5 months. Oops. Depression and college are different kinds of monsters

Zinnia Birchwood, 17

District 7, one year before the Reapings

For Zinnia Birchwood, tonight was the night. Everything had been leading up to this. Meticulous planning, careful thought-out trajectory, all the works. Revenge was on her mind and revenge was what she was going to get.

It was the dead of night. Things were still and quiet, except for the light chatter of the workers coming back from the late shift in the lumber yards. A faint trumpet of laughter could be heard. Zinnia sneered to herself. She'd be the one laughing soon enough. Soon enough.

The window to her bedroom was open, letting in a nice subtle breeze that carried the scent of the pines on its shoulders. For any citizen of District 7, it was a pretty comforting smell. Mostly.

She hoisted herself off of her bed and gazed outside into the darkness that melded with a slight greenish tint off in the distance. She was really going to go through with it. She had thought about it over and over in her head and nothing was going to stop her.

She wanted to air these thoughts to the wind and sky that were waiting just outside the window, but she knew she should probably stay quiet. An element of surprise was needed for what was to come. The thought of that made her smile. What a charming late-night surprise this would be.

Then suddenly, her thoughts made a brief stop in the land of logic. She wasn't sure what she was about to do would be the best for her image. In fact, it would probably be quite the detriment. She was already the "circus" girl around town and she didn't want to give the people of District 7 any other excuse to drag her good name.

Zinnia's family came from a long lineage of circus folk which, according to her father, go all the way back to before the Dark Days. He told Zinnia tales that his father told him, tales of elephants and rings of fire. Of course, Zinnia and her family did nothing like that now. It was more lowkey events to ease the boredom of some of the wealthier families in the district. Zinnia found it hard to believe that boredom could really be an issue but it seemed that was the case when you didn't have to fill your quota of tree related work.

These days, the Birchwood Family Circus was more focused on comedy rather than talent, and boy did Zinnia love it. It became a little tiresome doing the same old shtick time after time, but it made a decent pay and kept them fed and healthy, so who could complain? Zinnia certainly wouldn't. It was an honest living for a family of three.

Being part of a tiny circus did have its perks, and one of those perks was going to provide her with the means for revenge. She could hardly wait any longer. Tonight was the absolutely the night. There were minimal drunks and stragglers out on Wednesday nights and the late shifts were finishing up just a bit earlier. There was no better time.

When the last of the chatter faded into the stillness of the night, Zinnia made her move. She grabbed her gear and her suit and headed out.

She opened the door of bedroom slowly, inch by inch to avoid the insane creaking it would make. Zinnia was just thinking of how they really needed to fix her door but her door did what it did best: scream like a dying child.

Zinnia instinctively winced and retreated back into her bed room with a swift motion. She took a deep breath and wiped some perspiration from her brow. She still couldn't believe that she was doing this, but there was no turning back. She was too angry, too hurt, too humiliated. Revenge was the only thing that would satisfy her.

It was this thought that coaxed back out the door, more quietly this time. Luckily for her, the stairs were much less vocal so she descended them with ease. She turned from the short staircase and headed towards the back door. Overall, it was a pretty modest home but certainly leagues better than some of the poorer areas in the district.

Zinnia was just past the small kitchen and to the back door when a sound made her stop in her tracks. A long low growl, almost like a demon was crawling up from the earth. She whipped her head around to see her father, asleep in his musty brown arm chair.

She breathed out a sigh of relief. She figured her father had probably planned to stop her. She grinned to herself, knowing that his effort to stop her would have been feeble. In fact, he probably would have given her a wink and set her on her way.

Zinnia considered waking him but decided against it. Better to ask for forgiveness and not permission. And with that, she headed out the door and into the night.

She knew that she mustn't be seen on her way to her destination but Zinnia was no fool. She planned out exactly which road and back alleys to take, which yards to cut through, which Peacekeepers patrolled where. Oh yes, she was not going to be seen.

Into the night she went. Her path was meticulous but uneventful. It was hard to be patient when the only thing she'd been thinking about was so close to resting in her palms.

"Revenge," she muttered under her breath. "Revenge." It wasn't a very clever mantra but it certainly was effective in amping her up when she finally reached her destination.

Her destination was a one floor house in one of the less nice parts of town. The house seemed like it could really use some brightening up. It almost looked sad. She tried not to feel bad and let her anger consume her once more.

She positioned herself directly in front of the house. The night was still and there were almost no sounds. Yes. It was time.

Zinnia raised her weapons, a carefully chosen spoon and plate. The light of the crescent moon illuminated the matted fur of the horribly smelling, thoroughly rotted, full body monkey suit. A little gift from the circus. And with that, she began clanking her spoon and plate and belted out with joyful glee:

HEY, ELIJAH!

I REALLY, HATE YA.

YOUR LAST NAME IS SKYLES,

BUT YOU'VE GOT NO STYLE.

Lights were beginning to click on in the vicinity. Zinnia's heart raced and she continued to sing:

YOU BROKE, MY HEART

SO HERE I AM,

IN THE DARK.

Confused voices began to raise out of the darkness, but nothing was going to stop her. Nothing.

FUCK YOUR LIFE!

YOU'LL NEVER GET A WIFE!

SO WATCH OUT BUDDY,

CAUSE SO YOU'RE SO DAMN CRUSTY

When the subject of her exuberant song finally appeared in his window, Zinnia just kept going. She put herself out there, she opened herself up, and all she got in return was humiliation. No one humiliated Zinnia Birchwood and got away with it.

As she sang to the beat of the plate and spoon, a smile played on her lips. She wanted revenge and revenge was what she got.

Elijah Skyles, 18

District 7, eleven months before the Reapings

Light was trickling through the trees, peppering the ground with little speckles of light. Elijah Skyles didn't find much beauty in things but he appreciated being able to see where was going in the early hours of the day.

Most people complained about waking up early for the morning shifts but Elijah didn't really mind. He never understood the complaints of the other boys as they trudged into the woods. Nevertheless, he participated in their small talk. Sure, he hated mornings, sure he hated the foreman, sure he wanted to head home and jack off. Sure.

The truth was that Elijah didn't care about any of those things, much less the company of his coworkers. That's why he would wake up extra early before the morning shift to run his trail.

It was a pretty quiet part of the woods, which was surprising considering all the nuts and berries that were just waiting to be picked. Yes, it was technically illegal but food was food and Elijah was careful. It's not like anyone in District 7 cared anyway.

As the sun rose, Elijah walked along peering into bushes. The marionberries were just getting to their peak ripeness. The ugly green color was gone and replaced with a deep black. The berries were alright but his mom really liked them. During the summer she'd try to make marionberry pie if she could. It was a small summer treat but it made her smile so it was worth it.

At home it was just himself and her. At a young age his father had run out on them. Elijah didn't remember anything about his father really. All he knew was that resented him for leaving. He loved his mom but she couldn't give him what a boy needs growing up. A boy needs his father to grow up, to be man, and Elijah felt like he never got that chance. He worked out to be as masculine as he could be. He followed the examples of the other boys when he was younger but nowadays he wasn't a follower.

Elijah moved along the trail of pine needles, gathering more berries as he went. There seemed to be plenty for a pie. He decided to allow himself to smile. He knew that his mother wasn't around to see it so it technically didn't exist to her at all, but he figured that the gesture was nice enough. Things were always a little hard in the summer. The Hunger Games. The Reaping. Bad memories.

The 74th Hunger Games were off and apparently were a big hit. Elijah zoned out when they had to watch the Games. He hated them. Oh how he hated the Hunger Games.

At 11 years old, the Reapings of the 68th Hunger Games happened and changed his life forever. His sister, Harleigh, was 15 years old when she reaped and then murdered in the Games. He loved her a lot, despite the overload of femininity she added to the Skyles household. That year was the hardest in Elijah's life. He remembered watching her die on the TV, how his mother was sobbing on the floor, rocking back and forth and cursing the world.

11-year-old Elijah just sat there, watching the life leave his sisters body. After that, everything changed. Elijah turned 12 the next year and applied for tesserae. He became the true man of the house and began having to work to provide for his mother and himself. She couldn't do as much as him anyway. That's when the berry trails started, but so did something else.

Elijah finished collecting the ripest of the berries into an old bucket and headed off the trail. If picking berries was illegal, his next activity was far more so.

He trudged along, letting the smell of the trees into his nostrils. He decided it wasn't an awful smell but he certainly didn't understand why so many people in D7 were so attached to it. It was just a scent after all.

A sudden snap and horrible meek whimper snapped him out of his thoughts. Elijah's eyes flashed with something that was almost excitement as he raced over towards the sound.

There. He came upon one of his many snares in the woods. The sharp wire was coiled around a feebly stirring chipmunk. It wasn't a huge animal but food was food. Elijah approached, his eyes flickering over the scene.

The snare had snapped the little creature's spine. Tiny bones protruded out of its chestnut colored fur. Matted blood dipped down onto the forest floor. Its legs were twitching back and forth, trying desperately to take itself away from the pain. Elijah would relieve the chipmunk from its meager existence in a moment, but he wanted to look into its eyes first.

The chipmunk's eyes are beady and black, like a void that cried out for help. Elijah figured that if it could cry tears in pain, it probably would be doing so right now.

He lowered himself to the ground looked directly into the tortured animal's eye. He reached out a hand to the animal's neck and felt it try to flinch back. This only caused the spine to rip farther out. Fresh blood and flecks of broken bone meandered their way past Elijah's hand.

He almost smiled again but decided not to. This animal would not be comforted by a smile. As Elijah looked into the chipmunk's eyes, he placed his fingertips around the animal's neck and squeezed. His fingers strained for a moment, and the chipmunk's neck broke.

It let out a final pitiful cry and died. Elijah kept his hand on the bloody fur for a moment, determined to try to feel the warmth leave its fur.

After a moment, Elijah decided that the creature was too mangled for food. He didn't mind that. He had the berries after all.

The sun was shining through the trees a little more brightly. Morning shift would be starting soon.

Elijah quickly hid evidence of the chipmunk's gory demise and took off at a run towards home. He knew he needed to drop off the berries before work. It was technically illegal after all.

As he ran through the woods, his thoughts wandered back to the chipmunk's final squeal. He wondered if his sister had sounded similar. He figured that the difference was that the world heard his sister scream as she was butchered, but only he and trees heard the chipmunk's last utterance.

He reached the end of dense part of the woods and looked over his shoulder back at the trees. He wondered aloud this time.

"If someone dies but there is no one there to witness it, do they really die?"

Two VERY tonally different POVS here but I hope you all liked them. I'm sorry that it has been so long. Things have been crazy for me and I did not intend to go on hiatus like this. I'm really really sorry.

Anyways, so we met Zinnia and Elijah! I had some trouble writing these POVs so I hope that I was able to introduce the characters well enough. Also there was super minimal dialogue for this intros compared to the first two but I actually really liked not doing so much dialogue.

I'd LOVE to hear your thoughts on these two and if you liked one more than the other. They've both very different and it's gonna be fun to see them both interact together. That's all for now, hopefully I'll have another update really soon

Are you #teamZINNIJAH?