Back to Normal: The 35th Hunger Games

Chapter 6

Velvet Teek POV

Reaping Day is the most exciting day of the year. Everyone scuttles around getting things ready, and people come all the way from the Capitol to mess things up. I loved to sit near the square with Gilbert and watch all the fuss. I watched a cluster of people trying to pull up a tent and smirked.

"What are you smiling about? Two of us are about to get reaped," Gilbert said.

"Yeah, yeah. It happens every year. No use getting all depressed," I said. "Besides, it's exciting."

"You won't be excited if it's you," Gilbert said. "It's not fair. I already lost Yasmine. I don't want to lose you too."

"It must be hard for you that Yasmine got murdered. I'm sure she's sorry," I said. Gilbert was used to my morbid jokes and barely reacted.

"That's not funny. Yasmine's dead," he said.

"I do miss her. It's just being sad won't bring her back," I said. It was so weird how someone could be alive one day and just... dead the next. It never seemed normal that Yasmine would never be back.

"As long as it's not you, everything will be all right," Gilbert said. I smiled.

"It has to happen to someone, so why not me? I'm no different from anyone in the District," I said.

"Nothing's ever serious, is it? You always find a way to make things happy," Gilbert said. He didn't seem as happy as I was. He looked worriedly at the crowd.

"Either way, we're all going to die," I said. "Most of us live a boring life in whatever District we're born into. We work all our lives and then we die. Tributes get to go to the Capitol and test themselves in the greatest adventure ever. Their lives are shorter but they live so much harder. Is that really so much worse?"

Gilbert didn't answer. I wasn't sure how much I even believed it myself. I just knew there was so much more in the world, and I was stuck in my District living the life a thousand people had lived before.

"It's almost time," Gilbert said. The Reaping center was up and the attendants were done bickering and getting in each others' way. Children were starting to gather in front of the identification stations.

"Hope you don't get reaped," I said.

"Hope you don't," he said back. Before I got up, I lay back and spread my arms out as I looked up at the sky.

"If I do, my death will be awesome."

Sylvester Holloway POV

Life isn't always so bad in the Districts. I was lucky enough to be born in the District that did the job I wanted to do anyway. I always liked trains. Most boys do, and I wasn't different. I liked how big and noisy they were when I was little. As I grew older, I liked their stability and their solid nature. As soon as I was old enough, I got a job as an unloader. I was a good, dependable worker, and soon I got the chance to train to be a conductor. I looked forward to it every day.

It was also nice that I got to work with some of my friends. Thomas worked as a bellhop and Helena cleaned the sleeper cars for the few Capitol riders that came through on business or pleasure. It was like work and play at the same time. We gathered back in the coal car while the train was getting refueled.

"How's the grind?" Helena asked.

"It's going," I said. "I learned how to uncouple a car."

"Neat. Next do you learn how to open a door?" Helena asked. She and Thomas didn't like work as much as I did. It made me feel responsible and important. Working gives you a purpose in life.

The train whistle went off, signaling our departure. Thomas and Helena went off to take care of business and I went back to my trainer, Gin, to learn more.

Being a conductor was even more complicated than I thought. What I most expected in my new job was to sort of keep the train on the tracks and plot out our course. I didn't know I'd also be collecting tickets, doing repairs, dropping off cargo, and doing anything else that needed to be done. It was a lot to take in.

When I was done training for the day, I found Thomas and Helena and we disembarked. I watched the train roll away and felt proud that soon I'd be running the entire thing. I'd be one of the youngest conductors in Six, and I knew I'd do a good job.

After a long day at work, I liked to just hang out with my friends. I had a lot of them, too. People like being around me. Maybe it's because I'm cool, or maybe I'm just not mean. It was almost like I had a charmed life. I had a good job and great friends. I didn't think I'd be any happier even if I lived in the Capitol. They had nothing to do there. They sat around and amused themselves with baubles and games. They didn't know the pleasure of working hard and earning a living. Sometimes I almost felt sorry for them.