Sugarcubes // Finnick Odair - Hunger Games Fanfic

II.

"Lia, it's me!" I call as I raised the cloth that acts as a door of our very own wooden shack, since I can't afford anywhere else, so as to not alarm her. The normal housing in district 7 is wooden lodges, usually closer to the forest to provide east access to our working sites. We had one, I remember, when I was little - but as my dads focus shifted from taking care of us to fueling a rebellion that didn't have a fire - we were forced to move into a small 4 by 4 shack. It's not uncomfortable, per say, or maybe I've just gotten used to little to no luxury, but it isn't a good place to live. We have a small bed that Danny now occupies full time, alongside Lia in the night time, which is fine until they both start growing bigger. Maybe if I win then we won't have to worry about that. I've been sleeping on the floor for a long time - even when my dad was still alive - he would sleep on the bed with Lia, and Danny and I would occupy the floor. He wasn't the best father, and I wasn't sorry to see him go - if only for the stoppage of some extra cash into our family. I see Danny in his usual spot by the window, sleeping when I enter, and Lia washing up with a small wooden bucket I made. I scoop up some water from the bucket in a bowl and help her hose down for her first reaping. She dresses in a brown skirt and green shirt which is decorated with flowers. I tuck the shirt which I hand embroidered for her into my old school skirt and whisper in her ear,

"Your name is only in there once, my little bunny. The chances of you getting picked are nothing. And even if you do, I doubt you'll have to go to the games."

No. She won't have to go to the games. Nobody will this year, because no matter who gets picked, I will volunteer.

"But what if you get picked this year?" She asks, staring up at me with wide eyes. I feel a tinge of guilt poke at my heart but push it away. I'm doing this for them.

"Just focus on the good things, Lia. We'll be fine." I say, ignoring her question.

I wash up in the cold water, which Lia explains she didn't know how to heat up in response to my initial shock of the temperature. I then slip on a pale white dress that belonged to my mother before me – the only thing that I have that was hers. I take a small locket placed on the table – my father's locket, the only thing I didn't have the heart to sell because Lia loved it so much – and slip it around her neck. To bring her luck and comfort – even though she's not the one that will need it.

I wake up Danny and slowly bathe him after I finish heating up the water, getting him dressed in his usual reaping clothes – a white shirt and brown pants – but it hangs off him from all the weight he lost due to his sickness. The weight that he is still losing. He is barely able to stand, so I support him out the doorway, taking Lia's hand in mine as we walk in this pitiful state towards the town square. Nobody helps. That's just how District 7 is.

A mass of people crowd in the open space in front of the justice building. Long lines of unwilling teenagers already forming in front of the peacekeepers booths to give attendance.

Lia's eyes light up as we near the building and see her friend – Johanna Mason heading towards the square as well. Johanna is like a little sister to me; I've been seeing her since Lia was old enough to waddle around on her two feet. I was friends with her bigger sister before she died - coincidentally in the games 3 years before this one. Her parents, isolated with guilt, stopped looking after Johanna as well - stopped loving her- treating her like a ghost. I can't imagine what it's like losing a child, but I can't bring myself to justify their treatment of her either. Lia looks up at me for approval before skipping off to Johanna after I nod. Johanna offers Lia a warm smile before both girls begin to walk hand in hand towards the square. It's Johanna's second reaping  - she's 13 years old, with no tesserea under her name. A clear slate. Only 3 slips of paper have her name on them, but that sense of comfort is what we all had when her sister got picked the same age as her three years ago. I see my best friend, Terrence Jordan walking towards me. He's a lot wealthier than me – his father being a Victor – so he's dressed in much nicer clothes. He smiles at me warmly, before taking Danny from my arms and walking him towards the boy's section.

"I'm going to steal him away from you now. We're going to go have manly fun together now." Terry calls at me, making both Danny and I smile.

"Enjoy! We both know he loves me more." I call back, with a low chuckle.

"I'm hurt!" I scoff and he turns away leading Danny away to the boys section.

I see Lia get her finger pricked and her blood stamped on a piece of paper to show she was there and move towards the station to let them do the same to me. I barely feel the sting as the peacekeeper does it, putting my finger in my mouth and sucking it until the blood stops as I move toward the sixteen-year-olds section. Lia is in the back with the twelve-year-olds, Johanna or Anna as I like to call her, with the thirteens right in front of Lia and Danny with the fourteens on the boys section. Terry is one section ahead of me in the boys' section – with the seventeens.

I watch as the mayor gets up to make his speech about the hunger games. The games were born as a result of the rebellion which happened so long ago. It's said that in penance for the rebellion, each of the twelve districts should offer up two tributes, one male and one female to fight to the death in the hunger games.

I think it's utter bullshit.

It's not in penance for the rebellion, but a way for the capitol to shows us that they have all power over us. That they can take two of our young each year and kill them while we do nothing but sit and watch. The hunger games is an entertainment show broadcasted to all of Panem. To the sickos that enjoy the blood and the gore and the death. They place bets on the games and who will win and lose. Who will cry in the reaping and what their ages will be. It's sick. The entire thing is sick.

But this year, I'm playing right into their games. Because I NEED to win. Danny needs me to win.

The mayor has apparently finished speaking because he sits down and our district escort: Rosaline Madgonna comes forward to introduce the Victors who will be mentoring this year. She's ugly as always wearing a standoffish Capitol outfit that doesn't match her head of fiery red hair at all. I watch as Blight Jordan stumbles on stage, drunk, alongside Eero Nitya an eighty-year-old woman who looks prim and proper. I immediately hate them both, although one with more passion than the other.

"And now to pick the tributes! As always, Ladies First!" Rosaline squeals before walking over to the glass bowl containing the girls' names on one side of the stage. Her heels click on the marble floor, but somehow, I am not nervous. It doesn't matter that 64 of those chits have my name on them. There is a 100 percent chance I'm going into the games. Nobody can stop that.

She picks a chit from the bowl and walks over to the microphone, unfolding it carefully.

"Johanna Mason!"

My heart pounds. She picked someone that I would have volunteered for, no matter the situation. The person who's sister I didn't have the courage to save four years ago. I can almost see in my minds eye that dreaded reaping - where Jenna Mason was called. All eyes had moved to the person beside me, and she had held my hand tightly, before letting go and walking to her death. When Rosaline called for volunteers, the only thing that volunteered for her was the sheer silence of our district and the distressed wail of her mother. It seems too cruel that another one of the Mason siblings would be picked in 4 year time frame - probably an altered reaping. But it doesn't matter. Johanna isn't going into the games. The Capitol will not get their way this time.

Just as Johanna is about to step out from the crowd, I push through the crowd myself, surfacing with a hand raised in the air.

"I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!" I scream at the top of my lungs as all eyes turn to me.

Published: 29th August 2022