Wave ~ Hunger Games [1]

twenty-five

+ cold water +

My blonde hair was sprawled around me as the sight of my home in District 4 was all I could see, Kai, Haf and Zale sitting in the front steps of the house as they sharpened the blades of their tridents. There was smiles on their faces as I watched them in the summer sun, the atmosphere peaceful on the streets of white houses.

I looked down, seeing a trident in my hand as well, but it wasn't my normal simple bronze trident from back home that I was yielding. It was the sleek silver one that only the Capitol manufactured, the three blades curved in a circle, razor sharp with a spear head in the middle of them all. I flipped it over in my hand as I looked back up at my brothers, no one on the steps anymore, the front door to my house completely wide open as I slowly made my way inside.

I looked around as I stood in the hallway, turning to my right and seeing straight into the kitchen, the door leading to the side of the house also wide open as I found my self being drawn into the kitchen. There was a figure sitting at the table, the mess of brown curls on his head indicating that it wasn't any of my brothers. They just sat there, not alarmed by my present as I hands wrapped around the trident tightly, instinctively ready to strike if I needed to.

I set my hand on their shoulder as Ridley turns around to look at me, his face blank as we stare at each other, his eyes flickering down to the trident I was holding by my side. "Do it, Waverley" he said to me, his voice hoarse as I looked down at my weapon before looking back up at him, retracting my hands from his shoulder as we stared at each other. "You know you have to" he said to me, quieter than before as he looked away from me.

I repositioned my hands on the trident, lifting it up as I let out a deep breath, mentally telling myself to strike as I exhaled. I held the breath at its deepest point, debating never letting it go so I wouldn't have to do whatever was coming next, but just as he said moments before, I knew that I had to.

I jolted awake as I sat up as quickly as I could, finding my silk pyjamas soaked in sweat as I pushed the hair that was sticking to my face away from my eyes. It took me a moment to realise that I was not at home, in my nice warm bed with my family sleeping on the same floor. The dark Capitol room being illuminated by nothing except from the artificial stars on the roof which were staring down at me.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed, pushing the sheets off of me as I stood up slowly, my legs shaky as I let out a deep breath. I walked into the bathroom slowly, the lights automatically turning on with my arrival as I turned the tap on, the cold water streaming out. I looked at myself in the mirror, my face drained of its colour, my eye dropping of exhaustion as I put my hands under the water.

I bent down as I cupped they water in my hands, rubbing my face in it as I took a small sip in the water, the coldness of it running down my throat, cooling me off perfectly. I let out a breath as I wiped my face a few more times, grabbing a folded towel that sat on the marble counter as I dabbed my face dry a few times.

I haven't had a good nights sleep since I was back home now, the large soft beds of the training centre bringing nothing but a broken sleeping pattern and nightmares night after night. If there was one night that I desperately needed to fall into a deep uninterrupted sleep it was tonight, as at exactly 10 o'clock tomorrow morning I would be in that arena, possibly never to come back out of it.

I was to trust four people who frankly, didn't have a trust worthy bone in their body, their ability to kill me without even a second of hesitation looming over me like a cold shadow. My family back home, huddle in the living room as they watched the games, maybe they'd venture out to the square to watch it with those who were bothered enough to make the journey, but I doubted it, wanting to watch me perish in the comforts of our own home.

My dad was scheduled to head back out to the boats in a week, the workers only receiving a short time off for the reaping and the games. So if by some chance I was still in that arena in 7 days time, he wouldn't even be on land or at home to see my cold dead body arrive on the doorstep in a wooden box.

I set the towel back on the counter, looking down at my pyjamas as I unbuttoned the top, practically peeling the wet material off of my skin as I let it drop to the floor, pushing the shorts off of me as well. I stood there in the large Capitol bathroom naked and vulnerable, but it was likely the least vulnerable I was going to be in the next few days. I left the bathroom, the lights spilling into my room as it helped guide me back to my bed, climbing into the smooth sheets completely naked, setting my head on the pillows.

I knew that I should try the sleep, knowing that if I was to go into the arena tired and exerted it would take whatever small odds I currently had and slice them straight in half. The bathroom lights clicked off, leaving me in absolute silence once again as I stared at the roof, pulling the sheets all the way up to my neck, cocooning in the warm air as I looked up at the fake star lights, slowly letting my own nightmares pull me back into a restless sleep once again.

But it was better than no sleep at all.

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A/N: hello to my very small amount of readers reading this book, I appreciate you massively lol and I will defo keep writing this book as long as there is one person who is reading it. I'm super passionate about this story line and getting it all the way up to the end so please stick around for that lol
please vote and comment and i will see you soon