Fanfic for '"May the odds be ever in your favor"' - Effie Trinket by Holly
It’s morning, though you can hardly tell. The dark clouds are rolling in. There should be rain and thunder by noon. I heave myself off my bed, kicking the covers off like they burned. Thing is, if I don’t get them off quick enough, I’ll slip back into a dreamless sleep. You can’t really dream here in District 8. You go to school and you work. That is, until Katniss Everdeen appeared on our television screens last year in the 74th Hunger Games.
Twill and I first had the idea when my friend from school said to me, “You know I never thought about the mockingjay in that way before.”
Her name’s Sheila and she’s the type of girl who no one takes seriously. She’s dreamy; always has her head in the clouds. There are things you shouldn’t say because Peacekeepers would hear you. But I wanted to hear more. “What do you mean?” We’re working part-time in one of the clothes factories. It’s so loud; no one would hear us.
“I mean, a mockingjay is the result of rebels.”
I almost gasped at the word rebellion. “Why would you say that?”
She rolled her eyes. “You know how the jabberjays were created by the Capitol to spy on the rebels in the old days. Well you also know how the jabberjays survived after they were banished; how they mated with mockingbirds to create the mockingjays.” She waves her hand slightly. “Voilà, mockingjays.”
I shook my head. “I still don’t get how they’re the result of rebels.”
“Well, they came from rebellious jabberjays, did they not? The Capitol never meant for their jabberjays to be smart enough to survive. The jabberjays rebelled against the Capitol’s intentions, Bonnie,” Sheila said.
“Okay.”
“And Katniss Everdeen is wearing it. Do you think she’s trying to say something to us? I mean that little girl Rue only became Katniss’s ally because of the mockingjay pin,” she said. She folded the Peacekeeper uniform and placed it in the box. “Maybe it’s time for another revolution.”
A week later, Sheila disappeared. I don’t know where she went, but her entire family just disappeared.
I told Twill. She always has that glimmer in her eyes. Plus, she’s my teacher and my co-worker. She will help me. “We must get to Katniss!” she said immediately. “She lives in District 12, we’re in Eight. We must leave soon.”
“That’s the plan?” I wasn’t sure about this. Randomly going to another district when Katniss Everdeen has been under so much threat already. “What if she won’t believe us when we tell her about the rebellion? How can we convince her that we’re on her side?”
We were at my house. My little sister, Hana, had the television switched on. There was another one of those reruns of the Hunger Games. Peeta with his injured leg. The girl from District 5 eating poisonous berries. Rue jumping from tree to tree. Katniss getting bread from the sponsors. She said, “Would anyone suspect bread?”
“What are you talking about?” I said irritably. The less my family knew about this the better. That way they’d be safer.
Hana nodded at the screen. “Peeta Mellark. Bread. No one suspects bread. It’s so...innocent. ”
I laughed. “You’re so innocent, Hana.”
"No, listen, Bonnie. That would be your symbol, to say you’re on her side. To destroy it, you’ll just have to eat it." She was serious.
Then I looked at Twill. “Would it work?”
She shrugged. “We can sure try.”
"And, look." She started to rewind a piece of tape. When neither Twill nor I could see what my little sister was trying to tell us, she sighed and said, “Can’t you see the bird?”
Twill and I exchanged glances. “No?” I said.
She showed us again. This time we saw. The repeat of the bird's wing, over and over again. The Capitol reporters never did go to District 13. What were they trying to hide?
Hana told us that. “Haven’t you heard?” she said. I shook my head. “There are rumours about District 13 being alive and well. The Capitol is hiding it from us – the hope for the rest of us!” She spoke with a little lisp when she’s excited about something.
“But we watched District 13 explode into a million pieces,” Twill said doubtfully.
“That’s because that’s what the Capitol wants you to believe, but I bet it’s true. You have to find them!”
I kissed my little sister. “I don’t know where you inherited your brains from, Hana, but I’m sure glad you did.”
Then we got to work. We spread the word quietly around the factory. It’s so loud in there; I can hardly hear my own thoughts. Luckily, that means nobody else can hear what I was thinking. We went about making the Peacekeeper uniforms. That’s our ticket out of here. If there ever was an advantage of living in a district specialising in textiles, this was it.
My mother baked the bread for us with the mockingjay symbol printed on it. It looks simple and innocent enough. Like Hana said, no one would suspect bread.
Just as I suspected, thunder grumbles so I get dressed and go to meet up with Twill. She looks scared though. Twill never looks scared. She’s strong. “What’s the matter, Twill?” I ask.
“Some of the workers are starting an uprising early,” she says.
“What? Why?” I’m shocked. It’s too soon.
Twill shrugs and shakes her head. “I don’t know. They want to stir some things up. Apparently a Peacekeeper was beating Mr Lewis a few nights ago for no reason, and now they’re angry. This could ruin everything, Bonnie!”
My head suddenly aches. How can this possibly be happening? We had everything so carefully planned out. “We’re going to have to stop them. What’s done is done. Twill, spread the word. We’re going to be punished for this, but all is not at loss. Do you hear me, Twill?”
My teacher nods. “I’ll go tell them.”
I go home and start pacing. I look out my window and I hear shouting. Camera crews are out filming the riot. Great.
“Where are you going?” Hana asks in a small voice. She stands there like a little angel, still in her nightclothes. She holds on to her teddy bear for comfort.
I’m already at the door. “I have to be out there too. I started this.”
Hana runs up to me and throws her small arms around me. “Be careful. I don’t think Ma alone would be able to keep this family running without you.”
“I’ll be fine.”
Five hours later, the riots are stopped and the rioters have been dragged back into their houses with a fair warning. No one wants a big fuss. If word gets out about our little uprising here in District 8, the other districts would also start. President Snow can’t allow that. But we have too little people here. We don’t have enough power. We’re going to have to seek for more help.
We couldn’t leave our houses for a week. I can see the factories from my bedroom window. I live very close, only a few minutes’ walk away. How I long to meet up with my fellow co-workers and school friends and discuss our rebellious plans. But we can’t, because of the Peacekeepers watching our every move.
When we’re let out again, everyone resumes their normal lives. Twill and I talk after lessons. The school is empty so there are just us two left after school hours. “We’re late for work,” I say to Twill.
“You’re right. Let’s go.”
Twill and I hastily make out way from the school to the factories. It takes us around twenty to thirty minutes to get there. We’re half way when we hear a hushed squeal and a sudden BOOM. The ground beneath us shuddered and we hear screams coming from the factory direction.
“Oh God, what’s going on?” I gasp.
We leg it to the factories, only to find there aren’t any factories. Just monstrous flames growing by the second, engulfing what used to be our workplace.
“Oh my God!” I can barely stand; my legs have turned to jelly. My skin is burning even though I am at least ten metres away from the fire.
“The Capitol!” Twill says. “He knows.”
I look to my left. There is nothing there. Where my house used to stand, there is nothing left. The bomb has taking hundreds of lives in just a few minutes. Tears spill from my eyes. Everything is blurry. I sob into my thin shirt. “They’re all dead, Twill.”
But she is crying angry tears. She is so full of rage. “Benjamin, why do you leave me?” she cries. Oh what a horrible sound; the sound of a woman who has lost her husband.
I take her arm. “Come, Twill. We must finish what we started.”
The rain kills off the rest of the fire. I go to the remains of my house, hoping I will not see the remains of my family. No such luck. I see what’s left of Hana’s teddy bear. I go to the spot of back garden to dig up our tin of bread with mockingjay stamps. There are also some Peacekeeper uniforms that we stole from the factory. It is way too big for me. One shoe is bigger than the other because we snuck it out of the factory at different times.
“Why would they kill your family?” Twill says, regaining composure.
My face hardens at the thought. “Because they helped us. Ma with the bread and my baby sister with her idea of the bread.” I close my eyes as the thought hits me. “And Sheila. They destroyed her too because she told me about the mockingjay.”
“I guess the factories weren’t as loud and safe as we thought they were,” Twill mutters.
I shake my head. “Nowhere is safe, but we have to go. They’re going to be onto us like trackerjackers locked onto human flesh.”
Twill sighs. “You’re right.”
Then we’re gone from District 8, off to find the Girl who was on Fire, who will save us all.
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