Cold Blood

𝙷𝙰𝙿𝙿𝚈

 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚢

𝚊𝚍𝚓𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎

𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝.

"𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚖𝚢 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚢 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚛"

12 years. That's how many years of happiness I had. Only 12.

I never had the best life, but I was always satisfied. I might have gone to bed hungry, or not had the newest clothes, but for 12 years I was at peace with my situation.

Then you came and fucked everything up.

My first memory isn't a happy one. Mom and Dad were fighting. About money. Something we never had a lot of. Dad had just been laid off. I don't remember what the job was, but it paid well.

My parents were only 19 and 21 at the time. Both of their families had disowned them, after they found out my mom was pregnant. It's still deeply frowned upon to have sex before marriage. I'm a constant reminder that you should use protection.

Eventually, it was decided that my dad would try to find a new job. As long as it wasn't for the capital, they were happy. My parents never really liked you. So, when the only rule for getting was not working for you, it seemed easy. It wasn't.

It turned out that my parents would work tons of jobs over the years. As long as it wasn't for the capital, they would happily do it. But one day, they realized something. People weren't hiring because they weren't the youthful easygoing teenagers they used to be.

Everyone had to pay the bills, so why not hire a young, agile teenager, instead of the 30-year-olds who would take slower.

I wish I could say that my last normal memory was happy. But I can't. At this point I can't say any of my memories we're good. You took all my happy memories and turned them sour.

Mom had just gotten home from work. She was clearly agitated. It wasn't unusual for her to get laid off, but this time was different. "We're going to have to do it, Jim." Were her first words when my dad got home.

They fought all night, about going to work on building trains for the capital. Eventually, mom won. The next time dad got fired, they would go work on the trains.

I wasn't paying that much attention, because I had a lot on my mind. Tomorrow would be the reaping for the 38th annual Hunger Games.

And I was going to volunteer.