┍━━━━ ⋆⋅♤⋅⋆ ━━━━┑
we all hate hearing
the awful sound of
Effie Trinket's voice
ringing out
over the plaza
-Tini
┕━━━━ ⋆⋅♤⋅⋆ ━━━━┙

Everyone knows Reaping Day is the worst. Whether your name is in the bowl or your child's name is. It's a little bit better when you've aged out of it or haven't aged into it, so you know you're safe, but it's still awful to watch.

Terrified children walking up those concrete steps, not knowing if they'll ever see them again. Horror-struck parents, watching from the sidelines, knowing that when they see their babies again, they will not be the same. All the other children, full of relief that they've survived yet another year of Reaping.

And everyone knows, deep down into the very core of our beings, we all hate hearing the awful sound of Effie Trinket's voice ringing out over the plaza.

I've learned to tune her out, but I'll have to listen this year. This year, my name is on a single slip of paper in that glass bowl. And I'm trembling at the thought of it. There's a slim chance that I'll get picked, but it's terrifying nonetheless.

"Tini. Stand up straight." My mother mouths at me from where the adults are standing.

I force my back into a straight line and clench my hands into fists. I can act my way out of this.

"As always, ladies first." Effie's voice chimes out after our mayor goes through his speech. Her dainty little hands put on a show as she reaches into the first bowl. 

"Tini Lemlit." She looks into the crowd.

I'm looking around to find a Tini Lemlit before I realize that everyone around me is backing up, trying to get away like I have an infectious disease like I might take them into the Arena with me.

Oh.

Oh no.

"No! Not my baby!" Mother's voice is as sharp as a knife, cutting through my sudden realization.

She's not supposed to break. No one in my family is supposed to break.

Father is trying to calm her, but nothing will calm a mother whose child is being taken away—nothing in this entire world.

I take deep, shuddering breaths as I try to piece my mask back together. My mind is working in overdrive, trying to create the newest Tini I will wear up those awful concrete steps. Whispers are all around me, but nothing is getting to my head.

I smile at Mother; I can't stand to look at Tim, to tell her it's alright. I'm fine. The crowd makes a pathway to the stage. I follow it, my head held high. I walk the concrete steps like many other children before me. But none of them wore a smile.

"That's a good girl. Come along now." Effie reaches out a hand. I take it and walk to my designated spot.

I see everyone from the stage. Mother, crying in Father's arms. My brother Tim, who stands next to the adults, having aged out of this whole thing last year. He's pale, face stony. I give a slight wave to let them know it will be okay. They all know that I'm a very good hider. I'll have at least a fighting chance. At least.

"And now, the boys." Another minute, another show of her hands.

Looking around the male group, I see if anyone could have a chance in the Games. None of the ladies do. I might not have a chance.

No. The Tini you created does have a chance. A mixture of my family's voices swirls around in my head, making sure I do not tell myself lies.

Back to the male group.

"Alden Brookner." Another minute, another child sentenced to death.

Tim looks devastated. Alden's a great candidate to win the Games. He's smart, wickedly smart, and also Tim's best friend. Boyfriend, I correct myself. We just found out last week.

But Alden's the only one in the male group who might have a shot to win for District 12. Father shakes his head. It's like everyone in my family has given up before I even stepped foot in the Arena, started my training, and got prepped to go to the Capitol.

Why don't they have more faith in me? 

The swirling of voices making sure I don't tell lies is fading, faded, until I'm ashamed that I've already let them down. I somehow picked the best shot District 12 has of winning.

The best shot that will certainly beat me, and I will die in that Arena.

━━━━ ⋆⋅♤⋅⋆ ━━━━

No one comes to see me but my family. I don't need friends; I've never had anyone but Tim.

Mother's still crying when she comes into the room. Father's behind her, and Tim is nowhere to be found. He's probably talking to Alden first. 

"Tini, I'm so sorry, someone should have volunteered; I can't believe it," Mother dissolved into another fit of tears.

I don't know how to react. This latest Tini isn't supposed to have such strong feelings or be this broken. I'd always modeled myself after my mother, but I don't know how to portray her now.

Father comes in to save her. "I think your Mother is trying to say that we're very sorry you got picked, but I'm sure you will listen to whatever your mentor says and get very far. You have to play the game and don't do anything that could reflect badly on our family." 

A small sentence gets through a crack of my mask. "You don't think I could win for us?"

"You'll get very far," Father repeats.

Mother gives another sob.

━━━━ ⋆⋅ Tim ⋅⋆ ━━━━

"Oh god, I'm so sorry." Is the first thing I say to Alden.

He turns away from the window.

"You didn't pick my name, it's fine." He opens his arms, and I'm falling into them, my eyes already watering. My family, or anyone else, isn't here; I can weep openly.

"But I feel like I had some part to play in it."

"I'll protect her, don't worry."

"I would've volunteered for her in a heartbeat. Or you,"

"It's okay, Tim."

"How can you be so calm?" I ask him.

He pulls away and looks at me. "Because you aren't."

Alden has always been my better half. The other side of me. The one who was always there to calm me down. And he's doing it now, even faced with certain death. I'm still determining how I'm going to survive without him.

"I know everyone will ask you to protect her, but please, please, protect yourself too. I'm not sure," I take a shaky breath. "I'm not sure what I will do if you two don't return."

We're all lying. Every single one of us. We all know that either Tini or Alden's coming back, even if either survives. All the other candidates have been picked, and it will be a brutal game. I don't even know how I'm going to watch this year.

"Tim." Alden forces me to look at him. "We're both coming back. I swear it." He closes his statement with a kiss.

I return it, and I don't have the heart to tell him that this is the first time he's lied to me.

━━━━ ⋆⋅♤⋅⋆ ━━━━

Closing the door behind me, I come face-to-face with Mother and Father.

"We'll let you talk to Tini alone. Be realistic; we don't want to give her false hope." Father says.

I try hard to ignore him, knowing that the only thing he'd allow me to say before acknowledging him was asking about Mother.

"Mother, are you okay?"

She nods, clutching Father's handkerchief.

"Tim, did you hear me?"

"Yes." I stand up straighter and move past them to get to Tini's door.

Mother grabs my arm. "Can we talk to Alden?" 

I give her a small smile, happy that they're still abiding by the rules we'd set. "I'm sure he'd appreciate that."

They'd been so accepting of us. I'm thankful for it every day.

Opening Tini's door, I find her sitting on a chair next to the window, absentmindedly playing with her fancy updo Mother did.

"Hey," I say softly, miming taking off a mask. 

She does the same and hops out of her chair, small tears forming.

"Shh, you'll be okay." I kneel on the ground, wrapping my arms around her. God, she's so tiny. It's just another reminder that she shouldn't be in these Games.

"Tim, why me?" Tini whispers.

I don't have an answer.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
ahaha, starting off with those tears!
i am very sorry about that. but it's only downhill from here.

first things first, Tim and Tini are sibling goals. my two younger brothers could NEVER.

and alden and tim are just 🥰. i went very much back and forth with how tim's parents were going to respond, since Korean culture, as a whole, is not very accepting of the LGBTQ+ community. i also realize that there are Koreans that do accept the LGBTQ+ community, so after very careful consideration, and looking at the capitol and the other district's culture, since this is a hunger games fanfiction, i decided to make them accepting.

i want this book to accurately portray Korean culture, as it's very fascinating, so i will try to keep Tini and her family as true to Korean culture as i can.

so if there is anything i need to write differently, please PM me. i am always open to learning and growing as a person, and as a writer.