The survival games

Life is one big fight. We are fighting to be fed, to live. Nobody is safe, especially not at the Survival games. One hundred kids, fifty boys, fifty girls go in, only one comes out. Alive that is. Everyone must watch it, on the big screens, on their box televisions or in their posh ones in the city. No matter how horrible it was. The winner gets fame and fortune, your district fighting a little less for hunger but that’s not a guarantee. Nothing is. Over the course of those two hundred years, of all our tributes, only two came out victorious. One died over fifty years ago, and the other is still breathing. Just.

I myself have survived five reapings. I had to survive just two more. Today was it. I was lying awake with a banging headache. That has always been happening on and off the last two weeks. On my right, my back cat Dusk was lying next to me. He was in a deep sleep, dreaming maybe of fish to eat. They say that black cats give you luck and he seem to be. I slowly got up and carefully went to the family room, which was only a burnt-out fire, a pot and a couple of chipped bowls.

That was where my mother was, just sitting there. Back turned. She looked as if she had been crying.

“You alright mom?” I then asked.

She jumped and turned to face me. Yes, she was crying but she was trying to hide it.

“Yes, I’m okay Snowdrop.”

Yes, my name is Snowdrop, but most people around here nickname me Snowy. They say that I was born on a cold winter’s night.

“Mom, I do you that you’re crying. Don’t worry, I’m still here. Dusk is still here.” I said as I kneeled next to her.

She then looked at me and then brushed my annoying curl that always gets into my face to the side. I could see her mournful stare, her quivering lips. I knew why she was upset.

It wasn’t always just me, her and Dusk. Dusk was only a new member of this family, not even a year old. Ten years ago, the house was filled with my father and siblings. My older brothers Jay and Dom, my little sister, Dawn. But that was the year things started to change.

Dom was the first to go. Thirteen years old he was and knew a lot of survival tricks, he showed me them with ease. He was intelligent too, far more intelligent than many in our district. I still know most of what he taught me. But one day, he didn’t want to get up. He was always up earlier than most, usually at six and at one point, four in the morning. Mom checked on him and said that he must stay in bed. He did get a little better but not by much, he was too ill to leave his bed.

I was the only sibling who visited him regularly. Jay stayed well away from him, Dawn kept following mom, avoiding Dom at all costs. That was when he gave me the best advice, the one that stayed stuck in my head the most,

“You are more likely to survive with someone else by your side than on your own.”

But the next day, when I visited him, he started to cough blood. I then screamed,

“Mom, Dad!”

He seemed more shocked than I was, everything around him, red as crimson. They came, almost at once, mom, with Dawn in her arms and dad. They both gasped. Me and Dawn were sent out the room. I still remember what Dawn asked me,

“What’s wrong with Dom, will he get better?”

I honestly couldn’t answer her. Yes, of course, I wanted to say that he would get better, and everything would go back to normal. But really, I didn’t know. I was only seven at the time with Dawn being only three, Jay was sixteen then. But, as the day closed, both parents came out, mom, in tears.

“Are you okay Momma?” asked Dawn.

Mom then walked off as Dad stayed with us two.

“Can you get Jay Snowy?”

I nodded, feeling fear, a sick feeling in my stomach. I remembered that was the first time I felt it, I just wanted it to go away. I then ran outside, of course Jay was not inside. He rarely is. I knew where he was, Dom told me about a few months before. It took me fifteen minutes to get there, and I found him, of course, kissing Lily by the well.

“Jay?” I called as loudly as I could.

They both stopped kissing. He whispered something to her. She nodded as he then went over to me. He glared at me as he then shouted,

“What Snowy, can’t you see that I’m busy?”

I knew he wasn’t busy, but I was smart enough not to point it out.

“Dad asked me to find you. I think he wants you.”

He groaned but he did follow me home. When we got home, Mom was sitting cross-legged on the floor, Dad, right by her, Dawn, looking clueless but was on Mom’s lap.

“What do you want?” Jay asked, he could see the tears in Mom’s eyes and knew it was serious.

He then shut the door and we both then sat down.

“Is it about Dom?” he then asked.

Mom and Dad nodded. Jay then gasped but me and Dawn remained clueless. Mom realized this and then said to us girls,

“Dom’s not in any pain anymore.”

I’ll be lying if I say that I wasn’t confused. Dawn seemed happy but that was maybe because she was clueless. She looked around and then asked,

“Then where is he?”

They both then looked at each other with worry as Dad then said, so that we could understand,

“He died, we’re not sure what caused it but he’s not in any pain no more.”

Me and Dawn then gasped. I remembered, the month before, that he taught me to climb trees, his dark hair, his green eyes, how this boy, so full of life, now deader than dead.

Dad and Jay were next, three years later. He and Dad were at work one day, miming. That’s what our district, District 50, does, mime coal. It sounded so boring. Dawn agreed with me. But that day, we all heard a bang, whilst walking home from school. Me and Dawn could feel it.

“This ain’t good.” she muttered.

I nodded as I felt that sick feeling again. You know that it feels like when you just want to lie down and just give up the ghost. One that is so painful that no matter how you try, you can’t stop thinking about it. She was right thought, about it being bad. We first noticed when Dad and Jay didn’t come home. We waited. Later and later, it became before we heard a knock. Mom went and opened it. It was one of those people with ghost white cloaks. They only appear if something bad has happened. He told mom something as she then burst into tears.

“Are you okay Mom?” Dawn asked as she then shut the door.

She looked at us, tears like our plumbing. Bad. Really bad. That leaks all the time. She gave a deep breath as she then said,

“You know that bang earlier?”

Nod.

“Well, it managed to nearly destroy our coal mines, cheap gunpowder more like and many workers lost their lives, including Dad and Jay.”

Dawn then screamed; I couldn’t blame her. Imagine that you were walking home from school and your father and brother were breathing their last breath.

That night, me and Dawn cuddled up on our mattress together.

“It’s just us and Mom now, will we be, okay?”

I nodded but to be honest, I had no idea but deep down, I knew that I wanted to believe it.

Last year was Dawn’s first reaping and we were both fearing for each other. I prayed that she wouldn’t be chosen. Every year, we get an extra entry. Dawn only had one entry, the lowest you can get. The safest you can get. The woman who read out the names, Olive Lilac was up on stage, picking out the female tribute blindly out the glass bowl where they were stored. I prayed it wasn’t Dawn, rather me than her. Then, she read out the name of the girl,

“Dawn Glasshop.”

I then screamed inside. Please let it be a terrible nightmare. Please tell me she didn’t really get chosen. She was just one slip in thousands. It just couldn’t be real, but it was. I then saw her walk straight back to the stage, her straight blonde hair, her diamond eyes, a dress too big for her. I wanted to volunteer; I really did.

“Any volunteers?” she asked, too fake, too brightly.

I wanted to shout it out, scream those four words. But my mouth just wouldn’t let me. I’m sure that Dawn was hoping that I would volunteer. I can never forget her face. The boy tribute was one of those fifteen-year-olds that looked to be dead meat. No one would volunteer for him.

That night, I tried to cheer up mom, “Maybe Dawn will win, she is very smart, smarter than all of us.”

That just made her burst into tears. I couldn’t even say goodbye. I think that I believed in myself. Her interview, pink dress and a smile. A fake one. Score, six, I couldn’t help but be impressed. There was a slight chance that she would survive.

The games started, she survived the first day, the boy didn’t, third one killed, less than five minutes in. Me and mom were fixed upon our screens. I refused to go to school. She didn’t stop me. Dawn was a marvel at climbing up trees and she managed to keep away from all the conflicts, she even had an ally. Another twelve-year-old. District 12. They both managed to survive nine days. Even when they were in the final ten, but then the girl from district 24 found them both. Dawn managed to escape but he didn’t.

Dawn managed another day on her own until the center of the arena, the final five. They were all there. Dawn being clearly the youngest. The district three boy, the district four girl, the boy from eighteen and the girl in twenty-four. She did truly try and escape but as the eighteen boy killed the other boy, the 24 girl then used her bow and arrow and then shot her down...

I remembered how I felt. That horrible feeling in the stomach but this time, it was worse. It felt as if I couldn’t get up. Like all the light in my life has been blown out by a swift move. It was worse when her killer had won that year. Her name was Tiki something. She killed the other two with one arrow. Me and Mom cried for days, taking comfort in each other’s tears as all around, people in our district said, “Sorry for your loss.”

Every dead tribute family gets this when their child gets killed. The further they go; the more people say that they’re sorry for our loss. We had the whole town saying that since Dawn got the furthest since our last win. The twelve-year-old that survived the longest ever.

I blamed myself. Mom said that it wasn’t my fault.

“It’s not your fault Snowy, it was just fate that Dawn got plucked down from our lives. She would want us to carry on.”

I knew that Dawn would want me to carry on, as the last surviving sibling. At the daytime I can be brave, I don’t have to cry too much or think about her as I’m always so busy. But at night, most nights, I still wake up screaming for Dawn to run.

“You still think about them, do you?” I asked her.

Mom then nodded and then patted me on the shoulders, “You won’t leave me, will you Snowy?”

I hoped that I wouldn’t. Chances would be a fine thing but still a very slim chance that I might be leaving her. Then Dusk trotted by and jumped on Mom’s lap. He was soft. Like velvet you can’t buy. He then purred as Mom then smiled. The type that only Dawn could get out of here when her husband died.

“Go out for a but Snowy, enjoy the sunlight, enjoy freedom. I’ll be fine.”

I nodded and slowly stood up. I still had that banging headache, but I didn’t want to tell mom. She’ll only stress and she has had enough of that in her life. I couldn’t do it to her. Besides, it was only a headache. Nothing to worry about.

I walked outside to a silent district. An empty one. Most people were either asleep or having family time. The reaping was not until three. Better sleep in. If you can. I walked through the town and saw nobody. Everything was closed. I walked over to the dead electric fence. I climbed up and then jumped over to the woods.

It was very rarely on, maybe ten minutes a week. You’ll know because of the humming. I wandered to the tree where my bow and arrow were. Haven’t been moved thank goodness. I gave a sigh of relief as I then started to hunt. I need to get at least two animals. One for me and my mother and another for the other family I’m feeding. One that I haven’t told my mom about.

I heard footsteps. I knew who it was. I rolled my eyes and then giggled. Only lightly though. I knew who it was. He was trying to scare me but that never worked.

“Blake, I know that’s you.” I called as I then turned around.

There may not look like there was anybody behind me but he’s a good hider. But I can spot him a mile away. He then appeared, tall, ebony eyes and light brown hair. He then smiled at me,

“Hey Snowy,” he said, “Looks as if we only have forty-five minutes to hunt.”

He was looking at what position the sun was in. His father taught him to do that when he was small, as we didn’t really have clocks in district 50, only the town square. Some of the richer families have them but they’re long past working. Just sitting there for decoration. It’s a rare talent for someone to know what time it was just by looking at the sun but I’m grateful. It saved us many times.

We then set off, managing to bag four rabbits, (Three from my bow and arrow, one from Blake’s traps). He’s good at traps, you must look closely to spot them, but I never got caught up in one. We then split it between us.

“Well, it’s better than some days.”

Those are the days when we couldn’t get anything at all, mainly those days were in our youth, when we first started to work together. We haven’t got into a who does what then and that scared a few animals. We were friends for little over a year and recently started being more than friends. I first met him properly when Dawn died. A few weeks after that shot.

It was when I was at my darkest moment, I was also feeding the other family long before Dawn died (7 years in fact I’ve been feeding them for). I was so distracted half the time that I usually came back empty handed. I couldn’t shoot anything. I always missed and when I hit, I rarely get it where I wanted it.

“You’re that little girl’s sister, aren’t you?” I heard from behind me.

I was still wary of people shouting behind my back. I jumped and then aimed my bow and arrow at the annoying person. I wasn’t going to kill him. Just to show that I mean business. But I was still shaking,

“Who are you, show yourself.” I shouted.

I then saw him. I recognized him at school. I knew that he was a couple months older than me (Born on a hot summer’s day). I knew his name and who he was. Who all the girls fancied. I didn’t really bother. Honestly, I was in the deep water of my own sorrows that I didn’t really want to have pashes or crushes on people.

“Look, you know me, it’s me Blake. In the class above? And dammit, I forgot your name.”

I lowered my bow and arrow, glad it wasn’t some creep and then raised my eyebrows, “It’s Snowdrop and you hunt?”

I then looked at his dagger. He then nodded but what I said sounded so stupid, so funny that we laughed. My first laugh since Dawn passed. It felt good. We hunted together from now on and split the profits between us.

“Bad news that we have to get ready for the reaping.” I said as I sighed.

Blake then did something that always made me laugh, “Don’t hide any kids no matter what.”

He mimicked Olive Lilac with her annoying voice. So high pitched and squeaking. So, over the top. I laughed even though the message was serious. We walked over to the fences, with rabbits as dead as the gate and then climbed across to the other side. Luckily, our weapons were back in our hiding places. You don’t want anyone stealing them. I only got mine because I read a book on how to make bows and arrows and I thought it would be easy. But I can use it and the points were so sharp that they’ll cut you even if it’s faintly touching your skin.

“See you at the reaping.” he called as we went our separate ways. My headache had stopped. Finally. I haven’t even told him about that. I didn’t want him to worry either.

“See you.” I called back. Then I ran, ran to the other family I was providing for.

They lived only five minutes from the gate. A four-roomed house that was near rotting. Plants that were mainly ivy. I knocked on their door and a middle-aged woman with fine wrinkles that was like a pattern with her tanned skin.

“Oh Snowy, I thought someone had caught you, come in, if you have time?” she said quietly.

I nodded as I went in. She’s a nice woman. But we must be quiet in their house. There’s a secret that nobody, apart from us in this house. One that I promised to keep for another twelve years. She then shut the door at once.

“Hey, Janice, how’s Lily and Fir?” I asked.

“They are fine. Fir is playing quietly with some sticks and Lily is having a rest,” she answered, “Oh, you’ve got rabbit for us, thanks.”

She then took one off me and then put it on their little wooden table. She’ll cook it after the reaping. It’s the only source of food they have since Janice had that argument with the baker and she said she’ll never go to Main Street again. That was over six years ago. Then a young boy, seven cycles old then came over, clearly hearing my voice.

“Auntie Snowy.” he said as he then gave me a big hug.

I don’t normally like people hugging me, especially strangers but he’s not a stranger. He’s family. I first heard about him a few days after Jay and Dad died and Janice then came over to our house to pay her respects. She asked me to come over to her house the next day. That was when I found out that Lily was expecting Jay’s child. She was planning to tell him, the day he died. She told me the dangers what may await Fir if he wasn’t hidden,

“Do you know what happens when people find out and figure out there’s no father?” she asked me once.

I didn’t but she told me that they would be shamed, and nobody would speak to them. It also means your child will get double the number of entries. It’s even worse when you hide the child. The would be a guarantee that they would be in the games. Most definitely. But Lily’s taking the risk.

“When he’s nineteen, he’ll be able to go out and they can’t make him go to the games.”

She told me that when I first met Fir. I then looked at the sun and then panicked. Blake taught me how to tell the time with the sun, but I wasn’t the best student. In fact, I can barely tell the time with the sun.

“Oh dammit, it’s in one hour, better get going Janice. Let go of me Fir, I’ll see you hopefully tomorrow.”

Fir then nodded as he then ran off. He knew what today was. He wasn’t stupid. He knew the rules and how he must be kept a secret. I opened the door and then walked off.

“Finally, it’s time to get in your reaping clothes.” Mom said the second I came in. I put the rabbit to one side and saw the dress. The dress Dawn last saw me in. Whiteish with frills around it with matching shoes. I dressed myself in it as the pain from last year still haunts me. I remembered what I said to Dawn.

“Don’t worry Dawn, you’ll be fine. You’re as safe as you can get.”

“Really? Still scary though, that at least one of us will die.”

“It’s fine Dawn, anyway you look like an angel.”

“Thank you. You look lovely too.”

“You look beautiful.” I heard my mom say from behind me.

I turned around and shrugged. I know I’m not pretty. Not like Dawn was. I’m a bit small for my age with flaming curly hair that never stays tidy. The only thing about me that I like are my emerald-green eyes. Whatever emeralds are. That’s what District 1 oversees. But mom says that they are shiny and the most beautiful of the gems.

My dress feels tighter than last year, I wondered if I had grown but I haven’t, not since I was fifteen. Anyway, if I did, it would look shorter, and my dress looked as if it did fit me. I didn’t complain though, we barely had any clothes, and they are expensive. People just gave out hand-me-downs from hundreds of years ago. Saves money and time.

Dusk went over and then mewed at me. He knew that I might not be back. Cats just have this feeling, even without saying it. It’s in their eyes. I hoped that I wouldn’t get picked.

“Don’t worry Dusk, I’ll be back soon.” I said to him.

He then trotted off, looking back at me every few seconds. Animals, unlike humans, can sense what you’re feeling inside. The headache then came on again. Me and Mom then opened the door, and we went to the town square.