FOUL GAME | the hunger games

14- STATE OF MIND.

STATE OF MIND.

I miss Five. I miss a year and a half ago, when Fred and I were normal kids like everyone else trying to save our lives. I miss a year and a half ago when both of us were safe.

I miss my district more than anything. It's a beautiful district, with everything you need inside the district limits. Valleys, forests, lakes and rivers, everything. Sometimes you could even forget the factory was at the other side waiting for us.

I miss the people there. Everyone had always been so nice to both Fred and I, we could have never asked for anything else. So many more districts had it worse. So many more kids had it worst.

And although our district isn't by any means luxurious, what else could we do? We couldn't complain. At school they taught us Five is the second richest district measured in Tesserae intake, and the third richest district on its own. Peacekeepers have always been nice to every single one of us. Five follows rules. Five doesn't think outside the box, because that's how they taught us to be. They taught us to be grateful for the capitol, because they gave us our district. And people never complain about anything.

I don't know what is the normal for other districts, but in Five most of us are well feed. Factories pay good, and most people can afford buying food and eat three meals a day. Even peacekeepers helped, if they see one of the poor kids that would often hang in the district's plaza next to the shops they would spare some money for them.

If you stop and actually think about it, the best way to describe Five's inhabitants is one simple word; brainwashed. At school they tell us we are, depending on what you use to measure it, the second or third wealthiest district, wealthier than Four and the wealthiest non-career district. They tell us we are privileged and lucky, and we are. Most people in Five own a two bedroom house, most people have hot showers, most people can afford eating three meals a day. The richest people can afford leisure time, but even if you can't, there is plenty to do with how diverse our district is. Residents are happy, and the only thing most of them hate about the capitol, are the Games.

Five doesn't see itself as a slave. Not many people realise how brainwashed we are. From a young age they tell us to follow rules, they tell us we are lucky and privileged, they make us happy. Sometimes I wonder whether the peacekeepers are nice and peaceful because the ones they send here are naturally like that or because they are instructed to be like that. We are like cattle, they keep us contained and happy, and most people like living like that.

But as brainwashed and blinded most residents at Five were, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

A disadvantage we have, though, is not being able to work at the factories until the age of 20. Our education doesn't finish when we turn 18, but the people who choose to work in the power plants (if they have any other option) can choose to continue their education specialising in whatever branch they choose to follow. Most kids do it, since the options are very limited and plant workers are the best paid anyways.

But since our district is so diverse and we are used to spending a lot of time outside, we tend to get curious about plants and wildlife. I don't know, I feel privileged to have been born in my district, and I miss it intensively.

I miss nights laying down on the valley while looking at the stars. I miss picnics with my sister. I miss swimming on the lakes with Fred.

If I could go back in time and change one mistake, I still wouldn't change anything. If we hadn't studied and trained like we did, Fred would be dead. If I die now, at least everything will be over for me and I won't have to deal with anything ever again.

I can feel movement around me so I open my eyes, forcing my self to change my state of mind and go back to my reality now; I'm in The Hunger Games. I can't relax until I'm either dead, or the only one standing.