The Games The Capital Forgot

District 9 Reaping

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.