The Candidate [A Hunger Games Story]

Chapter Two

Peacekeepers were never a good sign. For a bunch of people meant to prevent chaos, they certainly caused a lot of it. Screams erupted through the garden as they barrelled through my party, looking for somebody in particular. I was the only one not running or scrambling for a way out. I stared at the Peacekeepers as they fanned out. They clearly wanted something in particular. But what was it?

There were only two other people not reacting to the chaos. My parents. In fact, both of them seemed relatively calm given the circumstances. Was it some kind of strange surprise, I wondered? I half expected them all to rip off their helmets and break into a song and dance. But my elation turned to fear when they spotted my mother and beelined for her.

I watched my father step away from her as the Peacekeepers seized her. She didn't struggle against them, simply casting a cold glance in my father's direction. Her eyes scanned the crowd, looking for me. I stood frozen, unable to move even an inch. When she finally looked at me, she offered me the saddest smile and mouthed two words to me.

Be good.

Being told what to do has never been my forte. As she was carted away, I ran after her, circling around the side of the house. I saw a Peacekeeper force her into a big black car. There were several vans on the street where the Peacekeepers had clearly been unloaded from, but I wasn't interested in them. I wanted to follow my mother.

I managed to make it over to the car, but a Peacekeeper wound down the window and shook his head at me.

"Stay away from the vehicle or we'll have to use force."

"That's my Mom!" I cried. "What are you doing? Where are you taking her?"

"That's classified."

"I demand to know!"

"If you know what's good for you, you'll let her go," the Peacekeeper warned me. "Just forget about her. You don't want to go where she's headed."

With that, they wound the window up and the car drove away. I chased it down for as far as I could, but I fell down halfway down the street, tearing my dress and scraping my knees. I winced in pain, but tried to get to my feet, desperate to follow the car. But the second I stood up, the car was out of sight and the Peacekeeper vans were driving off in the opposite direction. I'd been played for a fool, but I wasn't about to give up. I was going to find my mother and demand to know why she was being detained.

I ran back to the house with blood soaking my torn skirts. The party certainly wasn't going as I had planned. When I returned to the house, the guests were brushing themselves off, trying to figure out what they'd just seen. My father was stood with a blank expression on the patio with Cicero, who was offering him a glass of water. I grabbed my father's shoulders and shook him.

"Don't just stand there! We have to do something."

"There's nothing to be done," he said quietly. "She's gone."

"No! I'm not giving up just like that! Why are you so calm about this? We have to follow her, try and figure out what's going on!"

"It's too late for that. She made her bed. Now she must lie in it," my father insisted, physically turning his back on me. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I knew him and my mother weren't close in any sense, but seeing him abandon her in her time of need struck me hard. It felt like he was letting both me and her down in one fell swoop.

"Dad..."

"You need to put it behind you," he said firmly. "If the Peacekeepers have business with her, then there's no reason we should get involved. She'll only drag us down to her level."