The Kids Are All right Chapter One

Disclaimer: I do not nor have I ever owned the rights to The Hunger Games

Authors note;

In order to write this story I had to tinker with the timeline a little bit. Suzanne Collins writes that Katniss doesn't have her first child until fifteen years after returning to district 12, but imagine if you will, shortly after their return on a very special night the planets are in alignment and everything "clicks" Anastasia is the result.

I would like to thank: Desiree Ann The Hunger Games Annie's Story

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Bookworm & Lover Children of the Victors

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I was inspired by their stories to write this, hope you enjoy it!

Note; The Memorial day mentioned in this story is celebrated on what used to be Reaping day. Now it is a day of mourning, remembrance, and celebration. A day to mourn all those tributes who have died in the past, A day to remember them and their sacrifice and a day to celebrate the fact that children no longer have to die to appease a criminal state.

Forward: Sooner or later we get stuck with it. I don't think you can get out of school without writing about it. I'm talking about the traditional essay "What Memorial Day means to my family and I" Most kids scribble on about "Oh it means I don't have to worry about being reaped for the games anymore, we live better now, or I can actually plan for my future now" All these things are true, but I "lucked out" when my high school class got this assignment, because of what happened to me about a year and a half ago. I was able to glide through because I actually had something to write about, here then is my story.

My name is Daniel Odair; I live here in District 4 with my mom, Annie, We live in a little house near the gulf. With the stipend my mom gets from the government, and with what I bring in from fishing, we do all right. I do not remember my dad, because he died in the war before I was born. Everybody says I look just like him; all I know is that sometimes my mother will give me a funny look and just start crying. When I am not out fishing or fighting off girlfriends with wicked intentions on my body, I am taking care of my mom. Annie was a victor in the 70th Hunger Games, unfortunately that victory cost her sanity. The trauma she suffered in those games plus the pain of loosing my father pretty much drove her over the edge. She is doing better now, but I can usually count on being wakened two or three times a week by her screaming, coming out of the many nightmares that haunt her sleep. I just feel so helpless, all my life I have had to be there to comfort her and get her back to sleep, but it never seems like it is enough.

My mom has a younger sister Emily who comes over two or three times a week to help her, longer when I am out on a fishing boat. From time to time my "Aunt" Johanna comes down from District 2 where she and my "Uncle "Gale live. Actually, they are not really my aunt and uncle, just real good friends of my mom; Johanna was also a victor in the games (before my mom I think) and a mentor later on. She and my mom share a special bond having both been victors, and if my mom is feeling especially depressed "Aunt" Johanna can usually get her back on track for a while.

The best part about Johanna's visits is that Stormy comes with her when she's not in school.

Stormy is Gale and Johanna's daughter, she's 16 has beautiful green eyes, long dark hair and my best friend. I have known and played with this girl since we were babies, we also, share a bond of sorts, Stormy and I always seem to know just what the other is thinking. When Stormy visits, we usually go for long walks on the beach, just "hang out" and talk about our friends, or go swimming in the ocean.

One of the things we usually talk about is why our parents always clam up when we ask them about their lives when they were our ages. We know about mom and Johanna having been in the games and all that, and that Gale was involved in the war, but beyond that, questions are always met with silence, changing of the subject, or told that it is none of our business. This "stonewalling" really had us bugged, we are always thinking of ways to ferret out information from the grown-ups usually to no avail.

About two years ago Gale, Johanna and Stormy were down for a visit, Stormy and I had been out taking a moonlit walk on the beach and got back to the house later than we should have. As we were sneaking by an open window, we heard our folks talking. Their voices were muted but I heard Gale mutter something about District 12, and a name, Mellark! Mellark, I could not recall anyone mentioning that name before. This certainly sounded like a clue to me, District 12, could this Mellark be found there? This was certainly going to require more investigation. Stormy agreed to see what she could dig up when she got back home, and I promised to see what I could find out.

It's sure nice to have "connections" Through a fishing buddy I was able to get access to the video library over at the District Admin office, so one day after school I went over there and sat down with several boxes of old vid's and began my "investigation." I opened a box just marked "70th" stuck the tape into the player and watched this beautiful young girl in a pretty green dress standing on a stage with some guy shifting around nervously beside her. " Mom!" That beautiful young lady was my mom! My mom before the games and untold horrors stole her life. I looked closer, there were those pretty green eyes, the curly brown hair before the streaks of grey had set in. I just sat there mesmerized, hitting rewind over and over again. "Mom, what did they do to you?" a question that kept swirling around in my mind. I also noticed scenes with what could only be my dad. Wow! Now I see why everyone says I look just like him, We have a few pictures of him of course, but actually watching a video of him moving around was a whole different thing. Now the video showed him standing next to my mom waving at the crowd, what was this all about? I just sat there transfixed watching my parents in another time, long before I was born, tears started coming to my eyes as I studied every feature of my parents,

Wait! What was that? My mom was smiling! I kept repeating this scene over and over again, in all the time I've known her I've never seen my mom smile, not once, I made a vow to myself right there that I would do whatever I had to do to make her smile again.

The next thing I knew I was being ushered out as it was closing time, looks like I would have to come back another day, but all I could think of on my way home, and later that night lying in bed were those images of my mom and dad.

Later that week I got a chance to watch the tapes again, I chose an unmarked one and stuck it in the player. This time I saw what must have been tributes riding in chariots, everybody had different costumes on, Man! Look at those two, they were literally on fire! Black body suits and fire blazing at their backs. I didn't have audio on this thing so I couldn't tell if they were saying their names, Wait! There it was, the emblem for District 12. "Twelve!" they were from 12? Maybe I was on the right track? I fast forwarded a little bit and saw the same girl sitting next to the host in a beautiful red dress. Man! This girl was a real "looker." Just then a caption appeared on the bottom of the video, Katniss Everdeen, District 12 The Girl on Fire, She sure was on fire alright.

I then watched as she stood up and spun around and fire swirled around the lower part of her dress, I could tell the audience was going crazy. I re-ran this scene a couple more times then moved ahead a little bit. The next scene was a guy, the same one who was with Katniss in the chariot . District 12 Peeta Mellark I gasped when I saw the name, MELLARK! There it was! I stopped the machine and just sat there thinking. "Did my "Aunt" and "Uncle" and my mom know these people? I had my answer a little later when I watched another vid. There they were, all four of them on a beach, looking beat to Hell! But there was my dad, "Aunt" Johanna, Katniss and Peeta.

As I walked home, my mind reeled with a million thoughts. Instead of answers, I kept thinking of more questions, that night I kept tossing and turning, my brain churning with too many questions, and no answers. The next day I got Emily to get mom out of the house for awhile and I called Stormy. After telling her what I found, there was silence for a moment then she said " No doubt about it, we're gonna have to pay a visit to District 12." I thought about this for a minute then said "Well, when could we go?" "It takes a full day or more by train, what'll we tell our folks?"

"Don't the schools in your district let out for a week the same time they do here in 2?" "Yeah! In three weeks, why! Do you want to try and go over there then?" "It'll be the only chance we can get" Stormy said. " I'm going to have to talk with mom's sister about staying here with her for a week, she's gonna want to know why." " Leave the story to me" Stormy said, "I'll call you after I make some phone calls and get our stories set up" "Hope this will work" I muttered, "Relax, piece of cake" giggled Stormy as she hung up.

Two days later Stormy called back and true to her word she had a story all cooked up. "I've got a friend who lives in district 13. I told my mom I wanted to visit her and since we studied about it in school, I wanted to visit the old bunkers. I also asked my mom if it would be alright if you could go with me, she gave me a funny look, but said only if you could get somebody to watch your mom." "I'll talk to Emily, I think I can bribe her with a basket of juicy clams I can get from a special spot I know about." "Great" she said, "Let me know when things are all set on your end, I'll get us a room on the train, and let you know when I'll be arriving so you can jump on."

One of the nice things about being a victor in the old Hunger Games (at least a live one I guess) is that you got to ride the train for free, and that included immediate families. I took out my rail pass from my wallet and thought "We're going to do this thing, now all I have to do is convince my mom and her sister." A little sweet talking, a basket of clams and a bucket of shrimp and Emily was good to go, my mom was a little bit harder to convince. She was afraid, she worried something might happen, even started crying, but a call to "Aunt" Johanna got her calmed down and with a grudging acceptance I was going to be on my way. Stormy called back and we finalized our plans, then hunkered down to wait for vacation week.

The fateful morning came and I made final arrangements with Emily, kissed and hugged my mom and headed for the train station before she changed her mind. By now I was starting to feel the first pangs of doubt, I really hated telling my mom stories like that but if nobody was going to tell us the truth, we were going to have to find it out for ourselves. Soon the train arrived and I saw Stormy waving at me from a window. "Well, here we go" I nervously thought.