Thinking of You

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 12^th 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.

2^nd- 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.

3^rd- 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.

4^th- 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.

5^th- 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.

6^th- 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’.

7^th- 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.

8^th- 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.

9^th- 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.

10^th- 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.

11^th- 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.

12^th- 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.

13^th- 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.

14^th- 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.

15^th- 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.

16^th- 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.

17^th- 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.

18^th- 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.

19^th- 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.

20^th- 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.

21^st- 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.

22^nd- 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.

23^rd- 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.

24^th- 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.