Corona

She enters the front doors of the academy, holding hands with her sister. She has a smile on her face. Pure happiness. She says words, tiny snippets to her. But I'm too far away, I cannot hear. She looks around the room, eyes wide with wonder. It's her first day, it seems. She looks at all of the other kids, walking side-by-side with their parents. She stares for a while, and her smile melts into a strange look. Shock. She sees all of the parents. A mother, in the righthand corner, helps tie her son's shoes. A father leads his child to his classroom, handing him his lunch before departing. Where is the little girl's mother to comfort her? Her father to say goodbye? Where's her family? She walks alone. She swallows her doubts and steps forward, hand-in-hand with her sister.

I climb up a tree. The familiar texture of the bark is like a friend to me. I climb quickly, with a smile on my face. Cassie'll never catch me. My sister is five, she never could. I've had two whole years more than her to practice. This game of hide-and-go-seek is practically already won. I giggle, thinking about the small grass crown Cassie made for the winner. It gets passed around between us two. I usually win, but I sometimes let my younger sister have a taste of victory. She deserves it, y'know. She's a good little girl, but I don't always have time for her. She's had to raise herself. We both have.

People tell me that we used to have parents, Cassie and I. They left long ago, when my sister was a year old. Myself, three. I only have fleeting memories of them. A saddened face, The smell of wood. A small wood cabin, with a rocking chair in the corner. Nothing about them. Not their names. For two years, Cassie and I went from house to house. Nobody had the money to care for us for long. When I was old enough for school, the kind families of District Seven let us go. My hard and short-lived childhood caused my memories to fade. I didn't even know I had parents for the longest time.

But it's okay. We have our tree. Where we sleep, where we eat, where we live. Home. We take care of each other, Cassie and I. I began working as a lumberjack after school last year. I'm young, but I know how to swing an ax. I even get weekends off! I do what I have to do for Cassie.

I see a bright and shiny face staring down at me, full of love. She knows where I am, but she can't reach the highest limb, where I hide. A giggle fills the winter air. My own. I climb down from the tree easily and pick her up. I put my hands back on the bark and climb. The view at the top is worth it. And I get to share it. Just me and Cassie.

---

Cassie got her name from a sister of one of the families we lived with in our early years. She said that she looked like a Cassie. She didn't give me a name. I was always just Cassie's sister. The girl with no family. We were the girls with no family. But today is going to be different. I want a name. Something to call myself. Who else can I turn to besides my younger sister?

I walk up to her with a smile on my face. "Hey, Cassie! I have this homework assignment, see? I'm supposed to have you describe me. One word." She barely even thinks about it. It just comes. "Corona!" Corona? The part of the sun? Cassie's been studying the solar system at the academy, and I need something to call myself, but I don't want to be named after a star in the sky. I try to mask my disappointment. "Corona... Why do you say," I reply. Cassie speaks in her soft angelic voice. "You're powerful! Corona is fiery. Warm and cozy, but protective. You protect us. Corona."

---

I'm in the shopping district, spending my week's salary on a bit of food. There's a big rukus. A large group of people are gathered around a television, some big device that shows videos from the Capitol. I ask the shopkeeper what's happening. He seems annoyed that he has to take his eyes off of the television. He tells me that the girl from our District just killed a career. I stare at him blankly. What does he mean? "What do you mean, the girl from our District?" The shopkeeper stares at me in shock. What? How am I supposed to know what's going on on the big screens? "Come on, kid. This is Panem! It's the Hunger Games" Of course I had heard of the Hunger Games before, I just hadn't payed it much attention. I was too busy trying to keep my family alive. I'm a curious person, though, so I decide to go to the library tomorrow after school and find out more about these Games of Hunger.

The library has everything I could ever need to know about Panem's favorite television show. Apparently, the Games started a long time ago, back when the Districts were being bad. They defied the Capitol. So the Capitol designed the Games. Twenty-four kids are reaped yearly to fight to the death on live TV! The best part is, the winner gets anything they could ever imagine! They even get one of those fancy houses I pass by on my way to the market!

I check out every copy the library has of past Games. It's my new hobby, researching the Games. I'm infatuated with them, every aspect. I love the stylists and the gorgeous costumes the tributes wear on opening ceremonies. You can't beat the action in the arena as well. How hard could it be, honestly? The careers do it, almost every year! Why can't I? If I could win those Games, Cassie and I would have a big mansion. I'd never have to chop down another tree! Never pick up another ax! All I'd have to do is kill a few tributes. They're half-dead already. Starved, breakable.

It's fate. A boy walks by me. A twelve-year-old, one year above me. He does a double take when he sees my stack of Games videos. I turn around, staring right into his blue eyes. What does he want? I'm studying here. But the boy doesn't back away. He looks both ways with a scared expression, like he's afraid he'll get caught. When he decides it's okay, he leans in so close. I can feel his warm breath tickle my ear as he tells me about an old tree house in a far corner of District Seven.

---

I left Cassie at home. If the boy is right, this definitely isn't a place I want her at. And what do you know, the boy is telling the truth! The smell of alcohol attacks my nose from the moment I enter the tree house. Before I have a chance to look around, the boy from school walks up to me, a few of his friends trail behind. He wears a smile, a devilish grin. "I see you made it! There's not much to it. Drink, train, have a little fun." I stare back at him blankly. Maybe this isn't the kind of place I want to be in. It's the thought of being crowned victor that roots me to the ground, though. "Come on, it's fun. I'll show you around. Your name?" I smile, letting my perfect white teeth show. "Corona."

The tree house is a place to train for the Games, like the careers. It's meant for older teens, but I'm determined to master these weapons. It doesn't take me long under Jared's direction, the boy from school. He's good with weapons for someone so young. He throws knives easily. He holds his bow like it's an extension of his arm. He always hits the target, every time. I'm getting better, though. I can use most of the weapons here, but my specialty is the unusual scythe. I swing it gracefully, but it can kill. Every time.

She swings her scythe like a goddess, her beauty matches. She's quite pretty for a girl of fifteen. Her and Jared, a perfect team. He wraps his arms around her, offers her a drink. She refuses at first, but then accepts the offer. he's a bad influence on her, that Jared. I know them when I see 'em. She's such a nice girl, though! But drinking, at fifteen! She'll get herself into deep water if she keeps going like this. There they go. Their lips touch. She thinks it's love, but I know better. She may throw a knife like a career and have the body of a Capitolite, but she'll ruin herself with guys like Jared.

I walk back home from a night at the tree house. I can still remember Jared's cool lips on me, the smell of pine in my nose from his long days of chopping down trees. He promised me a life. ''We can be together, Corona. We could make a life together. Be somebody.'' He told me that we could buy a house, leave our family. I told him that I don't have a family, he said we'd make one. Together. Then he offered me a drink, and I took it,

---

I walk with Cassie to the forest. I told her I didn't want her chopping wood. I can do it myself. But she insisted. She's only thirteen! A thirteen year old should not be working! But Cassie reminded me of when I started chopping wood in the forests of our District. How old was I? ''Six, Corona. You were six when you first picked up an ax.'' So I told her yes. I can't say no to that perfect Cassie face.

---

I'm walking back home from another late night at the tree house. It's been a year for us, Jarded and I. I can feel the weight of the year pressing down on me through the blurriness of the alcohol. I hold his hand, warm in the moonlight, a lamp in the darkness. "Corona..." He pauses, thinking. His words are heavy, weighted. A hint of annoyance. "This is the time to do it. Now. If we're going to leave our families, buy a house, have a life, it's now." That again? I told him last time, every time he brings it up. I remind him of Cassie. I can't just leave her. She's such a good kid. She deserves a family, even if it's just me. "You know I can't, Jared. Cassie. She's my sister! I can't just leave her to starve!" He stares at me in shock. His brow is furrowed, like he can't comprehend why I love her. "So you're going to pick her over me? She's fourteen now, Corona! She can make it on her own! You did!" I love them both, how can he not see? I'd do anything I could to go with him. Anything. But my sister needs me. She deserves me. "But she's not like me, Jared! She wouldn't make it! She needs me! I love h-"

Wham. His fist hits my face like a rock, hard as granite. It catches me off guard. I'm already dizzy from the drink, but his punch would have been enough to knock any career off his feet in broad daylight. His arm is strong, muscled from years of training. I want to say something, but he stops me. "No. You don't get to say anything! I thought we had something. I thought you loved me! I thought that we could make a life together! Be a couple! Have kids!" His voice scares me. I've never seen him yell like this. I've never seen anyone yell like this.

I just want him to be quiet. I want to go home and put some ice on my forehead. I want to fall asleep, cuddle up next to Cassie and enter my land of dreams. But the words don't stop. They go on and on, pushing deeper and deeper into my flesh until they reach my core. "But all you love is Cassie! Stupid fucking Cassie!" He kicks me in the shin. My voice is caked with sobs, tears stream down my face. Who is he? "Stop, Jared! She's my sister! She's just fourteen!" Kick "Fourteen? Fourteen! That little bitch can take care of herself. She's old enough! When I was fourteen, I supported my whole family! My logging money paid for everything! Think of yourself! You did more than she could ever do at ten!" How can he not see this? She's not like me! "Everybody's different, Jared! She's not like us! She's not strong!" The last thing I remember is Jared's perfect hand soming down on me, the smell of pine, and the taste of blood.

She stumbles into their house early the next morning. Bruises cover her body, alcohol on her breath. She looks tired, like she could drop to the floor in deep sleep any second now. Her sister waits on a kitchen chair, her arms crossed. Her voice is shockingly calm as she talks to her sister. The tired one takes the punches of words like a bag of beans. She slides down to the ground, on her knees. And she cries.

Cassie left. She actually left. She went out a few hours after our argument, careful to step over my lifeless body. I awoke to an empty house, devoid of the sunlight that my sister brings.

She told me she was done. She was tired of me walking in after dark, drunk from a night at the tree house. She was tired of me. I'm her sister! How could she be tired of me! I sobbed. My body was broken down. She told me to suck it up. Something like that was bound to happen. I was a slut, stupid for not seeing Jared for who he really was.


 * 

She never came back. I never even saw her again. Who knows what happened to her. I've continued with my training, though not at the tree house. I have nothing to live for. Not even the Games. I train, but for what? My reason for volunteering is gone. My very reason for living has been stripped from me.

I'm a walking corpse. Corona.

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