Revenge: Hunger Games

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Ashleigh’s POV

I scan the crowd quickly looking for the person who volunteered. My eyes finally land on him when he starts making his way up to the stage. He looks to be my age, maybe a little older. He has dark eyes and long fringe that covers his eyes. He walks up on stage without moving his eyes from the floor. By the time he is up on stage everything is silent. My mother has stopped crying and my brother has stopped shaking. I think Effie is stunned because she to hasn’t said anything either.

“Oh um what is your name young man?” Effie finally asks. The boy finally looks up before he answers and stares straight ahead. I still can’t see his face from where I am standing.

“Aiden.”

“Which tribute are you related to Aiden?” Effie asks.

“I’m not related to a past tribute.”

“Well you do know the rules are that you can’t volunteer unless you are a relative of a victor or past tribute.” Effie says.

“I do know the rules.” Aiden says still looking straight ahead.

“Well then you know tha-.” Aiden cuts Effie off before she can finish her sentence.

“I said I wasn’t related to a past tribute, I never said I wasn’t related to a past victor.” Aiden states. “Go check the bowl; my name will be in there somewhere.” Effie turns away from the microphone and starts looking through the bowl. After a couple of minutes Effie stops searching. She walks back to the microphone with a single slip of paper.

“How are you related to a victor? Which victor are you related to?” Effie asks very quickly she seems very anxious to find out. I think everyone really wants to know.

“My great grandad was Haymitch Abernathy brother. Haymitch is my great uncle.” Aiden looks behind him and I look back as well at Haymitch. He looks stunned, well stunned is a huge understatement. He looks like he was about to take a big sip out of his drink when Aiden dropped the huge bombshell. I turn back to Isaac and tell him quickly to go over to mum and dad. He runs over to them quickly and only looks back at me when he reaches them. My mother quickly picks him up and starts whispering things into his ear. Before anything else can happen Effie announces Aiden and I as this year’s district 12 tributes. Men then surround us and take us away from the crowd and into the new Justice Building.

…

The men lead me into room and when I enter I hear the door shut. I quickly spin around and see that the men have left me in here by myself. I walk over to the door and try the handle and find that it is locked. I guess escaping from here isn’t an option. I turn away from the door and slowly make my way across the room to the couch. I sit down and take a quick look of the room; it looks like a lot of the stuff from here is from the capitol. I’ve never seen any of these sorts of decorations in district 12, not even in some of the other homes in the victor’s village. I’ve never been in any of the other houses but when I was little my friends and I used to go looking through the windows of the other homes. We used to try and break into them, thought it would be a good idea until our parents caught us. I sit in the room for another couple of minutes until my parents and Isaac finally arrive. Isaac runs to over to me and dives onto my lap. Thank goodness he isn’t going into the games. My mother walks over to my brother and me and sits down next to us. She pulls me into hug.

“Ashleigh I want you to listen to everything Haymitch says, he may be drunk but he knows how to keep someone alive in the games.” My mother tells me, I pull away from her.

“What do you mean? “ I ask “You’re coming as well. You’re a past victor that makes you a mentor.” My mother just shakes her head.

“I’m still not allowed to leave the district yet, you know that.” My mother says.

“What about dad?” I ask.

“He can’t go either; the doctor called just after the first announcement and said he doesn’t want your dad to leave the district just after his episode.” My mother says as she looks over at my dad. I’m stunned. So this is really goodbye, unless I win the games I won’t be seeing my family again. My mother quickly pulls me back into a hug. She tells me how much she loves me and no matter what that I must never stop fighting in the games. Once she finally lets go of me my father comes over and he also tells me how much he loves me. I quickly tell my parents and little brother how much I love them before some men come to tell us there time is up. My mother quickly slips some items into my hand I slip them into my pocket. When they start to exit the room my little brother starts freaking out. He tries to get out of my father’s grip but he doesn’t let go. The door shuts behind them and I can still hear my little brother screaming my name. Eventually they either get to far away that I can’t hear Isaac or he has stopped screaming. Either way I’m now by myself again waiting to get taken to the capitol.