A Part to Play // Hunger Games

1 // May the Odds be Ever in Your Favor

"Don't bring a child into this world and then punish them for their existence, because they never asked for any of this" - Atomic Bombs (KimberandAshes)

***

It's crazy how much two words can change one's life, especially when those words are their own name.

It was, once again, reaping day at the Districts of Panem, and Aria Mayfield couldn't care less about the fact that, for the first time, her name would be among the millions of names adorning that year's girls' bowl, being her first ever eligible year on the reaping.

She instead, treated that as any other ordinary day, going out and about in District Five, just as she would every morning, stopping at the highest point of the way to stare at the deep forest surrounding her District, which led all the way to District Four, a couple hundred miles Northwest.

The young girl simply stared, wishing she could leave and hide out in the woods, never to see her District or the Capitol ever again. But she knew she couldn't do it, the girl didn't have the guts to do it anymore than she had to stand up to her drunk, ignorant, poor excuse of a father. She looked ahead longingly, carefully examining the dandelion field that held the barrier to the deep, unexplored woods, marking the limit of District Five's territory.

All the girl could think about was how free and soft each of those small flowers were, picking one up and blowing on it, watching as the small, white parachutes made out of fluff flew with the breeze, carrying on the species, infesting the green grass that laid underneath her feet.

District Five wasn't one of the poorest Districts, but it also wasn't, by any means, one of the richest, not being a career District, therefore, having worse odds than One, Two and Four, but better odds than Eleven and Twelve at the Games, having a total of six living Victors.

Aria thought about them as she passed by the Victor Village, seeing that two of the occupied houses had their lights out, the two Victors residing in them probably enjoying their sleep while they could, before the reaping started.

The oldest Victor still living was a bald man in his early sixties that had a very prominent stomach and reeked of alcohol 24/7, due to his heavy drinking, having won his Games at eighteen, by brute force, never really coming out much after that.

Next came Dania Welsh, the only living female Victor, being a nice lady at her late fifties, who loved to smile and help out at the local orphanage, having won her Games by poisoning the other tributes, trying to redeem herself ever since.

The next three Victors had won their Games in the eighties, it being a lucky decade for District Five, all three of them males. One of whom she'd actually met at the local market once, but Aria didn't really know his name.

The latest Victor District Five had was Josh Klinton, who'd won his Games at fifteen, by mostly using traps to kill off his opponents while hunting and hiding out in the Arena, being a pro in weapons. He was the most known and most loved Victor of District Five, being only twenty-one years old and having won the Games right after the famous Finnick Odair, being widely compared to him, them both having the same age and being the Capitol's darlings. They were rumored to actually being friends, since they made a lot of trips to the Capitol together, having a wide fame with the women over there. He seemed nice enough, although Aria had never met him before, so she couldn't really tell.

The young girl kept on walking, making her way towards her house, or as she liked to call it, her personal prison, having to get there soon, to get to the reaping in time and avoid punishment by the Peacekeepers, who were really rough out in her District, due to it being responsible for providing power to the Capitol, being one of the most important Districts in Panem, even though it wasn't really treated well or deemed worthy enough of an Academy of their own, to train their kids for the Games.