miravales

[miravales]

A smirk crept to Gattin’s face at her response. It was amusing, almost expected for someone who had only experienced the grueling nature of Six, or any of the Districts for that matter, to long for its opposite, “Once read somewhere that if you’re unhappy in one setting there’s no guarantee you’ll be better off in another.” He paused and rolled a shoulder, “ Not saying it hold true in every case, but it’s just food for thought.

If it’s any consolation, there are parts ‘round here that seem like you’re out in Seven, near the border. I’m guessing you haven’t gone far outside this area of the District?” Most didn’t, “To be honest, there’s not really a lot I’m interested in seeing.” Gattin rolled a shoulder.

Ironic he hadn’t considered an answer to his own question. It had been quite a bit of time since he left Six, his Victory Tour being the most recent, and that was decades past. Even then, he didn’t find the same joys other Victors had seeing the oceans of Four, the fields of Nine and mountains of Twelve.  Perhaps now he would find something worthwhile, but the more he thought on it, the little he continued to find inviting outside Six.

“It’s not that i’m unhappy with Six, I couldn’t see myself growing up anywhere else without being the same person that I am today. It’d just be nice for a small change of scenery sometimes.” Mira already knew that if she ever left District Six that she would easily get homesick. She had people she cared about still here, like Zey and some other people she has worked for throughout her life. That and there would always be the ties from Elijah and Church keeping her here. 

The Rose normally remained in their little section of the city to maintain control over it. Even though the Rose was disbanded after the ambushed raid, she hadn’t ventured far from where she had essentially grown up. “The furthest north I’ve went is the Justice Building when I was eligible. My family stayed south for their entire lives.”

“Really?” Mira asked, “Not even like space or something that you can read in books? That’s outside of the District, right?” She gave a smile, a lot of people she knew didn’t think of venturing far from where they lived anyway. Dangers lurked with certain sections of the District that even if they wanted to go explore there was almost a high risk of getting mugged or just having to deal with peacekeepers. If Mira had to choose between the two, she’d go with the mugging.

“So, Gattin,” she said, pulling a book off the shelf and looking at the worn cover, trying to make out whatever it was trying to say, “What do you do?”

did i scare you?

[miravales]

lovers hold on to anything | os

Nearby building’s windows hummed with the bass of the song that was blaring through stolen speakers. The liquor and drugs were free to all who were there and the large room smelled of cigarette and marijuana smoke. That night was the celebration of the successful year of raids by the gangs of District Six. It was the only night of the year that the gangs were not at each other’s throats for possession of its members, territory, or inventory. The Roses took LSD with the Thorns, the Stags drank with the Wolves, they even congratulated each other for the minimal loss of one of its members and the success of their business. No one cared that this would mean nothing in the morning. 

Mira danced to the vibrating music without a care, her hands lifting her long hair up when it flew into her face. The alcohol in her system opened up the doors to forget the fear that she held about the life that she and her brother had taken up. This was the first year that Mira would attend the party, as she had been one of the newest members of the gang. The tattooed roses on her sternum had just healed before this night. The top she wore just showed a bit of the lowest rose, and despite the lack of clothes her skin was soaked with sweat. 

He came towards her, his pupils dilated from whatever drugs he had taken and the alcohol in his system. Placing his hands on her hips, leaning his face down towards her neck but getting a face full of hair when she turned around. Mira was welcomed by a familiar curly hair, scruffy bearded man. “Church!” she yelled over the music, the smile wide on her face. He looked at her for a few moments, as if he was figuring out what was going on. Mira extended her hands out to him, “Dance with me!” 

Through the next song they danced, his hands went to her sides to her hips, he leaned in closer and closer. As the song stopped, Mira looked up at Church. The two had known each other ever since Elijah joined the gang himself. As she was growing up he would tease her, as all of them would. He would talk to her and listen to her about little things that she thought of, admiring the drawings she did. Church, everyone in the gang had essentially became somewhat of a family to her. Never had she thought of any of them in a romantic way. Come to think of it, she really hadn’t thought of anyone that way. But there was something then. Whether it was the alcohol or her actually talking, all that she knew was that she wanted to be with him. 

As she tugged on his shirt to convince him to lean down, a hand grabbed Church’s shoulder and pulled him away. “What are you doing with my sister?” Elijah said slowly. The number only rule of this night: no fighting, whether it be between members of the same or different gang. “Elijah, stop it.” Mira intervened, putting her hand on her brother’s chest to lead him away from the group of people starting to notice what was going on, leaving Church where he was. 

“Church isn’t allowed to touch you,” Elijah demanded. Despite the heavy scent of liquor coming from his breath, he seemed clear on this. “He’s two years older than me, Meer. And he’s a—“ “He’s one of us,” Mira interrupted, crossing her arms across her chest, “would you rather me be with someone of a different gang?” “No.” “Then what is the problem, Eli?” Instead of answering back automatically, he sighed and rubbed his face. “Don’t you want me to be happy? To be safe with whoever I’m with?” “Yes—“ “Church has known me for a long time, he’s one of us, he knows how to keep me safe. Elijah, you’re going to have to accept that this,“ she pointed from the rose tattoo on his arm to the one on her chest, “is now my life too.” Elijah said nothing, watching her walk back to the middle of the floor to find Church. 

“Come on,” Church said into her ear. She had been sitting on his lap for a while, the two drank a few more light drinks after she had found him on the floor again. Getting off his lap, he took her by the hand and led her outside to the fire escape of the building. The cool, summer night’s air brought relief to her lungs due to the difference between the indoor atmosphere and the polluted air of her district. The rusty metal creaked underneath their weight as they made their way down. 

“Where are we going?” Mira asked, wrapping her arm around his once they stated to walk down the alleyway underneath the building they were just in. “You’ll see.”

The two walked for a few blocks, as they got further away the vibration that the music gave off faded into a low hum that seemed normal for the district anyway. Church quietly brought down the ladder to another fire escape. “A lot of homeless sleep here,” he quietly explained as they walked up, “I found out about this place after we did a delivery of some drugs we got.” The rooftop was bare except for a makeshift fort made of shingles off of a house and some wood. Church walked over and pulled out a mattress with a blanket on top of it. “When it’s nice out like this and I can’t sleep, I’ll come up here and just look up at the sky until I can sleep.”

Mira hadn’t noticed how clear the sky seemed up here. Granted there was light pollution reflecting off the surrounding buildings that gave a murky brown color to the bits of clouds, but despite that the stars were still visible through it all.

Naked underneath the thin sheets, Church pressed his forehead against hers. His hands were rough, scarred from years of service to the gang, held one of Mira’s hands. Mira’s were softer, a calming touch to those she helped out. Since her induction to the gang, her primary role for the group was essentially a field medic, that stayed mostly out of the field upon Elijah’s request. It wasn’t something that she minded truly, she knew she was helping out in the long run, but it wasn’t a burden when she was called upon to go out on raids. With the free hand, she traced the outline of the rose over his heart. Church had multiple tattoos on his body, including an upside down church on the back of his neck that he got after accepting his nickname as such. 

The nickname came from the origins prior to his introduction to the gang. Like many of the members, he was a homeless kid, his mother had recently passed away from AIDS and so he was jumping from place to place to get away from the orphanages. Whenever he was fourteen, Caius and a few other members of the Rose came to a church where the young boy was claiming refuge in order to give out drugs to the homeless for free after the large profit of the year. 

Before they left, he went up to Caius, “I want to join you guys. I want to help people like you do.” Caius, ten years younger and the newest leader of the gang, just laughed at the young kid. “We don’t just help people; we do illegal things to do it.” “I still want to do it.” This brought a smile to Caius’ face, looking him up and down. In normal cases, the gang wouldn’t bring on younger kids who still had a while to go with the reaping. “Alright kid, what’s your name?” “It’s Zülfikar.” “Zulef—what? Shit, I don’t have to worry about you getting reaped, the fucking Capitol couldn’t pronounce that name if they tried.” 

Whenever Caius and Zülfikar left the church, he admitted he wouldn’t ever say the name right. Due to that, he gave him the nickname of Church for where the two met. And that was that essentially.

“I want to be yours,” he murmured. Mira only looked up at him, “You’re making it sound like you can be owned—well, then again we kinda are owned by the Rose.” Church moved his forehead away from hers, moving a strand of hair from her face, “I want you to be mine, and I want to be yours.” “I don’t think Elijah would—“ “This isn’t about Elijah, or Caius or Zey or anyone that is close to us. I’ve known you for so long. I know how you always like to be right, how you divert your eyes when are thinking about the truth of a situation whether it be to answer with a truthful answer or a sarcastic comment. I know how much you care for everyone you meet, how much you want to make them happy and make everything as okay as possible without focusing on yourself. I want to be yours, and I want you to be mine, Mira.”

Time skip: 1 year 

“Are you sure you have to go?” Mira asked, swinging her legs while sitting on one of the crates in the warehouse. Exactly a year ago Church and Mira had gotten together. The annual party would be held that night but first Caius wanted to jump on a shipment coming in from the Capitol to bring in. “It’s gonna be a routine job, nothing extreme.” “Yeah? Then why do you have to go? Why not Zey?” Elijah walked past the two talking, “Thanks for the concern, Meer.” “What— No, Eli I care—,“ sighing she laid back on crate.

“Hey, let’s not even go to the party, and just spend the night on the roof again. Like last year.” Church proposed, tightening up the laces of his shoes. Rolling over, leaning off of the crate, she looked down at him, “Really? Are you sure? I mean, it’s tradition to go to the party and get fucked up.” He looked up, “Mira, any of us can get drunk or do drugs outside of tonight. Besides, it’s not like I’m gonna miss seeing any of the other gang’s faces.” 

“We’re heading out in five minutes,” Caius announced. Sitting back up, Mira extended her hands to him. “Promise me to watch after Elijah. Make sure he doesn’t get into trouble, please.” Church kissed her, “I always do. Promise me, meet me on that roof tonight.” “Of course.”

Church and Elijah pried open one of the crates with a crowbar. Inside were pieces of armor that were different than what the peacekeepers that they had seen wear. “Fucking jackpot!” Caius’ exclaimed quietly as he opened another crate that had weapons ranging from pistols to rifles in it. Elijah looked up at Church and then at the other crates around, “Cai’, I don’t think they’d leave this out unprotected. We need to leave this and get out.” “I agree with Elijah—“ BLAM! The sound nearly deafened the crew as it bounced off the walls. All of them instinctively crouched behind the crates. Caius was putting pressure on a newer member, Harlen, young kid, about sixteen’s leg where blood was coming out. 

Caius reached into his box and grabbed a pistol. Elijah quickly darted to behind the same crate as Caius and the other kid. Church poked his head from behind the crate to have a spurt of fire come his way. “I’ll distract them, pass the pistol to me.” 

“Ready?” Church whispered to Caius and Elijah as they prepared to lift Harlen to get him out. Taking a shaky breath, he pushed himself up to reveal himself, firing in the direction where the bullets had been coming from, emptying the clip. The door slammed moments after he bent back down behind the crate. His eyes quickly scanned the scene in front of him, trying to find a way out without leading them to the rest. To his left was a doorway, it would lead to an alleyway that was connected to the main roads heading towards the industrial section of the district after a few blocks. 

Sprinting the door, instead of the dark alleyway there were bright lights beaming into his face.

“Mira!” Elijah screamed as they entered the warehouse. Something was wrong. It had only been two hours since they left. Running from the upstairs—what used to be offices—she looked down from the railing to see Elijah and Caius carrying Harlen. Turning back, she got supplies that they had stolen numerous raids ago. Once she got down the ladder she rushed over. “I thought you said this was a routine job!?” Mira snapped at Caius. “It was a mistake!” “Hey there, totally not bleeding here,” Harlen shakily laughed. 

Tending to Harlen, she had trouble removing the bullet at first, yanking it out rather than gracefully causing more bleeding than it should’ve. Pouring a powder on it, which would cause the body to speed up the healing process, she was focused on cleaning the outside of the wound that she didn’t realize the absence of Church until Caius said something. He instructed two of the members to go scout for him. “Church isn’t with you guys?” she answered, with worry in her voice. “He’s going to be okay, he was leading the Peacekeepers the other way.” Caius answered. Mira looked to Elijah, “He’s going to be okay, Meer.” With that, she continued to work on Harlen. 

As she washed the blood off of her hands, Elijah explained to her what had happened. The crates, the inventory, the ambush. “It could have been you,” Mira said quietly, “the one who got hurt. It could’ve been Church and you would’ve been the one to be a distraction. I hate when you both go out like that.” Elijah wrapped his arm around her, pulling her into a hug whenever she put down the rag. “He’s going to come back whenever things cool down. You know this.”

11 P.M. Mira sat on the edge of the roof with a full bottle of vodka and a nearly full bottle of scotch by her side. Instead of looking up, she looked ahead at the musty skyline. Hours would pass and he wouldn’t be there. The sun was rising whenever she started to drink.

Night after night she would return to that roof and wait for Church to return. One week. Two weeks. Three weeks had passed without any sign of him. Caius would have a member scout the entire day for him for the first week, giving up after that. He’s gone, Mira. Accept it. Of course she wouldn’t. They promised each other to meet up on that roof. She was young, and in love, how could something like that happen to her. Life hadn’t been kind to her, what did she do this time to deserve this?

On the eve of the beginning of the fourth week, Elijah followed her to the roof, sitting next to her on its edge. “Meer—“ “He’s going to come, trust me.” “It’s been four weeks. Things have cooled down and he hasn’t turned up. Just think realistically, please.” Looking up, she felt the tears swell in her eyes. “He can’t be gone. Elijah, he can’t be dead.” Mira shook her head as she lowered them into her hands. Pulling his legs onto the roof and lifting her into his lap he held her tightly to him.

[miravales]

character personalities: mira vale

[miravales]

gattin-sykes

“Been there, done that.” Gattin replied as he nonchalantly reached for the top of the bookcase with more ease than Mira had, partly in jest, “Was never desperate enough to work for a roof over my head though.” He added casually.

The option had been there in the past, working for his keep as opposed to fending for himself on the streets where food, water and shelter became a luxury to obtain. Perhaps it was his pride that caused him to turn down any offers, or his subconscious skepticism that whoever was generous enough to extend a helping hand was doing so because of an ulterior motive. He had heard tales about people being deceived and robbed of what little they had by gangs looking to make a quick profit, Peacekeepers who were undercover looking to make a bust, etc.

Not to say he himself didn’t play dirty when he needed to in order to make ends. That may be the only thing that helped him in the Arena.

Despite having everything that would make most gawk with jealousy Gattin found it difficult to become accustomed to his new lifestyle and would on occasion, ‘til this very day, prefer the open air as opposed to the stuffy confines of his home in the Victor’s Village. Not to say he took advantage of what he had, rather he didn’t know how to “appreciate the generosity of the Capitol,” if that was even possible.

He ran his tongue over his teeth, “Say, there were no borders, no Peacekeepers, no threat of punishment, and you could go anywhere in the country: where would it be?”

To hear that he too had dealt with the ordeal of not having anywhere to go didn’t surprise her. There were more homeless or poverty stricken people in this district than others due to this size of its populous and the common use of drugs. Mira understood that what she had done while she was a part of the game helped those who were addicted to the drugs get them, and utterly that contradicted her desire to truly help people, but in a way it did. Without the drugs she knew there was withdrawal, and with the firsthand experience with it due to Elijah’s time, giving the drugs were the only thing that seemed to actually help.

Mira looked at Gattin for a second before back at the books when he asked the question. It wasn’t really something she pondered. Maybe it was because the fear of what would happen if they ever escaped out of the district that stopped her from wondering. “Somewhere that has no light pollution, I guess. Where there’s flowers for miles, since there really isn’t that many here.” The pollution of the factories was the cause for early deaths of the flowers that could still grow. “Where would you go?”

did i scare you?

[miravales]

It amused him seeing the girl mark off her place in the book and return it to the shelf as if it was her own. It was a habit he and the regular patrons of the library engaged in themselves, seeing as how it was highly unlikely someone would actually take a book out. And, as she had pointed out, it’s not like the Peacekeepers were looking to storm through the front doors anytime soon.

When Mira took up her cleaning again Gattin took a cloth himself and moved to a section of the shelves a pace or two down from where she was working. Might as well make use of his time while he waited for Mei to return, “That sounds like her.” He chucked, “How long have I known Mei…” He hummed aloud, “More or less my entire life, think I was ‘bout ten-eleven or so when I first came by here. She’s like family to met at this point.” Correction, she washis family.

“Piece of advice: let her take care of you. If there’s anything I’ve learned about her over the years it’s that she gets more upset when you think you’re burdening her.” It wasn’t until he had become one of Six’s few Victors that Mei learned the truth about his origins, that he had no home and had been living off the streets all these years. It brought her grief knowing she could have given him a home, could have prevented him from volunteering and enduring the Games. But he wasn’t her problem to worry about, if anything he felt worse seeing how distraught she was over the entire ordeal. From then on the two promised to be upfront with one another, be it good news or bad.  

“So where abouts were you staying before Mei "took you in?”“ Based on the context of her previous remark Gattin could only assume Mira had no permanent home. After all, it took one to know one.

Mira laughed softly, Mei started to sound like how she was with Elijah and with the other members of the gang. Her desire to take care of people exceeded their actions, those she was close to for over five years of her lives cheated and stole to live. All the same she treated them as she would anyone else. The only time she had ever cut herself off from helping someone was a man who grew too possessive of her. He was the reason Mira didn’t do those sort of things anymore.

“Here, there, a bit of everywhere and nowhere.” She answered him, stepping on a stool to reach the top of the bookcase. Even then she had to lift herself on her toes to reach it all the way. “When it was possible I stayed with people I worked for, even for just a day or two. Other times I would just find somewhere to sleep.” Giving a shrug, she finished cleaning what she could reach, “You gotta do what you need to in order to keep going, I guess.”

Mira was thankful though, more than Mei would have ever known. With Autumn coming into its full swing and the rain being more common with it, it was a gift to have a roof. Mira had tried to convince Zey to see if Mei would also take her in, work with her at the library rather than continuing to steal things and get the occasional money from her. Of course, Zey was too stubborn to do it.

did i scare you?

[miravales]

there’s blood on the street | os

Mira sat in the window anxiously, looking down at the dampened roads below. The streetlamps white glow causing the dark road to glisten. Behind her, Elijah and a few others picked through boxes of medicine that had been placed into the warehouse, stashing bottles into their backpacks. Mira’s leg bounced as her eyes and ears were focused on the outside.

“Guys, we need to go soon. I don’t like how long we’re staying.” She pleaded quietly. Elijah looked up to her, giving a reassuring smile, his teeth glowing in the darkness, “Meer, don’t worry, we’re going to be fine. Just look and listen for the peacekeepers.”

Minutes past, feeling like hours. No sirens echoed off the empty buildings and left an eerie feeling along the streets. The homeless that lived among the streets were not out, very unusual as they are out even in the pouring rains that had drenched the District over the past couple of days. “Eli,” Mira whispered, panic coming to her voice. Elijah stepped to her, putting his hands on her arms, reassuring her before handing her a backpack to carry. “Only a few more minutes, I promise.”

“Alright,” Caius, one of the leaders of the gang, said, “We’re good to go. Let’s get moving.” And with that, they began their descent down the fire stairs, their foot falls echoing in the hollowed pillar. The pills rattled about in the backpack on her back. The take was worth about two weeks of food and a good amount of supplies for the entire gang. From morphine to painkillers, the range of supplies that they had gotten from this month’s train delivery was their main source of income.

Elijah and Mira trailed at the back of the line. Comparatively to the rest of the gang, Mira did not bare marks and bruises from needles or as light weighted faces as those who were with her. Elijah, upon Mira’s request had cut back on the amount of drugs he had taken and Mira even worked outside of the gang’s operations to get more food for the two—so Elijah wouldn’t look as deathly as some of the citizens in their District. His appearance looked healthy, but with what he had in his system, and what had been in his system spoke otherwise.

Caius opened the door to exit the fire stairwell. The sounds of gunfire, shells of bullets pierced her ears as it echoed of the close four walls. Caius fell back on the stairs. Elijah instantly turned around, pushing Mira back, “Go, Meer!” They backtracked, passing the floor of the room they had looted and to the top floor. Mira exited first, Elijah right behind her. He grabbed her hand and led her down the scaffolding that went along the wall.

Through an open warehouse window they went, jumping down onto the roof of the neighboring building. Elijah urging Mira to keep up, to run faster, to not look back the entire time. The sounds of gunfire echoed continuously. Who was still alive? Who was dead? To the other side of the roof they went, Mira jumping before Elijah onto a container and then to the ground. Elijah grabbed her hand again, running down the alleyway. He looked desperate as the sirens started to get louder and louder, the towering buildings reflecting their lights. Their footsteps unable to be silent with the puddles underneath them.

“Here,” Elijah said, walking through a hole in the side of the train station. Trains were at rest currently, stopped here for supply drop off and because the storms had damaged railroads just outside of the district. They stopped, leaning against one of the trains, panting. “Where is everyone else?” Mira asked quietly. Elijah just shook his head, putting his finger over his mouth.

Elijah still held her hand. He shook to what she believed was fear, and she too shook from terror. Mira squeezed his hand, giving a soft smile to him. For some reason, she thought back to when they had first left the orphanage. Mira had asked Elijah what their parents would’ve thought about them and their choices. “It doesn’t matter now, now all we have to do is think of the present. Not the future, not the past. The present.” What Elijah had told her stuck to her, and she tried to do so. But she always failed, grasping at any hope of the future that she could.

Footsteps echoed, Mira covered her mouth and Elijah tensed his jaw. Desperately, she looked to her brother, not knowing what else to do but to follow his lead as she always had. Quietly, slowly, they began to walk along the train cars. “Meer,” Elijah said, just barely over a whisper, “Climb up.” Mira looked back to him, confused. “They’ll see us, you’re crazy.” Without another word, he scowled, pointing to the top of the train car. Mira climbed, he followed.

Crouched, they walked on the tops, making as little noise as possible. A few pairs of feet echoed as they walked along the gravel in between the cars. Lights from flashlights moved as they looked around. The perks of the storm meant that the power here was out, if the lights came on at the moment, they would be exposed.

Elijah’s foot slipped from underneath him, his knee hitting the top of the car. A short spit of gunfire was sent towards the two. Mira made herself as small as possible to the car so she wouldn’t get hit. Looking back, she saw Elijah’s face grimacing and his teeth clenched. A bullet had grazed his arm, nothing too bad. With a quick thought, Mira took the backpack off of her back and threw it on the ground, on the other side of the car where the peacekeeper was not.

Once the Peacekeeper crossed sides, the two got up and jumped to another train, continuing to do so—running and jumping as fast as they could. The Peacekeepers yelled, telling them to stop or they were going to shoot. The deceived Peacekeeper climbed on top of the train car where they had been and shot at them, managing to hit Elijah in the calf.

Mira had been ahead of him, and when he jumped to make the next car, he didn’t make it, falling down to the ground. Instantly, Mira stopped and turned back, slipping down to the ground beside him. “Come on, Eli, we got to go.” She forced his arm over her shoulders and pulled him up. She wasn’t going to leave him, not when he was still breathing. Stumbling, they made their way down the middle of the two trains as fast as they could. All the while, Elijah telling her to leave him.

“Eli, shut the fuck up. I’m not leaving you, you idiot.”

A peacekeeper stepped in their path, about ten yards away, his flashlight blinding the two. Elijah slipped his arm from her shoulder and pushed himself in front of her. Gunfire echoed, his blood spraying onto Mira’s clothing and skin. “Run, Meer.” Elijah said weakly before pushing her and falling to the ground in front of her.

And so she ran. She never turned back. Mira left Elijah, the only family she had left. And now he was dead, and truly, so was she.

[miravales]

“About a week or two, she took me under her wing and kept me in longer than most people have.” It was true, Mei had been the only person to keep her in a location for more than a week. That is, since she had left the gang. During that time, they stayed in an old warehouse, provided they give drugs to those who ran the building.

Mira laughed softly, “They’ve always avoided this place, from what I’ve seen. I bet most of them wouldn’t even bother to open up a book to figure out what it was. The perks of books without a title on the front.” Mira had known about the library, more so of its location than anything. They had raided a building close by a while back and Mira had seen it while she was gathering information on the targeted building and during the raid itself. Peacekeepers never went into the building, just walked past it if they ever went by it.

“Gattin,” she repeated, “interesting name.” She hadn’t heard the name before, or that she remembered. When he asked if she wanted to take over she shook her head, “Oh, no you don’t have to, I can just…” From her pocket she pulled a little paper figure and placed it where she had been reading. “Pick up from where I left off later on.”

With that, she sat the book down on an empty space on the bookshelf and went to continue on with her previous work. “How long have you known Mei?”

did i scare you?

[miravales]

It seemed almost cliche to say that one could hear a pin fall in the stacks of a library, yet only one step within one of the last remaining structures in the District would quickly convince you its legitimacy. In a region where lawlessness triumphed over lawfulness it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the library was near vacant a majority of the time. Those who passed through were either employees or a select few who sought a brief escape from the hell they endured day in or day out.

There were a number of reasons why Gattin first came here when he was an orphan living on the streets over a decade ago, curiosity being the primary culprit, and it was that alone that perhaps caused him to return day in and day out. Back then at least. At present it was his relationship with the head librarian Mei and the staff who had become the closest thing to a family he knew. While he enjoyed his solitude, he couldn’t deny as he grew older that without them the years following his Victory would not have been as fulfilling as they had been, despite the bumps he encountered along the way.

Mei wasn’t just a mentor, but the mother figure that had been absent his entire life. They looked out for each other: she helped him get his life in order and he helped her in any way he could, be it helping around the library or, much to her protest, funnel his winnings into the buildings upkeep. Knowledge and education was monitored strictly by the Capitol in the wake of the Dark Days, and what better way to ensure it’s preservation than to spend the money they awarded him for the death of twenty-three others on what they despised the most.

It had been a handful of days since he stopped by to see Mei, the usual veil of silence hanging over the interior when he entered. The only thing that pierced it as he looked for her in the stacks were a series of sneezes. Eventually he found its source: a girl with a worn book in her hand. Based on the box of wipes near her he assumed her to be one of Mei’s workers. She frequently extended a hand of generosity to those in need to a job, a roof over their head or just someone to talk to, all qualities he admired about her.

He cracked a smirk at the sound of another sneeze and only after his search for the elder left him empty handed did he return to where he last saw the girl, or rather heard her, “Have you see-” He was cut off as he turned down the stack and saw her nearly fall off the box with the book in her hand. He couldn’t suppress the hushed laugh that bubbled in his throat

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He chuckled, the smile lingering on his face while she caught her breath, “An’ neither are you. I was actually looking for her. Is she in or did she step out for a bit?” His eyes strayed from the girl to the nameless book in her hand, “Anything interesting?” He nodded to the text as he crouched down slightly so that he was on eye level with her.

“You didn’t scare me, you startled me,” she lied. It wasn’t difficult to scare her, especially since her brother had been killed and she left the gang and she had to find her own way to live. Anyone who would try to grab her attention by touching her, or like the man did, by speaking to her when she was absorbed in something, would cause her to become on edge somewhat.

He asked about Ms. Izumi’s location, “She went out maybe a half hour ago, to get food, so she might be back soon.” Mira pulled her feet onto the box, becoming smaller, acknowledging his question about the book she had been reading. “It’s interesting so far, it’s from before Panem—a fugitive who finds himself in a kingdom of some sorts.”

Despite living on the streets since she was 12, her brother made sure that Mira could still go to school. She knew he thought she would be safer there than where he had been. Though through school all she had been able to read were things relating to trains, cars, any form of transportation that the district was involved in. So anything that she found outside of the topic was purely interesting to her.

The man looked vaguely familiar to her, though she couldn’t put her thoughts together to remember where. If anything, she might have seen him one day when she worked at a shop or just walked by him one day in the streets. She gave him a smile, “I’m Mira.”

did i scare you?

[miravales]

did i scare you?

The sound of the wooden floors creaking woke Mira. It was the fourth night that she had stayed at this place, the longest she’s ever stayed anywhere since the old warehouse when she was younger. The older woman who lived in the apartment welcomed Mira in with open arms, allowing her to stay here as long as she wanted if she helped around the small library that she owned nearby. With that, Mira denied to take any money from the woman but still felt bad for taking up some space in the home. The woman’s name was Mei Izumi, somewhere in her sixties. Mira paid the man who ran the apartment building some money to stay in the lobby for the night due to the downpour outside. Mei insisted on taking Mira up to her place, and denied anything else from her.

Mei carried a small plate with oatmeal, toast, and a small cup of tea. Mira sat up, taking the plate, “I can’t thank you enough for letting me stay here, if there’s anything else I can do for you, just let me know.”  Mei smiled, “It gets lonely here, it’s always nice to have someone. Oh, and I need you to help clean the library today, the bookshelves are getting really dusty.” Mira nodded, beginning to eat once Mei left the room. Had she been without the woman, Mira would most likely roaming the streets looking for a job to work for the day in order to get a room or some money, anything.

After washing up, cleaning the space that she slept in, Mei and Mira walked to the library. It was quaint, but filled with books that reached dates before the Dark Days. It made Mira think, about how they managed to last this long after the overthrow of government. It wasn’t uncommon, as she had heard from what schooling she had, that often time books and other scriptures were burned during revolutions or massacres. Mei left the library around noon to go get some food for dinner that night, leaving Mira alone.

Sneezing fit after sneezing fit, she grabbed a book from the shelf to wipe off when she saw the cover had no title, nor its spine. Pulling up the box she used to reach the top shelf, Mira sat, opening the book and began to read. It was unknown how much time passed, but Mira was absorbed into the book that she barely heard the footsteps of the person behind her. Reacting when she heard his voice, jumping and nearly falling off of the box she was sitting on. Breathing deeply, collecting herself, she looked at the man, startled once again at who she saw, a stranger, “You’re not Ms. Izumi—Hello.”

[miravales]

mira.

               The loss of family was nothing uncommon to the citizens of the districts, and Mira was one of the many who had lost those she cared about. At the age of six and eleven, after the loss of their parents, Mira and her brother, Elijah, had nowhere to go except the district orphanage. Overpopulated and in a poor district, the orphan’s unfortunate to find themselves there were exploited for their ability to receive the tesserae, being forced to take it once they were eligible for the Reaping. Elijah refused to let Mira have more risk in being reaped, and right before her twelfth birthday the two left the orphanage and found themselves on the street.

               The two did meager jobs when they could, mostly for older citizens who took pity on them, who would let them stay the night in addition to the small amount of money they got. Other times, they stole from small shops at night and found places to sleep wherever they could. Elijah was all that Mira had left for a family, having been rejected by their own due to the lack of space and money. Elijah promised to keep Mira safe, and in doing that found himself joining one of the gangs that ran the drug scene of the district when Mira was fourteen. It provided living spaces, money, food, everything that they needed.

               It was not long after Elijah joined the gang that he succumbed to taking drugs as well. The change in him was gradual, but addiction took him and the person that Mira had grown up with was gone. What he did was no longer entirely for the benefit of the two, but rather mostly for his next high. Mira joined the gang after Elijah lost sense, and though she distanced herself slightly from her brother, she did whatever she could to make sure he was taken care of.

               Once Mira joined, Elijah tried his best to fix his act, feeling it was his job to protect his sister from the others of the gang. He began to do less drugs, which brought withdrawals. There would be days where he would seem like he was dying, sweating and shaking, his skin pale and there would be other days where he would be a bomb—exploding at everyone and everything. Mira had been the victim of a few of his explosions, but she never resented Elijah for what he had done.

Despite the reality of the world that Mira saw, the cruelty of the orphanage, the terror of the Capitol and the Games, the way people deteriorated under the addiction of drugs in her district, and what it was she did with the gang and what she did to survive. Mira would never accept that this horrible world was what was true, looking for any bit of hope and happiness in anything. She stepped away from the violence, taking the role similar to a scout and that of a nurse.

The world for Mira, came to a stop one night during a raid. Everything seemed off that night, the lack of people on the streets, the lack of peacekeepers around the warehouse. On their course out of the warehouse, they were ambushed by peacekeepers. Elijah and Mira ran, finding themselves at the train station where everything fell apart. Shot in the calf, Elijah failed to make a jump between two of the train cars.

Both taller and bigger than Mira, she struggled to keep him up on his feet. But try she did, despite his words of telling her to leave him, she tried, not wanting to lose the last thing she had in this world. The darkness of the train station ceased at the blinding of the flashlight from a peacekeeper. Elijah pushed himself in front of Mira, shielding her as the bullets hit his back. “Run, Mira.”

Those were his last words she ever heard. His blood stained her shirt, specks hardened on her skin. Into hiding she went, for weeks she felt the waves of grief from the loss of her brother. It was reality that she had to face that she would never be teased by Elijah again, she would never see his stupid smile and that he was gone. Just like everyone else she cared about.

Knowing she couldn’t grieve and succumb to common methods, she forced herself to stand up and continue on. Working around the district, taking for a place to stay more than asking for money. Through her quests of working, she ran into someone who she thought to be dead—a member of the raid, Zey. He acted as if he were dead to survive, and now he lives in hiding. She stayed with him for a week, tending to a gunshot he had gotten and had poorly been taking care of before moving on. Mira still to this day finds him and makes sure that he is okay.

Through working around the district, she gained many connections to those in the poorer and middle class of the district. They knew her by name and she knew them by theirs, when she walks through town she would willingly help anyone that she knew, even those she didn’t. Often she found herself posing as a family member of homeless children, who were in the same position that she was at their age, stealing from shops in order to eat. Mira only wished she could do more.

Against her wishes, she found herself having to do more than work for people, but to offer up her own self to some people when times became desperate. She succumbed to drugs after it, not to the point of addiction but to ease her nerves and to make her more willing. Mira despised herself and the person she had become. But she continued to tell herself it was for her future and that things would be better soon.

Her time of using her body as a way of profit ended when one of the men she had given herself up to once found her and forced himself on her. After that, she took anything else that she could. Finding herself working for the older people of the district like she and Elijah had when she was younger. Many of the people took her in for a few days. One woman in particular took her almost entirely under her wing. The woman worked in a library, and offered a play to stay and food in exchange for work around the library and around the woman’s home.