How Far We've Come

"Waking up at the start of the end of the world, but its feeling jut like every other morning before."

Avanna Welcher Victor of the 66th Hunger Games

Avanna stared at the bottle of pills on her dresser. It was a simple container with a transparent orange hue to the outside and a sharp white label that smelled like disinfectant. Inside she knew that the pills were small blue and circular, almost like a tear-drop that had been specially petrified just for her to consume.

She was supposed to take two of these every morning, but she rarely did so. The medicine didn't help. Rather it incapacitated her, making the world cloudy and her senses numb. Of course, there were days when she needed this, when the pain was so bad that she took four pills instead of two, just so that she could wake up hours later in a blissful haze.

Medicating herself today though seemed almost criminal.

After all, in a few hours, the reaping would be held, and after that she would be drowning more than just her own life with that pill bottle.

A gentle rasping knock echoed on her door as someone came in to join her. Her eyes fluttering to the corner of her mirror, she saw her sister's concerned face entering. Avanna felt her fingers run cold when she saw the gorgeous dress that Emelie was wearing. Her older sister was eighteen this year, meaning that her name was still in the bowl. She was still at risk.

"Have you taken them yet?" Emelie asked, her voice tense.

"No," Avanna answered.

"Well you should," Emelie replied, biting on her lower lip. Avanna felt the guilt well up inside of her as she saw the stress lines define themselves on Emelie's face. She knew her depression was causing her family too much stress. Emelie especially. While her parents still lived in their jewelry shop so that they could keep the store up in running in hopes that one day either Emelie or Merik might inherit it, Emelie had moved into Victory Village to care for Avanna. Occasionally, she would disappear for a day or two to go into the city and buy supplies, give away money, or even to hang out with her friends, but most of the time Emelie was at home trying to ease Avanna's burden. Naturally, her sister's troubles only made the guilt worse, but Avanna would never tell her that. She was selfish in that way.

"I don't want to be useless in the Capitol," Avanna muttered back, staring at the pill bottle still.

For once, Emelie seemed to perk up a bit, as a flash of a smile snuck onto her face. "Oh, well if you're going to be working hard, then maybe you don't have to. Do you think I should call Doctor Remus to ask?" Emelie inquired hopefully.

Avanna's nose wrinkled at the mention of the Capitol doctor. She didn't like him much. All he ever wanted to do was talk about her time in the arena then prescribe her more pills. And she knew that it was more than her depression that made her hate the psychiatrist. Even Lea and Woof had voiced some resentment towards the man. Apparently, he'd had some conversations with them too in the past, on Head Peacekeeper Marcus's request.

"I heard they're sending someone over to help you with your first year of mentoring. I was talking with Cecelia and she said that usually they'd only have two of them go to the Capitol for mentoring, but they're making an exception this year," Emelie rambled, trying to spark some kind of reaction in Avanna. As much as they both were dreading the reaping later that day, Avanna knew that Emelie saw a bit of a silver lining to her visit to the Capitol. It meant for the first time, Avanna had some sort of emotional investment in the future. Doctor Remus said that was the first step towards healing. Apparently, depression was essentially the inability to "see all the possibilities tomorrow could bring." If she started looking forward to things, started caring about tonight, tomorrow, next week, and next year, she'd be on her way to recovery.

Lea had told her otherwise though. According to Paylor, her worry about mentoring wasn't recovery at all. "It's like how abused dogs flinch when you raise your hand above their head. It's not that it's reaction is some deep sign that they're about to become less neurotic. They just don't want to be hit again," Lea had said. Avanna thought this description was much more accurate. She didn't feel hopeful at all about the coming month, she just didn't want another bloody hand print staining her heart.

"Maybe it will be nice if two if them are there," Avanna deadpanned, for Emelie's benefit.

Downstairs, the sound of a door squeaking shut echoed. "Avanna?" Lea's abrasive voice called. "Hey we've got to go."

Avanna tucked the pill bottle into the pocket od her dress. Wrapping her sister in a tight squeeze, she bit her lip. "Good luck later," she whispered nervously.

"I'll be fine," Emelie smiled. "You can worry in five year when Merik's name go into the bowl." Avanna felt her face flush white.

"Avanna!" Lea called again.

"I need to go," Avanna muttered as she started walking towards the door. Today would be the first time in two weeks that she had left her house, and just the thought of it made her feel sick to her stomach. The uncertainty of everything was killing her. The worst part was not knowing when the fist was going to come down. After all, she knew that even if District Eight miraculously had another Victor this year, they probably wouldn't the next year, or the year after that. At some point she was going to fail. All she could do was hope that it wouldn't be this time. She hadn't even met her tribute yet, and she was already grieving for them. She could only imagine how much worse it would be when the deed was actually done. Fingering the pills in her pocket, she bit her lip. If worst came to worst, her momentary escape was coming with her.

Odds were that by the end of the month, she'd be sleep walking in her a state of pill-induced numbness

How Far We've Come by Matchbox Twenty

A/N Yeah, I know I said Saturday, but I got impatient because I finished this chapter and found that all I was doing was waiting around. I do feel bad about not starting the week submission period on a week-end when I promised to though. So I'm going to maintain that the submission deadline is Saturday November 2nd.

Any who, I'm getting ahead of myself. To any new comers, my name is Tales, I write SYOTs. In the past year, I've completed two stories, Fading to Darkness, and Finding the Light (Avanna from above was the victor of FtL). Its not required that you read either of the previous two stories to read this one. The tribute form is on my profile, if you want to submit as well as a list of rules for submitting. I will only accept forms via PM. Sorry if the rules are bit extensive, I want to make sure that I can create the best story I can, and the first step in that process is receiving good characters.

If you're unfamiliar with my submission process, here's how it goes. I just posted the first chapter of the new story, and so now I am giving everyone until Nov. 2nd to get the forms in. I do not accept reservations, but know that I am not going to accept or reject any characters until the 2nd. So you can submit to any district you want within my time parameters without worry of slots filling up. PM me with any questions (I swear I'm friendly) I have a more in depth description of the process on my profile.

I got 30 submissions to my first story, and am expecting at least that many to this one (maybe a few more or a few less) so there probably will be some rejections (although there were only 6 last time. If you think about it, the odds are in fact in your favor). But know that before sending someone in. Anyway, good luck. I cant wait to see what you've all come up with.