Fear. The very word inspires me and I'm not exactly sure why. I'll go ahead and tell you all that it is more about fear then the Hunger Games themselves but it does have some Hunger Games in it. Thank you all for reading and enjoy this little one-shot. Oh and this is my very first-fanfic so please tell me that I'm not crazy for publishing this!
Fear
Fear: A distressing negative sensation induced by a perceived is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, pain or the threat of danger. Fear is apparently a universal emotion; all persons, consciously or unconsciously, have fear in some sort. In short, fear is the ability to recognize danger leading to an urge to confront it or flee from it but in extreme cases of fear, true horror or terror, a freeze or paralysis response is possible.
But true fear, the fear that real people experience, is when your heart is pounding against your chest so much that you can see it under the fabric of your shirt. When you have the uncontrollable urge to look over your back to see if something is behind you. When your skin is crawling as you imagine that someone or something is watching you. When your own breathing seems to sound as if it belongs to another who is following closely behind you. When you never truly feel safe. When you know that there is no where to run. When you know there is no where to hide.
Fear is all around you. No one is truly fearless. No one can ever truly be brave and stand up to everything in the world. Whether it be heights, snakes, failure, rejection, needles, water, flying, death, driving, spiders, doctors, ghosts, war, being alone, criminals, or even clowns something scares you. Something frightens you to the point where you can't handle it anymore. You can't bare to face this fear no matter whatever happens to you or what anyone says to you Somehow at sometime in your life, something has made you feel fear, true fear. Maybe it was the time you heard a noise outside when you were home alone? Or the time you had to go in front of a large audience to give a speech? Or the last time you were publicly humiliated in front of those who laughed and mocked you? No matter what the event, it changed you. It changed you so much that it is much harder to change whatever you developed during that time back to normal. Your personality has changed. It's changed you as a person. It's changed your very soul.
Anxiety-it's what is known as future-oriented fear because we cannot control what will happen next. Panic- When one is intimidated of a certain thing that reminds them of their fear, and experiencing an alarm response. These emotions will course through your veins as the fear takes over your whole body. You won't be able to resist but to hide away from the fear that gives you nightmares in your sleep. You won't be able to do anything about it unless you stand up and face the fear. As they all say: Theres nothing to fear but fear itself.
Fear is what inspired the Hunger Games. Fear is what keeps the tributes running as they are chased down by their competitors, their peers, maybe even their friends. Fear is what makes the tributes fight. Fear is what makes them enjoy the fighting. The glory. The fame. The riches. The victory. Fear is what gives the Hunger Games it's edge. When you watch the light fade from a tributes eyes you see that they had just experienced true fear.
And that is why the Capitol created them, to give entertainment. Not for the Capitol but for themselves. The twisted president, the sick head gamemaker, the sinister gamemakers, and the bloodthirsty Capitol citizens all cry out for the blood but the true entertainment lies with the tributes and their fear. When a tribute is presented with a fear the Capitol watches in anticipation as the tributes makes one of two options. Face the fear head on or curl up into a ball and most likely perish. Either way, they all will cheer as the tribute makes their decision.
Those who face the fear head on will become victors. However, the victors have now gained their own fears. Fears of the arena, mutts, death, and of course the other tributes who haunt them day and night until their final days. But then again, what's there to fear but fear itself?