Jaded ||| Johanna Mason

fourteen

The thing Jade hated most about being a Victor, besides being pimped out by the president, was how little time they had between Hunger Games-related events. You never got time to forget.

There were six months between each event, just enough time to continue to remember.

Even then, Jade had been called out to give a tour of her arena. The Capitol liked to open famous arenas as tourist destinations, they made a ton of money.

On opening, the victors who arena it was were present to give a speech and a tour of the place. If the victor was popular, they went every year.

Jade's arena had been turned into a full replica of the movie it was based on. Some animal mutts were in the arena sectioned off for people to see.

Other than that, there was the volcanic hotel right by the volcano, the hot springs, a reenactment theatre along with a contest to see how fast people could run the distance Jade had with her throat cut.

There were merch stores that sold dolls of Jade and her weapons. Spines were sold at the shop and human anatomy diagrams.

The star of the destination, other than the Dazzling Jade restaurant, was the tour Jade gave.

She was dressed back in her arena outfit and was flown out to the arena where she had murdered children. Jade was part of the show. They didn't care that she had a panic attack on the plane.

Jade was forced to get up in front of a hundred people and talk in a light-hearted manner about her time in the arena. She took her audience all across the fields to look at the spot where she killed each tribute. There were statues commemorating each.

The mountain, the volcano, the visitor centre, the field. Jade toured it, made jokes, and explained it.

At the end, they left off at the plaque with all of the names. That list has the names of every tribute who had died in the arena and Jade's name was at the top below a crown.

It was a horrible experience for Jade.

And she hardly had time to forget about it before the lucky victor from 10, Angus, was arriving.

Like most outer district victors, he didn't enjoy being in 2. And he definitely didn't enjoy the tour with Jade, walking around the beautiful district with a cold-blooded killer.

They were all killers but Angus had killed only to survive. It was out of desperation. Jade killed because she wanted to, because she hunted. No one saw the why, they didn't care.

Anyone who didn't live in 2 could never realize the sad life of the academy kids. Taken by force to a brutal academy for 18 years to train for a 1/24 chance to win a murder game.

And if they didn't go to the games, they became enforcers of the oppressive law. The older victors knew. But no one wanted to accept that. It was easier to believe these children were prestigious murderers who enjoyed it.

Angus was ready to leave by the time the feast was over but his mentor and escort forced him to stay for the party. Even if he didn't use words, Jade could tell by the way his eyes judged each person there, the way his arms crossed tightly and his mouth never formed into anything other than a line.