Off to {die} [Vinnie's Reaction to the Reaping]

Vincent "Vinnie" Taylors,
at your service.

I stood in the center of the roaring crowd in my best suit and tie. A fictitious was smile cemented on my already false face. Today was a day not only meant to celebrate the honor that twenty-four lucky persons would bring to the Capitol by sacrificing their lives for the supposed freedom their government so readily showered them with, it was also a day of opportunity for every Capitol businessman. Myself included, if only I could survive the experience.

I knew I should have been out there, shmoozing with my superiors, but I couldn't bring myself to leave my spot in the sea of faces. My hand formed an iron grip around my cane, leaving it white and pink with my agitation. Tomorrow it would surely be sore, but that was the price I had to pay. It was a cost nowhere close to what should have been, a cost they had thankfully stolen from me. When did I become so selfish?

They were reading the names of the district one tributes now. They had to space the Reapings apart by district in order to account for the time difference. Since one and two were the closest bastards almost close enough to be free, but really, were we truly free here? to our borders they got to be the first victims tributes to be picked. I hardly recognized the names.

Moreno? Wasn't she in the games before? No, that wasn't right. Maybe one of her siblings, they seemed to breed like rabbits in the career districts. Easier to get a champion that way. It worked for some of them, it worked for the Shores. Of course Opal Shore wasn't exactly the champion type.

The little boy of district one seemed ignorant, like he didn't realize that the games were the place you were sent to die. He was so young. Did he really think he stood a chance against even his district partner? I would've laughed if I wasn't so nervous for what might happen next. No, I'm not going to think about it. It's not going to happen.

The camera moves from the glitzy streets of district one to feature the soaring snow-capped mountains of District Two. I wonder what she did all morning, without him, without me.

She doesn't even know I exist. At least I don't think she does. If she dies, she never will, like he never did. I can't imagine going your whole life without realizing that you had a brother. A twin brother.

and they took him away

No, it wasn't fair at all. But she didn't have to worry about it. I had known for two years and I was too much of a bastard, a coward, a selfish git to reach out and say anything to her.

God, she must feel so alone right now.
Two years since they took him.
Nobody to turn to, nobody to cry with.
i still cry about his death, though I would never admit it