Thanos Muller ; District 6 — fin

It was a gift to be among the first of the Muller children to be born into a household that could barely feed themselves. Pity was a natural reaction from the rest of the district for every child that followed caused the portions on his plate grow smaller and smaller with the additional mouth to feed. The Muller’s lacked any skill that would have done them good in District 6 as his mother seemed to enjoy having children more than feeding them. His father spent too many hours working beneath those in the district that were actually doing well for their family.

 

His heart ached more for his siblings than himself as he could survive off the single pieces of bread each day, splitting his own portion when the others were hungry. Selflessness came naturally to him as someone in his family needed to be; everyone else carrying the Muller name only looking out for their own desires. His childhood consisted of sneaking out late of night to take short lessons with the medics, who could see how hard he tried to become something else, someone else.

 

He needed to break from the cycle his family was in, and it was years of sleepless nights that finally got him where he needed to be. He was now fifteen with hands that could dive into your chest and bring you back to life with such ease that people called him gifted. This gift being looked at as a curse by his mother as she just couldn’t see what everyone else did. It was shame that washed across her face before kicking him to the streets if he thought he was better than them.

 

A single week passed before Thanos was able to find a place to stay; a place that was far better than his parents’ home, which caused more heartache than he would care to admit. For everything he sacrificed for them, they simply could not get passed their own idea of why he would put in so much work. When they came across him in the streets, every gaze fell elsewhere as if he had never been a child of theirs; heartbreakingly pushing away the one person that wanted to give them more. It was even more painful to watch as his siblings suffered at the hand of their parents’ ignorance; their thin frames haunting his dreams as their deaths became all he could think about.

 

District Six was far from being the riches, but they had potential to be comfortable in their life if they put in the work. It was laziest that fueled his parents’ existence, and it was their laziness that fueled his drive to fight the cycle. Thanos had been lucky to be kicked out from the grasping power parents hold over their children, and he soon made it his own goal to pull his siblings from that same power and into his own home.

 

He worked himself constantly until sleep was something that seemed to only exist on the weekends, and when it did occur, it would only last a few hours before he was up again. The money he got through his work was all he needed to give his siblings a better life, and it was upon his seventeenth birthday that his goal came to fruition. It had all been planned in his head for the conversation to go swiftly with his parents; his wants laid out as transparent as he could make them. He hadn't expected his parents to so easily let his siblings go with him; to live with him.

Thanos became more of a guardian than a big brother as the pressure of feeding several mouths was thrust upon him quicker than he imagined. He expected months of battling his parents to raise his siblings, but they gave into his request so quickly that it was as if they expected it from it; as if they wanted it from him. They may have been ignoring him in public, but they could not ignore the whispers of his success in the medical field. They had to be somewhat proud of the man he was becoming.

Since the short-lived battle with his parents, Thanos has made it further than they did as every sibling has three meals a day, four if they are especially lucky. It is a life that he never expected for himself, but he thrives in this momentary parenthood as the risk of every reaping is still hovering over his head. If he were to allow himself to hover on such thoughts, he would have to admit that he might have done his siblings more harm than good; for if his name were to be called, they would all become orphans again.