Secrets & Tears

1

From the Treaty of Treason:
        In penance for their uprising, each district shall offer up a male and a female tribute between the ages of 12 and 18 at public “Reaping”.
        These tributes shall be delivered to the custody of The Capitol, and then transferred to a public Arena where they will Fight to the Death, until a lone victor remains.
        Henceforth and forevermore this pageant shall be known as The Hunger Games.
       
        It was still dark out when I awoke, the calming waves of District Four luring me to my window. When I opened it, I saw a dark figure there, just staring at the water.
        I grabbed one of my sweaters and quickly put on my shoes, then I started climbing down the window. I slowly approached him, knowing I didn’t need to announce myself. He knew I was there.
        “What are you doing so early?”
        He shrugged, still not turning to look at me. “I couldn’t sleep.” He sat down in the sand, the salty water barely grazing him, not that it bothered him. He just patted the sand next to him. “Are you coming?” He turned to face me, eyebrows raised. I didn’t say anything, just sat down.
        We sat in silence for a few minutes, admiring the beauty of the sparkling ocean. “You…you don’t have to worry. They’re not going to pick me.”
        He let out a snort. “How’d you know that’s why I can’t sleep?”
        “Because, Nyle, you’re my brother and I know you. You worry about everyone else before you do yourself.”
        “You really underestimate yourself, you know that? Out of everyone there, you could probably beat them and come out unharmed.”
        “That’s not true,” I quietly whispered, more to myself than him. “There’s still Nori. She’s 18, already, she’s had more time to prepare than me.”
        He stood up abruptly, towering over me, “Yeah, and you beat her one on one yesterday, and Golden Boy, Mags, and Father saw it. All chances of her being picked are gone. Even if Father still chooses Nori, it’s two versus one. All because you couldn’t wait until they were gone!”
        I stare back at him, knowing he’s right. Nori, only being eighteen, was a mother, and her taunting me, saying she would be able to easily beat me…was all part of her plan. She didn’t hold back, but she showed our Mentors which candidate had a better chance of survival.
        Nyle sighed. “Let’s go. The sun’s coming up, they’ll be expecting us in the Centre. I nodded and got up. “Go change.”
        “What? Why?”
        “You’re in your pyjamas. Trust me, little sister, no one needs to see that.”
        I rolled my eyes at him, and could hear him snickering in the background.

~°~°~°~°~

        Now fully dressed, I started going down stairs, stopping when I heard something break. Rustling followed soon after, trying to clean the glass.
        “Dad?” I creep downstairs and find him staring at the broken dish, not even trying to clean it anymore. When he doesn’t move, I grab the old broom from the pantry closet and pick up the small pieces. I wince when I see blood oozing from my hand, but I just ignore it. I started some tea, and guided my dad to the couch. I handed him the tea and coaxed him to drink it.
        He saw my hand and left. He came back a few minutes later with a first aid kit, and started wrapping my hand with the white cloth. He looked up at me and smiled.
        "Morning, Lyra. How was your night?"
        I smiled at him. "It was fine, Dad. Did you sleep at all?"
        He stopped bandaging my hand. "No." He looked back at me and smiled. "How was your night?"
        I smiled. "Good. Hey, Dad, I don’t think I need that many bandages.” He looked at my hand which now looked like a stump. “Why don’t you go up stairs and get dressed. I’ll wait for you, and then we can go together.” He nodded and left.
        “You can go with your brother, if you want. I’ll walk him.”
        I looked behind me to see the source of the voice and found the person who my brother calls Golden Boy. He won The Hunger Games at fourteen, youngest ever to do so. Of course, District Four was proud, but with that came his own reputation. Anyone who was anyone in The Capitol wanted him, hence the name Golden Boy, as everyone treated him like gold, finding value in everything he did.
         “Finnick.” I smiled politely. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
        He lifts his hand up, and I see the key we hid next to the door. “Your mom told me where the key was. If I ever needed to check on Elton. Did you hurt yourself?” He pointed to my hand that still looked like a stump. I looked down and started untying the knots and tried to unwrap it.
        “Uh, no. I cut myself, but it’s fine.” I was still trying to untie it, but with only one hand, I wasn’t very successful.
        “Let me help.” Golden Boy came closer to me, but I just backed away, still working on my hand.
        “Thank you, but it’s fine. I can do it.”
        “Hey.” I looked up and he just smiled. “You don’t have to do everything by yourself, you know that, right? Let me help.”
        I reluctantly gave him my stump, and he untied it with expert hands.
        “Lyra, are you almost done-?” Nyle stopped when he saw Golden Boy and narrowed his eyes. “Odair.”
        Golden Boy nodded politely. “Ryvor.”
        My brother broke out in a smile and hugged him. "How you've been, Finnick?"
        "Fine. Especially with the Reaping today, everything is going according to schedule."
        Nyle froze at that. "Right. Well, me and Lyra were going to train a little before."
        "Well, I won't hold you anymore."
        I started heading out the door when I heard Nyle pull Finnick and ask if they could talk. Knowing it was probably none of my business, I went outside and waited.
        No one was really awake yet, except the fishermen and everyone else who worked in the sea, but being Reaping Day, even they were at home.
        “Lyra?”
        I turned around and saw Nyle. “Hey. What was so important you had to talk to Golden Boy about it?”
        “He’s my friend, you know that, right? His name’s Finnick, by the way. In case you didn’t know.”
        I laughed. “Not according to you, it isn’t.”
        He rolled his eyes. “Come, little sister, we have to train.”