Part One
Lavinia Snow is a petite girl with long red hair and sparkling green eyes. She is full of life, as described by her father's assistant one autumn evening while her father was having a dinner party. Lavinia never did and never has many friends. Her father is the president of Panem. She lives in the Capitol mansion. Not many of the Capitol children wanted to play with her. Her father is very protective of her. No matter how much Lavinia pleaded, she is never to go out by herself.
Today is Lavinia's sixteenth birthday. Lavinia often read books. It's one of the luxuries she knows other people in other districts would never have. It's come to her attention that most things happen on one's sixteenth birthday. Lavinia is determined for something spectacular to happen.
Every year, her father would host a big birthday party to celebrate with people who work for him. Gamemakers and sometimes Peacekeepers. Important people, whom Lavinia have never met before, would come. Capitol people love a good party.
Lavinia's mother died when Lavinia was very young. Lavinia never really thought about her that much. Lavinia also made it her duty to keep her nose out of her father's business. She knows he is president and that is a very busy man. That is all. She never cares how this country called Panem is ruled.
However, today, she is curious. She wants to know. Who are the Gamemakers? What is a Reaping? She is never allowed to attend celebratory events like the Hunger Games. She doesn't really know about it and she never did have a reason to ask her father. Busy man like him doesn't have time to answer his daughter's silly questions.
Perhaps today, on her sixteenth birthday, she will find out.
The party has begun. Lavinia is in her best dress. It is a light cream colour, made of fabric that is soft against her skin. Her red hair is bright against her light skin. She greets each passing guest with a dazzling smile. People often wonder from whom Lavinia inherited her vibrant red hair. Her father's hair has already turned grey and mostly white. Photographs of her mother reveals that her mother likes to wear wigs of assorted colours. There really is not telling.
"May I have this dance?" someone asks from behind Lavinia.
Lavinia turns to see a tall, dark and handsome boy. She immediately smiles and says, "Of course."
He leads her onto the dance floor and they dance to a slow and calming song. He whispers, "Miss Snow, I presume."
"Call me Lavinia," she says.
"Well, Lavinia, my name's Darren," he says with a smile.
Lavinia returns the smile as the song slows to a stop and another one begins again. Suddenly, there's a shout. A Peacekeeper is pointing to Darren. Rolling his eyes he says to Lavinia, "Well, it was nice meeting, Miss Snow, but I must be off."
A wave of panic floods over Lavinia. "When will I see you again?"
Darren grins. "I'll find you – if I haven't been locked up by this lot, that is." He leans in to plant a light kiss on her cheek. Then he disappears into the night.
A troop of Peacekeepers stop in front of Lavinia. "Why did you let him go?"
Lavinia looks at them and shrugs. "I didn't know he was a criminal."
"He's not. He's just a troublemaker," her father says, stepping out from behind a Peacekeeper. "I suggest you stay away from him, Lavinia."
Lavinia nods. "Understood, Father."
That night, Lavinia wakes up with the urge to go and look in her father's office. She has a feeling there's something big her father is hiding from her. There's that tired look in his eyes and the amount of Peacekeepers he has around these days. So she goes to the office and searches.
Then she sees it.
The draw is full of tapes. She turns on the television and she cannot believe what she is watching. Children, some younger than her, running scared and fighting other children. Some children have this harsh glare and you know they're in it to kill. Lavinia has to pause the footage. Her heart is beating fast against her chest.
Is this what Father does?
He makes children fight against one another...and celebrates it.
"I knew I should've told you." He voice startles her and she jumps up and away from him. He stands by the doorway. A rose is tucked into his pocket. His thin and weary face is ghostly in the dim light.
"Explain this," Lavinia says shakily.
"Lavinia –" he begins.
"Explain this!" she shouts.
And so he does. With every word her father says, Lavinia inches away. And finally she says, "Stop." She looks at him with frightened and disgusted green eyes. "Stop all of this."
He looks at her too. "It's not that easy. The uprisings are costly. The Games keep people in line. Don't you see?"
"I hate you," she says.
"I'm protecting you from the truth, Lavinia. It's a cold and harsh world out there. I'm doing everything I can to keep order so you can be safe."
Lavinia shakes her head. "Listen to yourself. Is this what you say to everyone? Tell them that what you're doing is only for their own good? That everything you're doing is for them? It's never going to work for me. I'm not stupid like Capitol people. I'm not going to stand here and accept you sending children into arenas to kill each other."
"Then what do you want me to do, Lavinia?" he asks. He looks desperate. "I love you with all my heart. When your mother died, you're all that I have left."
"I don't want to hear it," Lavinia says. Tears are threatening to form. "Please, Daddy, just stop this. I can't bear seeing this."
And he agrees. "Anything for my little girl."
Lavinia looks at him. "Promise me."
"Don't you believe me, Lavinia?" he says.
"Of course I do, Daddy." And so she believed him.
"You LIAR."
He walks away but she follows.
"YOU EVIL STINKING LIAR. I hate you. You promised me you'll stop all of this! You promised!" Lavinia screams at her father. "You lied to me. I believed you."
It's the day of another Reaping. Lavinia is allowed to watch this. She's seeing everything. She was not expecting there to be another Game.
He turns around with flames in his eyes. "What did you expect me to do? Really stop this? I can't do that! The people are too used to this. This is their entertainment. They love it."
"I hate this," Lavinia says in a harsh tone. "And I hate you."
And with that, she turns and walks away. She slams her bedroom door and collapses onto her bed and weeps. She feels her entire world shattering around her. Everything she was used to is a lie, and the truth is horrible.
Her father is a scoundrel.
Her country is a bloodbath.
There are starving people in the districts around her.
And people in living around her crave entertainment with blood and deaths.
"Don't cry, babe," someone says to her left, by the opened window.
Lavinia looks up, wiping tears off her face. "Darren?" Darren smiles. She sits up completely. "Darren!"
She runs over to him and throws her arms around him. "What are you doing here?" she asks. Then another question pops up before he could answer. "What took you so long? Where've you been?"
He peers at her with curiosity. "Home," he says simply. He walks over to her wardrobe and starts packing clothes into a bag.
"What are you doing? Are you stealing my clothes?" Lavinia asks.
He laughs. It's a good laugh. She likes it; it's comforting. "No, silly. I'm packing your clothes. We're running away. You and me."
Lavinia feels a smile creeping up on her face. "You and me?"
"You're not seriously thinking about staying here in the Capitol, are you?" he says.
She shakes her head. He goes over to her and kisses her deeply, leaving her lips all tingly. He whispers, "Let's go."
They escape pass the Peacekeepers. This is adventurous and something Lavinia would've never dreamt of doing. Her hatred for her father fuels this escape. They crawl under an electric fence and then they're in the woods.
"Where are we going?" Lavinia finally asks Darren.
"My home," he says.
"Where is your home?" she asks.
"District 12."
They walk on for several days. Lavinia begins to wonder if District 12 exists. She wonders if Darren is actually taking her somewhere. She shakes doubtful thoughts from her head. She has only him to trust now.
"We're getting close," he says.
But the air around them has grown colder and a shadow has appeared over their heads. Lavinia panics and looks around the trees. She spots two figures within the green bushes. She pleads them to help them with her eyes, scared to speak. But they're frightened themselves. Out from nowhere, a spear pierces through Darren's body. It was ejected from the hovercraft above them. Lavinia screams for Darren but she knows he's already dead.
The hovercraft leaves Darren's body behind in the woods and takes Lavinia back to the Capitol. She allows herself to shed a single tear for the boy she knows fallen in love with. Then she faces President. This man is no longer her father. He is not her protector. He is a man she hates.
He looks at her sadly. He glances at the guard. "Lavinia, why?" he says quietly.
Lavinia doesn't say anything.
"The rules clearly state...you are to become an avox," he whispers.
Lavinia knows what an avox is. Her servants are avoxes. "Do as you wish," she says steadily. "Kill me if you want."
He shakes his head. "It hurts, Lavinia. It really pains me. You're my only daughter. But you're an example to everyone. You cannot be an exception. Death is not an option."
"Then make me a slave. I don't give a damn about what becomes of me anymore. You're not the person I once called Father," she says.
"Take her away," he orders without another glance at the red haired girl.
And so Lavinia becomes an avox. The pain she feels when they cut off her tongue is nothing compared to the hurt she feels from betrayal. Her heart feels like it's been ripped into a thousand pieces. It will never be mended. And she will never be able to say Darren's name again.
Part Two
They cut off her long shiny red hair. Her eyes no longer sparkle. She walks around limply. Simple lifeless. The meaning of living has been taken away from her. But like a cruel man once said, death isn't an option.
She silently roams the corridors. She cries silently in her room. She curses the evil man with silent words. Nothing she did made a sound.
Her name is not important. She really has no need for it these days. The redhead avox girl, they call her. They laugh around her, talk around her – their plans are hers to listen to. After all, who can the avox girl tell?
She watches the Games and her broken heart aches. The lies he's told her. Only she was foolish enough to believe him. She slams her fist against the window and it makes a dull thud. Little boys and little girls are reaped. Their family cry, but nothing can be done.
Then suddenly: "I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!"
The girl's face on the big screen is familiar to her. She knows her. Those wide and frightened eyes; she's seen them before. Once, in the woods. Perhaps this is fate. That girl from District 12 could've saved the avox girl if she wanted to. But, honestly, she can't be blamed. No one would've risked their lives to save strangers. Not in this world.
Avox girl. A sad and lonely girl, watching a nightmare from her bedroom window. She cries herself to sleep, knowing she can't bear to watch this anymore.
Serving Katniss Everdeen is hard. Watching her gain popularity and knowing what could happen to her now that she's a threat to the cruel man. She knows his tricks. She knows Katniss recognises her, but no one is allowed to talk to avoxes. That is forbidden.
So she tries to tell her things but she can't talk. She listens to their plans and she watches them. She sighs, feeling useless. If only she could let everyone know who she really is.
Lavinia Snow.
Daughter of the president, who was turned into an avox by her own father.
If only they knew.
Snow is often underestimated. Lavinia underestimated him too.
She watches Katniss in the Games. She sees her doing things Snow wouldn't approve of. The signs of a rebellion. Lavinia knows there will be one, and when it happens Snow will fall.
She finds Snow in the rose room. The roses smell sickly sweet. She glares at his back with her faded green eyes. She has so many things she wants to say to him. So many questions to ask him too.
"A revolution has started, Lavinia," he says. "Fire...that melts Snow."
She looks at him, trying to figure what this man is thinking. She doesn't know if he's genuinely feeling bad or if he's just finding this all amusing.
"I always knew this day would come," he says. He turns to look at her. "I'm sick, Lavinia."
That would be all the bad thing you've done in your life, she thinks to herself. Karma is here to kick your ass.
"I'm sorry for what happened to you," he says. "I've done a lot of bad things in life. I never deserved your mother...and I most definitely never deserved you. And you didn't deserve a father like me."
She flinches at the thought of having him as a father.
He shakes his head. "This war has finally ended, Lavinia," he says with a small, sad smile. "My execution is soon. Will you come and watch?"
Sick.
Cruel.
Evil.
Scroudrel.
But she will always have his blood running through her veins. She lets a single tear fall from her eyes.
The guards come and take him away. Before he goes, he says, "Lavinia. If you could speak, would you use your last words to me to say you forgive me?"
Lavinia mouths: Never.
Katniss chooses to shoot Coin, instead of Snow. Lavinia watches from her bedroom window. She sees her father. He is old, thin and almost fading away. Blood is forming on the corners of his mouth. He looks up at her and starts to laugh. He laughs and he laughs. She thinks it's a horrible laugh. She turns away, but she hears him.
He shouts: "I'm sorry, Lavinia!"
When she turns around again, he is gone. They drag him away.
Lavinia allows herself to smile, because for the first time in ages, she is happy; happy to know that her father thinks about her.