Chapter Five

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“You know; I probably could list about 2 dozen people who’d appreciate it if you two stopped sleeping together.”

I heard Logan say; and I grumbled, snuggling closer to France. “Go away.” I whined. I could feel France start to stir besides me; and I sighed when he left my bed. “Now you’ve done it.” I grumbled as I opened my eyes, sitting up. It was still dark and I tilted my head. “How in Atlantic’s wrath did you get in here?”

Logan rolled his eyes at me; “When your dad’s the ruler of the country - and you the heir - you could get anywhere in the Capitol if you tried.” He informed me, leaning up against my wall. He turned to France then; “I find it highly inappropriate you two are in the same bed. You aren’t married, and that is my little sister your sleeping with.”

I glared at him, getting up and wrapping my arms around France. “I have nightmares when I sleep alone.” I whispered quietly, hugging him tighter. “Leave France alone.” I added, giving my brother a look. Logan sighed; “I guess I can live with that.” He finally said after a few moments of silence. I smiled, “Good, I’m glad you’re alright with it; not that you had any say.” I told him, Logan opened his mouth to say something, but shut it as suddenly as he appeared.

France looked at Logan, “Logan, mind if we discuss this later. Ches and I  planned on discussing what we knew on your father this morning.” The brown haired boy said to my half brother. The red haired boy scoffed, “He’s a dog, end  of story.” Logan huffed. I rolled my eyes at Logan; “I’m not sure if anything  I know about my father is true. Heck, I’m not sure about my mother now.”

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Chapter Four

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Dear Journal,

Bubbles says I have to write in you, supposedly they’re going to send “send it to my family when I die so they know all was well.” Frankly I think this is stupid, I promised Ellie I was going to live, so, if fate’s on my side it’ll never be sent home. Of course, there are 55 other children just as skilled, if not more skilled then me; fate could pick any two people to survive the mass slaughter the other 54 will endure. I don’t want to say it, but, I’m scared. I’m scared of dying; I’m scared of not coming home. Ellie needs me, and if I’m not there, who’s going to keep her safe. Mom? I love my mother, but, she isn’t resourceful enough to do both her job and mine.

I can’t let France die, and I can’t let Clover die. France will take care of my family; I know this. Clover may too, she’s a good little flower, she’ll do what’s right. But, it doesn’t make it any less scary you know; knowing you’re going to die. I’ll train my hardest, of course, I have to last as long as possible, I have to ensure that it’s just the two of them left.

I wish we knew what kind of arena we’re going to placed into; it would be cool to see a biome from another country; I’ve never been outside good old ‘Rumerica.

And Ellie - In case you do actually see this - 5 points if you get what I did there.

~ Chespi

I finished the journal entry quickly, throwing the journal to the other side of the room. Bubbles had stopped us all on the way back to our rooms to get changed to dump journals on us. She had the ability to annoy everyone; especially me. We were going to be thrown in an arena with next to no training, yet we were supposed to be okay with it and write journals about how much fun we were having. Only an insane person would write ‘ohmahgosh, guess what mommy, I beheaded the dummy today, can’t wait to slaughter everyone’ or ‘I fell during training today, can’t wait to be slaughtered.’ Of course, I could see it giving parents some closure, but, I highly doubted anyone was glad to receive one.

I sighed as I got up off the bed, walking over to the wardrobe and opening it up. Bubbles also mentioned that she was going to introduce us to possible sponsors during linner, so we had to dress nicely. I looked inside, wasn’t there a tale about lions in wardrobes? I could recall hearing one, although I couldn’t exactly recall how it went. “What to wear…” I clicked my tongue. Suddenly a hand reached over my shoulder and grabbed a light green dress.

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Chapter Three

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Silver and I walked out of my room to see Clover standing by the door. “Hey Clover, we’re heading up to the rooftop, want to come?” Silver asked her, the little girl grinned as she nodded, her violet eyes bright with excitement. She then skipped over to the elevator and hit the up arrow. I followed her at a slower pace, not wanting to move too fast indoors in fear of Bubbles popping up out of nowhere and scolding me.

The elevator doors soon opened to reveal four boys in it; France, Wren, Crow, and Norris all smiled at us as they made room to allow Silver, Clover, and me to fit. When we were inside, I turned to face France. “Sorry for not noticing you sooner on the train, I was lost in my own thoughts.” I whispered to him. He nodded, “It’s fine Ches, I could tell you were deep in thought. It was playful, I swear.” He assured me, leaning down to kiss my forehead. I looked up at him, hugging him. When the elevator doors opened up I exited it immediately.

Now, the rooftop wasn’t exactly what I would call soothing, it was pretty. It had beautiful flowers growing everywhere and I could recognize the smell of lilacs. The huge metal fence around the perimeter of the room was a buzz kill, but the bright lights, loud noises, and the party going on in the Capitol square did not help. I walked around the rooftop garden, making my way to a beautiful stone bench. I sat down there, and found that it was more comfortable than expected. France sat down next to me, taking my hand in his. Silver shot me a knowing smile, before turning the the group. “Look, guys, they’re starting to put these colorful things in the sky.” She said, pointing at the weird shaped rubber things that were floating through the sky. The boys didn’t seem interested at first, but as soon as one floated their direction and one of them accidentally hit it. They quickly realized you could play games with them and rushed to the fence with Clover and Silver to watch them get released into the sky.

“We’re just friends?” France said suddenly, holding up our linked hands. “Because, if we’re just going to be friends, we need to work on some things.” He let go of my hand then, running his own through his curly hair before putting it on his leg. I sighed, snatching it back up. “Well, you didn’t exactly ask me to be your girlfriend yesterday France.” I reminded him gently, “I didn’t want to say you’re my boyfriend if we’re not a couple.” I added. He let go of my hand again, pulling me closer to him in the seat and draping his arm over my shoulders instead. “Chespi, I assumed you knew I wanted you to be my girlfriend when I told you I love you last night.” He laughed. I rolled my eyes at him, “You know assuming makes a ass out of u and me, right? My dearest boyfriend.” I whispered to him. His eyes lit up at the word boyfriend and he leaned over to kiss me.

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Chapter Two

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France, Clover, and I passed Lapis and Ivory on our way out of the dining room, obviously they had been waiting outside for one of the mentors to finish up. Lottie and Thrush sure had their hands full, that was for sure. Once the three of us were out of the dining area we headed over to the bench we sat on last night, sitting down when we got there. “What is there to do on the train?” I said under my breath, looking outside the window.

“Well, you could socialize with your fellow Tributes, I’m Wren, we met last night at dinner. This is my twin brother Crow, my little sister Silver, and my friend Norris. You’re Chespi right? The one who volunteered for her sister?”

I looked away from the window to the boy talking, he was average height and muscular. He looked like he was a fisherman, he had green eyes, and that was a trait most fishermen and their families had.”Yeah, I’m Chespi. This is my friend Clover and my best friend France.” I stood up and offered him a hand, which he shook. I could see Clover’s face light up from the corner of my eye when I called her my friend. France’s expression wasn’t so pleased, and I heard Silver giggle at the term best friend. I looked over to her and she stopped immediately.

“I’m sorry for laughing, I just assumed you were more than friends. Most girls around our age do not have close male friends.” She said, her hand going to the beautiful fawn blonde hair. She reminded me of a porcelain doll the child of a wealthy shop-owner would own in a story; beautiful to the eyes, yet fragile looking.  ”You’re fine.” I reassured her.

The girl smiled at me before turning to her brother Wren and whispering in his ear quickly. Wren than turned and whispered to Crow at the moment she turned and whispered in Norris’s ear. They were clearly making a decision and I felt out of place, someplace I didn’t belong. Wren then turned to me after it was clear that they were all in a agreement. “Chespi, I’m not aware if you realized this, but Crow and I are a pair and Silver and Norris are a pair and all together we make up a team. France, Clover, and you seem pretty cool, and we were wondering if you’d like to join our team. We’ll have to split up eventually, I won’t deny that, but, if the seven of us work together, the other tributes can’t pick us off like flys.”

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Chapter One

~ 

Cold, wet beads of water pelted against my bare skin as I tried to soak up every ounce of water that I could as I washed my hair. I was happy I was being allowed to use the good stuff, shampoo and liquid body-wash, instead of the rough, homemade bar of soap I had to use the other times I wanted to get clean. I cleaned up quickly, turning off the water, getting dressed before leaving the shower-room.

“You were two seconds late.”

I heard a male voice say, and it was easy to tell that he was annoyed. “I apologize; I must have spent two extra seconds getting dressed.” I told him, making my voice sound as apologetic as I could. I wasn’t exactly sorry, 2 little seconds shouldn’t matter. I could hear his grumble, but, he signaled for the person behind me in line to go into the shower room and dismissed me. I walked away, lowering my head a little and trying not to draw attention on myself.

“He could have gotten you arrested, you know.”

My head shot up when I heard the voice and my eyes lit up when I saw a familiar tall, thin-shouldered, light skinned boy with curly brown hair smiling at me. I looked into to his golden brown eyes before smiling, “Yeah, I know, France. Miracle he didn’t, ‘ey?” I grinned back at him, taking the hand he had outstretched in my direction. “Today’s the day, I wish you luck.” I sighed as I thought about the awful things I’d have to watch in the upcoming weeks.

“Thanks, I wish the best of luck to you too.” The boy replied, starting to walk towards my house with me. “Ellie’s old enough to be chosen this year, isn’t she?” He sighed.

I nodded, “Yeah, she is, but, it’s only her first year, she’s only in there once. I’m in there 33 times, I think she’s safe.” I told him, squeezing his hand. “It’s you we need to worry about, you’re in there 14 times, and that’s before you took out food-bonds.” I told him as we got to my door. It wasn’t much, my small little home built into a piece of the mountain, but it was my mother’s everything. “You stay here; I’ll be out in just a moment.” I told him, as I opened the wooden door and let my bare feet touch the cold, stone, floor. I shivered as I walked to the corner of our little room, to where my mother was finishing brushing my little sister’s light brown hair.

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Prologue

~ 

My eyes narrowed when I saw the deer across the meadow. Thankfully for me the deer was upwind of me, so it didn’t smell me. There was going to be meat on the table tonight, and the thought of venison, no matter how it was prepared, made my mouth water. I set the arrow in the bow, making sure notch in the arrow met up with the place on the string it was supposed to before drawing the string back and releasing it. I watched it fly through the underbrush, watching as it pierced my game in the heart. I got up, walked over to the dead creature. “Thank you for the meat you will put on my mother’s, my sister’s, and my body. It is much appreciated.” I whispered to the corpse before I put my hands to my mouth and let out the call of the Eastern Bluebird. France appeared from the brush, carrying a basket of blackberries. He slid it up his arm, so it rested in the crease of his elbow before helping me pick up the deer.

Our first stop was to the Black Market, which operated in an abandoned warehouse near the hole in the fence, the hole that allowed us to exit. There the butcher would handle the skinning of the deer and all the gross, degutting needed to get the meat. In return, we let him keep part of the deer, and occasionally the pelt, depending on if we need the money the mayor pays us for the pelt that week or not.

“Looks like you two got a nice one there let me weigh him for you.” The butcher said to us, I nodded, following him to where he had set up his shop in the warehouse and putting it on the table he had cleared off for us. “A beauty indeed, 6 pointer, shot through the heart, I assume Chespi hit this one?”

I nodded, “Yeah, I shot him. How much meat do you want for him?” I responded, smiling at him. The butcher looked up at me, “It’s just me now since the wife died. I’ll just take the back leg.” He said, before looking over to France’s basket of blackberries. “How much do you want for the blackberries, I haven’t seen anyone come through here with any yet. They just got ripe, you know.”

France chuckled, handing over the basket. “Just take them, we can always get more.” He told the butcher, looking over to me. “Right Chespi?”

“Right!”