District 9 Reaping

Dagan Saga:

An earsplitting scream come from the other room, sending the same chills down my back. My grandmother rushed through the door and made brief eye contact with me, "How is she doing?" I asked, looking at her with concern. Labor generally didn't take this long, at least it wasn't supposed to.

My grandmother shook her head slowly, "Emily's family waited too long before they contacted me. Trying to save money I suppose, they should of known that I would help them even if they couldn't pay right away....." She sigh wiping the blood off her hands and hobbling over to where I stood at the stove. "How close are you to being finished Dagan?"

I looked down at the herbs that I was cooking, they swirled in the pot filling my nose with a fresh smell, momentarily relieving me of the aroma of putrid oder that comes from childbirth that other wise filled the house. "I would say another minute." I said softly stirring the pot, it was always better to be safe than sorry with these pain killer brews, a lot of the plants I used were poisonous if not cooked long enough.

Grandmother nodded as another blood curdling scream came from the chamber where Emily was giving birth, Grandmother frowned worriedly. "Hurry up, bring it to me when your finished." She said bustling back through the door from which she had just come.

I walked over to the cupboard and selected one of the few bowls we owned and brought it over to the stove and carefully poured a little of the brew into the bowl and hurried it through the door and into the next room.

Formally the bedroom, Emily Tigri lay in my on grandmothers own mattress, covered only in a sheet as my grandmother pressed a cool washcloth to her forehead.

"Why aren't you doing anything?" I asked slowly, not wanting to know the answer.

"I've already done everything I can do for the moment. The rest is up to her. I can't say it looks good...." My grandmother said slowly "This is the last thing we can do...." She said slowly gesturing to the bowl I held.

I moved forward and grabbed a spoon lying on the bed stand, then kneeling over began to spoon it into her mouth. She didn't even look toward me as I fed her, her eyes were glazed over as sweat and tears streamed down her face, she must of been in agonizing pain. I suddenly was very grateful that I was a male.

BANG!!! BANG!!! BANG!!!

I jumped startled, nearly dropping the brew on the floor. Who would be visiting at this hour? All of Emily's family had gone home hours ago. I glance at the clock, 4 AM.

My grandmother sigh and took the bowl from me. "Go see who that is." She said tiredly, I knew how she felt. Nether of us had slept since yesterday morning and it was taking its toll. I nodded standing up and exited the small room, entering the main one and trudging to the door.

I opened it only to come face to face with 3 peacekeepers. Any drowsiness I had felt a minute ago vanished as I stared at them in fear. What did they want?

"Is this where the witch lives?" The tallest one grunted, supporting the middle one on his shoulder.

I looked at them confused for a second, then realized they were talking about my grandmother. How dare they? "No witch lives here." I uttered my words coming out a lot shakier than I had intended.

The shortest one who stood to the left of the other two glared at the tall one. "I'm sorry about Reilly, we mean does the doctor live here." He looked at me apologetically and I nod dumbly, afraid to say anything more.

"Can she help us? Trent here got attacked by a dog." He said gesturing to the man who Reilly was supporting.

"Umm..." I glanced over my shoulder nervously, hoping desperately for my grandmother to appear and take care of all of this, but I knew she wouldn't leave Emily's side. Emily was a close friend of the family and I knew she was like a daughter to grandmother. "She's busy, b-but I can help you." I stutter nervously, not daring to make them upset.

"And who are you?" Reilly asked snidely, his face not visible in the dark of the morning.

"I'm the doctors apprentice." I say fearfully, opening the door wider and stepping aside to allow them to come in. They trudged inside, their boots tracking mud all over the flimsy wooden floor.

I grab a chair and drag it over to the peacekeepers who sit Trent in it. In the light I can see his leg, the skin twisted and bleeding, the bone visible in some arenas. He himself was barely conscious, his head lolling it one side like a rag doll.

I quickly kneel over and start to peel the remaining cloth away from the wound, but Reilly pulls me backward. "Don't you touch him!" He said hostilely, making me freeze. "I want the real doctor, not some nitwit teenager." He hissed, "Now go get your mentor and tell her if she doesn't assist poor Trent here, we will arrest her." I look in panic to the peacekeeper who had been friendly before, but he only nods his head. Suddenly another bloodcurdling scream came from the bedroom, Reilly snapped his head around to the door "What was that?" He hissed

"A woman is giving birth in there, Grandmother can't assist you. The woman is her priority." I find the courage to say

"So the old hag is your grandmother now?" Reilly sneered "Make up your mind."

I hung my head, unable to speak another word, the fear seemed to be holding back. It was like a bad dream when however hard you try you can't scream.

After my father had died of heatstroke in the fields, my mother couldn't take care of me anymore, so she had sent me to my grandmother. My grandmother was unwilling to have a useless kid around, so she had decided to make me her student.

The peacekeeper shook me, "Go tell the doctor to get out here now!" I tried to push him away but he continued to shake me until I nodded my head weakly, "Fine." I murmured.

I walked dizzily over to the door and creaked it open. "Grandmother..... There are some peacekeepers who want your help." I murmured

My grandmother was now covered in blood again as she bent over the Emily, who was panting harder than ever now, her face contorted in pain. "I can't! The baby is coming now!!!" She said not turning toward me, rather focusing on her work.

I closed the door, and looked back to the peacekeepers who were looking at me expectantly. "S-she can't come. The baby is coming out right now." I stuttered without looking at them. "If you wait a few hours I'm sure--"

Suddenly Reilly was throwing me aside and pushing the door open, I laid there dazed for a few seconds, before I became aware of the yelling in the bedroom. I got to my feet hurriedly and looked inside to see Reilly grabbing my grandmother by the collar and yelling at her to help them. Grandmother, narrowed her old eyes and refused him saying she had her priorities.

"Well I can take care of your 'priority'." He chided mockingly throwing my small grandmother aside roughly and raising gun like a club as he brought it down on Emily's pregnant stomach. She let out another bloodcurdling scream that send shivers running up and down my spine.

I back up, horrified as he brought it down a second time. I look around and see a scalpel on the table next to the stove and grab it and run over the the peacekeeper who had been attacked by the dog. I held the scalpel over his throat. "STOP!!! STOP IT NOW REILLY!!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Reilly turned to face me and his jaw dropped as he saw the scalpel.

"I'll kill him. I swear I'll really do it if you dare lay another hand on Emily!" I say, my hand shaking so hard I was afraid I would drop my weapon.

Reilly and his friend both exchanged nervous looks. "If you killed him you would be pu-"

"I don't care!!!" I screamed, the fear of what I was doing setting in, but I was unwilling to stop now. They were going to kill Emily, who literally was like a big sister to me! "One wrong move and I'll kill him!!!" I repeated myself, my body shaking beyond control.

"Dagan!!!" My grandmothers sharp voice came from inside the room as she pushed past the peacekeepers and wrenched the scalpel from my hands. "A  life is a precious thing that is NEVER to be taken from someone." She said harshly, placing the scalpel back on the table and glared at me.

I looked downward in shame, I hated to disappoint her, then back up in time to see my grandmother push through the two stunned peacekeepers and go back to delivering the baby.

The two men looked at each other, Reilly's face contorted into rage while his friend looked a bit awed.

"HOW DARE--" Reilly started, but was cut off by his friend, "Reilly stop it. We can take Trent to the barracks and wrap up his leg there." He snapped

"But-" Reilly started, but clearly had no chance as his friend cut him off again, "No buts, lets get the heck out of here now!" He yelled, and just like that they left.

I didn't move as I watched them leave, carrying Trent away, I was too ashamed. My grandmother must be so upset with me, she had always taught me the value of life and it had gone out of my head in a moment of panic. I had almost killed someone.

I take a deep breath and slowly approach the bedroom where Grandmother is working. I want to help, but I just can't bring myself to face her, I can tell by how rigid her body is that she's incredibly angry.

Now's not the time. I slowly back toward the door and open it, freeing myself from the house. The morning air was cool and damp, I could see the sun rising in the distance slowly illuminating the dark sky. I can only see the dim outlines of the shacks next to ours, a stray cat hisses at me and disappears back to where it came from.

As soon as I'm far enough away, I break into a run heading into the fields, unsure of where I was going or where I was to end up. I ran until I could run no longer and collapsed to the wet ground. My hand squeezed the fertile soil, as a tear rolled down my cheek. Sometimes my life just felt too hard, sometimes I just wished that something would come easy for once. I knew people had it a lot worse than me, but it didn't change how I felt.... I rolled over and looked upwards, looking at the countless stars that could still be seen in the west. I wondered what my dad thought of me. I know he's up there with the stars, that's what my grandmother had told me when  I had first come to live with her.

I closed my eyes remembering her words, 'He's up in the stars, watching over you Dagan, even though you can't see him he will always protect you.'

"Where are you now dad?" I muttered in the dark, my voice cracking. I stared up into the dawning sky, feeling more alone than I had in my entire life. Warm tears slipped out of my eyes, in an almost soothing manor.... Before I knew what was happening I felt my eyes slowly close, the tiredness, stress, and sadness finally drifting away.

****

I woke with a start, in time to see a dark boot headed directly at me. I try to move out of the way, but it hits my stomach with the force of a truck, I grasp my stomach in pain as who ever kicked me roughly grabs a clump of my dark hair and pulls me to my feet. I yelp in pain and try to break away, still unsure of what was going on.

The man slapped me, "Quit squirming, roach!" He hissed, I stopped moving and faced the man, it was a peacekeeper. The familiar nervousness set in as I looked at him, he released my hair and frowned. "Nobody is supposed to be in the field today kid, the reaping is in a couple hours. Now I'm going to let you off easy, go back to wherever you came from and I'll report that this field is empty. Understand?"

I didn't give him a chance to change his mind as I took off down the long rows of wheat. The sun was high now, it must of been at least 10 'o clock now. I curse myself, that I had fallen asleep, I hadn't meant to do that! That situation could of turned out to be a lot worse! I could be up for charges or worse!

I cut through the ramshackle houses of the town, it was incredibly silent, making my footsteps seem 20x louder than they actually were.

Through a open door of one of the shacks I saw a mother adjusting the collar of her son grimly. The boy no more then 12 looked down at his feet nervously. I frowned, feeling bad for him, I remembered my first reaping..... It had been back when dad was still alive. I remember how he had hugged me and told me everything would be fine. And then my mother had come over and playfully hit him over the head with her cooking spoon, scolding him for being to soft with me.

My father had died a year later.

I push my thoughts out of my mind as I open the flimsy wooden door to grandmothers shack. The inside is alive with crying people, Emily's family I realized. I felt my stomach drop.... Was Emily....?

My Grandmother pushed through the crowd and embraced me tightly. "Where did you go?! I was so worried!" She asked concerned

I let out a small breath of relief, thankful my grandmothers anger had passed. "I'm sorry Grandmother, I just felt so ashamed of what I had done....."

My grandmother put a hand on my shoulder. "Not what you did, what you almost did, but you didn't do it." I looked into her warm blue eyes and I felt better. "Hopefully you've learned from this and won't nearly make that mistake again."

I nodded, "Grandmother.... What about Emily? Is she alright?" I asked in concern, looking around the room at her sad family.

"Emily survived, but her baby didn't make it.... I did everything I could, but it was no use." My grandmother hung her head, she almost never lost a baby in childbirth and I could tell she blamed herself.

Mrs. Tigri must of overheard us because she came over and put a hand on each of our shoulders. "I-It was probably for the better. I don't think she could of coped with raising it. I think she would of fell apart, the baby just a constant reminder of what happened...."

There was an uncomfortable silence as we all remembered hearing about poor Emily's ordeal. Apparently last November, the overseer had asked Emily to stay after hours to talk about her harvesting. A hard worker, she had agreed, ignorant to the mans true intentions.....  

I looked over to the door that led to the bedroom, it had just been left open by Emily's dad who was hurrying outside, tears in his eyes. Mr. Tigri had never been one to allow people to see his weak side.

Inside the door Emily was now visible, she was sobbing and holding her boyfriend, Kenter, around the neck as he slowly picked her up out of the bed.

"She's leaving?" I asked, looking toward my grandmother and Mrs. Tigri. Usually a woman would stay at least a day in bed before she would be moved.

Mrs. Tigri nodded "Sadly, we still have to get her ready for the reaping. We don't have a choice, birth or no birth, but thankfully this is her last year. I'll tell you it will be such a relief when I know she's safe."

My grandmother stiffened, I knew what she was thinking, I still had 2 more reapings to live through after this one before I was safe. I felt shivers running down my back as I though of the horrors of the hunger games. I know if I was reaped I would be the first to die.

Mrs. Tigri seemed to realize her mistake and frowned, "Well.... I'd better be off. Good luck!" She said uneasily as she retreated out the door, it slammed shut and we were alone.

"Go get dressed." My grandmother said quickly, as though it upset her. "You look a wreck." She hurried across the room and began to cook something as I slowly climbed the flimsy ladder to the loft where I slept. It wasn't big at all, maybe 8 feet both ways, but it served its purpose; though I was always bumping my head on the low ceiling. I crawled over to the chest in the corner of my sleeping space and opened it. Inside I saw my few belongings, a photograph of my father, a book of herbs, and a change of clothes.

I took out the clothes, a flannel blouse and a beat up pair of khaki pants. I quickly changed, throwing my dirty clothes down to the main room to be washed. As soon as I was finished I climbed down from the loft, washed my face and began running my fingers through my slightly too long hair to serve as a brush.

As soon as my hair was slightly decent I walked over to where my grandmother was cooking and looked into the pot of stew hungrily.

"After." She said much to my disappointment, without even glancing over her shoulder. I frowned and glanced at the clock, 11:49, I didn't have long...... My stomach flipped as I went and grabbed my boots from the doormat. I took my time lacing them as my grandmother continued to cook without looking up.

Time moved too quickly for me as I slowly stood up to hug my grandmother goodby. She had always refused to watch the reapings, and she was so old no one really enforced it.

She sigh as she turned to face me, and I could see she had been crying, the wrinkles in her cheeks were wet from tears as she came over to meet my hug. She pulled away after a few seconds and shook her mixing spoon at me. "Come back now, remember I have food waiting for you." She said jokingly, and I cracked a smile as I walked out the door into the sunshine.

Everyone was silent as they slowly moved like ghosts to the center of town. I wrung my shirt nervously as I merged with the crowd and walked forward. It only took me a few minutes to reach the square, where a huge stage had been set up for the reaping.

Trembling slightly I got into line to be checked in. The line was slow as it could be. One by one the kids of nine were approved to enter, each getting their finger pricked and proceeding to their pens.

My turn came to quickly for my liking, the man roughly grabbed my hand and jabbed the needle into it. I winced as it drew blood from my finger, I heard the boy that was behind me chuckle grimly. The man plucked it out squirting a drop of it onto a paper with my name on it. He grabbed my wrist and forced my finger into the blood, then waved me through.

Legs shaking I walked slowly toward the sixteen year olds pen, and stepped inside. None of the other boys noticed me as the murmured silently among themselves about what was to come.

Suddenly the large clock on top of the justice building began to chime, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, I counted. It was time to begin.

A wrinkled old woman with a purple wig that made her resemble a sea witch on her head. Her face was caked with makeup, in a vain attempt to make her look younger. She wore a long flowy skirt made of a thin purple material, on her top half she wore nothing more than an skimpy bra which showed more than anyone should need to see in a lifetime. I quickly adverted my eyes, beyond uncomfortable.

"Howdy!!! I'm Voluptuous Violet and I'd like to welcome ya'll to the 39th reaping!!! Today we will select one brave young man and woman to compete in the HUNGER GAMES!!!!" She cried in a stupid sing-songey voice that made one of the boys next to me let out a appalled gasp. "Now as you all know we have a veerrrrrrrryyyyy special film strait from the capital!!!!"

I didn't look up. I didn't want to look up. I knew what came next.

“War, terrible war. Widows, orphans, a motherless child. This was the uprising that rocked our land. Thirteen districts rebelled against the country that fed them, loved them, protected them. Brother turned on brother until nothing remained."

The deep unnerving voice from the film rang out through the square that was otherwise so silent you could hear a pin drop.

"And then came the peace, hard fought, sorely won. A people rose up from the ashes and a new era was born.

But freedom has a cost.

When the traitors were defeated, we swore as a nation we would never know this treason again.

And so it was decreed, that each year, the various districts of Panem would offer up in tribute, one young man and woman, to fight to the death in a pageant of honor, courage and sacrifice. The lone victor, bathed in riches, would serve as a reminder of our generosity and our forgiveness.

This is how we remember our past. This is how we safeguard our future.”

"I just love that!!! Such a entertaining reminder of what our forefathers went through. Now it's time to pick our young lady warrior!!!" She squealed, I slowly found the courage to lift my head and watched as she pranced over to the reaping bowl.

She grinned as she dramatically swirled the paper in the bowl. She knew she was tantalizing us, which made her grin more, then she plucked a paper free and opened it.

She looked at us with a shark grin for a second, then she read it.

"Emily Tigri!!!"

Time stopped as I saw poor Emily's face fill the screen from where she stood in the eighteen year olds pen.

Emily, the girl who could barely stand on her own, the girl who had been like a sister to me when I had no one to talk to, the girl who had nearly been killed earlier.

Emily looked started sobbing as she realized what had happened, I watched in horror as a peacekeeper grabbed her frail arm and dragged her up onto the stage.

"EMILY!!!! EMILY NO!!!!" A desperate call came from the crowd, I looked over to see Kenter charging the stage, a horrified look on his face. A peacekeeper grabbed his arm and pulled him backward. "EMILY!!!!" He screamed at the top of his lungs elbowing the peacekeeper in the face, trying desperately to get to his girlfriend.

"KENTER!!!! KENTER PLEASE!!!! JUST GO AWAY!!!! THEY'RE GOING TO HURT YOU!!!! PLEASE!!!! PLEASE!!!!" She cried, tears streaming down her face as she stood looking rather small on the big stage.

"NO!!! I CAN'T LET THEM HURT YO---" Kenter was cut off by a peacekeeper cracking the butt of his rifle against the back of Kenter's head. Kenter fell to the ground limply, something rolling out of his pocket and across the bumpy ground, until it finally tipped over falling on its side.

It was a ring.

A wedding ring.

Emily's shrieks pierced my ears as she weakly tried to get to Kenter's side. Violet held her back with ease as some peacekeepers dragged Kenter away.

A tear slipped out of my eye, how could anyone do that to someone?! Why did this happen?! Why Emily?! I looked down at the ground trying to hide the pain I felt for her as Violet, ruthless as ever simply said "Awww so heart wrenching, young love." She laughed "Now onto our young male participant!!!"

I looked up, fear seizing me again as I watched Violet toy with the papers, trying to make her selection.....

Then she picked it up and opened it.

She paused a moment.

I could hear myself take a deep breath in.

"Dagan Saga!" She screamed, the words felt like a thousand knives digging into me as she screamed them out. I stumbled backward, dizzy, a boy caught me and pushed me forward.

I look around, had I heard wrong? I must of heard wrong!!! It can't be me!!! I look around only to see my terror stricken face on the big screen. Suddenly a gloved hand latches onto my arm and begins dragging me onto the stage.

I just stand there numbly by Emily, who's crying hysterically, I just couldn't comprehend what had happened.

"AND HERE WE HAVE DISTRICT NINES TRIBUTES!!! DAGAN SAGA AND EMILY TIGRI!!!!" Violet yelled enthusiastically "You may now shake hands." She smiled at us.

I dumbly reach my hand out, toward Emily. She pushed it away and grabbed me, sobbing hysterically.

Before I'd known what had happened I had joined her.

Oh my gosh- I can't even- The drama in this chapter! it felt like I was writing a soap! So do you like Dagan or Emily better? Or do you like ether? Anything I need to fix?

 Ok, next update will be ether Friday or Saturday!

~A.K.A Anonymous