The 10th annual Hunger Games are creeping up on the Districts
as Academy students of the Capitol prepare to mentor the
tributes and prepare them for their imminent deaths, all except for one.
In which Coriolanus Snow and Enyo Briar find a deeper con...
Enyo's dreams were a labyrinth of nightmares and sleepless nature, nights most spent reliving things she did not wish to relive. Often, nights were spent staring into the dark abyss in front of her, kept sane only by the feeling of Poe by her side. Without Poe, the non-stop ticking of the clock would have driven Enyo to insanity.
And so when she did sleep, Enyo should have been endlessly grateful. Grateful for the feeling of slumber and the heavy weight lifted off of her eyelids, grateful for the warm nothingness it provided.
But with sleep came the nightmares. Nightmares of red and blue and black, of knives and fists, of blood and liquor. Alcohol didn't have much to do with the nightmares, yet it was a prominent feature, as if to taunt her.
Now, Enyo laid on her mattress, caked in sweat as the dark gripped her. The dark itself was soothing, almost like a lullaby to her nightmares. But the nightmares were strong, and they are overpowering the sweet song.
She shot up, beads of sweat trickling down her face and mixing with her tears, spilling like raindrops. Her eyes were wide, glossed over and filled to the brim with water. Her shirt - a simple old t-shirt that functioned as her pyjamas - were stained with the tears and sweat, her breathing erratic and unsteady.
Beside her, Poe moved to settle in her lap, purring as he rested his chin on her knee. Enyo took a deep breath, as if she'd just crawled out of the sea and away from drowning. She gently moved her fingers through Poe's fur, creating a rhythm to calm not just him, but her too.
Enyo glanced at the clock beside her bed, an old thing with dark metal and a dusty clock face. The numbers were fading and the 3 was missing half of itself. It was before dawn, approximately an hour before Enyo would usually wake up. Seeing now hope of sleeping for any longer, Enyo arose from her bed, gently slipping Poe onto the mattress and shuffling out of her room.
Nights where she couldn't sleep and couldn't bear to stare at the darkness any longer, Enyo escaped to the roof of her apartment. As she pulled on a pair of long shorts and double-checked she didn't look like a beast, Enyo found herself slipping out the apartment door and up the stairwell.
The rooftop was nothing special, but it was at least better than the suffocating walls of her room. As the night sky surrounded Enyo, she breathed in deeply, letting the cold air rush through her lungs. Night air was one of her favourite things, for it was so cold and clean.
