Falling in the Ring

prologue

First, I want to give a disclaimer, I have not reread the first part and am not planning to. Please feel welcome to correct me on any mistakes.

Two brown eyes are staring at me, they belong to a small and fragile girl. She had a slim face with freckles scattered around her nose. She might seem innocent at first, however, as I glide my gaze down her body I can spot muscles. She's strong. Or at least she appears to be. When you look closely you may be able to spot something poking out from her boot. She always keeps a knife with her, just in case. Her two small hands reach up to her hair and smoothly she starts to braid it. Gradually the girl, frail at first, starts to turn into a fighter. Her dark chocolate eyes hold no feeling as if she might not be human after all.

A door slams shut and footsteps are heard making their way down to the centre of town. It isn't a far walk, the centre is near the house to which the door belongs. Today is a busy day, all citizens are making their way to the same place, the town square. As the, now strong-appearing, girl continues to walk at a fast pace people stare. She hasn't been seen in a while. Some even started wondering if she would ever be seen again. Somehow they knew she would show up today though, she had to.

The road turns into stairs, as the knife-holding boot makes its way up first. A podium, she doesn't deserve such treatment. She is no winner, no victor. She has hidden and shied away from the public eye for almost a year. Some say she wasn't ready, others say she was more than ready, only she knows. Now she's here though, in the present. Her own staring into all the eyes of the children. The children all gathered here today. She knows none of them are afraid, some might even be excited. She once was too. Now she knows better.

If she could she would shout out. She would scream that this is not what they want, but she can't. So she doesn't. She has already crossed many lines, one final one would mean her end. He would never want that, hate her for it even. She would at least. A shriek is heard and the girl realises she has zoned out for most of the introduction. Already there is a young girl stepping onto the podium next to her, stepping in her footsteps. She knows she can't help the girl, and it almost hurts, almost. But she feels like nothing can hurt anymore, after last year. She is numb. So all she does is offer a smile to the girl and wait for the chosen boy to approach her too. 

Before she knows it she is sitting on a train, two pairs of eyes staring at her waiting for advice. She can't offer it, not now, not so soon, so she stares at her male companion and he understands. He gives her a nod and she walks off. Her trailer is almost the same as last time. She finds more gold now though, suiting as she has won now, even though it doesn't feel like it. It feels like she has lost over a thousand times over a thousand things. She hasn't though, she wouldn't sit here if she hadn't won. He isn't sitting here next to her because he didn't win. 

With one glance to the right, she could almost see him. She has to shake her head to wake up, to turn blue to red, masculine to feminine. He's not here. She is. Two brown eyes stare at her once again, bore into her. The frame of the mirror is also gold, I feel nothing like the girl I see even though I know that she is. I was destined to win and I'm helping these kids do the same if it's the last thing I do.