The Sound of Falling Snow | A Hunger Games Fanfiction

Chapter 1

I watch in the distance as Katniss, the girl who I once admired, fires the arrow that signifies the end of the war and the Capitol's oppression, soaring through the air, where it hits its mark on Snow's heart. My grandfather falls to the ground, dead.

The people watching fall silent, as if holding their breath for what's to come. Blood roars in my ears as the life I've had is destroyed with a single shot. It really shows how fragile things are. Only one arrow was needed to send everything I've known before crashing down on me.

I should be upset. Who wouldn't be, after witnessing the death of their president, their grandfather? Not the president anymore, though, I suppose. Now that would be President Alma Coin, former leader of District 13.

President Coin steps up to the podium placed high above the crowd of people in the square, her voice ringing out through the entire Capitol, broadcasted live on every television as mandatory viewing.

"Ladies and gentlemen," she begins. "Today, Katniss Everdeen, the Mockingjay, has ended the war and the reign of the Capitol."

Cheers erupt from the multitudes surrounding me. I can almost feel her cold, piercing gaze, keeping note of me, and watching my every move, my every breath. I lift my head a little higher so she knows that I see her and that I will not crumble under her observance.

"This is the beginning of a new era. And with this new era, we must let go of the old. We must take charge and declare our freedom from the past."

What scares me most at the moment is that I have no idea where this speech is going. But my worst suspicions, the ones that linger deep within me, are confirmed with her next words.

"In honor of the lives lost of the people in the districts for the past seventy-five years, we will be hosting a final, symbolic Hunger Games with the children of the Capitol."

No.

No.

My heart is pounding, pounding, pounding against my ribs. Because I know what this means.

The former president's granddaughter, fighting for survival against the people with whom she grew up, maybe even her friends. What a wonderful way to get revenge, to honor "the lives lost of the people in the districts," as she put it.

Of course. It's no secret what she really means. They are going to punish us with the same thing we used to punish them.

I am going into the arena.

—

As her announcement concludes, I rush for the exit through the suffocating omnipresence of bodies around me. I can just barely make it out of the square before the tears spring to my eyes. A symbolic Hunger Games. No doubt the reaping will be rigged against me. I'm the president's granddaughter. Family of the one who caused all this suffering for the districts. Kin to the one that made the Games, the one who stood by and let it happen. A relation to the one who encouraged the whole thing, cheering it on and spending more and more money on the entertainment of watching children kill others. I'm the one that stayed quiet for that one thing. If only I had been brave enough to question it then out loud. If only I had used my voice for that instead. If only I had been rebellious for something more important than what my parents asked me to do, only ignoring it because I didn't want to do it. I'll be heading into the arena soon, too late for anything to be done, to be changed. They will lay forever in the past as mistakes that will go unsolved. I had a chance then, but I neglected it and pushed it away time after time. This is the price for that.

May the odds be ever in your favor. I scoff. More like never in your favor. Funny how just one letter can change the entire meaning of the sentence. One letter can change it from a lie to the truth.

I dry my eyes with the sleeve of my shirt, and swallow down the choking sobs that are threatening to surface from my throat. I can't give in to them. I'm not going to let them break me.

The sun slowly dips to the horizon, bathing the plains where I am sitting in a beautiful golden-orange light. A sudden thought hits me and renews my panic.

How many more sunsets do I have left? Surely the answer is not many. In the face of the announcement of the upcoming Games, I have come to appreciate what I have. It won't be long until I'm battling it out in the arena, desperately trying to find a weapon or food or just anything that will keep me alive and my life, which is rapidly drawing to a close. I will be making alliances with people who I once would have trusted but who are unquestionably trying to kill me after this announcement.

People don't realize that many times, I didn't actually agree with my grandfather. I was just scared, like they were. Scared to speak out, scared to act, scared to be noticed. The same as them. Until the revolution started.

I guess I could see their perspective. I stood by and watched it happen, watched as the Capitol and the districts simultaneously destroyed each other. No, I hadn't been allied with my grandfather's rules, but I did nothing to stop him either. And for that, I was a traitor to the districts. Someone who must be contained. Still a child, but a threat. They'd kill me for it. No, not kill me. Give me a worse sentence than death. At this point, death would be a welcome sight. They will shatter every piece of my Capitol life, force me to turn against my neighbors and make me betray them for my own survival. They will stand by and watch with joy as I must do the same thing that they did for years. They will smile secretly as they watch my suffering, and I will be in the arena, only able to think about how I can get through each day, if I don't die at the very start.

Still, they can't have everything, just like how they couldn't own everything that the districts had. But I'm not going to let them own me, not going to give in. They still can't control me, they can't entirely change who I am. That's up to me. My actions are still my own. They can compel me to do things that I don't want to, but I don't have to listen to them. Didn't the previous two Games just show us that? If there's one thing we've learned from the rebellion, it's that even if they try to hold you down, you can still move. So if and when they put me into the arena, I'm going to die with some dignity.