District 10 female – Fllora Hanzell, 17

I wasn't able to work the next morning due to having to stay home to watch the announcement of the twist on the Hunger Games. I thought that was quite stupid, I'd much rather be making money so my family could survive rather than staying and watching the president blabber on about these stupid games. Jana could just tell me what the twist was later.

"What if the twist is that only 14-year-olds are going into the games?" Jana asked me nervously.

"Then lie about your age," I said to him.

"I'm scared, Fllora," he said, his voice shaky as he watched President Snow talking about the reasoning behind the Quarter Quell on the screen.

"You'll be OK, Jana," I said to him. "No twist would directly target a certain group of people... surely. Surely the Capitol's not that cruel. Alright, look, I think he's finally going to get to the point."

As soon as the president had announced the twist, I pulled on my boots, gave Jana a goodbye hug, and then left the house to go straight to the ranch to at least get some money for dinner that night. God, the Capitol was inconsiderate. People in the districts were poor!

I stormed out of the house, my frustration fueling my strides as I made my way through the worn-out streets of District 10. The announcement of the twist in the Hunger Games had only intensified my resentment towards the Capitol. They had no regard for the struggles we faced every day, the constant battle for survival. It was infuriating to think that they expected us to stop our lives and watch their sadistic games unfold.

As I reached the ranch, my anger began to fade, replaced by a deep sense of determination. I couldn't change the cruel reality of the Hunger Games or the twisted desires of the Capitol, but I could fight to provide for my family and ensure their survival.

The ranch was a hive of activity, despite the air of unease that lingered among the workers. Everyone was aware of the announcement and the impending fate of the chosen tributes. Still, we carried on with our tasks, each of us seeking solace in our work, finding comfort in the rhythm of daily routines.

I joined the group assigned to tending the livestock, trying to lose myself in the familiar chores. The scent of hay and the sounds of animals helped distract me from the impending doom that hung over us all. With each bale of hay I heaved and each cow I tended, I channelled my frustration into determination, vowing to protect my family and those I cared about.

As the sun climbed higher in the sky, I glanced over at the rolling hills surrounding the ranch, a stark reminder of the boundaries that separated us from the Capitol's opulence. The vast expanse of District 10 held so much untapped potential, yet we were held back by the oppressive regime that ruled over us.

The next day Jana, Asterie, her parents, and I all went to the town centre to place our votes for the tributes we believed should go into the Hunger Games. I didn't want to be responsible for the deaths of anyone I knew, so I just wrote down the names of the first two people I could think of who were in the year below me at school. I didn't know them at all, only their names.

"It doesn't really matter who we put down," said Asterie, who had also put down two random names. "It will just be criminals and bullies who get voted in, anyway."

"Come on, Jana, it fits, don't be silly."

"Fllora, you know I've had a growing spurt since last year," Jana snapped at me, crossing his arms. It was the morning of the reaping and I'd forced him to put on the suit that he'd worn last year, but the sleeves were much too short on him, and the torso of the suit was quite tight on him.

"How have you grown!?" I cried, tugging at his sleeves trying to stretch them out.

"Fllora, stop, it doesn't fit me," he said, tugging his arm back.

"Well, we can't afford to get you another suit now! I need to buy more of Mum's medications after the reaping with the only money we have!" I cried. "I'm sorry, Jana, but you're going to have to just wear it."

"Fllora, I look ridiculous!" he whined.

"Jana, I don't care!" I said. "Come on, put on your shoes. We're leaving in ten minutes."

I took in a deep breath and walked over to our dusty little mirror in the corner of our house and began to pin my hair back and away from my face, then adjusted the blue skirt I was wearing. I was missing out on a day of work and therefore pay because of the reaping day.

I turned around and looked at our tiny living room. My mother was on her bed, as usual. She had barely left it since she'd been injured. But she had to come to the reaping today, and she was just going to be wearing her pyjamas.

"Alright, Jana, help me get her up," I said, walking over to my mother, and grabbing one of her arms, Jana grabbing her other one. Together, the two of us heaved her up and to her feet. She was a bit shaky at first, but eventually, she remembered to walk, and, silently, walked out of the house with us and to the town centre. Once we were there, I led her to where she needed to be standing, before Jana and I separated and went to our separate sections.

The escort giving us the history of Panem was very boring, in my opinion. A good twenty minutes I could have been making money. Twenty extra minutes of survival and of not dying of starvation. Why couldn't they just tell us the names and then let us all get on with our lives?

But, I surely wouldn't be able to get on with my life after they announced the female tribute. If I'd heard correctly, they just said 'Fllora Hanzell'. That was my name.

After all the effort I'd gone to since my mother died to keep myself alive... I was going to be shipped off to die. This was it. This was the end. This was how I would die. I felt a tight clenching in my throat and made my way up onto the stage in front of everyone. I felt my breakfast slithering its way up my throat, completely uninvited. I felt dizzy as the escort looked at her tablet to see who the male tribute was. I didn't even hear his name because I was in such a daze. I shook hands with him before being taken behind the stage to the goodbyes room.

Only a second later, Jana and my mother came into the room, my mother with tears already pouring down her face. Jana gripped my hand, begging me to stay, but I couldn't even talk. I already felt like I was dead. When the peacekeepers said that they had to go, Jana wouldn't let go of me and had to be dragged out of the room.

"There are more people out here to see you, Fllora," said a peacekeeper. "A lot of them."

"Let a girl named Asterie in," I said, my voice dead. "Tell the rest of them to piss off."

Asterie came in thirty seconds later and simply wrapped her arms around me. I didn't wrap mine around her. I couldn't move. All I felt was dread. Complete, utter, deep dread.

I was going to die.

District 10 male Janusz Kurczak, 18

"I swear to god, the peacekeepers here are the dumbest of all dumb peacekeepers."

"Well, they managed to arrest me," I responded, crossing my arms as I faced my friends, who were all a group of wanted criminals and managed to get past the peacekeepers to visit me.

"So, our story was that we're all a family," said the oldest of my friends, Andreas. "Cassandra and I are the parents, Sabre's your older sibling, and Matteo is your uncle."

"Right," I said, "OK, I need to ask a favour –"

"I'm actually offended that they thought I looked old enough to be a mother," said Cassandra, interrupting me. "I should blow up this whole damn prison for that."

"Alright, I need you guys to tell people to vote for me," I said, ignoring Cassandra's comment. "Tell everyone. Tell them all about the horrible criminal things I've done, how my parents are psychos... it shouldn't be too hard."

"Yeah, OK, we'll do that," said Matteo. "How are you going, though?"

"Marvellously," I said, beaming. "Surely in the arena, there's a desert. Remember how we all escaped to the desert? Ah, the memories..."

"Times up," grunted a peacekeeper, and my friends had to get up and leave. They didn't try to argue at all because they weren't sure whether or not the peacekeepers would be able to recognise them if they made a scene, however stupid the peacekeepers in District 10 were.

The harshest peacekeepers were in District 6, since apparently, they were the district with the worst criminal record in total. They were nice to the richer districts, or the districts where they had the Careers Academy. Here, the peacekeepers were just stupid and oblivious to everything.

They then came over to me and began to lead me away from the visiting area and back towards my own cell, and I found myself snickering. I'd do great in the Hunger Games; in fact, I'd be thriving.

"What are you laughing at?" the peacekeeper snapped at me.

"Just a joke, my dad told me just then," I said. "He's really the best father I could have asked for. I just love him and my mother so much."

"Well, that's great," said the peacekeeper, pushing me into my cell when we approached it and shutting the door behind me.

The next day I was woken up early by a peacekeeper outside my cell, who was holding a clipboard and a pen. I yawned and gave him a look as he banged on the cell door.

"Do you mind?" I said, my voice croaky. "I was in the middle of my beauty sleep."

"You don't look like you had a beauty sleep," he said. "You're sweating like crazy."

"Because I got caught up in how warm and cozy it is in here," I told him. The truth was it was freezing in my cell, and the paper-thin sheet I'd been provided with didn't do much to help. The reason I'd been sweating was because I'd been thinking about Charlene.

Charlene was the first friend I'd ever had; however, my parents had sacrificed her to their stupid water cult when I was fourteen. I'd tried to save her, but I couldn't. And she was dead.

"Well," said the peacekeeper, interrupting my thoughts. "I'm here to get a vote in from you for the Quarter Quell? I need a male and a female."

"I'll vote for myself," I said.

"You can't do that."

"Fine, I'll vote for a guy called Janusz Kurczak. Incredibly handsome from what I've heard," I said.

"Janusz, you can't vote for yourself. It's against the rules," said the peacekeeper, crossing his arms.

"My name's actually Błyskawica, I don't know why you're calling me Janusz. That's the guy I'm voting for, remember?"

"Janusz, who are you voting for?" the peacekeeper asked me.

"I'll vote for that little girl Erica Derby," I said. "Y'know, the little scrawny one, her dad owns the butchery?"

"OK, and I need a male name as well," he said. "Not Janusz Kurczak."

I rolled my eyes and just gave the name of the first little weak boy I could think of.

"May I go back to sleep now?" I asked, and the peacekeeper just left without saying a word, so I took that as a yes.

When the reaping day came around, I knew for sure that I was going to be the one to be voted into the Quell. Everyone in the prison seemed to have voted for me, because all week since the announcement they'd all been wishing me good luck. I was relying on my friends to get everyone else to vote me in, but I had faith in them.

Because my only other option was to be sacrificed to my parents' psychotic water cult. I'd choose the Hunger Games any day. Plus, I had confidence in myself that I could genuinely win the thing. I was an outlaw criminal, after all, and had experience in killing and keeping myself alive.

I fancied up my prison uniform, before strutting out with the other youth prisoners towards the town centre. I had to put on a show, after all. I'd been saved from my parents because of the Capitol, so I'd give them what they wanted.

I got in line with the other eighteen-year-old guys and looked up at the stage to where the escort was already blabbering on who knows what. I looked at the boy who was standing to my left and grinned at him.

"What?" he said.

"Can you cheer for me when I go on stage," I said, then turned to the boy on my right. "And could you boo for me?"

"What? Do you want us to boo or cheer?" the second guy asked.

"You boo, you cheer," I said.

"Everyone will think we're psychos," said the first guy.

"I'll pay you," I said.

"You're a prisoner, you don't have any money."

"I'm not a prisoner, and I'm extremely rich," I said. "I bought this suit from President Snow himself. Come and see me in the goodbye room and I'll pay you. Ten thousand dollars."

The two guys shrugged, and we all faced our attention to the front stage where the escort was looking at her tablet to announce the tributes that had been voted in. The female was some random girl called Fllora Hanzell. And then... yes, Janusz Kurczak for the male!

I made my way towards the stage and waved to the crowd as I did, putting on my best posh smile for the cameras that turned to me. The two boys started cheering and booing and I grinned. I got to the stage and grabbed the microphone from the escort.

"I just wanted to say..." I wiped a non-existent tear from my eye to add dramatic effect. "Gosh, I'm getting emotional... I wanted to say, from the pureness of my psychotic heart, thank you, District 10, for voting me into the Hunger Games! I'm sure after the countless murders I have committed in my life, my psychotic self will have an absolute ball in that arena."

"Alright..." said the escort, taking the microphone from me. "You two may shake hands, please."

I gripped Fllora's hand. She didn't look at me at all, and she looked like she was going to be sick. Nevertheless, I winked at her and said, "Hello, darling" to her just for the fun of it.

I then walked back to the goodbye room, letting out a long sigh as soon as I was alone. The first people to visit me were the two boys, but I got the peacekeepers to dismiss them straight away. Of course, I didn't have money for them.

Next to come in were my parents, and I asked for them to be sent away too, but the peacekeepers refused and let them in. I crossed my arms as soon as they came in. The last time I had seen them, they had intended to drown me, so we weren't exactly on good terms.

"What," I said bluntly through gritted teeth.

"How dare you get voted into this Quarter Quell thing!" my father screamed at me.

"How are we supposed to sacrifice you to the Rusałki now!?" my mother cried. "You stupid, stupid boy!"

I chuckled. "Well, what are you going to do? The Capitol is ten times more powerful than you, whether you like it or not. Anything else?"

"If you come back, you are being sacrificed! No questions asked!"

"Alrighty then."