Sapphire's P.O.V.
Hi. My name is Sapphire Calla and I'm sixteen years old.The Capitol killed my family, so now I'm living all by myself. Let me tell you more about it.
When I was only ten, my brother was fourteen and my little sister was three. During the 94th Hunger Games, my older brother was forced into the games. He tried to get his classmates to join him in a mini strike against the games in his school, but he failed miserably. The peacekeepers came in and instead of shooting him, they forced him into the games, since it was only a few weeks away.
When his pedestal rose up, he was immediately shot in the leg with an arrow by the game makers which made him lose his balance and fall off, exploding to bits when he hit the ground. When I saw that from my television I ran away into the woods, trying my best to pretend that it never happened. I could hear my dad yelling and crying hysterically from inside. I don't remember what happened after that, but when I came back that night, I saw my parents and my baby sister lying dead on the floor. I don't know what they did, but whatever they did costed them their lives.
So, that's my story. Almost exactly six years ago that happened. You could say that I'm a wannabe rebel against the Capitol, but I know I'm not the only one.
Today, I plan on going into the games, just like my brother did. But first, let me tell you a little more about myself.
My name is Sapphire, but you already know that. I was named after my great grandmother. I was told she died in the war before the hunger games started.
I have dark blue eyes and dark brown hair, nearly black. I get my hair from my mom and my eyes from my dad. I have experience with knife throwing and using axes. Even though it's illegal, I taught myself how to use weapons. In District 7, you're expected to know how to handle an axe, but I like to use knives too. I'm not exactly a rebel, but I plan to go into the hunger games by being forced into it, just like my brother.
Today is reaping day and I plan to pull an Artemis. Remember her from District 5? You know how she killed a peacekeeper?
Yes, I do know about that, even though many people don't.
Putting on a fresh pair of clothes and grabbing an axe along with few throwing knives, I run out of my house and into the woods. I keep going until I see the fence. I hop over it, but not too far away. I want to make sure guards can see me.
I hold my axe and keep walking. About ten minutes later, I see a deer. Without hesitation, I throw my axe at its head and it gets lodged in its skull. I smile and walk towards it.
After a few steps, I hear someone shout, "Hey!"
I turn around to see three peacekeepers running towards me. I keep smiling as I yank out the axe. As soon as they reach me, they smirk deviously.
"You're in big trouble, missy."
As they approach me, I throw my axe at one of them. Before he can react, it gets stuck in his chest. The other two look at each other in alarm and then back to me. I take the opportunity to throw a knife at one of them but they move out of the way, just before it can hit his heart. They take out their guns and try to shoot me, but with every bullet they miss. I throw another knife and this time it lands in one of the peacekeeper's hearts. He drops to the ground dead.
Now, there's only one left.
Before I can get another knife out, he tackles me to the ground and punches me in the nose. I gasp in pain as blood gushes from my nose. He kicks me to the ground and holds my arms behind my back.
He faces me and smirks. "Happy quarter quell, tribute number one."
When he takes me back, I smirk to myself.
So far so good.
↞↠
Winter's P.O.V.
As I wake up, I feel absolutely horrible. Today is reaping day. I groan and force myself out of bed. When I look in the mirror I nearly have a heart attack at the reflection that stares back at me. My eyes are puffy and red with bags underneath them, my brown hair looks like road kill, and my lips are beyond chapped.
I go to the bathroom and fix myself up. I splash cold water on my face and attempt to brush my hair. When all the knots are out, I braid my hair to the side.
I go back to my room and look for a dress to wear. I only own three. I usually wear t-shirts and training pants. Why would I have training pants, you may ask? I train in my basement with my parents. My house is sort of big, compared to the rest of the district. My dad taught me how to yield knives and my mom taught me how to use the bow and arrow. They wanted me to learn incase I went into the games. So I've been training ever since, secretively.
I pull out a light blue dress from the back of my closet and put it on. It goes a little farther down my knees and it feels pretty comfortable.
I put on a pair of black boots and look at myself in the mirror. This definitely doesn't look like my normal self. I shrug it off and go downstairs for breakfast, immediately being greeted with a big hug from my dad.
"Hiya honey! Did you have a good sleep?" he asks me.
I laugh, "No, not really."
He frowns. "Why not? Are you feeling sick or something?" He starts feeling my forehead but I just laugh again.
"No, I'm just nervous for the reaping."
"Well, maybe some breakfast will make you feel better." he says as he hands me a plate of bacon and toast. I eat slowly, savoring each bite. As I take my last bite, my mom comes up from the basement. She smiles at me.
"Morning, Winnie! Come here, I have something to give to you." she tells me.
I stand up and walk over to her where she hands me a rectangular box. "Open it." She whispers.
I open it and see my reflection through a beautiful nine inch knife. There's a beautiful design on the blade, and on the handle there's a white wolf that's howling at the moon. It's so perfect and pristine that I'm afraid to get my grubby fingerprints all over it.
"It was a gift to me from your grandfather. And now, I'm giving it to you." she says. I hug her and whisper a thank you.
I put the knife in a slot in my boot. I talk with my parents for a little bit until I hear the doorbell ring. My mom opens it and there stands Autumn with a smile.
"Hello, Mrs. Cross! I've come to pick up Winter!" she says. Autumn has been my one and only best friend since I was four. It all started out when we told each other our names. It's funny since our names are not only seasons, but our favorite seasons.
"Bye dad, bye mom. I'll see you after the reaping!" I hug them goodbye as I walk with Autumn to the town square.
"So Autumn, how's Axel doing?" I nudge her in the arm.
Her face turns red and says, "He's fine." Axel is her new boyfriend and they seem to be having the time of their lives.
"What about you?" she asks me.
"What about me?"
"Have you found a special someone yet?"
I laugh at her. "Autumn, you and I both know that I don't plan on having a relationship any time soon. Now let's leave it at that."
She gives a small smirk. "That's what you're saying now. You'll change your mind soon enough."
I laugh again as we walk closer to the square.
↞↠
Levi's P.O.V.
I look at myself in the mirror. Even through the blurriness and dullness, I think I look pretty decent.
My family is poor. Very poor, actually. We live in the worst part of District 7. My mom doesn't work but my dad works all the time. He cuts down trees for a living. Even though that's common in our district, he barely makes enough money. I quit school when I was in ninth grade to help my dad earn some money. I'm fairly muscular compared to the other guys. I mean, I do chop wood everyday for fourteen hours.
I have a couple friends, but my best friend is Ben. We've known each other since we started crawling. His family has more money than us, but they're not wealthy at all.
I go downstairs to say goodbye to my parents. As expected, there's no breakfast on the table. My mom never cooks anything. She's been in a depression for seven years. I was supposed to have a baby sister, but my mom had a miscarriage. She barely talks and she doesn't do much besides sit and stare at the wall.
"Well son," my dad slaps a hand on my shoulder. "Good luck today. Remember, after the reaping, get dressed and come straight to work. Got it?"
I sigh. "Got it."
He quickly pats me on the back. I go over to my mom who is currently sitting in her rocking chair. I kneel down and hug her. She doesn't hug back.
"Bye mom, I'll be back later." I say. She nods and continues to stare at the wall.
I get up and walk out of my house. I head over to Ben's so we can go to the reaping together. He only lives a mile away so I usually walk. Once I get to his house, he's already sitting on his steps.
"There you are!" Ben exclaims. "I've been waiting for like, ten years!"
I laugh and punch him in the shoulder. "Let's go before we're too late. Race ya there!" I dash off before he can say a word. I've always been a fast runner and he's always just a second behind me.
As soon as we get there, I'm out of breath. He's huffing and puffing next to me not too much later.
"Dude..." he pants, slapping me in the arm. "I hate when you do that."
"I know." I smirk at him.
As we get on line, I see the girl I've liked for a long time on line. She's entirely too perfect. I've liked her ever since the sixth grade, but I never actually talked to her. She's one year younger than me, has the most beautiful brown eyes ever, she has silky chocolate brown hair, and the brightest smile I've ever seen. Her name is Winter Cross.
Ben must've seen me stare at her because he nudges me to move up. He looks in the direction I was looking at and his face brightens.
"Ya still like her, Levi?" he says. I roll my eyes.
"I think you should know that answer by now."
He laughs as we keep moving up. When we get our fingers pricked, I go to the eighteen year old section and Ben goes to the seventeen year old section. After about fifteen minutes of waiting, our district escort, Liberty Montana, comes on the stage.
Wow. She looks worse than last year. She has on this ugly bronze dress that's skin tight. She's wearing a bright red wig with matching heels. And her makeup, don't even get me started. It looks like she got stepped on by a wild animal.
"Welcome, District 7! To the reaping of the One Hundredth Annual Hunger Games!" she chirps into the microphone. A few claps come from the crowd, but most of us remain unresponsive.
"Well, let's not waste any time. Let's begin with the first tribute!"
Before she takes a slip out of the bowl, a peacekeeper yells from the crowd, "Wait!"
Two peacekeepers drag up a girl that's wearing a bright yellow dress. The peacekeeper whispers something into Liberty's ear and she nods.They then proceed to leave the stage as Liberty grabs the girl.
"It looks like we have our first tribute!" she exclaims excitedly. "What's your name, darling?"
The girl rolls her eyes and says, "Sapphire Calla."
Liberty waits a while before saying "And how old are you?"
The girl, Sapphire, replies with "sixteen," in a bored voice. At least she's not trembling like most people would be.
"Thank you, Sapphire!" Liberty says. "You may take a seat." Sapphire sits, crosses her arms, and Liberty continues.
"Onto our next lucky tribute!" she says.
She takes her time choosing the next slip. After a while, she finally picks one. She opens it and reads "Autumn West!" I look over to the girls and I see a skinny girl, probably sixteen or seventeen, looking absolutely terrified as she makes her way up.
"No! Autumn!" I hear a familiar voice scream. "I volunteer as tribute!"
I hold my breath and pray that's not the voice I heard. But as I look over, my heart shatters. It's Winter.
She goes up and hugs Autumn. They stay like that until a peacekeeper breaks them apart. Winter then walks up on the stage with widened eyes. She looks terrified.
"Wow! A volunteer!" Liberty exclaims. "What's your name dear?"
Winter seems to snap back into reality. "Winter Cross. I'm seventeen." And without an invite, she sits down next to Sapphire.
"How exciting! Now, let's see who'll be tribute number three!" She takes the first piece of paper she touches. She opens it and takes a deep breath.
"Ben Knight!"
I almost faint. Ben doesn't hesitate to move, walking up to the stage rather quickly.
I volunteer! I think to myself. I open my mouth but no words come out.
Say it, stupid!
I'm in too much shock to say anything.
I'm such a coward.
"Ben Knight. Seventeen years old." I hear him say in the microphone, but since I'm half zoned out, it's barely audible.
That's it. I can't have my best friend and the girl I love to go into the arena! I have to volunteer for whoever goes in next.
Liberty takes out a slip and I prepare myself.
"Elizabeth—"
"I volunteer!" I yell at the top of my lungs.
I look at Ben and he stares back with wide eyes. I practically run to the stage and nearly trip up the stairs.
"Wow! Excited aren't we?" Liberty says. "What your name, hon?"
"I'm Levi Huffaker. Eighteen years old." I reply out of breath.
"Thank you, Levi! Take a seat please!" she says. I take a seat in between Winter and Ben.
"Man, why would you do that?" Ben whispers to me angrily.
I give him a small shrug. "Best buds stick together. You'll have more of a chance with two of us." I tell him.
He smiles a little. "Thanks buddy, but I know you want the girl over there to make it out." He points to Winter. I stare at him with my mouth hung open, taken aback.
"No! I—"
"Levi, I'm just saying that I'll help you. If you really want her to make it out, I'll help you in any way possible. Best buds will do anything for each other."
Before I can reply, Liberty has said the name "Nathan Wren!" into the microphone.
A guy from my section starts walking towards the stage until a girl screams "I volunteer!" Wow, three volunteers from District 7? That's almost unheard of.
Oh wait, I was one of them.
A girl with jet black hair and a black dress runs to the stage.
"Midnight Wren. Seventeen." she says.
The boy, Nathan, looks at her in disbelief. She flashes a sad, sympathetic smile to him and she takes a seat next to Ben.
Wow. Three volunteers this year and one being forced into the games...this will definitely be an interesting year for District 7.
"There you have it everybody! Our five tributes from District 7, Sapphire Calla, Winter Cross, Ben Knight, Levi Huffaker and Midnight Wren!"
I have no idea what made me make my next move. I grab Winter's hand, and in shock, she jerks it back. I look directly in her eyes and give her a little nod and a smile. She hesitantly takes my hand and I grip Ben's next. Ben takes Midnight's hand and Winter takes Sapphire's. The three of them looked confused, but after a second the realization crosses their faces.
Simultaneously, we raise our hands in the air. Liberty stares at us with her mouth slightly ajar as the rest of the district does the same thing we're doing. I didn't start this as a sign of rebellion, but as a sign of respect. The citizens of District 7 have always had its own kind of unity. So, I figure this would be a thank you or a goodbye sign to District 7.
Katniss and Peeta used to do this, not necessarily in the reapings, but since I'm going into the games, I want to show the respect for my district as they did for theirs. I smile.
We stay like this for a while, our hands connected, proudly raised in the air, until it's time to board the train.