The Nightmares Hidden in Dreams - A Hunger Games Fan Fiction

Solace

A countdown begins, ticking down to certain death.

The scene is all too familiar. The ocean, the stone dividers, the cornucopia, and the jungle beyond. I whip my head around trying to figure out how I've gotten back here. But I flinch when I see the people beside me.

Peeta is on the pedestal next to me, looking around with the same fear I feel. Peering around the circle, I see Haymitch, Annie, Johanna, and others I hold dear. But that's not what makes me throw up off the edge of my pedestal.

No, because two kids, both no older than fourteen, are on my other side. And though I know I've never seen them, they're instantly familiar.

The boy looks just like his father, blond curls, similar bone structure. But his eyes are all mine, gray and stone cold.

The girl could be my sister if it weren't for the instant maternal affection I feel for her. She's fierce, prepared to dive as soon as the clock ticks down to one. But her father's blue eyes reflect that she is not a killer. No, she's terrified.

10.

I retch again, but it's a dry heave, doing nothing to expel this horror.

No, no, no, no, no. I can't be back here.

9.

A tribute I can't see falls into the sea, and an explosion nearly sends me off of my own pedestal. The waves become more dangerous, crashing around my shins, threatening to push me with their force.

8.

I try to get the two children, my children, to look at me, but it's like they can't see me.

7.

How could I have failed so colossally that they ended up here?

6.

I gaze at Peeta imploringly, but he stares at me with the same desperation I feel. Both of us are helpless here. There's nothing we can do, because the Gamemakers are the ones who hold all the power.

5.

I close my eyes, imagining that I'm anywhere but back in this arena. The ocean waves and the salt air are really the beach at district four. Peeta and I are back in that perfect day, reliving that high.

4.

The countdown brings me back to my senses. We're not at that beach, and we're not alone.

We're about to meet our end.

3.

I open my eyes and take one last look at my loved ones, remembering them before we're left floating in this sea, unseeing eyes looking forever towards the blazing sun.

2.

My vision begins to go black around the edges, the air is becoming harder to breathe. I sway, in danger of collapsing in the waves before these games even begin.

1.

"Let the ninety-third Hunger Games begin."

Everything around me seems to stop, frozen in time.

The ninety-third hunger games? The concept is almost laughable. They ended with the seventy-fifth. And then my stomach drops.

No. Because the only explanation is that they never ended. They're back, and now my children are the players in this cursed game of chance only one can ever win.

The scene resumes around me and I fall to my knees, stuck on my pedestal as I watch everyone I love fall before my eyes.

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