D5 M: Shui Torres

Age: 18

. . .

Shui woke up struggling to breathe and to giggling. Fausto sprawled over his chest, and Haoyu and Yìchén snuggled at his sides. Eliana, his sister, was stifling her laughter, standing in the doorway to the boy's room. Eliana also had little Abril in her arms. Before, he would have been embarrassed, but now it was so rare to see Eliana laughing he couldn't help but smile himself.

Before he could say anything, he heard Yue yell, "Eliana, did you wake the boys yet?" And with that pricing wake-up call, he got various gangly limbs to the stomach and other sensitive body parts.

He let out a groan of discomfort as Fausto dug his elbow into his kidney and pushed up off of him.

"Sorry, Shui," Fausto said, his face turning red as he crawled off of him.

"It's fine, Fausto," He replied as he rolled off the small bed, "Go get breakfast before Yue freaks." Fausto nodded before grabbing Yìchén and Haoyu's hands and dragging them out of the room.

Eliana had gone silent after the younger boys passed her, exiting the room. Eliana started at him, rocking Abril; her eyes were glazed and sad.

"Abril has been fussing for you all morning, but I thought it best to let you sleep." Shui looked at Eliana and smiled thankfully; he had trouble sleeping since their mom died.

"Then I'll take her off your hands." He replied. Eliana nodded and passed Abril, who had been silently fussing over; he cooed at her. Abril seemed to settle and sigh in contentment.

Eliana groaned, "How easily she settles for you is unfair." Shui just stuck his tongue out at her in reply, causing Abril to start giggling.

"I need to get ready for the reapings. Can you handle getting ready and watching Abril?" Shui nodded in agreement. Breakfast went unmentioned between them; there was not enough for all of them, and they still had to purchase milk for Abril. They both ate yesterday, and Shui never had much of an appetite during reaping day.

He sighed to himself; just one more reaping day and Shui was in the clear, and he would be promoted to a full-time worker at the water dam. Then, with the pay raise and with Eliana and Fausto taking Tesserae, they would all be able to eat, and if worse came to worse, Yue would have just turned 12 and also be able to take out Tesserae.

. . .

The train full of children going to the reaping square was cramped and hot, and Abril was not having a good time. Shui was slightly panicked that the peacekeepers wouldn't let him hand Abril off to his siblings, who weren't eligible for the reaping. The peacekeepers said they were behind schedule and couldn't wait to let him untie the cloth wrap that kept Abril tucked into his chest and shoved him onto the train with her.

Much to the protest of his younger siblings, who had to stay behind in their village square to watch the reapings; He hoped they would shut up, as he told them to as he was being ushered into the cart. If anything happened to him, he would never forgive himself.

Abril started to whimper, and he prayed that she didn't cry. The peacekeepers hated noise during the train rides, and he was already getting dirty looks from the ones supervising their train cart. Fausto and Eliana were pushed into a different train cart, and they were separated.

Like the forces above were listening to his pleas, the train pulled to a stop before Abril could start crying, and he managed to get to his section without incident. Other than the weird looks he was getting for having a baby strapped to his chest. Though nobody was able to ask him why he had Abril with him, as almost as soon as he found his spot, the District 5 escort was walking onto the stage.

For once, it seemed like the peacekeepers were telling the truth. It truly seemed like they were behind schedule. Before he could think about it, Rumica Starville, the District 5 Escort, spoke, "Welcome everyone to this tremendous day!"

Rumica started the usual fanfare, but Shui couldn't focus; no, all his attention was on Abril, who had just soiled her diaper. Little 14-month-old Abril only knew instinct, and that instinct was telling her to cry.

Snow's speech started: War, terrible war. Widows, orphans, a motherless child. This was the uprising that rocked our land. Thirteen Districts rebelled against the country that fed them, loved them, protected them. Brother turned on brother until nothing remained. And then came the peace, hard fought, sorely won. A people rose up from the ashes and a new era was born. But freedom has a cost. When the traitors were defeated, we swore as a nation we would never know this treason again.

Abril's face screwed up, and he started shushing her.

On the twenty-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that their children were dying because of their choice to initiate violence, every district was made to hold an election and vote on the tributes that who would represent it.

Abril started whimpering, and he started to sing to her under his breath to try to calm her.

On the seventy-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that even the united rebels cannot overcome the power of the Capitol and to show the mercy of the Capital, the twenty-four tributes will be split into twelve groups of two decided by the Capitol, and those two, if they make it to the end, can become joint victors.

Abril started to calm slightly, and Snow's speech was over; just a few more minutes, Shui was praying now. Abril could start screaming after the reapings when they would not get shot for interrupting them.

"... Special.. 75th... unique... boys," Shui was almost crying himself. Could the escort take any longer?

"Shui Torres! Our male tribute is Shui Torres!"

At that moment, Abril started to scream, and Shui wanted to join her in doing so.