Lee Hatchett

*Lee Hatchett (he/him). Mentor. 108 Victor. Thirty-One. Rahul Kohli.*

The Hatchetts were not meant for greatness or prestige. Raj and Elma met at the lumberyards, as so many couples in Seven do. Married young, started their family of three children. Raj, wanting more stability for his family, took a quieter job in a paper mill for more consistency and physical safety.

Lee was the second born, with one older sister and one younger brother. Life was lived in relative comfort for the family. Tessarae was never an option or required of them, but each child started working at fourteen. His sister in child and health care, Lee in the lumber yards, and his brother in transportation, driving large lumber trucks from a young age. It wasn’t easy to grow up without much “childhood,” but the Hatchetts did well. The kids went to school, and the whole family ate dinner together each night (unless the youngest was out on assignment).

Lee was, in a phrase, a middle child. Constantly pulled between his siblings, constantly overshadowed, and constantly looking for definitions of self that manifested in “not my siblings.” Despite it, he found himself replying to the names of his siblings, as they were often called out before his - an afterthought added at the end. “Oh, and Lee.” The more he defined himself against his siblings, though, the more enmeshed his identity became with them, only exacerbating the problem. Lee took to acting out in school: picking fights with other students and teachers, small bits of vandalism, and an entrepreneurial spirit (read: he sold drugs to his classmates).

The Games were an ever present scourge to the Hatchett family. It was one of those awful realities: the more children you had, the more years of terror you must endure. They did what they could for their community, as they lived in the capital of Seven. The Hatchetts were volunteers of the Games in a sense; they were an open home for families of the Reaped, giving them a place to stay and eat as members were sent to their deaths. When they could, they offered food, blankets, and a place to be when those from the far reaches of the District came together for the biannual nightmare. Raj and Elma were well known as that friendly family who helped, however little they were able, every six months. It was, in their own way, a rebellion - an acknowledgement that kindness was needed in the face of the horrors of the Games, rather than the glory and honor that was mass publicized. Lee and his siblings were taught that the families and Tributes were victims, pulled unwillingly into a gnashing machine bigger than anything they’d be able to comprehend - not (as the Capitol would have them believe) honorees deserving of fame, accolades, and praise. In doing so, they helped as many as they could, combating the ferocity of the Games with kindness and empathy.

It wasn’t until the 108th Games that their own kindness would need to be turned inward, as the worst happened; Lee’s name was pulled from the bowl, at age 18.

The 108th Games were set in a swampy marshland. Tall reeds and cattails permeated the landscape, and water was at least ankle deep throughout the entire Arena - though at many places it got much deeper than that. In various places, hungry, hunting crocodile mutts stalked tributes through the water, foot-long mosquitoes threatened to suck Tributes dry or infect them with a hallucinogenic and potentially fatal virus, and giant lily pads offered some respite from the perpetual wetness - if they weren’t also Venus flytraps waiting to ensnare and digest an unsuspecting Tribute.

Wide, flat bottomed boats could keep Tributes relatively dry and quiet as they traversed the Arena, and houses on stilts littered the landscape, providing shelter from the near-constant downpour of light rain. Inside, some food and weapons could be found, but as the days progressed, the houses developed an eerie habit of walking away from where they were staying, their stilts becoming ominous legs as they wandered aimlessly through the swamp as giant, spider-like mutts. Tributes that lasted into the final days started to find dolls around, hidden in trees or chests in the walking houses. They carried an ominous similarity to other Tributes still alive, and while destroying the doll wouldn’t destroy the Tribute, perceptive competitors could find that small manipulations of the doll would trigger similar movements or pains in the corresponding opponent. Finding your own doll proved to be a necessary defense against the others. On the final day, an ominous green energy began floating throughout the Arena. Some described it as a man in a dark cloak, others as a spectral wolf… in short, no two people saw it manifest the same. What did happen, however, was instant death for any Tribute who passed through the phantasmic figure.

District Seven was an early favorite in the Games. Lee was paired with an older lumberjack, Donnegal Feller, who quickly became popular due to his good looks and willingness to charm a camera. Between the two of them, they fought their way through the initial Bloodbath and survived the first day by hunting the mutts that stalked the Arena. Fights were sparse as Tributes spread out, but Lee and Donny were left alone for the most part. The Career pack was weak in these Games, and the two D7 boys successfully won a fatal fight against the District One pair late on day three. They found their way into a stilted house and used a gifted bow and arrow to defend it well against others. Many Tributes ran, but Lee was forced to arch down a Tribute from District Four as she tried to climb up to their vantage point. It was at this house that Lee found the tool that he would use to win the Games, and also lose his District partner. Not knowing what it was, Lee found the doll representing the District Nine male on the porch of their house and haphazardly stuffed it in his pack. Moments later, the house came to life and started to amble towards the center of the Arena. In a flash of horrendous terror, Lee looked back into the house where Donnegal was resting, only for the now-giant beast to chomp down, revealing the inside of the home’s transformation into the mouth of a giant creature. The beast seemed unconcerned with Lee, who remained outside on the wrap-around deck until he was ferried back to the Cornucopia.

The finale was made of the final five Tributes, each forced to the center by a variety of means. The swamp intensified, forcing them to move slowly towards each other as the mud stuck to their shins. The first to fall was a girl from Eight, who could not move fast enough - a mysterious black figure passed ghost-like through her body and her cannon sounded. Lee grappled with a man from One, and only barely won his fight with a knife the other had brought. As he pushed the body off of him, stuck in the mud, Lee looked up to see the District Nine male rising from his fight with the District Twelve girl. It should have been an easy kill, as Lee was on his knees in the mud, struggling to stand, but his hands found the small doll. Not knowing what else to do, as the D9 male leapt forward, he twisted the leg on the doll and his opponent’s leg twisted at the same time. It was all that was needed - the crocodile mutts had been waiting for a sign of weakness. They disposed of the Tribute and Lee was crowned the Victor of the 108th Games.

Life since then has been hell, but you wouldn’t know it from talking to him. Lee moved his family into the Victor’s mansion, and even went back to his job in the lumber fields for some time. He is and always has been a “keep your head down” kind of guy, and his impulses towards acting out have all pretty well been squashed by his time in the Games. He received his call to Mentorship almost immediately, and even after over ten years of it, he still feels like he’s making it up as he goes along. His focus was always on his Tributes (as he has always found Sponsors repulsive), and finding strategic ways to interact with other Mentors. His only success has been Alder Reid, who he treasures like something sweeter than family, but even that feels tainted by the years of Seven who haven’t come back. He had to take a break from Mentorship for the past few years as his father fell sick and passed, but he is back now, still unsure of how to move forward with any of the collective grief of his legacy.

* Focused; perceptive; parental
* Stubborn; brusque; judgmental

PENNED BY: M