Fire in her Eyes

Chapter 3

It started out a perfect day. The sun was out for the first time in what felt like months, but really it was just days and the grass was green and spring felt strong in the atmosphere. I spent the morning in the woods with Titus and we didn't do much hunting, instead we sat on a large boulder and he wrapped his arms around me and we stayed like that until the sounds of train horns filled the entire district and even out in the forest we could hear it.

"What is that?" Titus asks.

"I don't know. I've never heard that before. Maybe a train from another district is coming here, but the trains didn't make that sound when they brought you guys here." I frown at my confusion and we get up quickly, running back towards the district. I had this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach that this sound wasn't a good sign and that something was going to go terribly wrong. Once we were inside the districts, there was a voice that seemed to be filtering down literally from the sky but I assumed it was coming from hidden speakers somewhere.

All members of district 12 are to gather in the town square at 11:30. All members of district 12 are to gather in the town square at 11:30. This meeting is mandatory.

Titus and I exchanged a glance, people were filing out of their homes and walking bewilderedly towards the square. We converged into the swarm of people and we all met in the square, I craned my neck looking for my parents and Rye then when I finally spotted them. My mother and father pale faced and holding each other's hands to the point of pain, my brother walked behind them looking confused and glancing around nervously. When my parents were like this, it made us nervous and now I couldn't stop my hands from shaking. I stretched up on my toes to kiss Titus' cheek.

"I have to go. I'll see you after?" He nods and releases my hand, letting me push through the crowd to stand with my family. I see Gale and Madge find Titus after a moment, the boys looking like they could be brothers and the woman with her extraordinary beauty looking out of place beside them. She was shorter than both of them, with big blue eyes, porcelain skin, and long blonde hair tied back in a loose ponytail. She was dressed in an expensive pink dress, brushing her hands nervously along the hem of the dress. The screens flickered to life and a hush fell over the immense crowd. A man appeared on the screen, he looked older than my parents but not by much and his eyes were narrowed as if he were angry at every single person he addressed.

"People of the districts, may I introduce myself? My name is President Bartholomew." He pauses and a nervous, confused murmur ripples through the crowd like a wave. My parents look at each other, my father leans in towards her and I'm not sure but I think he whispers something in her ear. Or he just kissed her cheek. A majority of me thinks it was the former of the two.

"You may think all is well in your homes, but I have been watching you and it has come to my attention that this country lacks discipline. Well, your former president, Ms. Paylor, is no longer with us. She asked me before I killed her not to return to the previous state our country was in, but the problem with her request is that she did not see that our old country had so much more disclipline and no one disobeyed." My mother gasps quietly, my father wraps his arm around her and when I take my eyes away from the screen for just a moment I see her shaking.

"Now that I am president and I have control over everyone and the choices for the better of Panem, my first decree as president is the revival of The Hunger Games." The screen cuts to the Treaty of Treason, the old Hunger Games treaty, being stamped by the official seal once again. Then the screen is black. My mother's body crumples onto the ground like a deflated balloon and a strangled cry escapes her, my father kneels down next to her and murmurs furiously to her but she won't -or can't- get up. People are shouting at the screen and I'm not so sure I understand what's happening. Neither does Rye because he's staring blankly at the black screen.