Post by countlivin on Apr 23, 2019 4:24:51 GMT
Chapter 8: The Tributes
Penn Cassidy
Nothing had changed. Penn wasn't sure what it had been before, but nothing had changed. There still stood a man before the teenagers of District One, wielding the names. The Reaping would continue.
She knew very little what these Games were, but the more and more she learned, the more Penn wished she was part of them. She looked around at the Hall of Careers and knew that a few days ago, this had been her home. They had called her a Career.
Penn stood beside her father, Jomal, in a crowd of screaming and drunk kids. The lights in the chamber were suspended high above on the ceiling, and were dimmed far beyond the point of clear vision. The man standing on stage was smiling through the screams of excited teens and loud blaring music. Had Penn had her memories, she wouldn't have been anywhere else. The room was filled with excitement. The tributes were about to be chosen.
Yesterday, the projection of a short man appeared in the center of town. He told them that this year, instead of being picked at random in a giant glass bowl, the tributes would be chosen by the District itself. This was an easy problem for District One. Hundreds of kids had been trained since birth to take up the position in the Hall of Careers, and this year, they would pick the very best of them.
"This is something crazy, huh?!" a guy in front of her said, while wading through the masses carrying a platter of drinks. His eyes were yellowed and half-closed as he floated by.
"C'mon, Penn. We have to get you to the front." Her father told her in a relatively quiet voice. He seemed sort of emotionless as he said it, like all the excitement in the room wasn't touching him. "You're going to be chosen."
"Greetings, District One candidates!" shouted the large tatted man on the center stage. The crowd let out a cheer in response. He was huge and had very dark black hair. From what Penn had heard from the random mumblings of potential tributes, his name was Plexus Grimshott, and he won the Fifth Annual Hunger Games. Twenty years later, he led the aspiring Careers in this facility. "Welcom to the First Quarter Quell. Or as I like to call it, the chance to show Panem what the Careers are all about!"
It was technically illegal, in the eyes of the Capitol, to train children before the Games, yet it was something most Peacekeepers let slip by. Her father had told her she was one of these Careers, and as Plexus Grimshott stood above the crowd, she was confident she'd be the one chosen.
She brushed past one drunk Career after another. They had made tonight a huge party. She wondered, if her father wasn't here with her, if she wouldn't be drunk alongside the lot of them. She was wading through idiots, yet she knew not to tell them that to their faces. All were trained killers with shaky trigger fingers. Even though it was complete idiocy, Penn found the whole thing massively entertaining. She thought dreamily of the honor it would bring her to stand up on the stage alongside Plexus and be chosen as tribute.
"You're smiling." Dad nudged her on the shoulder. "I see you still have some of your old spirit left."
She turned to her father, but didn't respond. This was where she felt at home, someplace where it was loud and noisy, and everyone was cheering in unison. It felt like the sound was enveloping her, and she enjoyed it.
Once the two of them fought to the front of the crowd, Penn found a familiar face smiling back at her. "Hey, Penn!" the guy said. He wore a soft hat that rounded the top of his head and he had a bit of black stubble on his chin. It was her boyfriend, Dray. She met him a week ago when she woke up in prison. He wasn't the most attractive guy she'd ever seen, but he was nice, and he did the job.
He wrapped his arms around her, pecking her on the cheek. His breath smelled like beer. "Have you been drinking?" she asked.
"Who around here hasn't?" he laughed. The crowd began to leap up and down in unison to the beat of the music. Dray followed along, whooping.
Penn looked back to Dad, expecting a disapproving look, but she only found a smile. Penn sighed. This was all so surreal. She had woken up committed to two people she hardly knew.
"Alright, let's get down to business!" Plexus shouted into the microphone up on stage and the Careers roared. Penn could hardly hear anymore. "Everyone should be here now. Can I hear what our name is?!"
"District One!" everyone chimed together.
"What is our trade?!"
"THE GAMES!"
Dad looked disappointed and a tad angry. Penn laughed at him. "What's wrong, Daddy?" she asked.
"Our trade is luxury," he said. "It's definitely not the Games…"
"Shh!" Dray brought his finger to his lips slowly, finding them uneasily. The rest of the room went silent and the loud music shut off. "They're starting."
"As we know, there is no volunteering for this one, guys," Plexus told them through the boom of the speakers, swirling on the stage. The crowd circled around him. "You all have voted on the strongest fighter among us, and I stand here today, on righteous ground: the site where our children become heroes! Two of you will join them today!"
Everyone in the room, Penn included, watched Plexus walk over to the glass bowl on his left. It was the one full of the male names. He ripped out a name gruffly, causing the others to spill to the floor. He held it up in a fist.
"Stygian Pluto!" he shouted, and everyone began to cheer. From the other side of the stage, a tall, muscular boy with close-cropped blond hair. He climbed confidently up to Plexus and shook his hand with a swagger. "Congratulations to our new male tribute!"
The applause and the cheer mingled into one, excited drone. Stygian turned to the rest of them and held his arms high above his head. "District One for life!"
There were quiet grumbles as soon as the room quieted down. "He's so big," Dray whispered in her ear. "No wonder people voted for him."
"There are more tactics than brute strength," Penn replied. She pressed her fingers hard into his side and he jumped to the side in pain.
But he laughed it off. "I guess you're right."
Plexus found the other bowl on the stage. This is it, she thought. I'm going to be the female tribute. I have to be. He reached into the pile of names and withdrew one. Penn grew more and more anxious with every second that passed. It was going to be her…
"Skeeter Lascius!" Plexus called into the crowd. Penn could feel her heart stop, and Dray held her tighter. Dad patted her on the shoulder.
When the girl made her way through the applause and onto the stage, everyone could see her piercing blue eyes. She was trying to look brave, but those eyes didn't lie. The girl was terrified. She practically reeked of fear. It was disgusting.
"And our female tribute!" Plexus bellowed. "Shake hands to seal the pact!" the moment Stygian and Skeeter shook hands together, Penn was furious. She was so sure she would be the one to bring honor to the District. She turned away in a hurry and began to cut through the crowd.
"Hey, honey…" her father reached out for her.
"Penn, it's not the end of the world," Dray called back, as their voices drowned out in the sea of tributes.
The music swelled louder and the cheering enveloped the room; everything smelled rank like alcohol. Penn was sick of it. She threw the door of the facility open and tromped up the stairs until she arrived in the rec room in the center of Town Square. It was a stupid way of camouflaging a secret Career facility. Anyone who enjoyed ping pong would see the entrance on a daily basis.
She slammed the doors and walked out into the night cold, leaving the vibrating building behind her. Her father's voice echoed. "Penn, I know you're upset, but it's time to go home now. Why don't we—?"
"You told me I was special," Penn interrupted him. She turned and pointed her accusatory finger at him. "You told me people feared me. You said they shouted my name when I walked down the street."
"They do…" he continued.
"No, they don't!" she screamed. "Stop telling me they do!"
"Penn," Dray said, approaching her slowly. "I think you're being a bit rash here."
Penn bit her lip in frustration. The nerve of him… "Go away," she whispered. "I just lost all my memory! Poof! Goodbye! The Games were going to be the one thing that could bring them back!" She collapsed onto the ground, angry with the world, but as she did, she came to a realization.
Dray wrapped his arms across her shoulders there on the ground, and attempted to help her up. It was futile. "Why don't we find you someplace warmer to spend the night than Town Square?"
"Is everything all right here, citizens?" asked a man in white plate, a Peacekeeper holding his helmet in his hand. "There were reports of some teenagers disturbing the peace."
"I think we're fine, sir," Daddy told him calmly. He jerked his head towards her. "We're fine, right, Penn?"
"We're fine…" Penn repeated. As the Peacekeeper left, she stood up and turned to her father. "Dad, you were talking about escape a few days ago. You said I was caught trying to escape. Where was I going?"
Dad sighed and shook his head. "This isn't the best place to discuss this. Let's take it home."
"Discuss what?" Dray asked, confused.
Penn agreed and the three of them followed the road until it led to the group of houses where the wealthier members of the District lived. By the time they made it to their street, she had collected herself. She wasn't sure why she went so far off the deep end on the only two people who actually meant anything to her. When they arrived at her home, she knew it by the number: 881. The paint was green and not peeling from the wall like every other house down the way. She walked up and opened the door, immediately finding a seat at the table.
"What was I doing the other day?" she asked. "Why did they find me outside the fence?"
The seat across from Dray creaked under his weight. "You used to know this, but I've planned an escape from the District for quite some time now."
"Escape to where?" she asked.
"The Capitol," he replied. "It's the land of paradise. Ever since your mother was taken, I've been formulating a plan to sneak out and rescue her. You were caught outside the perimeter because you fell, and they caught you."
"You didn't go down to help me?" Penn raised an eyebrow.
"I couldn't. There was too much at stake." He looked out the window towards the night sky. So did Penn. The moon was lit like a beacon amongst the stars. "If they caught us together, they would've judged you harsher. I didn't want you to end up like your mother."
Dray leaned in. Penn could tell his confusion. "I would like to point out that this all goes way over my head. Why would you want to leave? I like it here."
"Here is not in our best interests," Dad told him. "It may be your home, but it has never been ours."
Penn squinted at the moon, formulating her own plan. "Are there any non-Career Districts adjacent to this one?" she asked. "Ones where the Games are not their trade?"
"The only one I can think of would be District Nine. Why do you ask?" The corner of her mouth began to turn into a smile. "Oh no… You're not thinking…"
"I've already made my decision," Penn said, lying back in her seat confidently. "You wanna get me out of here and to the Capitol so badly, we're going to have to have a pit stop in Nine first."
"This is because of the Games, isn't it?" he cried. "The other Districts have nothing for us, Penn. The Capitol is where we need to be when these Games start."
"The Hunger Games would give me purpose," Penn told him. "Dad, when was the last time you had a chance to do something that would not only bring you honor… but glory? Who's to say I'll ever get this chance again? I'm eighteen. Next year, I'm not eligible anymore."
"Penn, you can't be in the Hunger Games!" He pressed his fingers against his temple. "You won't survive it."
"Are you saying that because you're afraid for me?" she frowned. "Spare me the lecture, Dad. I'm going with or without you."
"You can't get out without my plans," Dad said in a punctual tone. It didn't matter. Penn was going to win this.
"Oh, I know," she replied. "But I’m going to try anyway. I might have a much larger chance of not getting caught if you come with me."
"You can't do this… Please…"
"I don't get why you're fretting over this." She slammed her hand down on the kitchen table, rattling and shaking it. "I want this, Dad! I sure as hell want it more than getting to the Capitol. Now are you coming with me?"
Dad's eyes were fire, and his beard itched. "I'm fretting because I'm not ready to let my baby girl die in someone else's game…"
She smacked her hand on the table again. "Well I am. Just think where they're gonna come if I try and fail to use YOUR escape plan!"
Penn's father breathed a sigh of anger through his nose. It was hard for them to admit she was right, but she was. How else would she finally be able to find purpose than these Games? "Fine," he barked. "We'll go to District Nine. I want you to know how much this hurts me."
Penn was angry now. "It hurts me that you're this against letting me bring honor to the District."
"This ain't about the District." He frowned, looking up at her through the corner of his eye. "This is about you."
Penn walked over to the window and gazed from it. She smiled, knowing that in a few days' time, she would be a tribute. She found herself hoping against hope that she would find many prime opportunities to punch that girl Skeeter in her timid face. This was who Penn was. She was a warrior. Sure, she had to burn bridges to make new ones, it would seem, but she needed this. She told herself again that she needed this.
"Hey Penn, if you're going to District Nine, I'm coming with you," Dray said definitively. He stood up next to his girlfriend. "It may be new to me, but I'm going to support you every step of the way."
Penn turned to him and sighed. She wasn't so sure about it. "My father is coming with me for a reason, babe. He's coming to help guide me to the other District. I appreciate your support, but I think you should really stay here. This is your home—your family. You'd leave it all behind."
"I want to come with you," he smiled. "I don't care if I have to find a new life in District Nine. I'll go on. But… Don't leave me here alone. You were the first good thing to happen to me in a long line of bad ones. I want to be here for you."
Penn turned around to face him and kissed him lightly on the lips. In the few seconds she took, she knew exactly what was going to happen next. She had already worked out her whole plan in her head on the way home. This was all going to be fine. She was fine…
71% of readers chose to [B. Leave Dray in District One.]
When they broke apart, she was happy she had a boyfriend who supported her more than her father would. Maybe he didn't understand where she was coming from, having never been a Career himself, but he was willing to try.
But she couldn't bring herself to ruin him.
"I'm sorry," Penn told him, smiling. "I can't bring you with me."
Dray looked as though he had been slapped. Penn hadn't known him for nearly as long as he'd known her, yet she could tell he truly loved her. That made the hurt in his eyes all the more painful.
"Don't you understand? What about your brother? What is he going to do once you're gone?"
"I don't know…" Dray said, beaten like a puppy. "I could bring him with us. Penn, you can't do this alone."
"I won't be alone. I'll have my father."
She walked over to the kitchen, trying not to let it get to her. She had won the argument after all. She was finally going to take her part in the Games, in her destiny.
"Penn, you don't know what the Games are," her father said, his head in his hands. He almost looked pitiful, in truth.
"Of course I do," she shot back.
"You can't go through with this…" he said, defeated. "Dray, how can you stand for this?"
He took Penn's arm, though there was doubt there. She could feel it. "I stand with her because I'll always be at her side." He turned and whispered at her. "You know I'll always be at your side, right? When you come back, you'll come back for me?"
She didn't know what to tell him.
"And when her side isn't there?" Dad was peppering him now. "What will you do then?"
Dray shook his head in determination. He truly didn't believe there was any alternative to Penn living through the Games. He was sweet. She kissed him again.
Dad held his head over the table, lost. His long hair fell around his face so Penn couldn't see his expression, but she knew he was angry. "I'll go with you tomorrow. There is a small hole in the fence security system. It opens up for five minutes every four days. If you want to catch it, we leave at dawn…"
"Thanks, Dad," Penn smiled, blowing him a kiss. "Thank you for finally agreeing with me. At least you still get to use your master escape plan! And hey, once I get back, we can make a new one to get to the Capitol and find Mom. Things are looking up."
"You've already convinced me of your reasoning." If there was a jab there, Penn chose to ignore it. "Don't ask me to be happy about it."
"I still don't understand why you're so freaked out about all of this, Dad. This is my one shot at getting back at the Reaping. I deserve to be up on stage." A lock of black hair fell across her eyes, but she didn't care enough to blow it away. "You were telling me how much you thought I was a shoe-in for this one, why is it any different now?"
"Because now is different, okay? Your Reaping was part of the plan, but now that's all out the window, the only thing we can do is wait until we have a better shot. I never actually intended you to go into the arena."
"Well I did. I do. I want this more than anything, Dad."
"You want it more than me?" he asked, heartbroken. There was a tear in his eye. Stop making this so hard, Daddy. You're thinking about it in the wrong way. "You want it more than your father? More than your boyfriend?"
Dray shrugged and shrank back against the wall.
"Daddy?" she frowned. The instant she saw that tear fall, she knew how much she'd hurt him. She felt regret, but regret wasn't enough. I'm right, Dad. "Dad, I don't want to leave you at all. I just don't want to give up this opportunity…"
"The opportunity to participate in something there is a one in twenty-four chance of returning from?" he replied. "What if you die in the arena? Have you thought about the consequences? Dray and I… Your mother… I don't think I could go on."
"I'm going to return," she repeated. She was so definitely sure of this, it occupied every other thought from the moment she had heard about the Games. This was all going to work out. No one was going to have to sacrifice anything. Why doesn't he see this?
"If she says she's going to come home, she means it," Dray added, sitting down in the open space next to the two of them. "I've never known this girl to go back on a promise. If she's sure of her word, I am too."
Dad turned away, staring at the wall. There was a hole there, and Penn wasn't sure why. The way her father looked at it was slightly disconcerting. "You know nothing of the Games…" he muttered. "I've tried to give you everything you wanted in life, honey… I watched you grow up, and I was sad when I watched you leave for the Hall of Careers that first day, but I let you continue because you believed in it. Even yesterday, I knew you wouldn't be called. I never thought you'd go to these lengths. I know you better than you know yourself!"
"I know the Hunger Games better than I know you!" she shouted, standing up from her seat. "Ever since I woke up, I've heard nothing except your talk of the Games! What do I know about you?"
"Nothing…" he admitted. He puffed up his chest, and heaved in. "Which is why, until you find yourself, you're not going to be allowed to make your own decisions. I will not be joining you if you keep up this attitude. You can count me out…"
"Dad! This will take months—years! I only have this shot once! This is the Twenty-Fifth Annual Hunger Games! The First Quarter Quell!"
"Right… Twenty-Five Hunger Games now… That's what they are." He slammed his fist down on the table, making the room rattle. "That's not what they mean. Year after year, the Districts send off two of their best and brightest, and none of them ever return. Do you not fear death?!"
"Death is nothing to be afraid of!" she returned. Her blood was heated now. There was no going back. "I already died once! This can't be any worse! And you don't have to fear death either! I'm going to come back! I'm a survivor…"
"No, you are not a fighter," her father spoke to her. "You are many things, honey. Many wonderful things, but you are not a fighter. If you try to be a hero, you're going to fail."
"I'm coming back, Dad!" Penn shot back with a defiance that shook the table. "And when I do, this family won't ever have to worry again. No one in this District will."
"No one in District Nine, anyway." Dad was solemn now, resigned. "Have you really thought through this at all? Say you do switch Districts, and by the slightest chance, you make it into the Games. By an even slighter chance, you then emerge a victor, back in District Nine. You think this District will count you as a hero when you return? No, they'll think of you as the thief who stole their winnings to one of the most important Games in history."
Penn found a drawer in the kitchen and opened it hastily. There was a kitchen knife right where she'd left it. She picked it up and hurled it across the room, past her father, past her boyfriend, at the painting of an old man. It wasn't framed, nor was any other painting here. The knife landed centered between the eyes of the old man. It would have been a fatal shot had it been real. "I've been able to do that since I woke up, Dad! I can't miss! I just look at something and know exactly how to hit it from thirty feet away. How can you look at that and tell me that this is a bad idea?"
The man looked shocked and saddened by her actions. "I don't. I look at that and tell you that you just ruined one of your mother's last paintings."
"Stop calling her my mother! Stop calling yourself my father! I don't know you!" She was crying now, backing away from them. "I don't know any of you…"
She ran through the house, and instinctively knew the way to her room. She found her bed and buried her face in it. She didn't have a pillow to scream into, or else she would have. Who am I? Who am I? There was only one way to find out: the Hunger Games.
The longer she laid there, crying in her bed, the more she started to criticize herself. She ruined the painting… made her father cry… After a while, another voice began to whisper in her ear. You're wrong, Penn, it said. You're only going to get yourself killed. She pushed it away. The truth would only make it hurt the more.
Five minutes later, there was a loud thud, and her father let loose a scream. As the silence crept back, she could hear him weeping in the next room. It only made her cry harder. She heard Dray attempting to comfort him, to no effect.
Why are they like this? Why am I like this? She wanted to hug both of them and pull them tight, yet every time they opened their mouths, Penn's first instinct was to push them away. "Who am I?" she asked aloud to no one.
"You're my girl," Dray responded from the doorway, making her jump.
"Please, Dray… I just want to be alone right now."
He ignored her, approaching her bed. He wrapped his right arm around her shoulder and she instantly felt safer than she had. "You'll have enough time for that later. I want to spend every last moment I have with you." Penn buried her face in his shoulder and let out all the tears she had held back. "That was a tense situation, I know, but things will work themselves out."
"Dray… Tomorrow at dawn, I'm leaving," she whispered.
There was silence… for a long time. His heart beat rose steadily. "What about Jomal?" He finally asked.
"If he wants to go to the Capitol so bad, let him go himself…" She kissed him. "I'm sorry I can't take you with me. You know I want to."
Dray was crying now too. "Just don't make it goodbye. I'm terrible with goodbyes… You know I love you, right?"
"I used to…"
She laid there for so long in her boyfriend's arms. Even counting the ones she couldn't remember, she was sure today was the most stressful day of her life. She just wanted it all to go away. She wanted to wake up tomorrow and know who she was. Alas, it was futile. And then Penn closed her eyes and drifted to sleep. Finally, she could rest. Finally, she was at peace.
End of Chapter 8
Penn Cassidy
Nothing had changed. Penn wasn't sure what it had been before, but nothing had changed. There still stood a man before the teenagers of District One, wielding the names. The Reaping would continue.
She knew very little what these Games were, but the more and more she learned, the more Penn wished she was part of them. She looked around at the Hall of Careers and knew that a few days ago, this had been her home. They had called her a Career.
Penn stood beside her father, Jomal, in a crowd of screaming and drunk kids. The lights in the chamber were suspended high above on the ceiling, and were dimmed far beyond the point of clear vision. The man standing on stage was smiling through the screams of excited teens and loud blaring music. Had Penn had her memories, she wouldn't have been anywhere else. The room was filled with excitement. The tributes were about to be chosen.
Yesterday, the projection of a short man appeared in the center of town. He told them that this year, instead of being picked at random in a giant glass bowl, the tributes would be chosen by the District itself. This was an easy problem for District One. Hundreds of kids had been trained since birth to take up the position in the Hall of Careers, and this year, they would pick the very best of them.
"This is something crazy, huh?!" a guy in front of her said, while wading through the masses carrying a platter of drinks. His eyes were yellowed and half-closed as he floated by.
"C'mon, Penn. We have to get you to the front." Her father told her in a relatively quiet voice. He seemed sort of emotionless as he said it, like all the excitement in the room wasn't touching him. "You're going to be chosen."
"Greetings, District One candidates!" shouted the large tatted man on the center stage. The crowd let out a cheer in response. He was huge and had very dark black hair. From what Penn had heard from the random mumblings of potential tributes, his name was Plexus Grimshott, and he won the Fifth Annual Hunger Games. Twenty years later, he led the aspiring Careers in this facility. "Welcom to the First Quarter Quell. Or as I like to call it, the chance to show Panem what the Careers are all about!"
It was technically illegal, in the eyes of the Capitol, to train children before the Games, yet it was something most Peacekeepers let slip by. Her father had told her she was one of these Careers, and as Plexus Grimshott stood above the crowd, she was confident she'd be the one chosen.
She brushed past one drunk Career after another. They had made tonight a huge party. She wondered, if her father wasn't here with her, if she wouldn't be drunk alongside the lot of them. She was wading through idiots, yet she knew not to tell them that to their faces. All were trained killers with shaky trigger fingers. Even though it was complete idiocy, Penn found the whole thing massively entertaining. She thought dreamily of the honor it would bring her to stand up on the stage alongside Plexus and be chosen as tribute.
"You're smiling." Dad nudged her on the shoulder. "I see you still have some of your old spirit left."
She turned to her father, but didn't respond. This was where she felt at home, someplace where it was loud and noisy, and everyone was cheering in unison. It felt like the sound was enveloping her, and she enjoyed it.
Once the two of them fought to the front of the crowd, Penn found a familiar face smiling back at her. "Hey, Penn!" the guy said. He wore a soft hat that rounded the top of his head and he had a bit of black stubble on his chin. It was her boyfriend, Dray. She met him a week ago when she woke up in prison. He wasn't the most attractive guy she'd ever seen, but he was nice, and he did the job.
He wrapped his arms around her, pecking her on the cheek. His breath smelled like beer. "Have you been drinking?" she asked.
"Who around here hasn't?" he laughed. The crowd began to leap up and down in unison to the beat of the music. Dray followed along, whooping.
Penn looked back to Dad, expecting a disapproving look, but she only found a smile. Penn sighed. This was all so surreal. She had woken up committed to two people she hardly knew.
"Alright, let's get down to business!" Plexus shouted into the microphone up on stage and the Careers roared. Penn could hardly hear anymore. "Everyone should be here now. Can I hear what our name is?!"
"District One!" everyone chimed together.
"What is our trade?!"
"THE GAMES!"
Dad looked disappointed and a tad angry. Penn laughed at him. "What's wrong, Daddy?" she asked.
"Our trade is luxury," he said. "It's definitely not the Games…"
"Shh!" Dray brought his finger to his lips slowly, finding them uneasily. The rest of the room went silent and the loud music shut off. "They're starting."
"As we know, there is no volunteering for this one, guys," Plexus told them through the boom of the speakers, swirling on the stage. The crowd circled around him. "You all have voted on the strongest fighter among us, and I stand here today, on righteous ground: the site where our children become heroes! Two of you will join them today!"
Everyone in the room, Penn included, watched Plexus walk over to the glass bowl on his left. It was the one full of the male names. He ripped out a name gruffly, causing the others to spill to the floor. He held it up in a fist.
"Stygian Pluto!" he shouted, and everyone began to cheer. From the other side of the stage, a tall, muscular boy with close-cropped blond hair. He climbed confidently up to Plexus and shook his hand with a swagger. "Congratulations to our new male tribute!"
The applause and the cheer mingled into one, excited drone. Stygian turned to the rest of them and held his arms high above his head. "District One for life!"
There were quiet grumbles as soon as the room quieted down. "He's so big," Dray whispered in her ear. "No wonder people voted for him."
"There are more tactics than brute strength," Penn replied. She pressed her fingers hard into his side and he jumped to the side in pain.
But he laughed it off. "I guess you're right."
Plexus found the other bowl on the stage. This is it, she thought. I'm going to be the female tribute. I have to be. He reached into the pile of names and withdrew one. Penn grew more and more anxious with every second that passed. It was going to be her…
"Skeeter Lascius!" Plexus called into the crowd. Penn could feel her heart stop, and Dray held her tighter. Dad patted her on the shoulder.
When the girl made her way through the applause and onto the stage, everyone could see her piercing blue eyes. She was trying to look brave, but those eyes didn't lie. The girl was terrified. She practically reeked of fear. It was disgusting.
"And our female tribute!" Plexus bellowed. "Shake hands to seal the pact!" the moment Stygian and Skeeter shook hands together, Penn was furious. She was so sure she would be the one to bring honor to the District. She turned away in a hurry and began to cut through the crowd.
"Hey, honey…" her father reached out for her.
"Penn, it's not the end of the world," Dray called back, as their voices drowned out in the sea of tributes.
The music swelled louder and the cheering enveloped the room; everything smelled rank like alcohol. Penn was sick of it. She threw the door of the facility open and tromped up the stairs until she arrived in the rec room in the center of Town Square. It was a stupid way of camouflaging a secret Career facility. Anyone who enjoyed ping pong would see the entrance on a daily basis.
She slammed the doors and walked out into the night cold, leaving the vibrating building behind her. Her father's voice echoed. "Penn, I know you're upset, but it's time to go home now. Why don't we—?"
"You told me I was special," Penn interrupted him. She turned and pointed her accusatory finger at him. "You told me people feared me. You said they shouted my name when I walked down the street."
"They do…" he continued.
"No, they don't!" she screamed. "Stop telling me they do!"
"Penn," Dray said, approaching her slowly. "I think you're being a bit rash here."
Penn bit her lip in frustration. The nerve of him… "Go away," she whispered. "I just lost all my memory! Poof! Goodbye! The Games were going to be the one thing that could bring them back!" She collapsed onto the ground, angry with the world, but as she did, she came to a realization.
Dray wrapped his arms across her shoulders there on the ground, and attempted to help her up. It was futile. "Why don't we find you someplace warmer to spend the night than Town Square?"
"Is everything all right here, citizens?" asked a man in white plate, a Peacekeeper holding his helmet in his hand. "There were reports of some teenagers disturbing the peace."
"I think we're fine, sir," Daddy told him calmly. He jerked his head towards her. "We're fine, right, Penn?"
"We're fine…" Penn repeated. As the Peacekeeper left, she stood up and turned to her father. "Dad, you were talking about escape a few days ago. You said I was caught trying to escape. Where was I going?"
Dad sighed and shook his head. "This isn't the best place to discuss this. Let's take it home."
"Discuss what?" Dray asked, confused.
Penn agreed and the three of them followed the road until it led to the group of houses where the wealthier members of the District lived. By the time they made it to their street, she had collected herself. She wasn't sure why she went so far off the deep end on the only two people who actually meant anything to her. When they arrived at her home, she knew it by the number: 881. The paint was green and not peeling from the wall like every other house down the way. She walked up and opened the door, immediately finding a seat at the table.
"What was I doing the other day?" she asked. "Why did they find me outside the fence?"
The seat across from Dray creaked under his weight. "You used to know this, but I've planned an escape from the District for quite some time now."
"Escape to where?" she asked.
"The Capitol," he replied. "It's the land of paradise. Ever since your mother was taken, I've been formulating a plan to sneak out and rescue her. You were caught outside the perimeter because you fell, and they caught you."
"You didn't go down to help me?" Penn raised an eyebrow.
"I couldn't. There was too much at stake." He looked out the window towards the night sky. So did Penn. The moon was lit like a beacon amongst the stars. "If they caught us together, they would've judged you harsher. I didn't want you to end up like your mother."
Dray leaned in. Penn could tell his confusion. "I would like to point out that this all goes way over my head. Why would you want to leave? I like it here."
"Here is not in our best interests," Dad told him. "It may be your home, but it has never been ours."
Penn squinted at the moon, formulating her own plan. "Are there any non-Career Districts adjacent to this one?" she asked. "Ones where the Games are not their trade?"
"The only one I can think of would be District Nine. Why do you ask?" The corner of her mouth began to turn into a smile. "Oh no… You're not thinking…"
"I've already made my decision," Penn said, lying back in her seat confidently. "You wanna get me out of here and to the Capitol so badly, we're going to have to have a pit stop in Nine first."
"This is because of the Games, isn't it?" he cried. "The other Districts have nothing for us, Penn. The Capitol is where we need to be when these Games start."
"The Hunger Games would give me purpose," Penn told him. "Dad, when was the last time you had a chance to do something that would not only bring you honor… but glory? Who's to say I'll ever get this chance again? I'm eighteen. Next year, I'm not eligible anymore."
"Penn, you can't be in the Hunger Games!" He pressed his fingers against his temple. "You won't survive it."
"Are you saying that because you're afraid for me?" she frowned. "Spare me the lecture, Dad. I'm going with or without you."
"You can't get out without my plans," Dad said in a punctual tone. It didn't matter. Penn was going to win this.
"Oh, I know," she replied. "But I’m going to try anyway. I might have a much larger chance of not getting caught if you come with me."
"You can't do this… Please…"
"I don't get why you're fretting over this." She slammed her hand down on the kitchen table, rattling and shaking it. "I want this, Dad! I sure as hell want it more than getting to the Capitol. Now are you coming with me?"
Dad's eyes were fire, and his beard itched. "I'm fretting because I'm not ready to let my baby girl die in someone else's game…"
She smacked her hand on the table again. "Well I am. Just think where they're gonna come if I try and fail to use YOUR escape plan!"
Penn's father breathed a sigh of anger through his nose. It was hard for them to admit she was right, but she was. How else would she finally be able to find purpose than these Games? "Fine," he barked. "We'll go to District Nine. I want you to know how much this hurts me."
Penn was angry now. "It hurts me that you're this against letting me bring honor to the District."
"This ain't about the District." He frowned, looking up at her through the corner of his eye. "This is about you."
Penn walked over to the window and gazed from it. She smiled, knowing that in a few days' time, she would be a tribute. She found herself hoping against hope that she would find many prime opportunities to punch that girl Skeeter in her timid face. This was who Penn was. She was a warrior. Sure, she had to burn bridges to make new ones, it would seem, but she needed this. She told herself again that she needed this.
"Hey Penn, if you're going to District Nine, I'm coming with you," Dray said definitively. He stood up next to his girlfriend. "It may be new to me, but I'm going to support you every step of the way."
Penn turned to him and sighed. She wasn't so sure about it. "My father is coming with me for a reason, babe. He's coming to help guide me to the other District. I appreciate your support, but I think you should really stay here. This is your home—your family. You'd leave it all behind."
"I want to come with you," he smiled. "I don't care if I have to find a new life in District Nine. I'll go on. But… Don't leave me here alone. You were the first good thing to happen to me in a long line of bad ones. I want to be here for you."
Penn turned around to face him and kissed him lightly on the lips. In the few seconds she took, she knew exactly what was going to happen next. She had already worked out her whole plan in her head on the way home. This was all going to be fine. She was fine…
71% of readers chose to [B. Leave Dray in District One.]
When they broke apart, she was happy she had a boyfriend who supported her more than her father would. Maybe he didn't understand where she was coming from, having never been a Career himself, but he was willing to try.
But she couldn't bring herself to ruin him.
"I'm sorry," Penn told him, smiling. "I can't bring you with me."
Dray looked as though he had been slapped. Penn hadn't known him for nearly as long as he'd known her, yet she could tell he truly loved her. That made the hurt in his eyes all the more painful.
"Don't you understand? What about your brother? What is he going to do once you're gone?"
"I don't know…" Dray said, beaten like a puppy. "I could bring him with us. Penn, you can't do this alone."
"I won't be alone. I'll have my father."
She walked over to the kitchen, trying not to let it get to her. She had won the argument after all. She was finally going to take her part in the Games, in her destiny.
"Penn, you don't know what the Games are," her father said, his head in his hands. He almost looked pitiful, in truth.
"Of course I do," she shot back.
"You can't go through with this…" he said, defeated. "Dray, how can you stand for this?"
He took Penn's arm, though there was doubt there. She could feel it. "I stand with her because I'll always be at her side." He turned and whispered at her. "You know I'll always be at your side, right? When you come back, you'll come back for me?"
She didn't know what to tell him.
"And when her side isn't there?" Dad was peppering him now. "What will you do then?"
Dray shook his head in determination. He truly didn't believe there was any alternative to Penn living through the Games. He was sweet. She kissed him again.
Dad held his head over the table, lost. His long hair fell around his face so Penn couldn't see his expression, but she knew he was angry. "I'll go with you tomorrow. There is a small hole in the fence security system. It opens up for five minutes every four days. If you want to catch it, we leave at dawn…"
"Thanks, Dad," Penn smiled, blowing him a kiss. "Thank you for finally agreeing with me. At least you still get to use your master escape plan! And hey, once I get back, we can make a new one to get to the Capitol and find Mom. Things are looking up."
"You've already convinced me of your reasoning." If there was a jab there, Penn chose to ignore it. "Don't ask me to be happy about it."
"I still don't understand why you're so freaked out about all of this, Dad. This is my one shot at getting back at the Reaping. I deserve to be up on stage." A lock of black hair fell across her eyes, but she didn't care enough to blow it away. "You were telling me how much you thought I was a shoe-in for this one, why is it any different now?"
"Because now is different, okay? Your Reaping was part of the plan, but now that's all out the window, the only thing we can do is wait until we have a better shot. I never actually intended you to go into the arena."
"Well I did. I do. I want this more than anything, Dad."
"You want it more than me?" he asked, heartbroken. There was a tear in his eye. Stop making this so hard, Daddy. You're thinking about it in the wrong way. "You want it more than your father? More than your boyfriend?"
Dray shrugged and shrank back against the wall.
"Daddy?" she frowned. The instant she saw that tear fall, she knew how much she'd hurt him. She felt regret, but regret wasn't enough. I'm right, Dad. "Dad, I don't want to leave you at all. I just don't want to give up this opportunity…"
"The opportunity to participate in something there is a one in twenty-four chance of returning from?" he replied. "What if you die in the arena? Have you thought about the consequences? Dray and I… Your mother… I don't think I could go on."
"I'm going to return," she repeated. She was so definitely sure of this, it occupied every other thought from the moment she had heard about the Games. This was all going to work out. No one was going to have to sacrifice anything. Why doesn't he see this?
"If she says she's going to come home, she means it," Dray added, sitting down in the open space next to the two of them. "I've never known this girl to go back on a promise. If she's sure of her word, I am too."
Dad turned away, staring at the wall. There was a hole there, and Penn wasn't sure why. The way her father looked at it was slightly disconcerting. "You know nothing of the Games…" he muttered. "I've tried to give you everything you wanted in life, honey… I watched you grow up, and I was sad when I watched you leave for the Hall of Careers that first day, but I let you continue because you believed in it. Even yesterday, I knew you wouldn't be called. I never thought you'd go to these lengths. I know you better than you know yourself!"
"I know the Hunger Games better than I know you!" she shouted, standing up from her seat. "Ever since I woke up, I've heard nothing except your talk of the Games! What do I know about you?"
"Nothing…" he admitted. He puffed up his chest, and heaved in. "Which is why, until you find yourself, you're not going to be allowed to make your own decisions. I will not be joining you if you keep up this attitude. You can count me out…"
"Dad! This will take months—years! I only have this shot once! This is the Twenty-Fifth Annual Hunger Games! The First Quarter Quell!"
"Right… Twenty-Five Hunger Games now… That's what they are." He slammed his fist down on the table, making the room rattle. "That's not what they mean. Year after year, the Districts send off two of their best and brightest, and none of them ever return. Do you not fear death?!"
"Death is nothing to be afraid of!" she returned. Her blood was heated now. There was no going back. "I already died once! This can't be any worse! And you don't have to fear death either! I'm going to come back! I'm a survivor…"
"No, you are not a fighter," her father spoke to her. "You are many things, honey. Many wonderful things, but you are not a fighter. If you try to be a hero, you're going to fail."
"I'm coming back, Dad!" Penn shot back with a defiance that shook the table. "And when I do, this family won't ever have to worry again. No one in this District will."
"No one in District Nine, anyway." Dad was solemn now, resigned. "Have you really thought through this at all? Say you do switch Districts, and by the slightest chance, you make it into the Games. By an even slighter chance, you then emerge a victor, back in District Nine. You think this District will count you as a hero when you return? No, they'll think of you as the thief who stole their winnings to one of the most important Games in history."
Penn found a drawer in the kitchen and opened it hastily. There was a kitchen knife right where she'd left it. She picked it up and hurled it across the room, past her father, past her boyfriend, at the painting of an old man. It wasn't framed, nor was any other painting here. The knife landed centered between the eyes of the old man. It would have been a fatal shot had it been real. "I've been able to do that since I woke up, Dad! I can't miss! I just look at something and know exactly how to hit it from thirty feet away. How can you look at that and tell me that this is a bad idea?"
The man looked shocked and saddened by her actions. "I don't. I look at that and tell you that you just ruined one of your mother's last paintings."
"Stop calling her my mother! Stop calling yourself my father! I don't know you!" She was crying now, backing away from them. "I don't know any of you…"
She ran through the house, and instinctively knew the way to her room. She found her bed and buried her face in it. She didn't have a pillow to scream into, or else she would have. Who am I? Who am I? There was only one way to find out: the Hunger Games.
The longer she laid there, crying in her bed, the more she started to criticize herself. She ruined the painting… made her father cry… After a while, another voice began to whisper in her ear. You're wrong, Penn, it said. You're only going to get yourself killed. She pushed it away. The truth would only make it hurt the more.
Five minutes later, there was a loud thud, and her father let loose a scream. As the silence crept back, she could hear him weeping in the next room. It only made her cry harder. She heard Dray attempting to comfort him, to no effect.
Why are they like this? Why am I like this? She wanted to hug both of them and pull them tight, yet every time they opened their mouths, Penn's first instinct was to push them away. "Who am I?" she asked aloud to no one.
"You're my girl," Dray responded from the doorway, making her jump.
"Please, Dray… I just want to be alone right now."
He ignored her, approaching her bed. He wrapped his right arm around her shoulder and she instantly felt safer than she had. "You'll have enough time for that later. I want to spend every last moment I have with you." Penn buried her face in his shoulder and let out all the tears she had held back. "That was a tense situation, I know, but things will work themselves out."
"Dray… Tomorrow at dawn, I'm leaving," she whispered.
There was silence… for a long time. His heart beat rose steadily. "What about Jomal?" He finally asked.
"If he wants to go to the Capitol so bad, let him go himself…" She kissed him. "I'm sorry I can't take you with me. You know I want to."
Dray was crying now too. "Just don't make it goodbye. I'm terrible with goodbyes… You know I love you, right?"
"I used to…"
She laid there for so long in her boyfriend's arms. Even counting the ones she couldn't remember, she was sure today was the most stressful day of her life. She just wanted it all to go away. She wanted to wake up tomorrow and know who she was. Alas, it was futile. And then Penn closed her eyes and drifted to sleep. Finally, she could rest. Finally, she was at peace.
End of Chapter 8