Rising Rebellion [#3]

Chapter 5 - "Quiet In My Town"

The last month had flown by. In the Districts, the population and the victors were getting ready for the reaping. Some Districts already knew who they had to send off, other Districts, like the Career districts 1 and 2, had many possible candidates. District 12 had to send Katniss Everdeen as she was the only female victor in that District while District 7 had John and Sylvia already ready to be sent off. They were the only victors in that District. Many of the poorer districts only had two victors, conveniently enough. Once they were gone, there was no one there for the people in those Districts to look to when it got rough with the Capitol’s peacekeepers..

The last month up till the reaping day, John and Sylvia hadn’t been allowed anywhere near the people. There had been peacekeepers keeping them inside the house, but today however, they were gone. People from the District had come up and wished them good luck. They knew that John and Sylvia were going to the Arena again and wanted to give them the support that John and Sylvia had given them time and time again with the peacekeepers. John or Sylvia didn’t understand why the people were even allowed to come up there when they themselves hadn’t been allowed to visit them. Perhaps this was just a part of the President’s game.

As they were standing down at there at the time of the reaping, John and Sylvia had an entire section to themselves as they were only ones to be reaped to these games. Peacekeepers surrounded them and blocked their access to the people behind them. As the years after John’s victory in the Games, Calliope was leading the ceremony for the reaping, but she was clearly affected by this year’s special reaping. She had become fond of the two Victors from this District. “Welcome ladies and gentlemen, to the reaping of the 75th Hunger Games!” She started before she directed everybody’s attention to the screens. It was like that film could never get old enough. John and Sylvia didn’t bother to watch as they had seen it a million times before. They looked at each other instead as they stood separated in that special sector in front of the rest of the people. As the video went on, they both caught Calliope looking at them in pity.

The film ended and both John and Sylvia got ready to walk up the steps. Calliope grabbed the microphone. “As the 75th year, this year is a Quarter Quell. Meaning that there will be a special twist as to how the reaping goes this year.” She explained. She didn’t really need to explain, but she was inclined to. “The twist in this year’s Quarter Quell: the reaping of tributes will take place out of the existing pool of victors.” She read out aloud before she put the note down. There was no bowl to pick up the names from. “In District 7, those two have already been ready for quite some time, as the two lone victors in this District.” She started as she looked down at them. “…John Wintergreen and Sylvia Mason.” She said as John and Sylvia then walked up to the stage.

As they just stood there for a moment in silence, the crowd looked back at the two who had been their rocks, their leaders the past year. John and Sylvia had fought the peacekeepers with them and now the Capitol was taking their victors away from the District. Many of them thought, like John and Sylvia that times ahead weren’t going to be the slightest bit easier. As John and Sylvia looked at each other, they grabbed each other’s hands. People in the front started saluting them like they had saluted John five years ago. There was an ocean of people’s hands with their three middle fingers in the air. In one final salute to the people they fought for, John and Sylvia lifted their unified hands in the air. Seconds later, John and Sylvia were pushed back in to the Mayor’s building as the crowd was starting to push forward and protest. Just before the door closed, they heard gunshots. As the door was closed, they heard even more gunshots.

They were lead straight to the train where Calliope was waiting for them. None of them had said a word on the trip to the train, and on the train, there was still the silence that ruled. The train was moving up to full-speed and there was still no sound from either of them. Calliope wasn’t sure how to take it, but she knew somehow that they did not need her presence for a while. They knew what they were going to. John took a deep breath and then got up on his feet and walked to his room. Even though his idea was to get some time with his thoughts, he didn’t get it as Sylvia walked in to his room. She sat down next to him. “Talk to me.” She said as she grabbed his hand. “With us gone, they are defenseless back there.” John started. “Didn’t you notice? They were looking us in the eyes telling us that, while the entire nation was watching.” John added. Sylvia nodded weakly. He looked at her after a while. “Then, the more important it is that we do what have set out to do.” She then said. John nodded weakly. “I know…”

“When we get off the train, we have to put our masks on. Snow knows what we would do if we could. He knows better than anyone in the Capitol. We need to make him believe nothing is going on.” Sylvia said. John nodded weakly. “Yeah, I know. I can put up a mask, any mask that’s required, but what happened back there, in the District, that’s something that I can’t do. That’s too much.” He answered. Sylvia nodded and kissed his cheek. “The last time you were in the Arena, you fought for your family, remember?” She started. John looked over at her. “This time, we’ll fight for all of them. For our district, for Marge…” She continued. John took a deep breath. “We’ve suffered with them and we’ve fought with them…how about we fight for them this time?” She asked. John nodded. “For them…for all of them.” He managed to say.

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The title of this chapter was inspired by a song I was listening to while writing the chapter. The intensity of the chapter is building up the same way that I feel the song is so I urge you to have a listen while reading, or afterwards...it's all the same. 

Civil Twilight - "Quiet In My Town" for those who're interested ;)