TW:
- Mentions of abuse
- Mentions of an abusive family

Location: District 12

Grian's P.O.V.

There's blood on my hands.

'No, it's just sweat.'

My family is dead.

'It's been five years. You're still alive, your younger siblings are still alive.'

I can still see the bodies.

'This is a dream. Wake up.'

This is all my fault.

'Wake up.'

'Wake up.'

'WAKE UP!'

[----------]

My eyes snap open and I sit up immediately, regretting that action as a migraine forms. I'm sweating, my body is shaking, my breathing's heavy, and I hold my head in my hands, groaning quietly.

'It was just a nightmare, Grian. Just a nightmare, like all the others.' I think to myself, trying to force myself to stop shaking. My breathing is going back to normal, and soon, I've stopped shaking.

It's a reoccurring nightmare, and it's happened a couple of times a month, for the past five years. Ever since my family passed away, I can still remember the smell of blood, I can still remember the coldness of their bodies. The screaming is still present too. Luckily, the nightmares aren't as bad as they were five years ago.

I raise my arms around my head, stretching as I get out of bed. My younger siblings, Elena and Lyle, are asleep in the bunk bed across the room. Seeing that our family was poor, I would share a room with them, and my parents and two older siblings would share a room.

Their room has been kept the way it was since they all passed.

I change into a simple long-sleeved shirt and pants, and I sit on the edge of my bed, tying up my boots. I grab my gloves from the bedside table, before turning to look at Elena and Lyle. My siblings are still asleep, and I decide that I won't wake them up. It's the morning of the reaping, after all.

Heading downstairs, I grab a scrap piece of paper and a pen and write a note for Elena and Lyle when they wake up.

"I'm out in the woods right now, be back soon. You can make your own breakfast."

- Grian

I leave the note on the table as I grab a slice of bread from the kitchen counter and my hunting bag. Opening the door, the cool spring air tickles my face as I step out. The breeze is welcoming, it feels nice. I close the door and start to make my way into the woods.

As I reach the fence that separates the woods from District 12, I stop for just a moment, trying to see if I can hear the hum of electricity radiating off from the fence. When the cost is all clear, and I'm sure that I can't hear the humming of the electricity, I get on my hands and knees and crawl through a small opening at the bottom of the fence. Once on the other side, I walk over to a hallow tree, and retrieve my weapon of choice; daggers.

As I venture deeper into the forest, I notice that the blackberry bush is growing again. Picking a handful from the bush, I continue with my walk into the forest. The morning mist is still in the air, and a cool chill accompanies it.

I soon enter a clearing of the forest, where the morning sun shines. Sitting on one of the rocks, is my best friend, Scar. He has this thoughtful look in his eyes, before he looks up, and meets my eyes. I can feel the muscles in my face relaxing as I jog up to him, and plop down onto the rocks.

"Well hello there Grian!" Scar exclaims, his usual bright smile on his face. I can never comprehend the fact that Scar, probably the kindest man I've ever met, grew up with abusive parents. True to his name, Scar had so many scars across his body from his parents, obtained from years of abuse. I never know how Scar can talk about his parents and the abuse he endured with such a calm composure, but I never ask him. Luckily, he got away from his parents and now lives with his Aunt and Uncle.

"Hey Scar, you ready for today?" I ask, and Scar nods as a response. Today's the day of the reaping, and two people will be chosen to compete in the Hunger Games. However, there's a twist already, and it isn't even the quarter quell yet. Each district gets to choose if they send one boy and one girl, two boys, or two girls into the arena. District 12 had chosen to send two boys into the arena, and I really hoped that it wasn't me or Scar, or even my little brother.

Quiet fills the woods as we both think about the possible outcome of being sent into the arena. If I were to be sent in, what would happen to Elena and Lyle? Would Scar's Aunt and Uncle take them in for a while? As I'm worrying about possible outcomes, Scar's voice snaps me back into reality.

"So, are we going to hunt today, or are we just going to sit here on the rocks and ponder?" Scar asks, already standing up. Shaking my head, I jump up as well, taking my hunting bag with me and throwing it over my shoulder. "Come on, let's go," I respond to Scar, as we start heading off into the woods.

The next little while is spent collecting berries and hunting down animals. After about an hour and a half, my hunting bag is filled with stuff we can trade for in the Hob, and for what me and Scar can keep. I turn to look for Scar, and he's cleaning some blood off his arrows. Putting the arrows away, he stands up and walks over.

"Are we heading over to the Hob now? Do we have enough stuff to trade with?" Scar asks.

"Yep! We have enough Scar, let's head over to the Hob now." I respond, and so we begin our walk out of the forest, silence filling the air once again.

[----------]

As we re-enter District 12, the streets are empty, and there are people in the town square setting up the stage for the reaping. All of the children, aged twelve to eighteen, are probably in their homes, getting ready for the slim possibility of getting chosen to go and die in the arena. Starting at the age of twelve, you have to enter your name once, and you have to continue entering your name more times every year until you turn eighteen, which is the final year of eligibility, where your name is entered seven times. However, some kids have a higher chance of going, and others, if they have put their name into the ball more than the required amount of times per year. If you and your family are poor and starving, you can enter your name more times in exchange for tesserae. So, me and Scar each have our names in the boy's bowl more times than the other seventeen-year-olds in our district. 

The Hob is District 12's black market. It used to be a warehouse that held coal until people devised a more efficient way to transport coal from the mines to the trains. My Father used to take me here, whenever he would teach me how to hunt, so I know quite a bit of people here. Unlike the outside world, the Hob is still loud and busy, with people chatting and trading everywhere. We end up trading most of our stuff to the vendors around, leaving some berries, fish, bread, and some money for each other, which we split in half. Waving goodbye to the traders, me and Scar exit the building, and back into the deserted streets.

"So, are you going to head home to get you and your siblings ready?" Scar asks, breaking the quiet. I look up at him as we start to walk down the streets. "Yeah, are you heading back too?" I respond. Scar nods his head. "Mhm, let's just walk home together, we still have a good two and a half hours until we have to head into the town square." Scar says. I nod in a silent response, and we start walking to Scar's house, where he lives with his Aunt and Uncle.

They open the door as we open the fence surrounding Scar's house. I mutter a slight hello to his guardians, before bidding Scar goodbye and heading back to my house. As I hear the door shut behind me, it feels as if the world has gone completely quiet. The birds aren't making any noise, and there is no wind. This is always the atmosphere on reaping day in District 12.

Opening the door to my own house, I hear my siblings talking quietly amongst each other, stopping when they see me in the doorway. I smile, putting down my hunting bag and walking over to them."What are you guys talking about?" I ask. Elena's face seems to fall slightly, and Lyle looks a little worried. I raise an eyebrow in confusion before Elena speaks up."Grian, do you think that Lyle will be reaped for the games? Since our district is sending two boys this year." Elena asks. I look over at Lyle, who seems to be shaking slightly."Lyle, it's okay," I respond. "You only have your name in there once, there's such a slim chance that you'll be picked." I wrap both Lyle and Elena into a hug, before releasing them."I'm just going to get ready really quickly. We'll have lunch when I'm done." I call over my shoulder as I exit the room. Walking into the washroom, I take a quick shower, before changing into my reaping clothes. Despite the almost impossible possibility of Lyle being sent into the games, I can't help but worry about him. However, I know that if he gets chosen, then I will volunteer for him within seconds. I just want him and Elena to be safe.

Walking back into the kitchen, I see Elena and Lyle waiting at the table for me. Me and Lyle are pretty much wearing the exact same thing - a blazer and dark pants - while Elena is wearing one of our Mothers' old dresses - a light lilac dress with ruffles that falls to her knees. Since the two children who will be reaped for District 12 are going to be sent to their deaths, why not just wear the best outfit you have?

We sit around the table, eating the bread and berries for lunch, even though no one really is hungry. All three of us are silent, praying that neither Lyle nor me gets reaped. As we live in the poorest district, the tributes from here who get sent into the arena almost never make it out alive.

At one o'clock, we head out of our house and start the walk to the town square, where the reaping will take place. The morning chill has gone, and it's warmer now. As we get closer to the town square, we see the murmur of people walking ahead of us. I take Lyle's and Elena's hands as we continue to walk until we get into the line to sign up. Attendance is mandatory unless you're at death's door. After the reaping, the peacekeepers will go to everyone's house to make sure that everyone was present at the reaping. If you weren't there, then you'd be arrested.

As we sign up, Elena and Lyle are herded off into the group of twelve-year-olds, while I walk to the group of seventeen-year-olds. Even if District 12 isn't sending girls into the games this year, everyone who's eligible - from the ages of twelve to eighteen - must be in their respective age groups regardless of gender. As I look around at the people around me, I notice that Scar is a few rows behind, and I smile and give him a wave, which he waves back. Turning my attention back to the stage, I see the ball full of boy's names that our district escort, will soon pick two names from. Speaking of our district escort, Elowen Lux, she's sitting on the stage, talking quietly with the mayor. The mentor for District 12, Juniper Thistle, was sitting next to them, lost deep in thought.

The moment the clock strikes two, the mayor, Mayor Cartwright, stands up and walks over to the podium, and begins to read the same story as all the years before. Talking about the history of Panem, the country that rose from the ashes of an unknown place known as North America. He talks about the disasters, the deaths, the fires, the storms, the seas that flooded so much of the land that we now stand on today. The first brutal war for what little supplies and sustenance remained. After all the fighting and the hardships, Panem was the result, a luxurious Capitol ringed with its thirteen districts, bringing peace to its citizens. However, the peace didn't last. The Dark Days washed over what little sense of hope the people had. All thirteen districts rebelled against the Capitol, with twelve districts being defeated, and the thirteenth destroyed. Then came the Treaty of Treason, giving us new laws for peace, and the yearly reminder that the Dark Days must never be repeated; the Hunger Games. A game in which each district as punishment for the first rebellion, must send two children between the ages of twelve and eighteen to fight to the death. The last tribute standing will win, and their district will get shown with gifts from the Capitol, while everyone else battles against starvation.

Killing children and forcing entire districts and families to watch is just the Capitol's way of reminding us that we have no choice but to obey. We can't survive another rebellion, none of the districts have a chance against the Capitol.Their message is clear. "We can take your children and sacrifice them for entertainment, and there's nothing you can do. If you dare even try to rebel against us, we can - and will - destroy every last one of you, just like how we destroyed District 13." It's humiliating and torturous that the Capitol forces us to treat the Hunger Games as a festivity, and event, while innocent children die on our screens.

In the eyes of the Capitol, we are lambs, raised to get slaughtered.

Once Mayor Cartwright is finished with the history of Panem and the Hunger Games, he reads a list of the past District 12 victors. With seventy-three years of games behind us, we've had two victors. Juniper Thistle is the only one still alive, and he won his games in the second quarter quell.

Mayor Cartwright has finished his speech and calls up Elowen Lux, the bubbly, over-sweet escort for the poorest district. "Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favour!" She calls out into a crowd of silence. It isn't happy, but like every other Capitol citizen that I've seen, they don't have to battle with starvation, and they've been brainwashed into thinking that the Hunger Games is a festivity. Her platinum blond hair shines in the sunlight, and her navy blue suit creases slightly as she walks over to the ball full of the boy's names. Sticking her hand inside, she rummages around before taking a slip of paper out from it. The crowd all draws in a collective breath, and it is so silent that you could hear a pin drop. I'm feeling sick to my stomach, praying silently that it isn't me or Lyle or Scar. Elowen walks back to the podium, smoothing the slip of paper, and reads out the name in a clear voice.

"Lyle Xelqua!"

[----------]

And the first chapter is out! Please let me know if I missed any trigger warnings, and I'll add them! Hoped you like this, it took weeks to write, so sorry for the delay!

- lumi