𝐒𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐒 ❦ The Hunger Games

three

☆ CHAPTER THREE! ☆
003. Familiar places

|| 1-800-273- 8255 ||
❝They say every life
precious but nobody care
about mine.❞

➳➳

I HAD ALWAYS found a small amount of comfort in the square that was placed exactly in the middle of District 5. It was filled with brick shops and flower pots that somehow didn't get stained by the industry that kept the town alive; the middle of it somehow managed to grow the smallest amount of actual flowers from the ground that sprouted every spring for exactly two weeks before someone cut them down.

They surrounded the only fountain that actually wasn't used to move water- a decorative feature made from white stone with small tree-like details engraved in the sides of it. It was the most famous part of the District- the fountain was somewhat of a local celebrity to those that wanted peace, and those that wanted a little bit of luck.

As a child, I would always end up by the fountain as my parents looked through all the windows of the various shops. My mother loved to window shop, it was her way of pretending that she could afford the beautiful things inside, but once she died I didn't take as much time out of my day to look at the displays and potted flowers in hanging baskets. Although I still sat next to the fountain, even if it was to clean off my muddy hands and to simply take a moment away from the crying that came with a toddler in the house. I loved the fountain, now it seemed like a fragment of a nightmare.

From my place on the reaping stage I could clearly see a small trail of water trickle out from the fountain and into the water; now it was almost grey due to the amounts of small coins that were placed at the bottom of it every year before a reaping. One I put in myself, others from small children days before just incase there was any way they could be chosen to fight such a terrible fight. It was a tradition in Five; it was important to wish in the well to give you as much chance of being saved as possible.

I wasn't convinced that it worked- while I hadn't wished in the well the year I was chosen, Remy did. He wished that we would all be saved.

I could hear Evelyn's shallow breaths from beside me as I stared at the fountain, and then towards the edge of the stone where my sister was sat on her own. She waved at me when I caught her eye, but not in the usually enthusiastic way that had made me smile when I came home from a long day, it was limp and sorrowful as she watched the adults up on the stage with her only other family beside me. Still, she watched only me, much like the majority of the District.

If I ignored the stares and looked closely enough, I could see Lillian exhale mist from her mouth and towards the boarded-up windows of my mother's favourite seamstress that used to show the favourite designs and fabrics. I would have hated the fabrics now; instinctively I gripped the hem of my dress as a stark reminder of how I had changed from the little girl that had always wanted to wear something so pretty.