Victor- Venice Durante, 18, District
Four (3 Kills)
Venice knew
in the back of his mind that nothing would ever be the same, not even when he
returned home to District Four. Everyone had seen what he had done, what he had
been through, and the changes that had surfaced in him. Venice closed himself
in the library almost as soon as he had gotten back and refused to come out for
days. It was announced a month after his return home that a new house was being
built in a part of the district that had been destroyed by bombs. It took half
a year before the aptly named ‘Victor’s Village’ was ready, and Venice moved in
alone. He surrounded himself with all the books he could ask for, all delivered
to him by Fanchon’s messengers. Venice had everything he needed brought to his
new home and was not seen by even his parents until the next Reaping ceremony.
For years Venice journeyed with the pair of District Four tributes, each year
taking the same approach as Fanchon had with him. He sent them nothing when
they were in the arena and for over ten years he was alone. On the year of the
12th Hunger Games, a young boy named Finlan was crowned Victor at
the age of fifteen. The two were soon joined by more and more Victors as
training began to gain momentum in District Four. By the time Venice was forty,
he no longer had to mentor tributes. He spent the last years of his life in his
study, surrounded by novels and only the occasional company of his fellow
Victors. Venice died during the year of the forty-ninth Hunger Games from a flu
that even the finest Capitol medicine was unable to cure.
2nd- Santana Belmont, 16,
District Two (4 Kills)
Neal Belmont
could not understand what his wife was telling him when she said that Santana
was gone. His mind was broken, warped by the war, and the memory of his
daughter only joined these thoughts. He spent months locked in his office,
refusing to come out for fear that the same people that took his daughter would
come for him as well. Sasha stayed upstairs, as she always had, but the link
between her and her husband was gone. Santana, her dear daughter that had keep
the family together, was gone. One day she simply packed a bag and left, never
telling anyone where she was going. Neal lived out the rest of his life in the
basement of his home playing out the terrible fantasies of his mind without
even realizing that his family had been shattered.
3rd- Eileen Garreti, 17,
District Eleven (3 Kills)
From the
moment that news of Eileen’s death hit District Eleven, there was no time to
truly mourn the girl that they had lost. Eileen’s parents blamed Hayden, a bad
influence they called him, and they sought punishment of the only one they
could think to use as a scapegoat. Hayden openly blamed her parents for never
even knowing their own daughter. After a month of this, Hayden was arrested.
The crime he was charged with was treason, a high priced nametag that the
Garreti’s bought for the boy who they believe corrupted their daughter. They
could not bear the thought that no one was to blame, but even after they made
Hayden pay for Eileen’s death the empty holes in their hearts was no closer to
being filled.
4th- Verden Arell, 16,
District Nine (6 Kills)
Almost immediately
after Verden left, the family began to suffer the loss. Verden had been their
only source of income and they very nearly starved even with his pay. Pavla
left school just a week after Verden’s departure and was temporarily given
Verden’s position at the mill. The family had no time to mourn his death,
though in their own ways they honoured him. Pavla was unable to keep up with
the work due to her build and was fired not a month later. There was no other
work to be found that would take young Pavla, and no food found its way to
their dinner table most days of the week. Almost a year after Verden’s death,
his youngest sister Narelle contracted a flu that they could not afford to have
treated. She was buried alongside her brother in the district cemetery.
5th- Jalissa Kessey, 18,
District Three (0 Kills)
Even in
knowing that neither of their daughters were children anymore, Chip and Liona
Kessey still carried the deepest desire to protect them from a world that they
feared would take their innocent babies away. When Jalissa was reaped it
crushed them, but they did everything in their power to protect Aliyah from
what her older sister was going through. It wasn’t until a child at school
offered her condolences for Aliyah’s loss that she even knew her sister was
gone. It crushed her, especially knowing that her parents had kept it a secret
from her, and she never did make it home after school that day.
6th- Danican Tobin, 16,
District Three (0 Kills)
Though
Danican had given up, his family never allowed themselves to. They went through
every dinner together, making half-hearted conversation about what they would
do when their son was returned to them. On the morning that Danican’s death was
announced, his parents simply turned off the television and went back to their
daily activities. Some believed they did not miss their son, but only Danican’s
grandfather understood the truth behind their actions. The thought that their
son was truly gone was much too painful for them and it was easier to pretend
that he was just ‘away’.
7th- Adriel Maynard, 17,
District Five (0 Kills)
The loss of
Adriel was a large one to his family and those that knew him, but the lives of
many in District Five improved. He had been the mind behind some of the
greatest business ventures that the Maynard family had led, most of which had
been disastrous to the workers. Without Adriel in command, his family chose
Parry to take over. Parry’s compassionate nature led to amazing changes to the
way that workers were treated, and the economy has never been better. Some
insiders would say that Adriel’s death was a blessing in disguise. The truth
was that no one really knew that he had ever been in charge at all, since every
one of Adriel’s breakthroughs had been traced back to Connor Maynard- Adriel’s
father.
8th- Hollis Bale, 17,
District One (0 Kills)
Jules Bale
never allowed herself to cry, not even in just her own company. Neither her son
nor her husband had even seen her shed a real tear, one that was not planned
and executed perfectly. She watched as Hollis was brutally murdered and did not
shed one single tear for her son. She shut the television screen off once it
was over and retreated to her bedroom where a bottle of whisky and a lethal
dose of morphine waited for her. Jules would now join her family, she hoped in
a world that would not be so unfair to the loyal.
9th- Vera Hemley, 17,
District One (2 Kills)
As she
watched Vera’s last moments, Kendra Hemley refused to believe that her daughter
was the girl she was seeing on television. “My Vera was kind and gentle, she
could never have done such things,” she would scream over and over even after
the screen faded to black. Her husband, Kerrick, could do nothing but put his
arm around his wife and wonder silently if it was him that had put the fight in
their daughter. No matter what Kendra said, no matter how many times she cursed
the Capitol for the corruption of her beautiful, gentle Vera, Kerrick was proud
enough of his daughter for the both of them.
10th- Harlan Pearce, 12,
District Eleven (0 Kills)
District
Eleven was heartbroken after witnessing the death of the youngest tribute in
the Hunger Games. No one knew the boy, and few had seen him in the streets, but
it wasn’t difficult to get a gathering for his funeral. Despite the wishes of
his wife, Dorian donated over half of the money that was collected for the
ceremony and claimed that someone must have robbed him in the night. The
cemetery was filled on the day that his tiny body was buried in a coffin far
too large and empty for the boy. Though few would remember him after that day,
Dorian felt that it would be enough for the young boy to be important even for just
that little while.
11th- August Overture, 17,
District Ten (0 Kills)
When news of
August’s death reached the Overture family, none of them knew what to make of
it. They had felt the sting of loss before and yet no one was prepared when the
coffin arrived at their doorstep. Their mother tried her very best to be
strong, but after the loss of her oldest son and husband in the war she could
not bear the burden of burying another of her family members. The burden fell
on Astrid, only a year younger than August, who arranged for his burial in the
district cemetery. Unlike August, Astrid could not bring herself to set foot in
the pastures as the memories were too much for her there. The fences rotted
away and the cattle was sold to other farmers. The family had never seen worse
times.
12th- Connor Leland, 18,
District Two (0 Kills)
Connor’s
family truly believed that he would make it home to them. He was trained as a
soldier, and this was nothing but a continuation of the war. While Connor had
had all of the best advantages due to his size and background, he could not
overcome the obstacle that his mind posed. David would never understand what
had made his son fail, having always seen him as stronger than even himself.
Selene could see it in Connor’s eyes from the second day in the arena and she
knew that her son was not going to come home. His body was strong but the arena
broke his mind, and nothing could compensate for that.
13th- Ariella Saville, 14,
District Twelve (0 Kills)
As she
watched the ruins collapse, trapping her eldest daughter inside, Aisling
Saville fell to her knees in tears. Of course she had known from the moment she
came to understand what the Hunger Games were that her young daughter would not
come home. Still, the hope stayed with her that Ariella would fight her way
back into her arms. The guilt stabbed daggers into Aisling’s heart each night
that she was without Ariella. How awful of a mother could I have been, she
thought to herself, to have my child taken from me so soon without even a
moment to apologize.
14th- Dallas Audrinne, 17,
District Five (0 Kills)
Dallas could
not have been more wrong when she assumed that no one would miss her. On the
day that her coffin was to be buried in the district cemetery, hoards of people
showed up and filled the area so that the people standing in the back could not
see the ceremony. That night, her family shut themselves inside their little
home and cried for her- the daughter and sister that they had loved so much.
They would never know how unloved she had felt in those last minutes of her
young life, and Dallas would never know how much she truly meant to everyone
around her.
15th- Melita Crescent, 15,
District Six (0 Kills)
Whether
fortunately or unfortunately, there was no one left behind in District Six to
mourn Melita Crescent. Her mother was long gone, and her father did not know
enough of his daughter to recognize her at all. The people of District Six
shook their heads and wept for both her and Radimir, but they were both all but
forgotten days after their deaths. Though no one had the disrespect to say it,
they were just two less street urchins that would plague their district. No one
would even notice the difference.
16th- Jonah Lintell, 16,
District Seven (1 Kill)
For the last
few months of his life, Jonah had to learn how to live with himself. In his
eyes that had always been harder than anything someone could physically do to
him. Hardly anyone remembered the street boy that had been chased out of the
crevices between buildings, and on the day that he died no one could bring
themselves to shed a tear for the boy. No one would ever know the true irony of
his death- the bomb he had designed that had killed his family got him not but a
few months later.
17th- Carina Ricter, 14,
District Eight (0 Kills)
Cormac had
such high expectations of his daughter. He never allowed himself to consider
that she might never come home to him. Without a registered home to call his
own, he was forced to spend every day in the district square watching for any
glimpse of his daughter that he could get. He was proud, watching her instruct
her alliance based on the things he had taught her. On the night that she died,
Cormac was distraught. He watched numbly as his daughter and best friend was
taken away from him forever. Without a doorstep to bring her coffin to, Carina
was never sent home and was cremated in the Capitol.
18th- Flint Calloway, 14,
District Twelve (0 Kills)
Charlotte and
Julian Calloway knew in the back of their mind that Flint would not be coming
home to them from the moment he left. Their son was far too gentle, far too
kind, to exist for long in the arena. They continued to go through the motions,
turning on the television every day to watch their son’s progress, but every
second was painful. They had already watched their son die a little every day
as the hardships of the war destroyed their once carefree child, and now they
had to watch it all over again. In their hearts they knew that their child had
been killed by the war, and that this game was just a means of getting rid of
the empty shell it had left behind.
19th- Kyra Lacasse, 14,
District Ten (0 Kills)
Clive Lacasse
drew the shutters in on the night that Kyra’s death was announced as his wife
wept in front of the television screen. Their daughter was a spitfire, and on
the day that she was taken away from them her parents had allowed themselves to
believe that she would somehow find her way back to them. As the weeks went by
and the children once again found their way to the field behind their house,
Kyra’s parents could do nothing but close the shutters once again to block out
the sound of laughing.
20th- Merryn Celtey, 15,
District Seven (0 Kills)
Though Owain
Celtey tried to be strong for his wife, the death of his only daughter weighed
on him. He was never able to openly mourn her, for it would only send his wife
into another episode. He could not subject her to that and so he removed all
signs of Merryn from their home, burying them in the forest with her coffin
when it arrived. In the dead of night, when he was finally alone he cried for
his daughter until the sunrise broke through the tree branches the next
morning.
21st- Sampson Ellios, 15,
District Eight (0 Kills)
For his
entire life Sampson felt as though he would never be able to hold the attention
of his family. However, after his death, they could think of nothing else. Lila
spent hours each week trying to write down everything he had ever said, but her
page almost always remained empty. Tyson stayed strong in front of his family,
but at night when he could hear his mother whimpering in her sleep he could not
stop the tears from sliding down his cheeks. They mourned all that they could
remember of Sampson, and Lila spent years rewriting the rest. No one could bear
the thought that they would forget and so they remembered Lila’s writings of
him, even if her writings were nothing more than fantasy built of things they
never knew about him.
22nd- Radimir Ankratij, 17,
District Six (0 Kills)
There was no
one left behind in District Six to miss Radimir, and his remains were left
unclaimed for months in the Justice Building. Eventually, his and Melita’s
remains were cremated along with four unknown victims of a gang shooting. The
small shack where Radimir had lived out a good portion of his life was taken
over by a young boy who had run away from home. Whether it was because of the
curse of the shack or because of the boy’s own doing, all of Radimir’s old
customers soon became the boy’s.
23rd- Leina Rallis, 16,
District Nine (0 Kills)
On the day
that Leina died, her parents shut themselves into their tiny farmhouse to mourn
her. A week went by, but the shutters remained closed and the silence settled
between the couple. Leina had been the one that poured life into the house, and
without her the couple felt lost. Finally, a week after a Victor was crowned,
Leina’s father regretfully went back out to care for his overgrown crops. Her
mother would rarely leave the house, overwhelmed by memories of her daughter
every time she left her bed.
24th- Caprice Neviere, 16, District
Four (0 Kills)
Caleb and
Renata Neviere were filled with relief and despair when they saw their daughter
was reaped into the Hunger Games. After she was never found during the
evacuation during the war, they were convinced that their youngest daughter had
been killed by rebels. As they watched their daughter’s journey on the large
screen in District Four, they held onto hope that their family could be
reunited. Caprice’s parents along with her sister, Farah, clung onto each other
as their sister and daughter was launched into the arena. When Caprice was
killed seconds before the Games had even begun, her family was left behind to
mourn her all over again.
