"Evelyn Brinley, better known as Lady Red, victor of the 72nd Hunger Games. Won her games at 15."
"Why Lady Red?"
"Because she always wears red. Oh, and she won her games by burning the remaining tributes alive."
✮
"𝑮𝒊𝒓𝒍 𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆? 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒄...
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LIKE MOST CHILDREN IN PANEM, Evelyn Brinley woke up in a cold sweat and felt relief wash over her when she realized it was still dark out. The only noises outside were the leaves rustling in the wind and a few birds chirping here and there. The silence was a staple during summer when the peacekeepers and government officials held the reaping over people's heads to keep them in line. Nobody knew if the reaping could be rigged, but nobody wanted to risk it.
Evelyn knew the dangers of the reaping better than anybody. Her older brother, Evan, had been reaped a few years before. Against all odds, he won the games, but no one expected him to be reaped, it was his last year. No one ever expects to be reaped. After years of taking care of Evelyn after their parents died and paying the price for winning the games had taken a toll on Evan.
"Can't sleep?" Her brother muttered sleepily as he stumbled into her room, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
It only took a few seconds for Evelyn to realize her brother was drunk, his words were slurring and he was tripping over himself. And there was a bottle of liquor in his hand. Evan was drunk most of the time, but he was only blackout drunk during this time of year, so Evelyn didn't mention it.
"Yeah," She answered, propping herself up on her elbows, "Why, what's up?"
Evan shrugged his shoulders lazily and sat down in her chair, knocking over half the things on her desk. Which was just a few pencils and papers, but she still wasn't a huge fan of seeing her brother drunk off his ass. "Do you know what time the reaping is?"
Evelyn furrowed her brows when she heard his question, "Noon. It's noon every year."
"Okay, I'm going to head over to Sasha's house," Evan nodded his head, getting up and pressing his lips to her hair, "Eat something before you head to the square."
Evelyn sunk back into her sheets as her brother left, shutting her eyes and trying to fall back asleep. Sasha was a previous victor, one of the four victors 8 had, and Evan was always with him. The two of them were close in age, early twenties, and they had won their games back to back. She'd only met the victor once and the two of them usually avoided each other after that meeting. They had personalities that were so similar they conflicted with each other.
When the sun rose, Evelyn couldn't find the energy to eat anything despite what her brother told her. By now, people would be on their way to work in the factories while children were on their way to school, but today everybody was given the day off to prepare for the reaping. The Capitol thought they were so kind for giving parents the time to hug their children and say goodbye for what might have been the last time.
Instead of eating, she watched as small bugs crawled toward her untouched plate and for once she let them have the stale bread. Evelyn hated bugs, and she was disappointed when their new huge house still had them, but she didn't feel like crushing them with her fist. There would be enough deaths over the next few weeks without the bugs.
