² SECOND CHANCE ─ the hunger games

two - thoughts run wild

— GWYNETH —

= TWO MONTHS LATER =

I AM WAKEN UP by my alarm's annoying continuous ringing, and I roll off my bed groggily, yawning loudly and stumbling into the bathroom.

"The day I have to return," I tell myself.

For the arena twist. 

The arena twist that will remind everyone about how the Games aren't ending just yet. Of how we're all just caught up in Byrok's business. The Adelaide Woods never had anything to do with this - it was all just Byrok and their greed acting up - they could never have fought the Capitol City; which is why we're now part of Byrok's plan. They got the things they wanted, so why are they still thinking of the worst ways possible to torment us?

I hate the Games. I hate Byrok. And most of all, I hate myself.

For being a puppet. For not being able to break free. And for being a piece in Byrok's games for too long. It's over now, but I still hate everything Byrok has ever done to me. I hate that the same thing will happen again. For 24 other tributes. And that 23 more of them will die for people's entertainment, mercilessly murdered. Forming alliances, only to betray each other. Two can play at this game, where only the most cunning, most emotionless monsters emerge victorious. Like me.

I resent myself for not going to be able to do anything except watch the Games play out.

Just as I push the door open, a blast of hot wind hits me right in the face, and I wince as the scorching summer wind blows past me.

I should have worn something cooler.

Paparazzi block the doorway. Mobs of photographers and reporters stand in the middle of the road. Clicks, flashes, everything. Microphones are being shoved into my face.

The reporters are almost tripping from the amount of equipment, and stepping on each other's feet.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Anderson," one lady says. "How do you feel-" She's cut off when my bodyguards shove her out of the way. "NO!" she yells. "My once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!" The sea of black disappears behind us as we push through them toward the train station.

Since I became the victor of the Hunger Games, I've tried to stay strong, even though I'm haunted with nightmares ever so often. My friends...They were so young. So brave. They didn't deserve to die in that arena, and neither did I. I wasn't happy when I was lifted from the arena. The only thing I could feel was guilt.

How could I have outlived 23 innocent teenagers, when all of them deserved to live? Why had I become the only person to leave when only a week before, 24 people had entered this arena?

I had killed and harmed for my own survival, and forced to pretend to be someone I wasn't, for the media and the viewers. The New Regime tried to give me so many privileges, like bodyguards and a new house.

But I declined all of them, because I felt guilty. That I didn't deserve it, when all the other 23 had the same chance. But they didn't even step out of the arena alive. At that moment, my world was turned upside down.

I was forced to accept the bodyguards, because they wouldn't want anyone to do anything to their first lovely little victor.

But the thing they don't know is, that I'm not little. That I'm not lovely. They took my childhood away from me, and with that, my innocence. I need to show them I am mature. I am strong, and I am powerful. I will not be controlled, after so many people died for me.

I showed them that I was no longer just a piece in their Games, but now, I have to make sure the next twenty-four will not. The Games will no longer be a thing, and neither will the New Regime.

Chaos filled the Adelaide Woods. The 1st Games ended two months ago, and now the 2nd Games is being announced. 23 more children will have to die, and one will return home a killer. The residents aren't happy about it.

= FLASHBACK — TWO MONTHS AGO =

"Where is my sister?" Adrian Levine whines and whines at the sight of me. His pleading puppy eyes lock with mine, and I can't help but let the bitterness overcome me.

He's seven. How innocent and young. He doesn't know I killed his sister. All he knows is that, his sister and I are close friends, and Charlotte is gone. What he doesn't know is that, she won't be coming back. Ever.

Because of me.

Adrian's hand reaches up for mine, and I take it. Charlotte deserved to win. She deserved to come back to her adorable brother and her family. She deserved to see her brother at leastone last time.

= END OF FLASHBACK =

People were in the streets protesting. Hating me for coming back when their friends and family didn't.

I remember and honor each and every one of their sacrifices. Eunice. Charlotte. Zoey. Kunboss. Laine. Nathan. I recite their dying words - every single expression, every word muttered - in my mind.

All of them deserved the victory. All of them deserved one last chance to see their family, even if it was just a split second.

We all came from the same village, yet we obviously failed to show our teamwork. Byrok has forcefully turned the tables in their own favor. Everything has changed, but why does Byrok think they can control us just by pitting every one of us against each other? What does that do except make all of us hate one person - and that is Byrok - and James himself?

I killed Nathan. I killed Charlotte. I killed both of my friends with my own actions. My knife slicing through Nathan's chest as I hurl a knife at them in a rage, without even giving it a second thought. My banter with Charlotte, the clang of weapons against each other, the beads of sweat dripping from my upper lip mixing with that blood which tasted like iron; her venomous last words that she'd haunt me in her dreams. 

I watched Eunice and Kunboss die, too shocked to even try and save them. The tears pooling in my eyes as I stared at my best friends take their dying breaths, yet I did nothing; if I had worked harder, faster, had I tried to bandage them, would they be here? Better yet, if I hadn't closed my eyes, waiting for Charlotte's knife, if I had fought Atlas and Leo with her and Nathan, maybe Eunice would have been the victor? 

If I had stayed in the cave with Kunboss, if I had been more prepared and noticed Atlas coming in for the attack, would he have stayed alive and betrayed me at the end? 

= FLASHBACK =

"I hope you remember who the common enemy is," says Nathan.

= END OF FLASHBACK =

Nathan was right. The common enemy here isn't your alliance members or even other tributes. The common enemy is Byrok. The government.

The Games must never go on again, I think to myself. 

I hope the tributes realize that, and I hope the New Regime ends once and for all.