Prologue
All across the country, Panem, there are millions of grey boxed TVs flickering to life. The dirty screens show the stage under dancing lights, the stage that they had seen for years and years, the stage with the red sofa where Tributes sat on to try and impress the Capitol. Sitting in front of the tiny TVs are the poor families of the districts, clutching at each others, fear rising in the air around them. The parents of the children grip their kids tightly, as if they think of the new cursed fate awaiting for the new Tributes. The thoughts of losing their children to the horrifying Games is just unbearable, but they had no choice. Waiting for the President to appear onto the stage, the families clamp together to support each other.
Finally, the loud roaring of the wealthy Capitol citizens in the crowds greet the rather short President. Merging from the dark doorway is President Black, dressed in a smart striped suit with squeaky clean leather shoes. His small frame walks towards the red seat, he briefly nods at the applaud, a blank expression on his firm face. This strangely quiet President has cropped black hair and dark brown eyes that sometimes look black if he is angry, there is nothing dyed or fashionable on him. As he gently sits down, the audience quieten down slowly, they all watch curiously at the man who brushes off invisible dust on his tie. He turns to the camera, not even bothering to smile.
"Hello citizens of Panem!" His voice bellows across the large room, the loud audience quieten down abruptly. A small smile flashes onto President Black's pale face but it disappears as quickly as it came. He starts on the speech he must have memorized to the core of his heart.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we all know that the Quarter Quell is near. This 275th Hunger Games is the seventh Quarter Quell, and what is the new twist going to be? The last six Quells were so different and quite exciting but we need a change don't we?" There are murmurs of agreement in the audience. "Let me just go over why the Hunger Games started. 275 years ago the rebels from the districts attacked the Capitol, despite our good treatment to them they began a war against us. But they lost because the Capitol is always too strong for the districts, the citizens of the districts will be forever under our control because we are too powerful. For their punishment, the first President created the Hunger Games and the Quarter Quell which happened each twenty-five years."
President Black slowly studied the faces of the audience who are listening intensely.
"Now, shall we find out what the new twist is going to be in this Quarter Quell?" He is answered by million of cheers; both from inside the house and outside on the streets.
Suddenly, a golden-haired boy walked out onto the stage, he is carrying a wooden polished box, he stops next to Black. With a silver key, the boy in white opens the box to reveal many small envelopes. The President smiles and slowly picks up one of them, he stares at it with frightening greed in his eyes. The audience are on the edge of their seats, leaning forward as the President slowly opens the envelope. He takes out a milky coloured paper and his eyes widen at the words on it, the room is in a tense silence, the Capitol citizens fiddle as they wait for their President to read out.
"Oh, what a surprise!" He finally says, his pursed lips stretches into a grin at the whipsering in the crowds. "As a reminder to the rebels for defting the Capitol, the arena will have no Cornucopia and the items will be hidden around the arena for the Tributes to find. So there is likely no bloodbath."
The President glances up at the roaring of rage and muttering in the crowds and silences them, "Everyone, listen to me! But just think about the amount of Tributes there would be at the end of the first day. This Games will be longer than ever and there will be more bloody deaths to watch. And the strongest, cleverest Tribute would win, even if they are not a Career. Just think about what a fun show this is going to be."
The audience quieten down, soon they all realise that his words and reasoning are right. "Also, let me just tell you something I shouldn't reveal. I had a meeting with the Head Gamesmaker, Lilac Hatch about the arena. And she had created a brilliant, unique one with strange mutts, the mutts that the Head Mutants creator had been working on for years. Trust me, the Arena is going to be nasty and this game is going to be very bloody."
The cameras zoom around the room to show the delighted, excited faces of the audience before watching President Black standing up and straightening his white tie. "Now, that is it for tonight, happy gaming everyone!"
President Black strides off stage with his squeaky shoes squealing on the polished floor, all of the cameras and lights focus on his disappearing figure. The audience is still screaming and shrieking with excitement when the TVs in the districts are turned off. In front of the dying TVs the families try to ignore the images of the new mutts that they will see soon.
Author's Note: So, I guess a few of you have noticed already that a ton of SYOTs had been deleted. And mine was amongst of them. And I felt rather upset to lose all of the lovely reviews- they boasted my confidence and now are gone.
But, thankfully, the chapters of A Bloody Game are still saved on my computer! However, I won't be publishing all of the chapters, because I know most of you have already read them and just want to get to the Games. I hope you are not disappointed and understand my situation. So, what I'm going to do is start to update the chapters of A Bloody Game from the interview chapter, then it will just go on after that. So, if you still haven't read the training days or the Gamemakers meeting, just PM me for questions or if you want to read them J
One last thing, I have plenty of excuses for why I'm so late. First, I had exams…and well they went alright, just not the way I wanted them to go, so I felt quite depressed this month because of them. Then Fanfiction or the Critic's United deleted two of my stories without a warning.
To Fanfiction and Critic's United- this isn't against the rules now, because I already got the Tributes. Still not happy, well tough, I will never give up on this story. I have too many plans for it!