Prologue
I laid there, motionless and paralyzed next to the silver, gleaming cornucopia, the bright white snow tickled the exposed parts of my skin. I stared into the emotionless, gray sky, as cloudless and depressing as ever. I forced my hand to slowly drag itself up my stomach, right as it made contact with the wound, an unpleasant, revolting squishing sound echoed into my ears.
The white snow got stained a crimson red, I was ready, I was more than ready to leave that hellhole, that nightmarish and deadly arena.
I was the only one left after all, there was no point in struggling, I had already caused that pain to myself by volunteering, and it was safe to say that that was the biggest regret of my life. I wasn't in my right mind, was I?
I closed my eyes, sucking myself into the darkness as I took my last, dying breath.
—
"Maury!" I felt small, soft hands touching my body, pushing me gently "Maury! Wake up!" I slowly scrolled my eyes open, looking around to the source of the sound. I turned to my right, and almost instantly jumped as I saw my little sister, Carmen, kneeling down beside my bed, her brown, puppy eyes staring into mine.
"I'm hungry…" she said, putting that extremely annoying pouty face of hers. I rolled my eyes as I pulled away my old, tattered bedsheets "What do you want for breakfast?" I asked, sighing beforehand "Eggs! Eggs eggs eggs!" She started jumping up and down in excitement, I couldn't help but smile "fine, let me check if there are any left".
I stepped out of the bed and walked towards my bedroom door, the floorboards creaking under my feet. I twisted the handle, and with a bit of effort, I got it's rusty self unstuck.
I watched as Carmen ran from beside me and down the stairs into the kitchen. Before I could descend the stairs, I heard a door handle twisting from beside me. I stared to my right at my older sister's room, and just waited for her to come out, sitting on her wheelchair, complaining about whatever problem she had while sleeping.
"Good morning, Anna" I said, forcing a smile on my face "Good Morning, where's Carmen?" She asked, looking around from behind me "she just went into the kitchen, I'll try to prepare breakfast" I replied, as I continued my walk down the stairs. Anna did have the ability to walk, but her legs were extremely weak, causing her to fall over if she applied too much stress on them, one time she completely shattered them trying to run, that was a tough time for me, taking care of her nonstop, but she didn't need that much care in her current state.
"Call me when it's ready" she yelled, driving back into her room, and shutting the door with full force behind "I told you not close the door like that!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, but of course, there was no response, just silence.
I made my way into the kitchen, and almost immediately felt concerned watching Carmen stare intently at the kitchen calendar. "Maury?" She said, in a low, almost cracking voice "today is reaping day?" My eyes widened as I stared into the calendar. Was it? Have I lost all track of time? "Today you're going away?" Asked Carmen, tears filling up in her eyes, and her hands shivering in fear. Carmen was the only one that knew I was going to volunteer at some point, she was the only one that understood, despite her young age.
I ran over to her and hugged her tightly, tears rolling down my cheeks as well "it's okay, sweety, there's no need to worry" I said, trying to sooth her as much as possible. "I don't want you to go" she responded, her voice muffled as she stuffed her face deeper into my chest. What was I supposed to tell her? That I was going to win? I didn't want to plant any false hope inside of her. But I was training for that moment my entire life.
I pulled her back, and looked into her swollen eyes "don't worry, I'm doing it for both of you" I said as calmly as possible. My plan ever since the beginning was to win the games and give my sisters a better life, to move out from that cramped shit hole that we lived in and go to victors village.
Hell, I even held an axe in my hand more than I've ever held my parent's hands, not to mention that they died when I was ten, a year after my mother gave birth to Carmen.
"Let's get you some cooked eggs ready, huh?" I said, she cracked a smile and nodded her head, but the tears were not stopping from flowing down her face.
I grabbed my jacket from the nearby table and wore it, ready to step out into our backyard, where the chicken hut was. I opened the rusty front door, which created an ear-piercing sound, and stepped out, closing the door behind before any of the cold would find its way in.
I laid my hand in the wooden fence opening, and pushed it open, staring intently at the yard to see if any chickens were running around. After inspecting that none of them were, i made my way in and shut the entrance behind me, slowly walking towards the hut.
The sound of flies and bugs irritated me, where did they come from? They weren't supposed to come out until early summer. I quickly found out the reason for all of those insects roaming around, one of our three chickens was dead, lying motionless on the wooden floor of the hut, a stick plunged into her stomach.
I tried not to throw up from the sight, covering my mouth with my bear hands. Maybe the wind from last night caused a stick to impale that poor thing? I grabbed the head of the chicken and tossed the rotting body out into the dying grass. We were used to that in district ten, waking up and finding that some barn animal died while we weren't looking, but not in that way.
I stepped deeper into the hut and examined the remaining two chickens, the both seemed okay, so I lifted both of them and stared unsurprised at their empty nest. Nothing, no eggs, no food for Carmen, nothing.
Walking back towards my house, I noticed a strange riot in the distance, peacekeepers everywhere, pushing off some innocent citizens onto the sidewalk, while some tried to harm the peacekeepers, I tried to ignore the grunting and shouting, that happened every year, unfortunately, on reaping day.
I opened the front door of my house, empty handed. I glanced at Carmen, who was sitting at the table, confused and disappointed, I didn't have the heart to tell her that one of the chickens died though, that would've broken her heart.
"I'm sorry, Carmen, no eggs today either" I said under my breath. The look of sadness on her face made my heart sink, "It's okay…" she said, pulling her chair back and stepping off.
I stopped her before she would go anywhere "Carmen, you need to get ready" I said, with a small shiver in my voice "okay" she replied, walking off into the hallway, and locking herself in her room.
It was only a matter of time before I did the same thing, preparing myself for my last reaping, and giving my goodbyes to the home that I lived in my entire life, not to say that I liked it in there or anything, but I was, deep down, attached to it, attached to everything in district ten, even the rotting woods surrounding our area.
While making my way upstairs to my bedroom, I heard a small humming sound coming from Anna's room, a familiar melody, a melody that only our family knew, the one that symbolizes peace and harmony.
I twisted the knob, and made my way in, only to find Anna, staring out her window, with a blank expression on her face "Why are you leaving us" she said, it didn't sound like question, but almost like a demand. A stared at her, puzzled "what?" I replied, before suddenly realizing what she was talking about " Carmen told me everything, are you out of your mind!?" She yelled that last part as she twisted her way to face me " Are you seriously going to volunteer? What are you? Suicidal?" She drove her wheelchair swiftly towards me, and grabbed my arm, squeezing "Are you seriously going to leave us here? While you go out there killing other children?". I instantly pulled away from her, almost falling back "I'm doing this for both of you!" I yelled back, choking on my own words "I was training for this since I was six!" "I don't care Maury!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, cutting me off "this is suicide!".
She was right, what I was doing was technically a suicide mission, stepping into the arena with a slim chance of winning, but if I won, it would've been all worth it, that's what I tried to convince myself for the past eleven years "you can thank me later, when I win" I said before stepping out of the bedroom and running off to my own.
I lied in my bed for the next few minutes, meditating and recollecting all the memories and all the things that I went through during my life in district ten, they could've very well been my last, but there was a chance, a chance that I would return to my home.
Before I knew it, I started sinking into my own thoughts, drifting away to wonderland, collecting fragments of past memories that I've long forgotten until that moment. But the only memory that I got, was a vague, almost dream like memory, of me running around some hay bales in the edges of district ten, laughing and giggling, but I wasn't alone, there was someone with me, running besides me, there face completely washed out. They were saying something, but the lack of vividness my mind offered ended up drowning the sounds.
We then stopped shortly after to pet some goats that were roaming around, again, the person saying something faded out and distorted. Both of us were around eight years old, running freely in the fields and meadows, but then, the entire thing faded into darkness, and the mystery person saying something that I was almost able to make out "Maury, I'll miss you".
I suddenly jumped out from my bed after the irritating sound of the reaping bell echoed through the district, it was time for all of us to head to the town square.
"Carmen! Are you ready?" I heard Anna shouting "yeah" I faint cry replying to Anna's question.
I put on my shoes, and ran down the stairs, only to find Carmen waiting for me at the entrance. Anna wasn't going with us, she was 19 and physically disabled, so she had the privilege to stay at home and escape the reaping. But before we left from the front door, I noticed Anna, standing a few feet behind me, her crutches supporting her wait "you'll regret this decision" she said under her breath, but before I could look at her face, I shut the door behind me, leaving her all in her own.
Carmen and I made our way through the crowded streets, slowly but steadily reaching the town square, and once we got there, we took our last goodbyes. That was it, that was the last one i would see my sister before stepping into the arena, but i was ready, I was ready to win for both of my sisters.
"Maury, please return home safe" she said, tears swelling up in her eyes "I promise I will" that was the moment were I really needed to give her some hope, so that she would keep going strong while I was gone.
I squeezed myself through the crowd until I reached the seventeen year olds section, trying to stand straight between the small spaces in the crowd. The smell of sweat and the sound of heavy, nervous breathing made me even more uncomfortable than I already was.
Before anyone said anything, a small built women emerged from doors of the justice building in front of us, her hair puffed up to ridiculous angles, each strand painted a different color of the rainbow, and her mermaid dress that shimmered in the sunlight was tainted a sickly green, smudged with glitter and tiny flowers.
She gently took off the microphone from its stand and placed so close to her mouth to the point where we were able to hear her saliva moving in her mouth.
"Welcome, welcome, to the 66th annual hunger games!" She said in a cheery, girly voice. I immediately shut down often noticing that she was blabbering about the hunger games and its history and what not, making me yawn every once in a while, but it's when she got closer to the bowls is when I snapped back to senses, waiting and waiting anxiously for a name to get picked.
She hovered her hand above the names contained in the glass bowl, and with a sudden movement, she snatched a small, folded piece of paper and started shuffling it around in her hands "the female tribute of district ten is" there was a long, annoying pause. I noticed all the tension that was going on around me, girls closing their eyes in fear, and others holding a small necklace tightly in there hand. I was going to save one of those girls.
"Hannah Rain" she yelled in excitement, and the girl next instantly bursts into tears. There was slight moment of hesitation before I threw my hand in the air, and screamed at the top of my lungs "I volunteer as tribute!"
Everything fell silent, the crowd all around me staring directly into my soul, confused, and those eyes, that made me feel like shit instantly.
My body started shivering before I came to the realization that I had to step out of the crowd and into the stage, and that's what I did, hesitantly. I climbed the rough, stone stairs of the justice building and presented myself in front of the entire district. "Well well well, looks we have a volunteer from district ten, how rare!" She said excitedly, with a creepy, unsettling smile stretching out from ear to ear. "So darling, what's your name" she stuck the microphone in front of my mouth, and with a small studded, I was finally able to spit out my name "Maury Abigail".
I started scanning the crowd, trying desperately to find Carmen, I was almost able to imagine her crying her face off, but she was nowhere to be found, probably wedged inside the crowd, unable to see me in my last moments in the district.
The women started walking slowly towards the bowls dedicated to boys, trying to build tension and nervousness. She hovered her arm again over the papers until swiftly snatching one out, "the male tribute from district ten is" another moment of silence. I was also nervous to see my district partner, and out of nowhere, I started imagining a poor thirteen year old emerging from the crowd flooding rivers of tears.
"Simon Harbert!" Almost instantly, a tall, seventeen year old boy came out of the crowd, as if he was expecting it. He had strange, metallic blue eyes and glistening blonde hair, which was extremely rare in district ten. He appeared almost calm and tranquil, probably hiding all the fear and all the mess of emotions that were flooding inside him with a mask.
"Let's give a round of applause to the two tributes from district ten!" Said the women excitedly, clapping her hands on her own, waiting for the crowd to the react. But there was no applause, only whispers, whispers and eyes pointing directly at me, confused and puzzled eyes.
She grabbed both of our arms out of nowhere and told us to shake hands, and so we did. Simon and I both stared at each other, his unbelievably blue, robotic like eyes filling me with a strange nostalgic feeling. He cracked a small smile at me, I couldn't help but smile back.
In a moments notice, I was in one of the rooms of the justice building, mesmerized by the luxurious furniture and gorgeous oil paintings, it almost felt like I was in the capitol itself.
I kept waiting and waiting, stuffing myself with the sweets that were piled inside the glass dish on the desk in front of me. It was about time for someone I knew to step into the room and say their last goodbyes to me, but nobody came, and Carmen was too young to come in on her own. But did Simon have a family? Did he have a mother, a father or siblings? Or was alone as well, awaiting the moment where both of us would be carried away into the capital, only for one of us to return.
The door slammed open, and two peacekeepers rushed into the room, their white, metal armor creating an almost ear shattering clicking sound. "Miss Abigail?" One of then said, staring at the brown clipboard he held in his hand. I stood up, and walked towards them, my legs shivering and teeth chattering.
They both grabbed me from the arms and led me to the train, they train that was going to lead me to my ultimate fate in the capitol. My heart skipped a beat at the thought of that.
I squeezed my way in through the thin, sliding door, and was instantly shocked by all the foods and beverages stacked on top of the buffet style tables. Freshly cooked steaks stacked on top of each other, small cupcakes covered in sweet, pink icing, and a small plate of bacon sandwiches, which was the most common food in district ten. "Hey" I heard a soft voice to the left of me, I twisted my head to face the person only to find Simon, sitting on one of the couches, cross legged, "Hi" I replied, the giant cake in the center of the tables grabbing my attention.
"Did anyone come to visit you?" I asked, taking a seat on the small couch in front of him " No actually, I don't have a family" he replied after a small pause. I stared at him, confused " so, not even siblings?" I asked, pushing even more questions "no, how about you? Did anyone visit you?" He fired the question back at me, but his eyes filled me with that strange feeling again, making studded at the beginning "no, I mean, i have two sisters but-" I paused, for some odd reason the words weren't coming out, but before I was able to spit out the sentence, the train jerked to one side, and starting moving forwards slowly. "One of them is disabled and the other is too young" I replied, noticing that the answer was kind of vague, but he nodded his head, staring deeper into my soul "you lived alone then?" I asked almost hesitantly " well no, I lived in the orphanage my entire life" he answered almost instantly.
The orphanage? From what I heard in the past it was one of the nastiest places in the district, rumors of rats and bats living in its hallways started circling around a few years back. "I was shocked when I saw you volunteering, was that girl your friend?" He asked, waiting patiently for an answer "no, I was training for this my whole life for my sisters" I replied, that time coherently "damn, I wish I was that brave" he replied, staring out the window for a moment, noticing the trees of the forest flying by.
"Isn't there supposed to be a mentor in here?" I asked, changing the subject. But that was weird, there was supposed to be a previous victor from our district mentoring us "he killed himself last week" replied Simon, glancing back at me. My jaw almost dropped, the person that was assigned to help us just decided to die a week prior to the reaping.
There was an awkward silence, and my mind was still wondering about the mentor, the person that won almost a decade ago in the 57th hunger game, Marius Willows, was his name. I even remembered watching his games when I was nine, or at least the replay of it, but the memories were vague and distorted.
With no mentor to give us advice, what were we going to do? I did know a handful of survival strategies, but what about Simon? Who lived his entire life in the district orphanage?
"Do you know any survival things?" I asked blatantly, waiting in anticipation for him to at least know something "maybe more than you" he replied, smiling "really?" I let out a small giggle, "I know how to start a fire, that's all" he laughed a little at the end, and I laughed along,
There was a strange tension in the air, my heart was beating faster than ever. "You're not going to eat anything?" Asked Simon, snatching a small bacon sandwich from one of the dishes. I forgot how much I was starving, so without saying a word, I stood up and walked over to the dish, and shoved a giant part of the sandwich in my mouth, the taste of the bacon exploding on my tongue, creating a satisfactory and almost relaxing feeling.
The train started slowing down, and before we knew it, we were already in the capitol. The giant, glass buildings, and the strange, hovering vehicles made me feel as if I was in a dream. Suddenly, a robotic voice coming from the speakers on the train started speaking "arriving at: tribute hotel".
That came to a final stop, and we were greeted by some guards that were waiting for us at the entrance of the hotel, along with that lady from before. "Oh, my darlings, you will have such a beautiful time in here before your imminent death!" She said giggling creepily as she led us down the giant lobby, shining with golden furniture and glistening windows.
They led both us to giant elevator, which supposedly taking us to our hotel rooms. We stepped in, and the strong smell of perfume covering the atmosphere almost suffocated me. "Okay, so, your rooms are on the tenth floor, the cafeteria is on the first floor and the training center where both of you will be going is on bottom floor"
Simon and I kept scanning what was beneath us as we ascended upwards, but was nothing more than a ton of luxurious furniture and capitol people chatting and watching replays of previous games, which deeply disgusted me, but who was I kidding? I also used to watch a shit ton of them when I was younger, absorbing every detail and every piece of information of every arena.
The elevator stopped with a loud 'ding' sound, and stained glass doors opened wide, revealing a large hallway, one room on each side " So both of you could relax for the day, the games are approaching so you better be well rested!" Said the women as she patted us on the shoulder, returning to the elevator and vanishing to another floor.
Simon and I kept staring at each other, anxiety and nervousness building up inside of us. It was getting late, all the other districts have already arrived hours before us, so we needed to sleep early "i guess we'll see each other tomorrow" I said under my breath, glancing at Simon "yeah" he replied, looking back at me, with his strange eyes.
It was a matter of time until one of us decided to wave goodbye to the other and walk off to their room. Speaking of rooms, mine was gorgeous, a huge king sized bed with red sheets made of of a short fabric, I never slept on one of those before in my entire life, that Capitol was really living the dream after the rebellion.
I threw myself on the luxurious bed, and feeling of the cool sheets made me feel sleepy almost instantly. It was the best that I had, ever, my entire body was relaxed, but of course my mind wasn't, it kept going back and forth thinking about the games, building up strategies that seemed almost impossible to execute. But my sisters was the most worrying thing to me, what are they doing? Are they okay? Will they be able to handle the lack of food until I'm back?
But the thought that most scared was that, if I died in the arena, both of them would be done for.
From that thought alone, I was unable to sleep, unable to close my eyes and relax my mind. I was in the capitol, only three days until I I was thrown into the arena. So to kill some time, I grabbed the strange looking rectangular device that was lying on the small table near my bed, I touched its soft surface until the giant window that showcased the capitol lit up, and changed into a television. I was baffled by the technology that the capitol has developed, there was none of that back in the districts as far is i've known.
I scrolled my two fingers across the black brick, and it started swapping between images, images of previous arenas and victors. The first one was from three years ago, a wide open desert with a scorching sun lighting it up, the victor was the girl from district one, the second one was from last year, which I remembered vividly, an island with a lot of greenery and beautiful scenery, but the ocean that shimmered in the sunlight was entirely acid, at least five tributes died from that alone, the victor was a fourteen year old from district four.
That was my biggest concern, the arena, the true killer, sometimes confusing and other times deceiving, which was the case in the 50th games, the arena was the most beautiful, a luscious meadow filled with gorgeous flowers, a captivating snowy mountain, and the peaceful, yet deadly rainforest. My mind kept going around and around, thinking about what arena the Gamemakers would've made, the first thought that came to mind was a plain ocean, no land, no nothing, just water, which made me even more scared and more anxious for what was to come.
It was almost midnight, the sky was coated in a dark black and the stars shimmered, giving some light to the endless darkness. Before I knew it, I lied on my back and almost instantly drifted off to dreamland.
—
"NO" I yelled at the top of my lungs as my legs carried me through the dark and hollow jungle, the leaves and giant sticks cracking beneath my feet making me almost fall over. "PLEASE, NO" they were after me, all of them. A instantly jerked sideways once a heard a whizzing sound flashing from next to me ear, a knife instantly dug its way into the thick bark of one of the trees.
The leaves and trees started dripping wet in thick, dark blood, the horrid sight of it making me completely distracted from the danger that lurked behind me. "Maury" I heard a small whisper from behind me, my name was being called "Maury" again, the same small voice, sounding almost familiar. I turned around only to notice Carmen, lying on her knees, mouth wide open. A girl was holding her tiny fragile hands, a rusty, metallic knife was pointed directly towards Carmen's throat, " Come on, Maury, aren't going to save your little sister?" My body immediately filled up with adrenaline and fury. I grasped my axe tightly between my fingers and was ready to lunge it forward towards the girls head, until….
With a swift move, the girl lifted up Carmen, and my axe went smashing into Carmen's skull. Blood ran down the head of the axe as I stared in horror at my sister, half her head jerked to an unreal position, and her eyes almost popping out of their sockets. "This is what happens Maury" spoke the girl, as she pushed away the remains of my dead sister. The girl was Anna, clutching the knife in her hand, pointing it to my heart "you'll lose your loved ones, and you'll end up following the same path as your mother, remember that"
—
A loud knocking sound echoed through the bricks in the hotel room, making almost jump out in a panic. The sunlight breaking inside the room blinded me, making me cover my eyes with my palms. Someone was knocking the door, and whoever it was, I hated them at that moment, startling me and waking me up from my slumber.
I walked over lazily towards the gold colored door, and opened it aggressively out of anger. I almost forgot what I was thinking about once I stared into the pair of metallic blue eyes, it was Simon "Hey" he said, leaning against the door framing "hi" I replied, rubbing my eyes as i spoke hoarsely. He stood up straight and spoke "they told me to come wake you up" a look of confusion washed over my face, until i remembered what was happening, today was the first day of training "okay" i replied, walking away from the door "I'll get ready" he nodded his head and walked to the other side of the marble hallway, leaning against the wall.
I quietly shut the door behind and walked towards my wardrobe. It was made out of slick, and almost slippery wood, and completely coated with a black color, which matched the atmosphere of the modern looking room i was in. i opened it, and the only thing in there was my training outfit, a onesie, colored a navy blue color with thin, red stripes running down the sleeves.
I took it out and wore it, which cost me a lot of work since it was extremely tight and uncomfortable, but then the thought hit me, i was wearing the outfit of the girl from last year, the girl from my district. The thought was revolting, wearing a dead girl´s clothes, and i was almost certain that a shit ton of other tributes wore it before me, which were most likely dead.
I walked over to the door, and opened it, stepping out into the hallway filled with the suffocating smell of Capitol perfume. Simon was there, waiting for me to come out from the bedroom "you ready?" he asked, i nodded and we both headed to the elevator, nervous and anxious to meet that year´s tributes from other districts. The dinging sound of the elevator rang into our ears, and we went in, hoping that we wouldn't attract any attention, now that we didn't have a mentor to guide us.
Hi guys! thank you for reading, i just wanted to say that i'm sorry for the abrupt ending, it's because i have more of the story typed out and ready to be published afterwards, i hope i will be able to publish new chapters regularly so yeah.