Mmkayy, so this story's about victors of the Hunger Games. Katniss and Peeta aren't the only ones with nightmares. The Hunger Games changes lives, transforms you into someone you don't want to be.
I got memories
This is crazy
You ain't nothing like the [boy] I used to know
Wolf Prattly
"Shut up," I whisper with a low, raspy voice. Bringing my hands to my head, I squeeze my eyes shut in attempt to block out the world around me.
"But Wolf-"
"I said shut up!" Reaching out and slapping Citrine across the face isn't the best thing to do, but I do it anyway. A single salty tear leaks from her eye and trickles down her face. Again, I press my fingers to my temples as she stalks off in those ridiculous stilettos.
Stilettos.
Sedge used to wear stilettos.
Memories of my former best friend rush through my mind. Every night, her blithe laugh rings in my ears. I still see her gorgeous smile every time I close my eyes. Her memory haunts my dreams. Pictures of her tossing glossy ginger sheets over her shoulders form in my mind. Those frosty, amorous blue eyes pierce my thoughts.
Was she just my friend, or was she more? I never told her I loved her, but did she know? Could she see through that bitter mask of fire and burning hatred? Most likely. I had known her for twelve years – we met when we were only four. Oh, the joyous days when competition was who could climb highest in a tree, when love was an emotion only family members felt for each other.
Only a year ago, I volunteered for the 120th Hunger Games. My eighteen-year-old cousin was a tribute two years before. She was slaughtered during the night by the vicious District 2 female. That was one reason I volunteered; to make up for the loss of my cousin's life. I never would have guessed how much the Capitol would torture me, how much burning agony I would be put through after I won.
Everyone I love – loved – has been taken away from me. Peacekeepers slit my sister's throat right before my eyes. As she cried out in pain, her tears dripping onto my face as I watched, I begged for her to life. But Linny's life, lasting for only eight years, was not spared. It caused a chain reaction. Months later, my mother got in a fight with those same Peacekeepers. She wanted to avenge sweet, little Linny's death. Silently, they chained her hands and tied her feet, then led her to be hung. That day, a crowd gathered at the square and watched a twenty-six-year-old girl being mercilessly hung. Her death was ordered by the Head Peacekeeper, Daryn Prull. After my mother was my father, only twenty-seven. He stabbed himself through the heart, and as he was bleeding his life away, he jumped off a bridge. His body was never recovered. My eleven-year-old brother was such a copy cat; he wanted to be like Father. He was so young, so naïve… and after eleven years, his life was ended the same way as our father's.
I have another brother, Jace. He's nineteen and cooped up in a hospital. Nurses tell me he's got something wrong with his mind. He and Linny were both tributes; but Linny was too fragile, too sweet. Jace was the strong one. Until he became a victor. During the Games, the District 4 girl cut Jace's neck with her dagger and almost killed him. He completely lost it after that. Chopped off a girl's head and threw her into the lake. Even the brutal boy from 4 feared him.
I fell into a deep depression after that. The next year, when I was eleven, Sedge's brother volunteered for the Hunger Games. Although he had been training for years and was completely prepared to enter, he was killed on the seventh day by a brutal mutt.
Then it was Sedge's turn. That beautiful, vivacious girl was reaped at the age of sixteen. I remember the way she bounced lightly with every step she took towards the stage, her ginger hair blazing in the sunlight, her simple cobalt dress swaying around her knees. And her eyes… Oh, when I met her so long ago, her eyes were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Gelid blue eyes engraved themselves into my mind, never to leave, never to be forgotten. Shimmering golden hair blinded me once again. As I embraced her, stroking those resplendent locks, her hot tears staining my shoulders, I knew I would never see her again. After that day, Sedge and all the memories that came with her would be nothing more than a nightmare, haunting my sleep night after night. She stepped onto the train, leaving my life forever, and all I could do was watch. Watch as she shone in a stunning aqua dress during her interviews. Watch as she was shot through her head, pinned to a tree, and stabbed over and over with a sword. As her blood poured from her body, leaving her hanging lifelessly on a branch, I fell to my knees and felt as if I was dying, too. Dying a restricted, savage death. My heart felt as if it shattered into a million pieces. My entire body was numb with shock and pain. Sedge, the only girl I would ever love, had died for the Capitol's entertainment. Never again would I see those grand, ravishing features. Never again would I cling to her thin, tepid body.
I will never know if she loved me.
Although her death was only a year ago, I've had so many new girlfriends. None of them equal to Sedge, though. Coming close to that is simply impossible. She was the girl for me, and now she's gone.
"What's wrong, Boo?" asks Matty as she slides into the seat across from me. "Having a bad day?"
"Don't you know it, Matty," I grumble. "Leave me alone."
She pouts her lips mockingly. "Not until you tell me what's wrong. You know I'm not leaving without an answer." And I do know. She's impossible to get rid of, and she's all I've got left. So I decide I'll trust her. I might as well; she reminds me a little of Sedge.
"I hate being a victor." Anyone else would be scared out of their wits if they said this out loud. But I'm not anyone else. "No, I don't just hate it. I despise it with a burning passion. It's nothing like I imagined it to be. I always thought that I'd live a perfect life in a towering marble mansion with Sedge."
"But she's gone, now," Matty says quietly.
"She's gone," I repeat, feeling the need to confirm this. "She's gone…"
"Who was she, exactly?" Raising an eyebrow, Matty cocks her head to the side. She appears genuinely concerned and intrigued.
"Sedge was…" What was she? "She was my best friend. We met when we were four. But I-I, um… I was too afraid to tell her I loved her, and I… I lost the chance," I stammer. Words can't explain what Sedge meant to me.
Matty lets out a long, dramatic sigh and leans back, folding her arms across her chest and crossing one leg over the other. "I know how that feels," she mutters. When I look expectantly at her, she sighs again and continues. "I used to know this boy, Jace Prattly."
"Jace Prattly!" I exclaim, my eyes widening. "He's my brother!"
Every head in the café turns to me. Peculiar emerald eyes bore into mine from a seat by the serving counter. Their owner, a young girl, fifteen by the looks of her, hops off her seat and glides over to Matty and me, placing her hands on the marble table. "I knew Jace, too. He was my sister's boyfriend."
Matty coughs acutely. "Anyway, Jace was the best thing that ever happened to me. When he volunteered for the Games, it broke my heart. I never explained how I felt, and by the time he got back, it was too late. But whatever, it's fine."
"He's not the best guy," I mutter. Addressing the ocean-eyed girl, I add, "Who's your sister? I might know her."
"My sister? Oh, she's Amber Prull."
In case you're wondering what's so great/awful about Amber Prull, take a look at the last name. Daryn Prull, Amber's brother, hung Wolf's mother. So yeah. Um... This story just sort of came from nowhere, like a lot of my other ones. I've actually been writing this for a while, but I keep forgetting about it. I'm quite fond of this one, though, unlike the others. Oh, and the song at the beginning is "Icebox" by Omarion. I just think those lines go well with Wolf. I mean, he's remembering his past life and he knows he's never going back. Poor him.