Maeve Tompson | District 2

The Games Reapings scared me to the point where I thought the Capitol would collect me from by bedroom and throw me into the arena.
Today, I wish it had happened.
It's my last year being picked, it's now or never.

I don't talk to people.
I feel in constant danger, like somebody is trying to fool me. I am defensive, although I wish I could take life easier.
Maybe it's because of my past that I feel alone in a swarm of hypocrits and liars.

Regardless, I play the game every day of my life. I train, I practice, I sweat and I fall to the floor powerless. I want to make my father and my brother and my real district proud. I want to stand out and make a victory out of my cry.
Distinct in one-on-one fights, specially martial arts, very fond of weapons like daggers and fighting knives.
You see, throwing knives from a distance is the only thing I am good at: aiming and scoring.
When I train the whole heaviness that I feel disappears, letting in that great sensation of power and freedom.
I've felt numb for a long time now, but I feel like it is time to go out and show my people what I am capable of doing.
My rage, the fury that burns within me; sooner or later they will realize. I don't want to be an outsider, nor to be judged. I want to be respected and will do anything to gain that respect.

Once I was banned from training for starting a fight with a boy who was questioning wether I had a father or not. If I was adopted from District 12 as a slave and other unpleasant things.
When my mother picked me up at the Peacekeeper Department she told me I would've ended up as an Avox one day; she said this world isn't made for speaking out your own thoughts.
"I'd rather be silent as an Avox than hushing when I have the right to speak".

That's me, bigmouthed son of a gun, fearless and tough. Ready to start.

My name is Maeve. I was born on the 13th of July and raised in District 2. Fancy, don't you think?
My father is a citizen of District 11, of black descent. I never knew how he met my mother, and no one will tell me. For years now I have wished to visit him in his District, although it is strictly forbidden for me to do so, considering its dangers and distances. I used to have an older brother from my father's previous marriage (even though he never married my mom). His name was Joshua and all I know about him is that he died of pneumonia when he was ten and I was six years old.

The only people I've seen belonging my dad's district are the Tributes from past Hunger Games, but I feel like that's where my heart is, that is where I fit. So many tales have been told about District 12. Here in the priviledged areas the suburbs are considered to be cheap and avoidable; to me, instead, they seem like a frustratingly distant goal.

In the end, I believe I would hesitate to leave District 2 (if it were possible), since I love a few people here who I would never abandon. It's just that my instinct tells me I belong elsewhere.

Growing up into a young adult has been hard for me. My mother was a rich matrona, with a lot of random lovers (sometimes too old to be true) who didn't really care about my existence.
I always had to take care of myself, grow tough enough to leave her and carry on with my own life.
I had to pretend I was going on trips to the Capitol with my training centre friends just to meet my father again. They'd last days or weeks, depending on my homesickness.

In spite of being called "attractive" I have never had a boyfriend or whatever you call a boy who fancies a girl.
My mother tells me I am a "scarejabberjay", which is not a compliment I guess. But at the end of the day I don't care, even if it hurts not to be loved by anybody. Or at least not by anybody who is within a 40 miles radius.
However, I have recently turned to my father's surname. It suits me the best. I didn't want to relate to my mother's lineage in no way. I don't want any trace of that filthy progeny in my documents.

Either I know the complete truth or I forget it all.

My name is Maeve. Maeve Tompson.
And that's how I became who I am.