Valerius Vella, 18- District Two male
I'd always wanted to see a Hunger Games up close. I wasn't at all sure I could win. I just wanted the "killing people" part. Was it really my fault that it was so much fun to hurt people? I didn't do it all the time. It was just a treasured indulgence of mine. Usually I contented myself with my myriad other indulgences- sex, spending money, giving away money, gambling- but there was nothing quite like the rush of knowing you cut someone deep. With all that introduction, a lot of people were going to be surprised I hadn't volunteered.
There were so few people left in my life to hate me. There were the people I liked to needle, sure, but none that both hated me enough and had enough power to get me into the Games. My parents were dead by an executioner's hand. My brother was his own executioner. My sister was the only person in the world who actually knew me. Aside from that, there was only one person left. My sister, angel though she was, was not an expert judge of character. Perhaps that was why she liked me? Unfortunately, it also meant she loved her husband. Even if I had any love to spare I wouldn't have spent a drop of it on him. Clearly, I mused as I sat in the Justice Hall, the feeling was mutual.
The Capitol will be an awfully great adventure. Not the original spirit of the quote, perhaps, but morbidly related. The Capitolites were such a grand mystery. They had even more wealth than I did and they were even more cruel. I just didn't understand how they were so terribly banal about it. Only a handful of them attended my parents' execution even though they were the ones who called for it. On the surface level it was the rich people of Two who objected to my parents' political machinations, but I knew they didn't have that kind of power. Only the Capitol could take down an old-money Two empire. They got the blood they wanted and they didn't even come to drink it. Even I don't hurt people for no gain. I enjoy every bit of it.
I suppose I'll have to ally with the Ones. Though it would surprise most people who knew me, I was looking forward to it. I'd never had difficulty attracting friends. It was so easy to study what people wanted and be that for them. I might have been more honest if anyone had cared enough to notice I was faking. As it was I was content with my circle of hangers-on who wanted my money, or my attention, or anything at all besides the real me. Somewhere out there there must have been people as sharp as I was. It was my secret hope that one day I'd meet one. But I was distracting myself. The Ones would be the puffed-up clowns who made up most of the wealthy community. It would be amusing to let them think this was their Games to win and then cut them down when I felt like it. They would be strong, sure, but I knew I was smarter. They wouldn't see me coming. I wasn't even a volunteer.
From outside the room I heard a Peacekeeper pointing a visitor toward my chamber. I'd somewhat expected some company before I left. Somewhere in my teens I'd come to learn that random charity could be as fun as random cruelty. Most of what I did might have been a mix of both. I wasn't handing out bagged lunches and slipping jewels into some of them entirely out of altruism. I also enjoyed how utterly furious it made my fellow rich people to know that a poor was going to have a diamond. Maybe it also tickled me a little to think of my recipient's friends bitterly wondering why they hadn't been the lucky ones. I liked to think I wasn't quite that petty, though. It was really only fun to hurt people who had done something to deserve it, and if I wasn't quite that noble, it was at least more fun to see it when I hurt people.
I wasn't sure I could win the Games. I just knew they were the place for me. All my life I'd put myself first- I was way ahead of the game. As far as killing, I'd never gone past the idle fantasies most people would admit to if they were being honest. Here was the perfect chance to finally do it and not only not be condemned, but actually be praised. Whether or not I won the Games, I was going to play them.
Octavia Jacobs, 18- District Two female
It wasn't over yet.
I was going into the Games. I'd always known there was no love lost between me and Cassius but I hadn't thought he'd go this far. I thought I was the only one that depraved. After all the bruises and sleepless nights, I had to admit I had the tiniest respect for him after this. It really was a perfect plan. With me and Val dead he would be the only heir left to our fortune. Of course the grieving husband would want that money to take care of our son- the only remnant of his beloved wife. But it wasn't over yet.
I might die in the Games. It was embarrassing to admit, but I couldn't allow my pride to get in the way of my plans. I might die in the Games and therefore any plan I made had to be possible before the Games began. Poison was the obvious choice. I wasn't ruling it out, but I needed alternatives- Cassius would be expecting it. Rumors went a long, long way. If I made a few emotional confessions in the Capitol it could easily reach back home. A few moments wondering why my husband was always meeting people at the black market? Obvious but very believable. It was unfortunate to involve innocents, but not unfortunate enough I wouldn't do it. I'd learned a lot without even needing to leave the house. For example, I knew exactly where the underground church met. I had to smile at the thought. Imagine Cassius being executed because it came out he was a priest.
"No visitors, please," I said, touching the corner of my eye delicately with a quaver in my voice. "I just… can't bear it," I said to the Peacekeeper at my door. This time it wasn't even entirely a lie, which felt strange coming from my mouth. Surely Cassius would come with my son in tow, looking to gloat in his victory and see my heartbreak when I held Drusus one last time. It was unbearable to my pride, but that wasn't my real reason. I simply didn't have much time and needed to start planning immediately. Drusus was the one pure thing in my broken, bitter life. I never could concentrate when I was holding him.
We'll need allies. I could already guess that Val was thinking about the Career pack. He had his childish vendetta against the rich, as though it was them who got our parents killed and not their own incompetent ambition. You can't go into the world of politics and expect any mercy. I loved them and missed them, but that was life. You win or you die. Anyway, Val would want to ally with the Careers for the sole reason of eventually backstabbing them. It would be nigh-impossible to talk him out of it so I'd simply have to center my plans around making the most of it. They would no doubt think of us as the weakest links. We weren't trained, after all- we weren't even volunteers. The wheels turned in my head as an angle started coming together. They would look down on us for our lack of training. They'd almost certainly taunt us for it. The best thing your enemy can think about you is that you're emotional. If we reacted to their barbs, lashing out and seeming to overcompensate, they'd think even less of us. We'd be buffoons- mere shadows of what a Two volunteer usually was. We'd be no threat, and if there's no threat, there's no reason to watch your back.
I didn't know if either Val or I could win the Games. We had the intelligence but that wasn't always enough. I wasn't sure it was either of our ultimate goal, though. Val, more than anything else, would want to kill the Ones, and the Fours too if he could. I, more than anything else, would provide for my son.