87th Games: The Aftermath

Memory Lane

Lumen gasped while I just stood there speechless. I didn’t know what to say nor do; I could only remember.

“Ease up, Kid” I whispered to Lumen. It was an endearing term I had given Lumen over the past few days. To me she was still just a kid still at 16 years old and even though we were in on this together I felt I had to protect her. I pushed Lumen behind me and looked at the man standing in front of me.

I remembered laying Zane’s limp body to rest. It was the exact river I saved Trouble in so it held a lot of resonance. Besides, after all Zane did for me in the training centre, as well as during the games, I knew he deserved a proper farewell.

I remembered watching as the red dye flowed through the river in dark streaks. Suddenly the water began to change colour and I remember watching it in absolute awe, the swirls in the water looked strangely beautiful. Then I put the orange dye in and the new colour soon emerged and it surged quickly through the current and up through the rock bed. Last of all, I added yellow dye to the water. The sun was about to set and the colours reminded me of the sky. It was like Zane’s own personal sunset; I remember thinking that it was perfect.

But I saw him die and I knew he was gone. I heard his cannon sound and heard the hovercraft pick him up at the edge of the river.  How could it be that Zane is standing right in front of me?

“Z-Zane… Is that you?”

As I heard him chuckle I couldn’t help but smile. I had missed him. I wanted to drop everything and run to him. I wanted to tell him I was sorry for his death, I was sorry that he died for me and I was sorry it was me who won. If I could I would take everything back for him. I trusted him and he trusted me, I couldn’t shake the feeling I abused that.

“No… I’m his older brother Cole.” I could see his crooked smile but noticed it didn’t reach his eyes. Cole had a type of sadness about him I couldn’t quite place.

He held his hand out to me and I reluctantly gave him mine. He kissed it slowly while looking between me and Lumen.

“It is lovely to meet you Scarlett Aspen. I’ve heard and seen a lot about you” he paused a little before calling me “Knot-girl”. I looked at him in surprised while he chuckled again, his laugh sounding quite similar to his little brother. He also had the same coloured eyes and messy hair, except in Cole’s case his hair was darker and bit glossier. Cole was also well built and held his stance and shoulders eerily similar to his little brothers. Once I knew they were brothers the similarities and differences began to shine through.

I couldn’t reply. I was still taking in all of his features.

“What brings you to my neck of the woods?” He asked quietly, greeting Lumen and then kissing her on the hand too. I saw them lock eyes and Lumen immediately blush.

“We, um, are looking for a place to sleep today” I began, unsure about telling him the real reason we were here. Besides, I didn’t exactly lie. I just didn’t tell the truth either.

“You could stay with me and my family, I’m sure we would love to hear stories about Zane in the games”

I cringed a little. I didn’t exactly want to remember the beautiful boy from my alliance. It hurt too much. And who is to say his family would even like me considering the fact he died to save me? Besides, if I told them what I was doing now I’m sure they wouldn’t be grateful for Zane’s sacrifice. They would be morbidly terrified, especially since I was probably all over the news and wanted for murder.

“We were uh, thinking of something a little more discreet” I countered slowly, careful not to give anything away.

He nodded simply “there’s an old abandoned cottage nearby you could stay there” he suggested.