Crushed : A Hunger Games Story

Chapter 2

My bare feet slap across the cobbled roads as I run. I don't know where I'm going. Why I'm running. If I could, I would run straight to the Capitol and force them to save Glimmer, somehow. My sweet sister. All that we had left of her was my hair and Sparkle's eyes. The Capitol would send back her body in a crude wooden coffin, but it wouldn't be her. It would be her after the Games and the Capitol changed her. I want to fight. I want them to realize that Glimmer is just a girl. No one does, though. Not the Capitol, not her allies, not even the Tree Rat that killed her. After a moment, I hear footsteps chasing after me, and I know that it must be Sparkle. "Flicker!" He yells. I run away from him, but eventually he catches up to me. I can't look at him, into his eyes, because then I will see Glimmer's eyes. "Flicker, it's okay." He says soothingly. I shake my head. "It's not okay. None of this is okay." Glimmer's eyes stare at me and Sparkle sighs, knowing he can't convince me otherwise. "Every year we've watched 23 tributes die and not cared. But now, now that it's our sister, it just... it makes sense. They're people, kids, with families, just like Glimmer! This is wrong!" I say forcefully. The few people who are out on the streets look at me, and recognize Sparkle and I as Glimmer's brothers, because they just give us a sympathetic look. But Glimmer's death isn't the reason they're sad. It's because the chances of our district to have a victor has been significantly decreased. Maybe some of them did care a bit about Glimmer, but not the way Mom and Sparkle and I did. And now she was dead, dead at the hands of some girl she had no quarrel with. All those other tributes that had died, even the ones that Glimmer had helped kill, the entire Hunger Games was wrong, and it was tearing my family apart. 

Sparkle's Perspective

"Flicker," I say again, trying to offer my brother comfort. I don't know what thoughts are going through his head, I just hope they aren't anything like mine. Thoughts of rebellion, because he'd go and say it out loud, yell everything wrong with the Capitol and the Hunger Games for the whole of District 1 to hear. And that would be rewarded with a  public execution. I had lived under the shadow of the Capitol for years, and I knew there was nothing I could do about it. Nothing but hope, and wait. Nothing but keep my fiery little brother in line. 

The next morning isn't any better. Flicker is ignoring me, and I don't even turn on the television. I don't want to see any more of the games. The day after, the same thing. I finally have to leave the house to buy groceries. I walk down the road, hating the sympathetic looks of everyone I pass. A random old lady who I'd only ever seen a few times before while walking with Glimmer and Flicker stops me. "I'm sorry about your sister." The words make me angry, but I just nod politely. Sorry? What is sorry going to do to fix the problem? Sorry isn't going to bring my little sister back! A friend of Mom's stops me and gives me a hug, even though I barely know her. Glimmer's best friend, Crystelle, is crying by the shop where her parents work. For some reason, I felt a strong urge to talk to her. She really knew Glimmer and cared for her, and was the greatest best friend Glimmer could have asked for. 

I slowly walk over to her and sit on the ground beside her. "You're Glimmer's brother... Sparkle? Right?" I nod and we sit in silence for a bit. It's a bit awkward, but at the same time, it feels better to be out of the house and with someone else who knew Glimmer well. "I knew she never should have been in those games. She was always so delicate..." Crystelle finally says. I just nod. Delicate wasn't the word I would use to describe my sister, but she was too delicate for the Hunger Games. She always cared about what other people thought, and was accepting and caring. I had never seen her be violent to another person until the Hunger Games. They did things to her. "Honestly, I would have rather she never been reaped, but I'm glad she got to die in the arena." I finally say. Crystelle's eyebrows shoot up and her eyes widen.

"Why would you say that?" She says, appalled. I stammer for a minute, upset that she didn't understand what I meant. "Like you said, she was always so delicate. She never would've killed a girl, let alone one she had never even spoken to before. I'm glad she didn't have to suffer through more pain, and come back home a killer." Crystelle still looks offended, but she slowly nods. "I would've rather these stupid Hunger Games never existed." She finally says, but in a hushed whisper. Most people in our district see the Hunger Games as something of a celebration, a party, well... games. Only once someone lost a child, a sibling or a friend to the games did they realize how awful they really were. And the Capitol didn't even care.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

There isn't much of an exciting plot yet, but there will be soon! I really appreciate if you keep reading this story, and I know my writing's not that good. Thank you :)

-Anonymous Mockingjay