The Centennial Games --- A Hunger Games Story

The Telling

Author's note:

I cannot be more happy. I checked TCG Prologue after I got back from my sister's basketball game and I had a vote and 14 reads!!! Okay, this is the day of Daffrian's reaping. Here's Faeryn. ---------->

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Faeryn POV

"Daffrian Artemensia," Adonia says, pulling my brother's name from that blasted ball filled with th eboy names of District 12. Out of all the other boys in the picking ball, why him?

I swing my head over to where the 16 year-olds are grouped.Daffrian's eyes meet mine.The look on his face as I'm sure, mirrors mine exactly. His dark grey eyes echo my own feelings, fear of what is to come.

"Daffrian Artemensia," the woman announcer repeats, her high-pitched nasal voice echoing through the microphone and out of the speakers, blaring loudly around the town square.

Silently, I plead for him not to move. His shoulders stiffen, and he angles his body towards the stage. Daffrian takes a deep, visible breath and steps forward, pushing his way through the crowd. As he climbs the stairs, I tremor in fear. He shouldn't be made to go. No one should be, as a matter of fact. It's Bishop's fault. He's the one who causes endless murder every year, by causing the children of the Districts to fight against each other in the Games. I want to take Bishop out like Grandmother did the President back when she was Daf's age.

Adonia gives the crowd a large smile of triumph, seeming to me, a smirk. She puts her arm around his shoulders. Daffrian shudders, then recomposes himself, hiding his disgust behind a cheery smile that is Capitol worthy. "Ah, isn't it just great," she yaps to we uncaring many.

I want to hit her; cause her physical harm for being from the hated Capitol and for touching my brother like she knows him. My fist balls up, and my nails bite into my skin. I've rarely ever felt this feeling before. All the rage does is cloud  my mind and fog my senses over. I shake my head to clear it.

"Would anyone like to take the place of this young man for a chance of the playing in the Games?"

Dead silence, the same as Vitrese. I close my eyes in anguish. I want to call out. Take his place, but I can't. It's not allowed. I open my eyes and look at Daffrian. He's staring directly at me. I frown and run a hand across my eyes.

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I fling the door open. 'Five minutes.' That was the amount of time that the Peacekeeper said I had to talk to my brother. "Daf!" I scramble to where he is standing in the room and fling my arms around his neck. I let out a sob.

His muscled arms wrap around my waist. "Faeryn," he murmurs into my dark hair. "Don't cry Fae. Everything's gonna be fine." I feel him slightly shift. "Where's Mom? Isn't she with you?"

I lean back out of the hug, then shake my head, tears still streaming down my face. "No. I thought that she had already come." He shakes his head no and continues to stare at the door. "How can you say it'll be alright?"

He wipes the tears off of my cheeks with his rough, calloused fingers. "Because," he says, his grey eyes filled with determination, "I'll win the Games." He pulls me against him again.

"How do you know that you can win this?! The only mentors we have are over 60!" I exclaim loudly, yanking myself backwards and giving him a slight shove in the oppsite direction, causing him to stumble in suprise.

"Those mentors," he says calmly, "are our Grandparents. The people who took down the Capitol and Coin when the Games had reached their worst. They'll train me and Vitrese."

"So you'll kill Vitrese?" He stares at the ground and doesn't answer. I curl my hands into fists and wail, "How can you be so daft?!" I flop down onto a dark grey couch that looks like it's covered in coal dust. "They can't help you, Daf," I whisper. "They're old. Grandmaw's in a wheelchair, and Grandpa has his fits still. You won't surive," I say grimly. "And now I'll never see you again," my voice drops to barely even audible.

Daffrian sits down on the cushion next to me. He puts a comforting arm around my shoulders. "Fae," he says softly, turning my face to his with a hand, "I WILL win. And even if I don't have any training for them, I'll still come home. Because I have something to come home to- you."

I blush and bury my head against his chest. Why am I feeling this? He's my brother for Mother's sake! Gahh! I get ready to ask him about the book I found, but the door opens. "Time's up," the rotund Peacekeeper says. I don't move and stay pressed up against Daf. Heavy bootsteps head towards the couch. A hand grabs my arm and jerks me backwards off of the couch and out of Daffrian's hold.

Daffrian jumps to his feet. "Let her go!" he barks at the Peacekeeper.

"Her time is up," the man says mechanically. He starts pulling me towards the door. I struggle to break free of his grip and earn a hard slap across the face,

The sends my brother over the edge. Daffrian attempts to grab me and punch the guard at the same time, but only succeds in getting thrown back against the concrete wall. Ouch.

Another Peacekeeper arrives the the door and pulls me, the struggling victim, out of the room. From the room I hear Daf give a stragled cry of fury. He staggers to the door frame and tries to leave the room. FWAM! The other Peacekeeper punches him in the face. Scarlet drops erupt from Daf's nose. The guard shoves him back into the jail- I, uh, mean room. "Fae!" Daffrian yells to me. "You're not really my sister! You were found!!!"

I freeze soldid as the fat Peacekeeper drags me from the Justice building and throws me to the ground. I sit there not moving. Daffrian is not my brother. My mother isn't my mother. Zorde and Thyfin aren't my brothers. Do I have no family? I think as I let out a scream of dispair, causing a flock of birds to take flight from the nearby buildings.

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Author's note:

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~Kallie