❝ it is sometimes an
appropriate response to
reality to go insane ❞
──⭒─⭑─⭒──
In which an innocent girl finds herself
trapped in an arena with monsters and
her only hope is to claw her way out.
──...
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𝕿he hot sun beat down upon my back, causing a bead of sweat to form but I didn't dare move or try to brush it off. The feeling of eyes on me, from both the peacekeepers and the cameras meant that it was impossible to do.
Soon though, this would all be over. Soon I would be able to go home and live out the rest of my days without the fear of being dragged into an arena and forced to fight to the death amongst twenty three other children.
"Now, before we begin, we have a very special film." Aurelia grinned, her voice too happy, go lucky for a moment like this. They were about to sentence two people to die. "Brought to you all the way from the Capitol itself."
She turned, waving her hand elegantly at the screen in the corner. We all turned, as we'd been taught to do since we turned eleven. They showed the same film each year, but they expected you to look. If you didn't, then there were consequences.
That had been the warning anyway and nobody wanted to test that theory.
"War. Terrible War. Widows, orphans, a motherless child." I fought a grimace from my face at the voice, knowing it belonged to President Coriolanus Snow. The same president who sent children off to fight in an arena each year. "This was the uprising that rocked our land. Thirteen districts rebelled against the country that fed them, loved them, protected them. Brother turned on brother until nothing remained. Then came the peace, hard fought, sorely won. A people rose up from the ashes and a new era was born. But freedom has a cost and the traitors were defeated. We swore as a nation we would never know this treason again."
I looked from the corner of my eyes, watching to try and find Rue in the crowd of people, but I couldn't see her. Hopefully, she'd remember to watch what was happening on the screen.
"And so it was decreed, that each year, the various districts of Panem would offer up, in tribute, one young man and woman to fight to the death in a pageant of honour, courage and sacrifice." I sighed at the picture that was playing on the screen. From what we had been told, being a victor was nowhere near as glamorous as the Capitol made it out to be. "The lone victor, bathed in riches, would serve as a reminder of our generosity and our forgiveness. This is how we remember our past. This is how we safeguard our future."
There was a final fanfare as the music came to a jarring stop and everyone turned back to face Aurelia again. She seemed to be brushing a tear from her eye as she donned her large smile once more and looked out across the crowd.
Despite it all, you could see the nerves on their face. The Reapings always made the escorts nervous as they watched another pair be sent away to their deaths. Those who escorted the poorer and lower ranking districts knew that their tributes survival chances were even more slim.
