Bloodbath (A "The Hunger Games" AU Fan-fiction)

➽ Chapter One.

Chapter One: Choice.

I have been staring at the cracks on the ceiling in my bedroom for hours.

I know that I have to get up from my bed anytime soon, but it seems as if I don’t have enough willpower and strength to push myself up, take a quick bath and change my clothes. The beds of my brothers – I’m sharing the same room with the two of them – are both empty; they’re outside already most probably, because when I woke up earlier, they weren’t there anymore.

Maybe I’m acting nonchalantly because I hate waking up and remembering that the day isn’t just like any other normal day. I silently wished it isn’t that day yet, though, but unfortunately, it is. It’s that one day in every year that most of the people, especially those who are in my age group, are very scared of—the Reaping Day.

The Reaping Day is that time of the year when a representative from the Capitol will randomly pick one boy and one girl from every district to fight against each other in an arena until only one of them survives and will then be crowned as victor. And when I say fight against each other, it means that they’ll kill one other with no mercy, because that’s what they’re supposed to do. Everything that happens in the arena is televised, and the Capitol has proudly called the show as “The Hunger Games”.

For me, the show is utter bullshit. It makes no sense at all.

I think the rest of us – probably everybody – thinks so too, but since it’s the Capitol’s decision, the districts have no choice but to force themselves to oblige their policies. I might be only seventeen years old, but, just like all the other grownups and most of the kids in my age, I’m not stupid. We all know that the way the Capitol runs the administration is sick, twisted and wrong, but what can we do to fight against them? Nothing. None of the district people have the power to fight back.

Districts 1 and 2 are the Capitol’s ultimate favourites. Most of the time, the victors for the annual Hunger Games come from these two districts, but for me, their triumphs are unfair. Starting from age twelve, they are trained to kill, whereas in District 4 – my home – is only known for our vast fishing industry. But, I think the Capitol also likes us because they know that the odds are in our favour. They can’t just easily put down our tributes; most of them are naturally a part of the Careers, an alliance formed usually by the strongest tributes in the arena.

If ever any of the twelve districts will try to form a rebellion, what can we do? With District 2, there’s still hope because they are known for making weapons and are very good in combat training. But, for District 4, what can we do to battle against the Capitol’s thousands of Peacekeepers? Catch them using the nets we’ve woven? Sounds very funny, but nope. Strike them using our spears and tridents? That sounds nice.

Well, so much for that.

From the old wooden wall clock that I have hung in my room, I find out that it is almost noon time, which means that I only have two hours to prepare myself before the clock strikes two in the afternoon. I try ignoring the nagging feeling that I must be getting ready for the Reaping, hoping that time will suddenly pause to extend a few more hours of my life.

But, why will I be so scared of the Reaping? The answer’s very simple: I traded my whole life just to get a yearly supply of food for my family. Even if I fish with my father and older brother while my sister and my younger brother weave the fishnets for our use and help my mother in selling the fish we had caught every single day, our earnings isn’t always enough for our daily needs, which is why we also rely to the tesserae (some extra food for each member of our family) we accept every year.