A bullet for them

A bullet for you

A bullet for everybody in this room~

Affluence Cardeza (17), District 1

Affluence carefully listened to what Marigold was talking about. Marigold was one of the war heroes that never got tired of telling their story. They always tried to extravagante most of the time, but Affluence didn't really care. She loved learning about more of the time before the dark days and the days before it happened.

"So what was it like?" Affluence interrupted Marigold. "Fighting the war?"

Marigold responded, "It was hard. There were quite a bit of rebels. We fought our brothers and sisters. That was the hardest part-people we loved. And how often, death seemed to be behind us every time we walked. It was pretty brutal."

"That's horrible. How did you manage the trauma afterwards?"

"The process is difficult. The trauma is something I cannot recommend, because you've seen horrors and afterwards, you have to rebuild yourself. Trying to move on with your life while doing the limits. I had PTSD for a good long while even with therapy, I still have triggers. It's just knowing how to manage it so it doesn't affect your life."

"Did you find anything to help you?"

"Music. I always loved music. After the war, I bought myself a violin and learned to pick it up. And I know you love to draw." Affluence smiled at that. She loved to draw, a little less than learning.

"That'd always be helpful after facing horrors like I did. It'd be good for you," Marigold finished. They looked at their watch, before they stood up off the patio chair. "You should be getting home, Affluence. It's getting late and you probably have homework to do."

Affluence nodded and replied, "Thanks for sharing your story more. It's really fascinating to hear more about the war." She stood up, walked over to where her bike was leaning on the tree.

She set it straight and waved at Marigold before she left. They were right. Affluence was starting to see the sun come down from over the hills. She hadn't met to stay out later, but running behind on her messenger duties and getting supplies to them did it.

Affluence looked at the sky. She estimated around fifteen minutes maybe less before the sun went down. That would barely give her enough time to get home; ten minutes to be exact.

…

Affluence neared her house. She saw Jett working right near the front door. The porch light turned on, casting a small overhead on his 5'10 frame. It looked like he was cutting glass and brought it home with him. Usually he did at work, but once in a while, he did at home.

"Surprised to see you out so late. You're usually back before supper," Her brother said, looking up from what he was doing when Affluence parked her bike right on the driveway.

"Ran behind," She replied. She approached his area with caution; she didn't want to get hurt by the glass or any of the sharp tools she was using. "Looks pretty." And it was. Even with the limited light, she could see a little bit of the red, orange and a little bit of purple in the glass-stained window he was making.

"What's the design?"

"Family portrait. The family wanted to have a picture of those who they lost during the war."

"That's pretty cool. I know you've done roses and a lot of other cool designs… Is there anything I could help you with?"

"Not right now… Why don't you go inside and have supper?"

"Okay…" Affluence went inside. She took off her black tennis-shoes, and hung her backup on the coat rack. She said high to her dad, and mom before going to the kitchen to heat up her supper and ate in the dining room.

Affluence could see some sort of plan going on. It was probably her father's as he was currently writing a book on war strategies from his experiences as a general.

After she ate, she put her dish in the sink and walked to her room; she sat at her desk, and got out her chemistry homework. Chemistry was a little challenging; she didn't get the way it was asking, but she was up for the challenge even if it meant trying out new ways to try to comprehend the information.

She couldn't wait to go back to school, and show her teacher what she did over the weekend. Maybe he'd help her, on what she was doing wrong.

~Picture, picture, smile for the picture

Pose with your brother, won't you be a good sister?~

Merille Tesfa (17), District 1

"Again!" His father shouted. This was one of the rare occasions where he was actually supervising them, and making each of them better. Or well try for the matter. Normally, when their father watched; he was normally yelling about how pathetic they were and how they couldn't win the Hunger Games.

That was a usual occurrence, and he could understand why Lebina got out when she did. Merille couldn't really remember the time where he was actually caring about his children. He probably didn't since everyone was seen as beneath him; including his wife and children.

His brown eyes stared at Rihana as she moved in the circle. He watched her arms as she directed the sword at him again. He barely had enough time to react before the sword's tip would be in front of his throat if he hadn't moved out of the way.

"I need water," Rihana announced. She put the sword on the ground, and went across the room to grab her water bottle. Merille could see out of the corner of his eye, that his father was disappointed in her.

"Water is for weaks," Dad said in a disapproving manner. "In the Hunger Games, you won't have time for water."

"Hey, guess what? This is not the games, but only training. I think you're forgetting this training. Maybe being a soldier actually got to you."

Merille hid a wince, because that was being idiotic. He knew being in the war changed Dad for the worse, as it seemed that whatever anyone did, it wasn't enough for him. He was never happy and took it out on his family.

He was practically a miserable person to be around with, and only loved the idea that his children could go through the ranks of being something more. They were in a good district, had everything they wanted and seemed to be a perfect family from the outside-but in the inside, it was crumbling.

He saw his father turn a few shades red, before he shouted. Merille stood there quietly, slipping towards the shadows to calculate his next move. There was no way he would be able to leave the room without hearing the shouting.

…

After what seemed to be hours worth of a yelling match, but merely half an hour later; his dad finally shut up. Rehana looked a little red, probably from all the shouting she had done. Dad left the room, and Rehana looked like she wanted to fight someone.

"So what did you do to him to make him mad?" Rehana asked innocently.

"I didn't do anything. You, however, did with your insufferable bratty attitude. So did you decide when you were talking to yourself in the mirror to insult dad?" Merille answered coldly.

"Possibly. Stop being a jerk, and someone who's always so cold."

"You're not any better with who you hang out with!" Merille saw Rehana pick her sword off the ground and Merille quickly reacted. He grabbed his discarded sword off the ground and pointed it at her.

"At least I don't cry and wish Libina was here!"

Libina was their older sibling, who cut the entire family out a few years ago. She was the stray in the family. She never did what their dad asked them too. Always sitting among the background, not wanting to fight each other.

Their dad always wanted one winner in the family. It was the reason why there was so much arguing in the household, and besides no was relying on anyone. In this household, everyone had to be independent to survive; there was no relying on anyone.

It was the reason why Libina left the household at nineteen. She was tired of the constant fighting among siblings. Their mom and dad never did anything to stop them as they wanted them to have the experience. It was the only thing that kept them together. There was also the pressure of volunteering for the Hunger Games which Libina disregarded that; so she left the family and the household. She married her fiance to get out, and haven't had any contact with her whatsoever.

"You should know that. She was the black sheep in the family. The weak one, dad said," Merille commented and he struck Rehana on her arm. Rehana gasped out in pain as red blood started trickling down her arm.

It wasn't the first time Merille struck her with a sword, and it wouldn't be the last. Rehana had a long scar on her back from where he struck her when she was twelve. He always managed to get her, even though Rehana tries so hard and a few successful attempts on her part.

"I guess we're both even," Rehana said after a few minutes. She put her hand on the blood to make it stop bleeding, and Merille looked away.

He'd rise up to the ranks once he got out of here. And he won't look back. He'd be the last one standing.

If I'd stayed and weren't heard, what would amount to me?

If I had looked and ain't found, would I have founded me?

I mean inside, would they loved me, never looked down on me?~

Sapphire Brown-District 1 Mentor

Sapphire held on to the rail as she pushed off against the ice. The doctors said her wrist was fine, just as long as she didn't perform any dangerous stunts or actually go alone on the ice, just in case there was a slip up which there shouldn't be. Sapphire already lost about six weeks worth of practice, and if she wanted to get in the Olympics this year then she'd have to make up for the lost time.

"Topaz, do you want to help me or you're just going to sit there waiting for the command for you to play the music?" Sapphire called out, casting a brief glance at Topaz before returning her attention to the ice.. She sped off, before she could hear her brother reply something and did the one thing that caused her to fall: the triple toe loop jump.

She'd been trying to work on it, but Sapphire had always came out getting only two spins, before coming down on the outside of her right foot. She jumped, did two spins before coming down just as she knew she would.

Sapphire skated to her brother, before she grabbed onto the rail and looked in her brother's face. Topaz's dark eyes met hers, with his black bangs in his face. "You know I don't skate. I'm not that big of a figure skating fanatic as you are. I'd rather be your choreographer than actually being on the ice, and besides, I can't do half the stuff you're able to."

"Yeah so. You weren't complaining when nana used to bring us here everyday when we were children. I think your exact words were, 'Nana, can we please go ice skating today? I love the feel of going in circles, and I think I may want to be a figure skater when I grow up.'"

"We were kids. I'm pretty sure you declared that you were going to be a princess and marry your childhood crush, Lei-Mae,but you were so afraid of what Nana was going to say since our parents weren't really accepting of different sexualites, especially since our family disowned our aunt for coming out as Lesbian and tried to put her in an conversion therapy to help change her sexuality."

"I always wondered why Mama wasn't willing to talk about her since I found the picture in the attic along with Mama's other things that was in there…" Sapphire trailed off as she remembered going through the attic one day, going through a box and finding a photo album. A photo album that featured her mom and some younger lady that stood by her side. "Wait, how come you know? If Mama never told me, neither did Nana."

Topaz rubbed his neck sheepishly before he admitted, "I told Papa that I had to do a family project and I wanted to know about our family's history seeing of how Mama and Papa immigrated here from China, and Papa once mentioned that Mama once had a sister. I asked what happened to her and Papa explained it to me."

"And you never told me? I'm your sister. I thought we were supposed to tell each other everything," She said, as she tried to focus on her thoughts that were swarming and hard to even process. She couldn't even hear of what her brother's response was before, a memory that she told herself that she promised she'd never remember.

"I'll never leave you, Saph. We may be stuck in here together, but we might as well make it out together," her partner, Ronald said to her to the point where Saphire had to lean in to what he said to her.

"Are you sure? I saw you kill the little girl back there and with me killing that boy from five. What if I'm a killer?"

"Listen, Saph. We may be killing people here, but you're still human and so am I. There's a thing called a mask, and that's what most of these people are wearing and so am I. Do you think that I'm a ruthless killing machine that doesn't have any feelings or regretful thoughts? No, I'm not. I don't like killing people especially since now my hands are stained with blood and so are yours. But no one is innocent.

"I've done a lot of shady things back home. I stole things. I was currently in the process of applying to college to become a doctor, but because of my record, I wasn't going to be accepted. This was before I found out that I was going to volunteer after the other chosen volunteer back down due to some personal issues. What about you?"

"My parents died when I was seven, so I was raised by my Nana. She wasn't necessary rich, but she always took my brother and I to the ice-skating rink everyday, and she taught me how to play piano. Claiming it's better to play a musical instrument than not to, just in case my career of ice-skating backfired."

"She sounds colorful," Ronald chuckled, in which Sapphire smiled at him.

"She was. We should head back before Clara and Alexander starts pitching a fit, because we could be plotting against them."

"Hey what's wrong?" She heard her brother say, already wiping away something from her eyes, which felt like tears. A sob came forth and she lowered herself down to the ice, her vision blurring from the tears.

"I'm fine. I just remembered something that I forgot months back, of how me and Ronald used to talk a lot before he was killed in front of me, by Alexander nonetheless… I'll be fine, really." Sapphire sat on her knees as she grabbed onto the railing. Rule number one: never put fingers on the ice.

I'm scared to live but I'm scared to die

And if life is pain then I buried mine a long time ago

But it's still alive

And it's taking over me where am I?

I wanna feel something, I'm numb inside

But I don't feel nothing, I wonder why

I'm in the race of life and time passed by~

Jem Lynn-District 1 Mentor

Jem glanced at his half-empty bottle of whiskey before he sighed. He knew he couldn't keep living like this, especially since the last time, he drank so heavily-he managed to get himself alcohol poisoning. If it wasn't for Azule's quick thinking about bringing him to the hospital-he'd be dead. He wasn't sure if that would be a good thing or not, but at times, death scared him.

Jem didn't know what lies beyond death. Maybe he'd be resurrected into someone else? Is there heaven and hell as Azule and his family once mentioned? He didn't really particularly believe in Christianty like Azule does and her preaching sometimes got a little too annoying for his tastes. But if there was one thing for certain, he didn't want to die.

"Jem, I'm going out. I'm hanging out with Farah and Zafira- don't try to kill yourself in the process. Not after what happened to mom," Azule mentioned as he heard the door open. He looked up, sighing loudly before he said,

"Is it alright if I come? I just don't want to be alone, and I need a bit of fresh air."

Azule blinked once Jem said that, and he knew why. It wasn't like him wanting to go out as it usually brought forth memories that he didn't want. It'd been years since he actually wanted to go out with someone that wasn't just to pick up more alcohol to help ease the pain. If only he could read minds, as the silence was deafening and unbearable.

"Uh...I guess."

Jem nodded. He went to grab his shoes from the closet and headed out with Azule to meet her friends. He felt his stomach flutter a little bit on approaching new people, but he was sure it'd be fine. From Azule's stories, they were the best people that Azule could hope for-besides having a burden as a brother.

…

They soon approached her friends and honestly, they looked pretty hot. He assumed that the black hijab woman was Zafira and the black lady with the afro hair was -but he couldn't be sure. They gaped at him-possibly in shock, before closing their mouths and turning to Azule.

"I thought it was only going to be us," one of them whispered.

"He just wanted to come, and besides he hasn't done something willingly in years… I don't have the heart to tell him no," Azule responded back quietly, and Jem felt his mood dampen. He didn't mean to say something if they were going to do something else. Hopefully, it wouldn't ruin their plans and he kinda felt sorry for doing that.

She turned around and said quietly to him, "The black girl is Zafira and the other one is Farah."

"Jem, we're going shopping," Azule said before continuing on, "You could do something else if you want?" She suggested.

"I'm good. I'll still go with you," He answered back. Jem hadn't gone shopping in a while and right now, he wanted to find something that would entertain himself. He never really cared for shopping when he was little "Let's get going ladies."

They all looked at him like he was crazy and Jem instantly knew he did something wrong.

"Farah is actually non-binary so they use they/them pronouns. They would prefer it if you don't call them female." Zafira spoke up and Jem nodded. It was a mistake on his part, and he won't make the mistake of misgendering anyone.

"Sorry Farah. It won't happen again," He said to Farah who nodded in acknowledgement.

…

Shopping turned out to be actually a lot of fun. Jem was quite surprised as he saw a lot of things that looked interesting, but held back as he saw the girls walked in calmly and finding interesting things. He held up a red dress that was really pretty and was quite modest which made him think of Farah. Unfortunately, he didn't know what they would like but he wasn't afraid of asking.

"Hey Farah-This dress looks like it'd be your taste." He held up the dress, getting Farah's attention before they went into the dressing with a handful of dresses. "I don't know if you wear dresses or not, but it really matches with your hijab."

"'iinaha jamilat , wasa'uhawil dhlk ... shkrana ealaa lafat aintibahiin 'iilaa hdha," said Farah. Jem looked confused on what they said before they repeated it again-this time in English, "It's pretty, and I'll try it on... Thanks for bringing this to my attention." They took the dress and took it in the dressing room with them.

While they were trying on clothes, Jem decided to do a little bit of looking around. There was a makeup stand nearby and honestly he loved the blue eyeshadow. Luckily there were samples, so he tried to apply the eyeshadow onto himself.

He had to admit… the color really suited his dark brown eyes. Though, some of the eyeshadow managed to get on the sides of his face and looked quite smudge. He didn't understand how people could apply their eyeshadow and actually make it look good, but he supposed it took a lot of practice.

He grabbed a handful of eyeshadow that actually looked really pretty, along with some mascara and lipstick. The cashier looked at him like he was crazy, but he didn't care. He paid for it, and returned to where the others were waiting. He made good time as he saw them paying for their clothes and were just about to pay for it.

"Is that makeup? Is that for Azule?" Zafira asked, looking at the bag that Jem was holding.

"Um, no… It's for me. I wanted to do something with my time and honestly the makeup just looked entertaining," Jem explained.

This time, Azule turned around and looked at Jem. Shock lined her face, before it was replaced with a smile, "If you get into that, I'd be surprised, but at least you're doing something that I don't have to look out to see if you killed yourself. I should have given you makeup a long time ago that way I wouldn't be wasting my time looking out for my brother." Her tone turned cold, and Jem fought the urge to flinch. Maybe he did deserve that, but at least he stopped feeling sorry for himself even if he had a long way to go before making a recovery.

I jumped the fence to the other side (The other side)

My whole world was electrified (Electrified)

Now I'm no longer afraid

Karou Sanders, District 1 Escort

Tick-Tock. Karou paced around the room, occasionally glancing at the window; trying to remain that she wasn't nervous. She knew why she was nervous; but she shouldn't be. She had done this for a few years, and each time it got better. This time would be no different.

"You'll be okay," Karou told herself. "It's not going to be terrible. It's your nerves. No reason to be nervous." She knew it'd be fine, but the butterflies in her stomach still wouldn't ease up. It felt like she was going to puke up her banana smoothie and splatter all around the floor. "Breathe."

Karou took a deep breath, and tried to calm her nerves. It kinda helped. She looked at the clock and saw that only a minute passed. She still had another fifteen minutes before she had to be ready and look presentable.

She looked down at her feet before an idea came to mind. She knew something that would help ease her mind; go paint her toe-nails and nails. She didn't have time to paint her fingernails last night since she was too caught up, trying to help Clare into her bed after a long party. Her fingernails needed it now that she looked at it; the nailpolish was already chipping away.

Karou headed towards the makeup stand that was provided for her. She looked in one of the drawers to find an array of nailpolish; organized by color. She selected a sky-blue color as it seemed to match the elegant, light blue ball-gown.

She opened the lid and applied nailplish to her toenails first. She felt the cool liquid touch her big toe, before she made sure the nailpolish covered her toenails. Even though it was a tad-bit wet, Karou could tell that the color matched her dress really well.

After doing the other foot, she added the second layer and moved on to find some nailpolish remover and did her hands.

Now her hands looked beautiful as long as the polish doesn't smudge up. Karou walked gently across the room and looked out the window. She could still people lining up to get signed in. She sat back down in the chair and took a finger to see if her toes and nails were still wet. They weren't.

She put her black sandals with gemstones on it, back on and walked out the door. She smiled happily and skipped to the door. She heard part of the mayor's speech before he introduced her.

"Deep breath, Karou. You can do this," She whispered. Karou smiled and walked towards the front of the stage.

"Good Morning DIstrict 1! As you may know, I'm Karou Sanders and I'll be your escort for this year's Hunger Games… By orders of the Capitol, I'm required to show you the reason why we have the Hunger Games!" Once she ended her sentence, the video blurred on.

She stood there for a few minutes until the video turned off.

"Let's switch it up this year! Our male tribute is…" Her pale hand dipped into the silver reaping bowl on the left and she pulled out a slip of paper. She cleared her throat and announced, "Paper Goldy!"

"I volunteer!" A voice shot out.

Karou saw a tall young man, probably seventeen or eighteen years of age, walking out of the area. He was brown skinned, with long black hair that looked like it was in a ponytail. He was wearing a black shirt with his shirt tucked into his jeans. She could see some gold trim on his shirt.

"What's your name and age?" Karou asked, when the volunteer got on stage.

"Merille Tesfa, age seventeen," He replied. She smiled and she took her other hand and her hand moved around the right bowl. She chose a slip of paper and yelled, "Affluence Cardeza!"

A young girl who looked just about the same height as Karou stepped out of the seventeen year old pen. Karou barely reached 5'5 by the time she stopped growing. She didn't mind her height though. Affluence stepped out, and Karou could see that she had blonde hair, and pretty blue eyes.

She was waiting for a volunteer, but there was only silence.

"How old are you?" Karou asked Affluence.

"Seventeen," Affluence responded quietly. The smile she had didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Our tributes-Merille Tesfa and Affluence Cardeza!" Karou exclaimed, as she directed her two tributes towards the Justice Building.

~D-O-L-L-H-O-U-S-E

I see things that nobody else sees~

Merille Tesfa (17), District 1

Merille was confused. He was really surprised to see that his sister didn't volunteer as she boasted about that for a while. The door opened and his sister, Lebina walked in with her husband. He could see that she was starting to have a small bump on her stomach.

"You made it," He said.

"Of course I did," She laughed. She embraced him. They shared small talk. They were a little more close until she left, but that left a hole in his heart.

She handed him her silver necklace that she was wearing and he clasped it around his neck. Soon, it was time for her to leave and his parents and sister came in the room after a few minutes.

"At least one of my children didn't disappoint me unlike one." He looked at Rehana who was blank-faced before continuing, "You better win."

Merille rolled his eyes. It was the same thing he always said. His mom nodded in agreement. It was the only thing that kept their marriage together, unsurprisingly.

"Rehana, why didn't you volunteer?" Merille asked.

"I thought it'd be better if you'd win."

After a few minutes of very uncomfortable conversation, they were told to leave.

Merille frowned, until his friend, Amir showed up. He didn't look too happy.

"It sucks that you're going."

"I know. At least do something while I'm gone."

~I just wanna stay in the sun where I find

I know it's hard sometimes

Pieces of peace in the sun's peace of mind~

Affluence Cardeza (17), District 1

Affluence stood in the middle of the room. She felt like her heart was going to beat right out of her chest. She would be fine. She had to. Those stories she listened to. The war heroes, the renaissance ones with a story about survivalment. She would try to win the games. She didn't have much experience, but she had stories and life lessons. At least that would be better than nothing.

The door opened, and her family stepped into the room. Her mom looked like she was terrified, but her dad was standing tall. She saw Jett and Coda gripping each other's hands tightly. Coda just recently aged out the Hunger Games, and Affluence was about too in a few years; the youngest out of the three. She hoped she wouldn't have been picked, but it seemed that fate wouldn't want that.

Affluence ran to Coda's arms and embraced her.

"Coda-Can you please run my route for me?" Affluence asked softly. Coda was her partner and helped deliver news/supplies to each outlying village.

"You know I will," She said.

"Just remember your survival instincts. I told you some stories and you listened to the veterans about the war. It'd be similar. Do what they said," Her dad advised, hugging her.

Her mom quickly embraced her, and handed her a small key which Affluence smiled. There was no meaning behind it, but it was nice. Jett hugged her tightly. By the time Jett let go, the family had to leave.

It was only a few minutes her three friends came by. She saw Tristan carrying his soccer ball. It looked like they were going to play soccer right after the game. She wished she could be there. Affluence hugged him,

"Geez, going to have fun without me?" Affluence said. He laughed. He sounded sad, and she understood why.

"Try. Duchess would probably beat the crap out of me for moping." His tanned cheeks turned beat red around their other's best friend. Affluence knew that Tristan had a crush on her, but was too chicken to ask her out.

"Isn't that right. Good luck out there," Duchess laughed. Affluence laughed with her, and hugged her goodbye.

Affluence saw that Beacon was standing, and she embraced him. It was hard not to love the guy, and she loved him.

"Here's some good luck," He whispered and kissed Affluence on the lips. She blushed profusely and soon after that, they had to leave.

It's been a while hasn't it? I would have came back eventually because I needed that break, and luckily Plat was there to review a chapter and helped me get over a major writer's block. Long story short, I had a project-did well on that, wrote a part of this chapter, had a summer trip where I was in California for a month, school started my mental health decrease. I also found out along the way, that I needed a break from this fandom is mainly why I took so long. I'm back now, and should get out the last three reapings within a month hopefully.