Chained Hearts

Prologue

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice." 

The history teacher reads the speech from the textbook at a dreadfully slow pace before looking up at the class with a grimace on her face. "Now class, this is the first mistake made by the leaders of our pasts. Everyone are not equal. Back then they were referring to those of different colour to them but the principal is the same to the current state of present day."

I roll my eyes and tap my pencil irritably on my desk. We go through this every week in such excruciating detail I want to put an arrow through my brain. 

Delly sticks her hand up and waves it excitedly.

"Yes Miss. Cartwright?" the teacher-I never bother to learn new names, there's a new sub nearly every week-asks. She has a toothy grin that shows off all her pearly white teeth so I christen her tooth face.

"Back then they judged colour?" Delly enquirers. 

"Oh yes, they thought it was the colour of someone's skin that separated those who were equal and those who were not," tooth face answers.

"But that's ridiculous!"

"I know, we were very naive in the past. We were looking at the wrong people," tooth face explains. "We looked at colour when we should have looked at gender." She turns a page in the textbook and skim reads the next one, leaving us to ponder what she just said. 

I stick my hand up and ask the same question I always do. "Why though? Why gender?" This question has gotten me stuck for years. Ever since I was a child and first saw one of those poor people chained up like an animal.

"Because women are greater," tooth face states as if obvious. "We did the work for those . . . men for centuries. We worked for them and were unfairly degraded. We still suffer today when there's justice in the world! We still suffer periods and pregnancies! Don't you think it's fair that we make them suffer like us?" Everyone looks at me expectantly, waiting for my answer. To watch me answer like everyone else does. But I don't. I never answer like they do. And that's what makes it fun for them to witness it.

"No," I say stubbornly. "It's not."

"What?" Tooth face's smile falters.

"No," I repeat. "It's not."

"That's enough Katniss! I heard you the first time!" Tooth face yells. "After school dentention for straight out defiance!"

Don't think that's harsh, I've had worse. My name's Katniss Everdeen and I live in a world of injustice. I live in a world were if your beliefs don't match everyone else's then there must be something wrong with you. I live in a world were you get punished for speaking your mind and voicing your thoughts. I live in a world were slavery is a popular fashion. Don't have one? Your going to get shunned. My family don't have a slave, but no-one must know that. You can get fined for that.

This world is a country called Panem run by the infamous President Coin. I'am located in District 5. About five districts from the main city, the Capitol. All 12 districts aren't the same in any way apart from in one detail: Slaves. Not just any slaves. Male slaves.