The Capitol's Tribute

Chapter 4

A few months had passed since I had arrived in District 9. The itchiness of the mosquito bites became usual. Going to work in the mills became normal, coming home with Barlay to help cook a meal and coax Rya to eat a small helping, even though she just threw it up again. She tried to play it off as a cold, telling Barlay and Mayzie that she'd be better soon.

Every night, I'd sit next to her and she'd clutch my hand like a lifeline as she sobbed. Every day, it got a bit hotter. Every day, I would go to sleep thinking of how much I hated the Capitol. Especially as the atmosphere seemed tenser with the rapid approaching of the reaping. In the Capitol, I had never liked the reaping. But now I feared it. Though I knew there was no chance that my name could be called, I still felt a deep panic stirring in my gut, like an animal instinct.

And on the evening of July 3rd, a deathly pale Rya clutched my hand. "I need you to promise me something," She whispered.

"What is it?" I murmured back.

"Don't let Barlay volunteer for me. I don't know what will happen, and I don't care. We just can't lose her too."

"I promise," I said, feeling a tug on my heart. This was a normal occurrence in the districts. People have to ask each other to possibly risk their lives for each other, weighing the value of life. 

What was the value of life? 

It was priceless. 

Just like how Tilly valued her daughters more than anything, she feared the Hunger Games because she knew they could take her precious children. How they all hated the Capitol, because the Capitol could end up killing someone dear to them, in the same way that they feared the Hunger Games. I never knew to expect that, not until those Peacekeepers stormed into the Gamemakers' office and filled my parents full of bullets. Even now, the thought made me want to vomit. With my new family, the thought of losing them too... I couldn't. I could never make it on my own, not again. Not when most of District 9 still saw me as an outsider. No matter how much work I did, I would never be one of them. Because I had lived in luxury and never knew what I had, what I took for granted. And the only thing that could change that was losing everything. My parents, my only family, my home, everything I had ever known. And now I was here, in District 9, and I valued everything. The small scars on my wrists and hands reminded me of the pain I faced. Tilly reminded me that there was still good in the world, in her at the very least. Barlay reminded me that even people with cold, unfeeling exteriors could just be soft, sweet, scared, and protective. Mayzie reminded me of youth, being young and free. I couldn't imagine having to face the hardships she had at her age. Rya reminded me that life is too short, too cruel, and that nothing, nothing should be taken for granted. So I did my best to take nothing for granted because I didn't know at what moment it would all be ripped away from me.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE
Sorry for the shorter chapter, I just wasn't sure what else to add! Thank you for reading my story, it means a lot to me.

-R. A-M. W. (Anonymous Mockingjay)