Enter iF You Dare

Task One

Task One: of Quells and Deceit

    To say the news came as a surprise wouldn't be anything but an understatement; words slowly come to mind; synonymous with surprise, they are: Astonishing, horrific, dreadful, atrocious. So many I can't fathom a number to fit how numerous they are in my mind. This year, the ascetic president gave us the uncommon pleasure of laying eyes upon his face, lightly dusted with white hairs above his eyes and under his chin. The growth on top of his head was a decidedly different color altogether. Sometimes when the cameras at the Capitol actually manage to catch a glimpse of the elusive Regulus Snow, we'd see his head of hair some dark, sickly color that's anything but natural. But today, on the day he read for the very first time the very first card in the box of many Quells, he brandishes a very potent shade of maroon and -- what was that, ruby? -- probably ruby red. It seems strange, to have a president who cares about such frivolous vanity. But, having been born in the Capitol, it isn't entirely surprising. Oh, surprise, that's right. I gaze around the room to find our father -- dark brown curls falling over his thick eyebrows, and olive-skinned hands deeply pressing against his eyes -- huddled in the worn and dirty parlor chair. My twin sister, Arené, is sitting beside me. Her green eyes a shade darker than mine are staring at the floor. Aris, our younger sister, is sitting on the floor in front of us, eyes fixated on the darkened screen above the mantle. I draw in a slow, steady breath and prepare to say something. Anything. Don't worry, we would never be voted. Nobody knows us anyway. There's no chance for any of us to win the Games, so why would anyone want to send us in. I should just say something. I just need to work up the courage. Okay, here it goes.
"You know, none of us have any skills with survival and stuff. Plus, I mean," My fingers subconsciously reach for my hair and push it behind my ear. "nobody really knows us."
"That's just the point, Alvitta." Arené snaps. She never calls me Alvitta. She usually refers to me by my pet name, Alvie. It's what my mother used to call me, and Arené as a matter of fact, when she couldn't tell us apart. It's what Arené has called me since the death of our mother, when we were five.
"They don't know us. All the more reason to send total strangers into the games." With that my sister rises from her seat, and storms away to our room we share with Aris. I look at the thirteen-year-old at my feet, who's looking up at me with fear in her hazel-and-blue eyes.
"They won't send you in, at least." I say to her, and I mean it very much. "Nobody wants to send a thirteen-year-old to her death."
"Alvitta, please don't get your sister's hopes up." Father says delicately, as if he might break any second.
"Daddy," I whisper, eyeing him curiously. "You've never been so worked up over a Reaping before, and that was when the odds were literally stacked against us. It was maybe twice as likely for one of us to be Reaped last year, or the year before when we had our names in the bowl countless times. We've both taken out tessarae since we were thirteen, why are you so worried now, when everyone will vote for the people they hate to be thrown into the Games?" It's a harsh truth for me to realize; I don't want to vote for anyone, if I can get out of it. But the fact of the matter is, I don't think anyone else wants to either. It's the ultimate sign of betrayal. When the Capitol tightened the reigns on all of us, the Districts, we only had each other. The Capitol is literally asking us to break that bond with our fellow citizens, as non-existent as it might seem to be at times.
"Alvie," he looks deeply into my eyes. I never noticed how blue his are before. They're much bluer than Aris's. "Don't you know who the majority of the population happen to be?" I turn my eyes to the floor, as if looking over the dust particles lining the cracked mahogany will give me any answers. "The da Vinci's. They'll certainly want to persecute us."
The da Vinci's, family on my father's side. Although we share the same last name, they have practically disowned us. They are many, a long line of scientists who made their fortune beginning with a small research facility in the south-eastern quarter of our district to pretty much the entire string of Science and Research facilities throughout the entire district. They basically own District Five, or at least have the majority of it in their pocket. The rest of it consists of the family itself.