Seeing Red (Intro)

The mockingjays, the robins, the hummingbirds, and the swallows: none of these creatures had a voice quite like that of the Cardinal that had made it’s home on ledge outside of Jasper Aarden’s window. While the mockingjays and robins sang their tunes to be enjoyed by all of Panem’s most appreciative music lovers, the Cardinal sung only to Jasper. But today, something was wrong. Jasper had overslept; the bright red alarm clock that nature so generously supplied him with had failed to wake him up from his usual nightmares, and panic had immediately spread into his mind, and as indicated by his wet bed sheets, his body as well.

Jasper quickly brought his nose to his resting place, inhaling slightly as if testing out a new gas-induced pain medication. Sweat.The relief that slowly crept upon his face quickly dissolved when thoughts of the Cardinal flooded back into his head. Jasper quickly grabbed his undergarments from his drawer. It was a dreadful looking piece of furniture, embroidered with jewels that Jasper hadn’t cared for, stuffed with clothing that had been picked by someone Jasper didn’t know, and bought by someone he Jasper didn’t trust.

Father.

The thought crossed his mind, and immediately, the face that had just been draped with panic and fear had now formed into some physical semblance of anger and hostility. Quickly, Jasper made a dash for the closet in the hallway. Jasper grabbed the most boring beige towel he could find and made his way past his sister’s room, tiptoeing on the hardwood floor to avoid any creaking; Jade had training in the afternoon, and she would need her rest. Well…in reality they both had practice, but Jasper had no interest in the Hunger Games. Training for suicide. Jasper had thought that all of Panem was crazy for allowing children to be subjected to such danger, to guaranteed death; All of this for the entertainment of a Capital whom most District citizens weren’t even allowed to see. But Jade has always had a passion for the Games, and it went much deeper than her admiration for knives and predatory tactics. The need to be recognized apart from their family has always overpowered her instincts to survive, or at least that’s what Jasper thought of it. But Jasper had no time to think about the Games, right now, he needed to find his Cardinal.

He continued to walk down the hallway towards the bathroom, letting his eyes wander between portraits of his paternal family. For years, Jasper had searched for a resemblance between himself and these two-dimensional people that he was forced to call his ancestors. He had seen his twin sister in some of these dead faces, but not once had he seen a reflection of himself in an aunt or uncle, or even a grandparent. They all have brown eyes and his are a bright green. They all have dark brown hair, but his is light brown. Their faces are round and full of life, his has always been gaunt and sickly, no matter how much medicine and food was literally stuffed down his throat. If it weren’t for their smiles, their shared date of birth, and an almost exact skin tone, no one would be able to tell that Jasper and Jade were brother and sister, let alone fraternal twins.

“You have your mother’s face.”

That’s what they’ve all said to him. His older cousins, some of the people in town; everyone seemed to agree that Jade had looked like their father, and Jasper like their mother. Unfortunately for Jasper, his mother’s face was one he had never seen; He hadn’t even been allowed to see her face in a photo. Since the day of the accident their father had been so distraught that he destroyed almost all evidence of their mother’s existence. All her clothes were burned, all her jewelry was sold, and even the house was demolished to make room for a horrid new mansion. The lack of information from her life, and more importantly from her death, had planted ideas of conspiracy in Jasper’s mind. Their mother’s body was found at the bottom of a cliff near their house; there were no signs of a violent struggle…but it would be hard to determine with body parts scattered around the base of the mountain, even if the Peacekeepers wanted to devote the time to an investigation.

Then of course, there was the money. Jasper’s mother had come from old money, and his father had come from poverty; or at least what was considered poverty among the citizens of District 2. Despite a large gap in social class, it was said that Amethyst Aarden loved her husband dearly, and while that love was said to have been mutual, there were just a few too many women who had stories of rejecting Alloy Aarden’s advances. Slime. Pig. Murderer. When Amethyst died, her family’s wealth was passed down to her children, but until they became of age, Alloy had been the primary beneficiary of the family fortune. Thief.

Jasper found himself opening the door to the bathroom, but for a second, he forgot why he was there and how he had gotten from his bed to the hall. He had horrible short-term memory and a penchant for excessive daydreaming. Shrugging silently to himself, Jasper entered the bathroom to take a shower, which lasted a grand total of two minutes. He stood in the transparent booth, curling his toes against the tiled floor as the water escaped from under his foot, down into the drain below him. He took just long enough to soap himself and rinse; Jasper had a fear that the water would turn extremely hot and burn his skin. Jasper had a lot of fears.

Jasper dried himself off and quickly threw on his clothes, dampening them slightly in the process. He rushed out of the bathroom and bolted down the hall, stopping at his room to check one more time to see if the Cardinal had once again made it’s home outside of his window. No luck. Jasper bolted downstairs and out the front door, stopping to look in every single tree for a glimpse of red feathers. No luck. He made his way to the backyard, completely ignoring the beautiful harmony flourishing among the mockingjays of District Two; for now, Jasper had one purpose, and he wasn’t going to let anyone get in his way. But the song had served a purpose; as Jasper turned his eyes to the winged wonders in the trees, he realized a birds-eye view would be advantageous to searching for his crimson colored friend.

Jasper walked the perimeter of the house, weighing the importance of tree height and line of sight. He found a tree that seemed to sit somewhat on it’s own. It was tall, strong, and like Jasper, it was isolated. He began to climb carefully, choosing not to skip any branches even if it seemed like it would speed the ascension up a bit more. He climbed and climbed until he couldn’t anymore, and parked his rear onto a thick branch overlooking District Two, keeping his eyes active and alert as they scanned for any signs of the Cardinal.

First an hour passed, then two…then half the morning was gone, and there was still no sign of the Cardinal. Jasper had resound himself to defeat, and began his descent down the trunk of the tree. With a quick snap, Jasper suddenly found that going down was going to be much faster than climbing up. Mom. Where the hell are you? Before his eyes closed, the color red caught Jasper’s eye, bringing a smile his pained face; but he soon realized that it wasn’t his Cardinal that he was seeing, it was his blood.

When Jasper awoke, he wasn’t surprised to see his sister hovering over his bed at the hospital. A mix of fear, disappointment, and anger had been sitting on her face before she caught the whites of his eyes in her peripherals. She began to speak, but Jasper’s attention had focused on the window. A small, brilliantly colored cardinal sat on the ledge, singing an all to familiar tune. Jasper could not hold back his smile, and as the Cardinal turned to look at Jasper, it spoke in a language only Jasper understood.

“Go to sleep, Jasper Aarden.”

And sleep he did.