Yay! I have all my tributes! Thank you so much for all the wonderful tributes! I'm so glad that you all submitted!
Females
Shynne Portman, age 16, District 1, Submitted by me, LittleBitNerdy
Holly Clark, age 15, District 7, Submitted by Ripple237
Melody Keene, age 13, District 5, Submitted by Ember to Ashes
Eira Watt, age 18, District 5, Submitted by A M4D TE4 P4RTY
Scarlet Jett, age 15,District 1, Submitted by Jms2
Orange 'Ora' Kidd, age 12, District 9, Submitted by Dame Rivere
Chiara Venicton, age 15, District 6, Submitted by kkfanatic22
Laila Hunterson, age 13, District 6, Submitted by We're all okay
Jessa Kay Riley, age 16, District 8, Submitted by Puck37
EllieThomas, age 14, District 11, Submitted by ZTEBladeCM11
Lana Dast, age 15, District 7, Submitted by Krisy45
Meredith 'Mer' Sanders, age 15,District 9, Submitted by Annabeth – The tribute that lived
Males
Miller Thompson, age 14, District 9, Submitted by TheAtomicPikachu
Braken Tailor, age 16, District 9, Submitted by Ripple237
Jack Stone, age 14, District 12, Submitted by Ripple237
Troy McNair, age 18, District 2, Submitted by Riplpe237
Dawson Cole, age 16, District 12, Submitted by Jms2
Vulcan Stryker, age 18, District 2, Submitted by Jms2
Easton Quint, age 16, District 6, Submitted by Krisy45
Nicolas Black, Age 12, District 2, Submitted by ZTEBladeCM11
Jonas Cardin, age 18, District 4, Submitted by Puck33
Linden Adze, age 13, District 7, Submitted by A M4D TE4 P4RTY
Robin Wirey, age12, District 5, Submitted by Ripple237
Wyatt Dockens, age 14, District 3, Submitted by Ripple237
So I'm gonna try to do a small bit before the reapings, the jump ahead to the good byes. So, without further ado, here is our next tribute!
Linden Adze, age 13, District 7, submitted by A M4D TE4-P4RTY
I wake up to hear the noise of my mom's phlegm-y coughs, followed by a weak moan echoing throughout the paper thin walls. I stand to go check on her, but my older brother beat me to it.
"I'll check on her Linden," my 18 year old brother Osier shoves me back onto our small cot. "Try to go back to sleep."
"I can't. I'm scared."
"I know Linden. Everything will be fine. It's just another year, another reaping, another 23 kids dead. They'll never pick you, especially since we weren't allowed to take tesserae this year."
"That doesn't help. They could still pick one of us." I hugged my knees to my chest. "I hate the games. I hate them."
"You know that there is nothing we can do. We got these games when we rebelled. We can't do anything."
"I know –" I mumbled, the sound of my voice drowned out my more of my mother's insistent coughing.
"Linden," Osier turns to leave "You are going to need to get ready. We only have an hour before the reapings."
After Reapings
The softness of the velvet chairs is almost enough to distract me from my horrible fate. No, there is nothing, nothing worse than being reaped. I hate this, all of it, I hate it. I feel my fist ball up with anger. No. I tell myself. This is stupid.
My thoughts are interrupted by Osier bursting through the door, his face red, and his eyes watery, practically running across the threshold toward me.
"Linden." He moaned. "I'm sorry. I should've volunteered, should've done, should've said something! But I didn't, and I'm going to have to watch you die."
"No Osier. You did the right thing. If you would've volunteered there would be no one to take care of mom. I'm not capable of doing all that needs to be done, and even if I was, I still would've had school, and dad couldn't take care of her. He's always working." I felt my face crumble. I pulled my feet up onto the upholstery, bringing my knees to my chest and hugging them. I rested my head on my knees and began to cry.
"Linden. . ." Osier mumbled as he wrapped his arms around me. Although my brother and I were close, we never had much physical contact.
"Osier, are mum and dad coming?"
"Yes. Once your name was called, dad left to bring mum here."
I knew they should be here soon. Our house was near the justice building, about a block and a half away. I hope mum was healthy enough that she could walk here on her own. My dad was strong, but he wouldn't be able to carry her here on his own without a peacekeeper stopping them. My thoughts were answered when I heard my father's voice encouraging my mum up the steps.
"Alright Cherry, we're almost there, you can do it."
The doors swing open and my father comes in, mum stumbles in, assisted by a peacekeeper. He roughly lowers her in a chair, where she succumbs to a nasty coughing fit. The peacekeeper, unsure of what to do, hands her trash can and a box of tissues and leaves the room.
"Dad," I mumble, still enveloped in my brother's arms. He never responds to me, but the look in his eyes says he is pretty upset. He turns to help my mum stand, and she hobbles over to me, still weak from the short walk over here from our house.
"Linden. . ." mum rasps "I love you. . ."
I stand up and hug her, tears now rolling freely down my face. She starts sobbing, and erupts into fit of coughing. She doesn't stop after nearly a minute, and a peacekeeper picks her up roughly, and my dad follows her them out.
Two more peacekeepers enter, one shoving Osier towards the door mum and dad left out of, and one shoving me toward another door which I am assuming led me to the train that would take me to the capitol.
Vulcan Stryker, age 18, District 2, Submitted by Jms2
I take one final swing at the training dummy in front of me. My spiked club rips the head off, and the hard foam stuffing flies everywhere. Trying not to make a big deal out of the beheading, I grab the mannequin's head and throw it to the instructor on duty so he knows to take care of it. I quickly set the club on a shelf and walk out of the gym, knowing I'll need to be home soon to prepare for the reapings. On the way to the exit I pass my mom's office.
"Mom, I'm going home." I lean my head into her office.
"Ok Vulcan," my mom responds, only glancing up from the stack of paper work on her desk.
"And, since no volunteering is allowed this year, why are you still pouring over the trainees?"
"I'm looking for next year's tributes," she responds. My mom is the one to choose who will be the volunteer for the games each year. "Speaking of which, have you seen Carina Storrs training at all?"
"Uh, maybe. She's sixteen now right?"
"Yeah."
"I think I've seen her, she looks pretty ruthless. Kinda scary though. I don't think she'd have the mental ability to do it. Put her in a stimulation box, that'll help you see if she's ready." I was put in one of those once. Never again will I agree to go in. They put potential tributes, future peace keepers too, into it, and it's like a video game. It's worse than than being in the games. I didn't want to go into it when they forced me in. I don't want to go to the games. Sure, I trained for them all my life, but secretly, my dream is to be a peacekeeper in district one. Meet a pretty girl and start a family.
"I think I'll do that. What about – "
"Mom, I'm leaving." I say before she can finish.
"Okay, I'll see you there."
After reaping
I barely enter the good bye room when my whole family enters. My older siblings, twins Genevieve and Leo, followed by my mom and dad.
"Vulcan," Genevieve starts, in her airy voice, leans toward me. I can smell her, and not in a good way. Just because she is a hippie doesn't mean she shouldn't shower. "Channel your inner tree. Stay calm, cool and collected my baby brother. I love you."
"Love you too Genevieve." I reach up and awkwardly hug her, trying again not to breath in the atrocious fumes. She leaves, apparently the hippie society has something more important going on. Leo comes over to me next. I stand to hug him. The hug is almost as awkward as the one with Genevieve, because he is still in his bullet-proof peacekeeper gear.
"I know you can do it Vulcan. You have peacekeeper and tribute training. The odds are in your favor this year I'm sure." Leo tells me, lifting his helmet to look into my eyes.
"I know." What he doesn't know is that I plan to protect all the district one girls. They should be allowed a chance to live and get a perfect life. I am willing to sacrifice myself for one of them, even if I don't even know them. The poor girls are too young and unsuspecting to die.
Alright, there was a chapter. Sorry it took so long. I have no excuses to give you. There was so much time that I could've typed but I didn't. Anyway... I have all the tributes, YAY! I thank everyone who submitted. To Jms2 and A M4D TE4-P4RTY, I hope you liked the way I portrayed your tributes. If you have anything to say, post it on my reviews or PM me, no hate though.
~LittleBitNerdy out, PEACE!