letters from a friend.— [catalina/eleven | pen-pals]

[Deleted]

𝒟𝑒𝒶𝓇 ℰ𝓁𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃 𝒪'ℳ𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎,
Hi there! I'm Catalina, but you can call me Cat if you want! I guess we're penpals pen pals pen-pals now, that's pretty cool, huh!? My teacher gave me a paper that told me a little about you, and I'm really excited to get to write to you some more! At first I thought that your paper got mixed up. Cause it said your name and district were both Eleven. But my teacher said it was right!

I noteced noticed your last name! It's the same last name as one of the tributes, right!? Are you related? I don't really remember that tribute much, but he seemed really nice! I bet you're really nice too. And I hope we can be good friends and keep writing to each other! Nana said I shouldn't bring up your last name, but I don't get why not. I hope you don't mind if Nana was right, I just got curious!

I saw your paper said you have lots of siblings! More siblings than fingers even! What's that like? I bet it's a whole lotta fun! I wish I had siblings. I'm the only kid my parents had. Sometimes it's nice because I don't have to share my toys and they let me pick what I want for dinner sometimes too! But other times, I get real lonely. Sometimes my parents will be gone working for a day or two without coming home so it's just me and Nana.

Do you mind telling me about your siblings? And maybe one day I can write a letter to them too! I just like the idea of having siblings. I bet you always have someone to play with and to talk to, huh? Do you have any pets too? I want a cat so so bad but my dad is uh-ler-jik he says. I'm not positive on what that means, I just know we can't have any cats.

And it said you lived on a farm. A farm sounds neat! My mom said farms are real dirty and big and you can run around because they're outdoors! All we have here in Six are hospitals. Hospitals are all clean and boring and white. And you get yelled at for running or for talking too loud in them.

I don't know if you got my paper, so just in case I'll tell you a little about me. I'm twelve years old, the same as you! And like I said, no siblings. I live with my mom and my dad. But they're real busy being scientists and work a lot. So whenever they work, Nana comes to visit! Nana and I like to bake together and we play lots of card games and board games! And I'm real sneaky so Nana doesn't notice when I cheat sometimes.

When I grow up I wanna be an astranomotor astronomater astranomer a scientist who learns about space! I really like space! My parents have all of these books they let me borrow about space and stuff! And I really like looking at the night sky and trying to point stuff out. My parents might get me a telescope soon, so I'm really excited.

I'm not sure what else to say! I'm just really really excited to be your pen-pal and I hope to hear from you soon! My parents gave me a camera so I can send you some pictures too! I hope you enjoy the pictures and really really hope you wanna be my friend, Eleven! Bye!

ℱ𝓇𝑜𝓂,

𝒞𝒶𝓉𝒶𝓁𝒾𝓃𝒶 ℰ𝒸𝒽𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓇𝒾𝒶

[lyss]

It’s nice to meet you! Well, through letters and photos, at least. I’m actually the eleventh born, if you can believe that. Some of my older siblings have number names as well, like Four and Six and Eight. Six is the one you’re thinking of- the one who was in the games. He was really nice. He was my role model, really. I don’t mind you bringing it up. It’s a lot worse when people pretend to ignore it or whisper about it behind my back.

I miss him a lot. I haven’t really been able to talk about it with anybody yet. My siblings are the only friends I have, and we’ve all taken it pretty hard. It doesn’t help that before Six was reaped, Four left home and hasn’t been back since. There’s enough of us at home that I think the others forgot about Four and Six sometimes. Like I said, I have 10 older siblings, and I have four younger siblings too. I think the ones that have already aged out of the reaping have forgotten the reality of it, and the ones too young don’t understand yet. Most of us are reaping age, and I think we’re afraid to talk about it because one of us might be next.

Sorry, I don’t mean to be so depressing. I promise it’s not all bad times at the O’Malleys! Family meals are probably one of my favorite parts about having so many siblings. We all sit around the table and get to talk about our day and enjoy the food. We get some of our food from the farm so we’re are able to feed us all enough. We have to pack a lot of us into the bedrooms, which isn’t always fun whenever somebody’s sick or snoring. Sometimes when we can’t sleep, we take turns telling stories or joke about stupid things.

I never have a moment alone or get to experience silence, which has its pros and cons. I bet it’s nice to be able to do your own thing and be able to think. Maybe whenever you’re feeling lonely, you could write me a letter? Despite having all my siblings, I’ve been feeling pretty lonely too lately.

Most of us went to the county fair earlier in the month, and it was really nice to get out of the house and away from everybody who knows the O’Malleys. I competed in the pumpkin carving contest and did pretty bad, but I came in third place in a pie-eating contest! While we were at the fair, my older brother Prop helped my sister Fly get a puppy, so I guess we do have a pet now. Is your dad uh-ler-jik to dogs too? Maybe you could convince him to get a dog, even though it wouldn’t be as good as getting a cat.

I don’t think we have any hospitals here in Eleven. If we get hurt or sick, we usually have to deal with it on our own or have a doctor come to the house. We do get pretty dirty on the farm, but it’s nice to have a big outdoor space with all of us in the house. It sounds like you have a lot of fun with your Nana! We don’t really play cards or board games or bake brownies.

Do people in Six get to go to space? I don’t know much about Six or space or what a telescope is. Maybe you could teach me about space? I could really use a good distraction with the next reaping coming up.

My siblings took some pictures with a disposable camera at the county fair so I put some in the envelope for you! I hope to hear from you soon Cat!

[Deleted]

𝒟𝑒𝒶𝓇 ℰ𝓁𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃 𝒪'ℳ𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎,
Hi again Eleven! I hope this letter gets to you before the reaping. I know that District Six and District Eleven are pretty far away! I should have sent it sooner but I kept forgetting to go to the post office. In the future I'll try to send my letters quicker! Maybe I'll ask Nana about sending you some brownies or fudge to make up for it! I'm not sure if there'll be enough for your whole family though.

Because wow you have a big family! That's a lot of people in one house! But, it sounds like a lot of fun too. Do you have to help with the cooking? Here sometimes we all cook as a family but there's only three of us, four if Nana comes over for dinner. Or I guess two of us if it's just Nana and I. Sometimes dinner gets a little quiet, but I like talking and hearing people talk! I hope one day I get to meet your siblings!

I'm sad I'll never get to meet Six, he sounds like a really good brother! And even if he's not there anymore, could he still be a role model? You remember what he was like, right? Just keep remembering him and keep asking yourself what he would do. Maybe that will work and maybe it won't, but it's worth a try!

Can I ask why Four left? I know mom and dad would be really worried if I left home and didn't come back? Is she okay wherever she is? Is she happy? Did you get to see her at that fair thing that you mentioned? Sorry for asking so many questions. Mom and dad say that I'm curious and that it's a good thing! But there's thing saying about curiosity killing the cat and I'm the Catalina so I should probably be careful!

This reaping that's going to happen will be my first one. I'm a little nervous, but I'm sure nothing bad will happen. After all, I'm only twelve so I don't have a whole bunch of entries! Plus Flynn Garner is from District Six and he was only thirteen when he got reaped and won! And I'm sure you'll be okay too, Eleven. And I hope your family is okay, that's a lot of people to be entered.

Sometimes when I need to think I go on walks. How big is your farm? If you need to be alone and think, you could probably go for a walk or hang out somewhere quiet on the farm, right? Just make sure to come back so your family doesn't worry about you like Four! Plus, if you go away we can't write letters anymore and I like writing you letters. I hope you like reading them.

The county fair sounds like fun! I want to try pumpkin carving or pie eating! And I like your pumpkin, those judges don't know what they were talking about! You got first place if you ask me. And the people who beat you in pie eating probably cheated. At least that's the excuse you should go with if you ask me. Did any of your siblings win anything? Other than Prop and Fly getting a puppy!

I asked my parents about a puppy and they said they were too messy. That puppies can tear stuff up and they can't have their research or work damaged or they'll get in like really big trouble. My parents like to hide that stuff. I don't even know what they research or anything. Maybe I should just get a kitten or puppy anyway and not tell them! That way we're all hiding stuff. It's only fair after all!

I don't think we get to go to space, at least not that I've heard of. But it's nice to dream about, y'know? And a telescope is sort of like a camera or magnifying glass! You know how cameras can zoom in really far? Or magnifying glass make little things look big? That's sort of what a telescope does! It lets you zoom into the sky to see planets and stars and stuff closer up! And I'm not sure what to teach you so I'll just send you space facts!

Space Fact #1: There's this planet called Saturn! And one of the books I was reading said if you could put it in water it would float! Isn't that cool!?

Anyway, I should probably make sure I send this letter before the reaping! I might already be too late...

ℱ𝓇𝑜𝓂,

𝒞𝒶𝓉𝒶𝓁𝒾𝓃𝒶 ℰ𝒸𝒽𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓇𝒾𝒶

P.S. I like your hair! It looks cute!

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