Death Games

Evan wakes up sweaty and clammy, pandora slouching above him, her face full of concern. Her long blond hair shows that she just woke up and her hand is quietly gracing Evan's forearm. Her hands are cold against his feverish skin and he knows she didn't wake up by herself. Though there is no one else in their room, Evan assumes that he hasn't had a real coughing fit, or else his mother and brother would be there as well.
"Hi" Pandora says with the most gentle voice Evan ever heard. She always talks like that but the fever must be fogging his mind. Everything around him is blurry andhis body feels so heavy that he almost think he's about to loose conciousness. But he heavs himself up against the crappy wall that they use as a headboard. Pandora helps him a bit, even if she knows he hates it, and a brief moment after, Evan starts coughing. Most of the time, when the coughing starts, it doesn't stop until Evan passes out, and then it's impossible for Pandora, his brother and his mother to sleep again. He knows it because most of the time, they are so tired after an episode that their already tired traits stands out way more.

There is a loud thump in the room next door, where his brother and mother sleep, and Felix runs into the room without even closing the door after himself. Evan just hopes that his mother stays asleep because he hates when they see him cough. Felix rushes to the bed side and takes a hand to Evan's forehead. His hand is so cold it makes Evan shudder and it makes him cough even more, this time a really dry cough that makes his throat throb in pain. "Pandora, grab a towel on the kitchen stove, he's really burning up." pandora nods anxiously, even if she has done it a thousands times before, she never gets aquainted to it. But as the episode are beginning to become more frequent, Evan hopes she will get used to this quickly. he doesn't want her to have this concerned look on her beautiful face.

Another fit of coughing cuts his train of thoughts, but this time, all he can think about is the coppery taste of blood he starts feeling in his mouth. Pandora returns in an instant and sits down rapidly on her side of the bed as Felix wets the towel she has taken. He comes to put the towel on Evan's forehead when Evan body jolts up with a wet cough, and blood comes ruining the white sheets in which they sleep. Felix's hand grabs his shoulder and put the towel beneath Evan's mouth when he pushes away his brother's hand. "Don't come near...It's...gross." He heaves out, another fit finishing his phrase. But Felix doesn't care and does it anyway. Pandora's hand passes through Evan's hair and she whispers quietly "It's okay, it's not gross, don't worry" again and again in his ears until Evan's mind is heavy and his eyes shuts down.

He dreams of his father's execution on the central square of the city. There are screams and cries as three men walks up on the scene where the whipping and the hanging usually takes place in the eight district. One of them is his father, his blonde hair flying in the wind. The other two are old aquaintances of his, whom he worked with before he even met their mother. He was an activist during the war against the capitol and had been sued for it. No, sued is the wrong word to describe how the peacekeepers had stalked in in their tiny appartment at that time and had shot his mother in the elbow and slammed their father against the wall. Someone, somebody in the factory where their father worked had denunciated him to the peacekeepers. It didn't matter if he wasn't active anymore, what mattered is that he had been an activist at that moment. Evan and Pandora were four years old when it happened, and even twelve years later their mother's shoulder still hurts from the shot, and their father's presence is missing.

Evan wakes up when the bell of the curfew rings. His body his still heavy from the night, but he manages to get up, even on wobbly legs. Their appartment is small, way too small for four people to live in. His mother and brother sleep in the living room, not far away from the kitchen stove and their bath tub. It's not much, but it's basically how most of the people in the eighth district. The door is closed and he can hear people talking at the other side of the door. When he opens it, his mother is up from her chair and rushes over him. She peppers him with kisses all over his face and Evan can't do anything but let her. "Oh baby, I was so tired I didn't even hear you..." She says, and Evan knows that felix has already talked her off her guilty train a thousand times since she woke up. He takes his mother's hands away from hgis face and smiles.

"Don't worry, I told you that you don't need to be there mom. It's really okay, I don't mind..." He whispers in a voice he hopes is convicing, despite its hoarsness. She seems to understand the message and smiles through pain before looking at the clock. A thing everyone in their district has in their home, despite it being quite expensive. No one wants to be punished for coming to work late.
"God, it's already half past five, and no one is ready for work." She sighs with a hint of stress in her voice. Evan's mother was an acupuncterist back when she met his father. District eight was already poor, but it helped that people knew who her mother was, a well known doctor. But as the years passed, Evan's mother got less patients and she had to change to work in the textile factories a few years ago, part pf it being because of the bullet in her arm that couldn't be removed without a staggering amount of money. Pandora was supposed to take over the art after finishing school but it was a long time ago since they all stopped going to school, mainly because their lack of money. One person couldn't provide enough money to a family of four after their father died and so, Felix dropped out from school and started working in the factories. Evan and Pandora were a few years younger, and continued going to school until they had to work too.

Pandora forces Evan to eat a bit of wheat soup, one of the only thing they can afford to eat without ruining themselves. When they all get out of the appartment, their nieghbours, a middle age couple gets out as well, clad in their working gear. They smile at the four of them and evan's mother can't help but to talk. "Hello Mary, how are you?" Mary walks up to their mother and she looks so pained it almost breaks Evan's heart.
"Well, you know, it's Evies first reaping today and..." Tears seems to build up in Mary's eyes and Evan knows that his mother feels the exact same as mary feels today. After all, it's the reaping day. Hanna, Evan's mom, takes mary into a tight hug as they halt in front of the staircase that leads down to the main streets that buzzes with noises of workers going to the factory.

"Don't you worry Mary, she only have one Tesserae, she doesn't have many chances to be picked up." Felix says from behind them, as he walks beside Thomas, Mary's husband. Thomas nods in agreement, but they all understand the stress of today. Not only is is reaping and selection for the Hunger Games, but it's also a Quarter Quell, which means there are to be a special thing this year. They still don't know, as it will be annouced this afternoon at two pm. They part ways in the streets, as Thomas goes with Felix and Pandora and Hanna get away to the weaving factory. It leaves Evan and Mary together, both working at the Tainting factory. Felix is an exporter, and Evan is quite thankful to not have to bury tons of rolled up fabrics all day. His work is more graceful, as Pandora likes to say, which most of the time is particularly false. All day, he stirs big pots of coloured liquid, which he has tainted previously by molding herbs.

Mary doesn’t talk that much as they walk. It’s July but the streets are foggy with pollution when they walk and an annoying heat hangs in the hair. It’s always really humid during summer in the eighth district.

They meet Dorcas in front of the big building. Dorcas is Pandora’s best friend, and she usually spends a lot of time at their flat since her family is way too crowded. She has three sisters and three brothers, which are all younger than her. Her father works with Felix and her mother is a nurse at the hospital, but it’s always loud at hers and Dorcas likes calm evenings like at the Rosiers, even though Evan wouldn’t be suprised if she told him she liked Pandora more than a friend.

As soon as she sees Evan, her face lights up and she checks him. But at the corner of his eye, Evan catches dark brown hair, and it grabs his attention, as much as he hates it. Barty Crouch is an annoying guy. He works in the building beside Evan but they used to share the same classroom back then. As much as he hates to admit it, Evan thinks Barty’s hot, and if they hadn’t shared a kiss last year and a few since then, it wouldn’t have mattered.

Barty’s head turns around the moment Evan looks at him, and Evan looks away quickly, feeling his cheeks redden at the sight. He doesn’t want to know what Barty’s face looks like and he certainly won’t look up.
“Babes, you look so pale it’s concerning.” Dorcas tells him, a slight smile on her face, which is there to hide her concern.
“Well, hate to admit it, but the morning of the reaping isn’t my favourite.” Evan grins, and Dorcas grins back.

Both of them sit down rapidly before the peacekeepers comes to point them down. Normally, if one worker is late, they usually punish the whole factory. They either force them to work an hour more, or it’s whipping on the central square at dawn. So no one dare to come late, because it not only affects themselves but also the other workers.

The morning passes quickly and soon enough, Evan is walking out the factory, with Dorcas in tow, who seems to be following him home.
“I need to talk to Pandora, she told me she had something really interesting about the mayor. Did you know that his son is…” But she doesn't finish her sentence because Barty, the mayor’s son, is walking beside Evan. Dorcas slaps her mouth shut and frowns at Barty, whose arm is around Evan’s shoulders.

Evan push them away slowly, but instead of falling off, it seems that Barty clings onto his shoulders, which wouldn’t be a problem if Evan wasn’t so tired.
“Well, what did little Pan say about me now? Mmh?” He says, as he continues to walk with them to Evan’s house.
“Hi Barty, what made you think you could talk to us?” Dorcas answers, eyebrows frowning at Barty’s face.
“I don’t remember talking to you, Dorcas. Little Pan is Evan’s sister isn’t she? He must know what she says about me.” He has a shit eating grin on his face and Evan can’t stop himself from judging him.

“You’re asking the wrong person, I know nothing.” Evan shrugs and Barty sighs, poking Evan’s cheek with his long fingers. Fingers that used to play beautifully on the piano during music class. Barty is the son of the mayor and has most of his life lived a comfortable one, though a few years ago, his mother died of pneumonia. Evan knows way more about Barty that he wants to know, per example that he hates the bread they used to give at school, or that he cried like a baby when he learned that the hedgehog the class adopted had died. He and Evan used to have small talks I class and deep talks on the way home. That stopped when Evan dropped out. And everything stopped after that. Now the only thing that wasn’t a foggy memory in his mind was the kisses they had shared outside the factory, in a dark alleyway.

He drifts away from his thoughts and sees that Barty is still looking at him. He looks back and is arm is dragged by Dorcas, who helps him get out of Barty’s steady grip of his shoulders.
“Piss off Barty, we all need to get ready for the reaping. And your house is not in this neighbourhood. You better get to your dad real quick if you don’t want the peacekeepers to kick your ass!” She says and she stalks away, holding Evan’s arm. Evan, whose legs seem to follow Dorcas’ by laziness looks back to Barty, who is standing there, in the pollution and the workers going home. He catches Barty’s wink and looks away.

After a good bath and clean clothes, Evan is so tired he wonders if he can actually stand all through the ceremony. The warm bath, something really uncommon here, was more than enough to make him feel sleepy. Pandora and Dorcas are chatting and Felix is standing by the stove, doing wheat soup as their mother is taking her bath in the back of the kitchen.

“I’m so stressed.” Dorcas says finally, as she takes the wheat soup Evan hands him when it’s done. Felix sits down beside him and drinks a bit of the mixture. He isn’t eligible anymore, and Evan wonders how he feels about it. He missed the quarter quell with a year.
“How many Tesserae do you have?” Felix asks her, not bothering to ask how many his siblings have, because he has supervised their Tesserae intake for years.

“23, mom and dad were in need. The triplets were sick and we needed wheat…” Pandora’s hand reaches Dorcas’ and once again, her magic works. Pandora has always been the kindest person in the whole wide world. No one can even deny it. Everything of her screams kindness and Evan really admires that. They don’t really look similar, even though they are twins. Pandora’s hair is bleach white and curly, as Evan’s is strawberry blonde. Her skin is shining, while Evan’s is deathly pale. The only thing they have in common are the deep blue eyes. Everyone says they look like the ocean, though Evan have never seen ocean. It’s one of his biggest dreams.

Books, photos, everything in the library talks about the ocean, how it’s immense and how when you want to find it, you find it. The endless blue that lines the horizon, it’s beautiful waves. Evan can nearly smell the salty water as he thinks about it.

When they have eaten, a bell echoes through the streets, calling for the reaping. They all tense while standing up and get out quietly of the house once again. Evan feels hot in his jeans and his blue shirt and he looks at Pandora, who wears his mother beautiful white dress. At the same time, Mary, Thomas and Evie get out of their apartment. There are red stripes of tears who have fallen down onto her cheeks and Mary’s eyes are holding back tears as she tries to not cry in front of her daughter.

They walk all together in silence to the main square and when it’s time to separate ways, when Pandora calmly takes little Evie’s hand in her, she sobs the most heart wrenching cry Evan has never heard. But the peacekeepers doesn’t let them stop.

The pointing doesn’t even hurt anymore and he only looks at the big screen that will show them the little film the Capitol loves to make them watch before the reaping. As they stand in rows, Evan catches Barty hair in the crowd. He is way more in front, but still in the same age line as Evan. While he looks for his sister and Dorcas, two people walk up on stage. One of them is Regulus Black, one of Evan's friends from school, who won last year, and the other is the reaper of the eighth district. Gastor McClane.

“Hello! I’m Gastor McClane, your reaper!” He says and the crowd, who was already quite silent, turns totally quiet. “Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be with you!” He smiles at the camera who films the reaping. “Now let’s watch the film the Capitol has prepared for the 50th Hunger Games!” He nearly screams in the mic and Evan wants to hit him hard in his big fat nose.

The film is basically a threat, reminding everyone that everything they live through now is a consequence of the war and the rebellion.
“I love this!” He whimpers in delight as he looks over the crowd with disdain. “Now, as it’s the 50th Hunger Games, President Snow, as well as many governors of the Capitol, have decided that this year, there will not only be two children reaped from each districts, but four, two boys and two girls!”

At this announcement, even the rare birds of the district stops singing. “Well, well! Now, let’s pick the tributes for the 50th Hunger Games! Ladies first!” He walks up and when he takes up the first paper, Evan thinks he’s going to throw up. “Nollie Garden!” Gastor reads on the little paper. Someone sobs in the crowd and a tall girl, she must be older than Evan, walks up the stairs. Her face is livid when she stands beside Gastor and he picks another paper. “Evie Solenn” Evan’s heartbeat stops when he hears her name and looks to the parents.