Artemis "Luna" Goodwin | District 2 | FIN

Boys.

That is what she told herself as she sat there in the shadows looking out on the veranda of the coffeeshop she sat at. She knew all too well how they were treated here. Like human Adonis that had done nothing wrong. They were revered, told that they were special from the moment they were incepted. If you birthed a boy here in two, you were revered as a hero. 

At least in the Goodwin family, that had prided themselves on their mostly male lineage. Dominic Lancaster Goodwin had been one of eight boys, and of course, showered in nothing but gold and marble. He never had to lift a hand as he grew up. He was waited on hand and foot, well, as long as he stuck to his training. His family had always showed their allegiance to the capitol. They wanted the fame and the fortune that came with the games, even though they already had all they could want. 

 The women were always supposed to accept their role in the family to never outshine the boys. They were given demur names, told from a young age that they need to be tough, but not too tough. Work hard, but not too hard, especially if it meant the boys can work harder. If you treated yourself like a diamond, you better be rough around the edges, because you were not to be unique. Anything that could distract from the success of a male was frowned upon.

Silence would always be golden, even if you didn’t know how to not zip it when you were spoken too. You were the fourth oldest, born right behind your twin brother by half a minute. Your mother had spent a good amount of time nurturing you away from your father, who wanted nothing more than to spend time with his new born son. You had two older brothers, both of which had shown promise at being precocious for their ages. There was an expectation in the Goodwin household, and that was that there would be nothing but excellence existing. 

Your twin was showered with adoration and you were told that you couldn’t be adored more than him. You could do the same things that he could, but you would never receive the same type of recognition because you did not have the right chromosomes.   You never thought of your father in a kind way did you little ball of fire? You thought about the ways you could kill him, but never dared tried because it just wouldn’t be worth it. You held in your feelings, let the tide come in as far as it could, and waited for it to go out.

And what a tsunami it would be.

---

And your mother usually wasn’t the best when it came to making sure that you survived in a world that was only run by men. Of course, she was always in your corner, even cheering you on when no one else would, but you both were outnumbered, and the last thing that she wanted to be on the other side of whatever the hell your father called their history. She flew closer to the sun then you ever dared, and you wondered if your father had ever taken notice of that. He probably did, but as long as you did what you were told, who was he to tell you otherwise? You made no problems for the boys in the family, even though you knew well that you could keep up with all of them with the drop of a hat. Your brother feared you in hand to hand combat when father wasn’t around, and that was because you were able to let loose. There was no holding back behind closed doors. 

Sometimes you would threaten to break his arm, or even tell him that he would never make it past the bloodbath. Of course, you didn’t know this for sure, because everyone had always said that you both were neck and neck. He might have been older by a couple minutes, but that didn’t stop you from keeping up, and he could see that fire in you even when you did something as simple as breathe. 

Or exist.

But your father always envisioned you as the girl that would never push themselves over the boys. He made sure to reprimand you if they did not shine bright like diamonds, and even when the boys weren’t involved, you still were told to not show off too much. To eclipse part of yourself that would ever prove to be the best at something. When you were younger, you listened, because that is all you knew how to do.

However, as the years went on, you realized what bullshit that really was.

---

You never had to play second best, and it took sixteen years for you to realize that. You always had a strong connection with other woman in your district because they too, knew what it was like to be hidden behind a mans shadow. You wanted rip down the glass ceiling piece by piece, but was always afraid of the glass getting stuck in places that you could not pull it out. You shattered it one day though, and you did not look back. That would have been a silly thought anyway. Seeing as your father had told you repeatedly to always take a dive for your brother when it mattered the most.

They had paired you up against each other in a simulator, throwing knives to be exact. You never showed off your proficiency because sitting in the back of the class was what you were told to do. You had to value books, and watching people, because your father never gave you the hands on training that he did for your brothers. No one really knew how deadly you were with the weapon, but that wasn’t their business you supposed. If they were interested, they would have asked about it.

After ten throws, you excelled over your twin, and he looked at you with a soft smile. He did not share the same sentiments that your father did. He shined brightly like the sun after all, and he knew when he was beat. However, that didn’t stop other people from talking, and of course, word did get back to him that you had not done what you were told. Hell had been raised the moment you walked through those doors, and the world came crashing down on you. He was a titan, ready to strike at a moments notice, but you would not yield. You knew well that you were worth more than a sad man that could not bear the site of woman rising above.

It actually made you sick. 

Your mother had been ashamed, but you could not read this easily from her. It took days for you to realize that she had more opinions on this than you believed she could have. A dissenting opinion, a difference in her values that you thought were stone tight. 

They came crumbling down.

---

The Townsend Agency had fallen into your lap hadn’t it? You weren’t expecting it if you were being honest. You had spent that day hiding amongst the books in the library, until your father trudged through the academy and demanded to see you and your brother. He looked at both of you and then berated you in front of your classmates to the teachers and instructors. He demanded a rematch between both of you, something that you hadn’t prepared for. He said he wanted to see it with his own eyes.

And who were you to prove yourself any different?

So they started up the simulator, and your teachers stood dumbfounded as you replicated your run blow for blow. You had done exactly what you had did a couple days ago, and your father nearly lost his mind. He claimed you mustve been cheating, making an absolute fool of himself. Your brother didn’t even waste a moment to agree with him, because you both knew that in this moment, going against him would have been like hitting a brick wall. And just like that, your hard work had been eclipsed in drama that you had no will to take part of. So you conceded, even though you had clearly proved that you could do anything your twin could do.

And your father left with a wicked smile on his face.

Before you walked out of the training center, you found a strange black card on the ground that read Townsend Agency. A little research proved fruitful, realizing that this might have led to something inspiring. Maybe you didn’t have to hide in your brothers shadows anymore.

Maybe you could make the waves you always claimed to want to make.

Be the Tsunami that rocked the world on its side, and drowned it violently.

Maybe.