Under the Moon

Chapter Six

CHAPTER SIX

"You are Liz's brother, right?" I asked. He nodded. "I'm Zeze," I said.

He mouthed, "I know." I smiled sadly. "You heard everything, didn't you?" I asked. He nodded again. "I'm sorry about Liz. Hopefully she'll get better." I didn't say anything bad about their father in case he still somehow had some affection for him. But I didn't have to worry because he pointed to himself and mouthed, "I". I nodded at him to continue. "Hate him!" he mouthed. I nodded. "I do, too," I said, "Is your mother, uh alive?" I wondered. He nodded. He mouthed something, which I didn't understand. "What?" I asked.

"I hope so," he mouthed, "She escaped!"

"Wow!" I remarked, I hoped she was alright!

"Zeze! Zeze!" I heard Brinkley shout, "Come! It's time for dinner!" I waved bye at Liz's brother and entered the dining room. "Hello," I told Brinkley, Guerrick, Chloro, and Phyllis. They mumble hello and I sit down. Though I didn't feel hungry before, I can't prevent myself from eating; the food is amazing here!

After dinner, Liz's brother and two other Avoxes, collect our plates and I return to my room, and start thinking of the days events. Liz was almost dead, her brother was an Avox, and nobody knew where her mother was. In fact, the only person who was living an okay life in their family was her horrible father. Liz's brother enters the room and stands by the door, like a statue, as he was supposed to. I want to tell him that Liz was going to get better, that hopefully, his mother was alright, but I didn't remember his name. No one addressed Avoxes by their names anyway, but I didn't want to seem as though I thought I was superior. There was no way I was going to call him Avox, lawbreaker, mute kid, or dumb-dumb, names which Capitol people called them. I thought of Liz's family. Liz of course, was Liz, or Elizabeth. Her father was only addressed as Head Peacekeeper. Her mother was named, uh, Alma, I think. Yes that was it. She also kept her maiden name, something that used to be common, but grew uncommon once the rebellion was over. She was Alma, Alma Coin. I didn't know what to make of her. She was young, for a mother, and beautiful. Though she was kind enough, I never seemed to trust her, the way I trusted the Mayor's wife or Shayne's mother. Of course, since our friendship was secret, I had never met Tiff's mother. I remember that Alma was a very bossy mother and bossed around Liz. She loved to be in control. But she loved her children with all her heart and was extremely protective of them. Liz loved her. She said she was the kindest mother ever to her and Jenz. That was it! Liz's brother was called Jenz. I remembered that his name was unusual, finishing with a "Z". "Jenz," I called, "That is your name, right?" He nodded, appreciating that someone knew his name. "I just wanted to say that Liz is going to get better and that I hope your mom is alright." He smiled his thanks. "Where did your mom go?" I wondered aloud, "The rubble of District Thirteen?" He shrugged, but then mouthed, "Hopefully." I nodded. If she had, I hoped that she had survived her journey. "She would have made it. She was young. She was in her thirties, right?" He nodded, and then held up five fingers.

"She was thirty five?" I asked. He nodded. I wonder what had motivate her to marry the cruel Head Peackeeper at such an early age. She was probably only eighteen when she married him. He was older than her by six or seven years. She was beautiful, free spirited, and intelligent. I wonder why she had chosen to marry him. I guess it was because he came from the Capitol. Peacekeepers were the only people from the Capitol who lived in our district. She probably thought she was too good for normal district people. Of course, at this time, he wasn't the Head Peackeeper yet. This was also before the law that stated that Peacekeepers couldn't marry or have children while serving was made. The Capitol could have forced him to resign, but for the Capitol, he was the perfect Peacekeeper. Though he was cruel and strict, he was just and always followed the laws. He even put the law above his own family. So while analyzing this topic, they decided to make him the Head Peacekeeper instead of firing him. This was a pleasant surprise for him, his wife, four year old Liz, and eight year old Jenz. They got to move into the best street, into a large house. In fact, it was Alma's childhood house, before her parents died and she married. Alma, once again, became snobby. Liz had told me some of the story, while my parents and other townspeople told me about the rest.

Our district people were very gossipy. Though my parents and most others on our street chose not to spread rumors, we could get all the gossip from Greg, who had been to other parts of the district. I had heard the roots of Liz's family story from Greg, and Liz and my mother had told me the rest. Greg told us that he found out this information at the Swap. The Swap was made of many restaurants, where the people mingled and rumors spread. I remember, that about four years ago, the Swap seemed fascinating to Shayne and I. At eight years old, we decided to go there, though I parents had warned us so many times that we would get in trouble if we went. We just walked there after school one day, instead of going home. We felt proud, in our official looking school uniforms, walking side by side, alone in this strange place. We didn't expect what happened next. Three boys, around fifteen or sixteen years old grabbed us and demanded that we give them all our belongings. When we protested, they forcefully pulled out backpacks off our backs, took whatever was left of our lunch, and even pulled off Shayne's jacket and took them away with them. We had nothing now, except for the clothes on us. We had no change to pay for the hover buses. We were hungry and had no food as well. Shayne and I were crying and we didn't know what to do. Then we saw a Peacekeeper. To our innocent, 8 year old selves, Peacekeepers were helpful and protected you. So we proceeded to ask them for some help. After we told them the story, they were more eager to catch the boys than help us. "What did they look like?" they constantly demanded.

"They had red hair, and were probably sixteen," I said.

"That matches the description of every sixteen year old boy in the Taze! We can't arrest all the teenage boys there because three of them stole from these kids!" one said.

"Why not? They are all dirty, young ruffians anyway. Nobody will miss them!" another laughed cruelly.

"Let's help out these kids instead of wasting our time. You know that it is illegal to punish them all," another said. That is how we met Greg. He was the man who took us home that day. I didn't know if he was kinder than the others, or if he just wanted money from our parents. He did get money and a promotion, to become the guard of the wealthiest street in town. Shayne and I weren't so lucky; we got punished for going to the Swap. After our parents made sure we were okay, they put Restrictors on us. Restrictors are like force fields, but on a person. There was a programmed routine and if you left the area it covered, you would get shocked, like if you walked in a force field. Everyday, we could only go straight to school and come back, or the Restrictors would go off. And they wouldn't stop until we got back in the right path. Though it wasn't at all painful, it was quite unpleasant. I couldn't go any where except school and I wasn't allow to talk to my friends either. The Restrictors were on us for a month, until our parents insisted that we needed to go shopping and the Restrictors wouldn't allow us to go. Another annoying thing about them, was that since they were my parents' crazy inventions, they had not been perfected, and parts of the house were not a part of the programmed routine. For example, if I approached my closet, I would get electrocuted. I was very angry that no one fixed this problem and I had to endure it for a month. Unfortunately, we had learned no gossip in the Swap that day. Instead, we had been seriously punished for the first time in our young lives and gossip had spread about us.

This was the last thing I thought about before falling asleep. I realized how lovely those days sounded to someone like me, someone who was going to die in the Hunger Games in a few days. Two days ago, I would say there was no way I would choose to return to the Restrictors, but now I would go with them for ten years if I could get out of this. But I had no choice.