trigger warnings for: umm, blood, murder, rape, death, killing, you know. all that fluffybunny hunger games stuff. also swearing. seriously guys, this is rated m for a reason. this is not disney stuff, this is death and dying and murder and blood and children being forced to murder and children going crazy because of the aforementioned murder. the hunger games universe is shit.
What the world saw:
Sabrina Collier. Pale, pretty, weak. The pampered only child of a mining magnate who broke down on TV and roared and wept and said he would pay anyone anything to Volunteer in his daughter's place.
Some laughed in his face. "Maybe now you'll finally know what it's like to lose someone you love to the Harvest," they jeered. "Who's the pathetic brat now, huh? Your daughter's going to die on live television and everyone'll see. Colliers die just as easy as everyone else!"
Some considered. Looked at their siblings' shrinking frames, the bones of their wrists, the worn-through clothing. Thought that maybe their life was small exchange for Regis Collier's wealth. Even just a tiny percentage of the man's gold would be enough to sustain a family for a year. Was it worth it? Volunteering for someone who had been Harvested?
Some, mostly the younger ones, the ones who hadn't yet learned to think Thank Goddess it wasn't me, it wasn't me looked at Sabrina Collier and hurt inside, because Sabrina Collier was a kind girl. She went out of her way to give food to kids at school who needed it, or left it in lockers when the kids were too proud. Mysterious wools made their way to the families who were dying of cold. Money was tucked into the books of those whose fathers were drowning in debt. They looked at Sabrina Collier, and hurt, because they had learned to love the pretty, pale, weak girl.
What the world saw:
Sabrina Collier got a two, and cried during her interview.
"I only ever wanted to be happy," she sobbed. "To laugh my whole life."
When she got into the arena, she had no idea how to survive. Only got fish by sheer luck, and stayed close to water because she was smart. She had an ally. Just one. A little twelve-year-old named May.
May screamed beautifully for Sabrina when the Career boy from Four caught her and raped her. Sabrina was hiding in the bushes, weeping, and not daring to move to save her. She would just have been killed anyway.
When she died, the whole world could see Sabrina scream.
What the world did not see:
Sabrina was the only daughter of a mining magnate. She'd grown up with rock cracking under steel, dynamite blowing up passages.
When the pickaxe disappeared from the Careers' camp, they didn't think much of it – they hardly noticed it, drowning in swords and maces and daggers as they were.
They thought of it much more, when a pretty, pale, weak girl sneaked into their camp and started hacking at them with a pickaxe.
She took especial care with the boy who violated May. Made him suffer. Hacked off his bits, first, then his limbs. Finally, his head.
She was laughing as the blood spurted from his arteries.
When the hovercraft came to crown her the Victor, she was still laughing.