like the strongest girl out there, but I'm sure she could have the potential to win the games for District 3.
"And now for the boys!" said the escort chirpily. I felt my stomach twist as she clicked the tablet again and said, "Jonas Unix!"
I smiled. I was going to die. I really was going to die and join my family. And I had been chosen to protect everyone else. I was proud of myself. I shook hands with Thia and nodded to her before I was taken behind the stage and into a room where my friends and family could say goodbye to me.
Well, friends. Not family.
Ash and Fionna came rushing into the room, Fionna with tears pouring down her face, and Ash with a vacant expression.
"Jonas, why would you of all people be chosen?!" Fiona cried out. "Why are you smiling about it!?"
"I-" I paused. I wasn't going to let them know about the dark thoughts I had, the thoughts that consumed me day and night, telling me just to end it all, that no one would care if I was gone... "I just wanted to protect others. I'm not scared, and I'm glad."
"How? You could die!" Fionna cried, and I just smiled.
"Well, I hope I die protecting someone," I said, then wrapped my arms around the both of them. We stayed like that until the peacekeeper that was timing us kicked them out, then brought me out of the goodbye room and towards the train.
Thanks to Team Shadow for Thia and AmericanPi for Jonas.