Hi :), this is my first fanfic in English and as it isn't my first language this is probably horrible. I used a spell checker but grammar and commas are the bigger problem. Anyway, I would be glad if you could give it a try.
Snows rise to power
When I was a boy, my father used to tell me that failure is unacceptable. I was an innocent little boy, still going to kindergarten, and we often played games. Of course I wanted to win but if I didn't it didn't bother me very much. After all it was just a game. My father thought different. He was a military officer and contributed himself more to his work than to his family. Still he wasn't satisfied with his rank and the older he got the angrier he got. Personally I think he was megalomaniacal. He just couldn't accept that anyone was more powerful than him. At that time I really despised him for being that way.
As he realized he wasn't going to have the kind of carrier in the military he wished he had, my father started training me. He wanted me to reach everything he couldn't achieve and therefore he made me memorize texts about history and politics during preschool. A wrong answer was penalized by a slap in the face. My mother behaved as if she didn't notice anything but I know she did. She was just too afraid to speak up to him. Sometimes I think he hit her, too.
During elementary school he let me prepare and hold speeches. That was when I finally realized he didn't want me to become some military commander. He wanted me to become a politician, maybe even president. I had to watch and analyze all senate debates on TV. During my further education I had straight As. My teachers predicted a glorious future and I skipped 3 grades, still being the best in my class.
I didn't have a normal youth of course. When others were going to the cinema and having fun, I was learning. I never had any friends. I was thought of as a freak and I couldn't blame them. I often watched the normal teens longingly out of my bedroom window.
18 years old, I was the youngest and best pupil to graduate from Capitol University ever. I thought that now my father would leave me alone but he still kept pushing me. I started working in a government office and had frequent contact with important senators but for my father that wasn't enough.
'Coriolanus', he said, 'how do you want to become president, when all you do is chatting with some senators and doing stuff for them. They probably don't even know your name. They use you, my boy. What you really need to do is taking their place.'
'But father', I objected, 'I like my job! It's fun, my colleagues are nice and I have lots of free time. Higher up, I won't have that.'
'Have you learnt nothing? Life is what you make out of it. I trained you; you're the best graduate ever. You have all the abilities you need to reach the top. And don't think free time is worth anything. You need to dedicate everything to work.'
I did what he wanted and by the end of the year I got promoted. I worked myself up the ranks until I had a job in the president's office. He was already in his late sixties and he probably wouldn't candidate in the next presidential election. On TV he was always smiling and everybody liked him because of his warmth and charisma. He was the most popular president Panem ever had, at least in the Capitol.
In real life he was a whole lot different. The old man was tyrannical, always in a bad mood and most of all paranoid. No matter how perfect a task was fulfilled, he always found something to criticize.
With one exception: me. I don't know why but he always kind of liked me. I despised him like all the other workers and I think he noticed that, after all he was not stupid. But still he often called me into his office to talk to me. He asked me about my thoughts on current political events and he wanted me to answer honestly. He also liked to give me some advice though at that time I believed that most of it was nonsense. He saw himself as my teacher.
'Mr. Snow, do you know the purpose of the games?'
'They are revenge. Something like the Dark Days mustn't happen again.'
'Yeah, but why do you think the Games prevent this from happening?'
'They keep the districts apart. By killing each other's' tributes in the Games they have to hate each other. An uprising would never function if they don't work together. And they make people fear us. They show them that they are never safe. That their lives belong to the Capitol and if they're not obedient they have to pay the prize.'
'Partly, yes. But the most important thing is, their lives don't end with being chosen for the Games. They end with them getting killed in the arena. But until they get killed there is hope. Only few hope, but still hope. When there's only fear, why should people keep working? What would their lives be worth? Remember that.'
We often had conversations like that and I had to admit that sometimes he was right.
During that time a lot of things in my private life were changing. My father died at the age of 62 due to a heart attack. I have to say I was glad when his cold body was buried in the earth and I knew I would never have to see him again and have to listen to his rants. I also met the woman, whom I later married, Catherine. It was love on first sight. I admired her grace, beauty and intelligence and somehow I knew she really cared about me. Two years later our only son, Adam, was born. That was probably the happiest time of my life.
The death of my father set me free to stop striving for power. I knew I could stop, we had made more than enough money, but somehow I couldn't. My father left marks on me, that couldn't be erased. Though I hated him and the last thing I wanted was to become like him, his influence on me was so big, I began to want more power. I fooled myself. I hadn't done all of this because of my father. Over the years I became like him. A bit smarter, more charismatic but equally ambitious.
I started working even harder and at the age of only forty I finally became a senator. A new president was to be elected and I was still too young to candidate but I knew my time would come. I dedicated myself to work. I was on every meeting and held excellent speeches so soon I was known everywhere. People began to recognize me on the streets, some even asked for autographs.
My wife was very concerned and our marriage wasn't as happy as it had been. I came home when she already slept and left the house before she woke. I hardly saw my son. On his birthday, I wasn't even there.
I knew I should stop but I couldn't. I had become a power hungry monster.
I am not sure if I'm going to write a second chapter to this. I'll see if I have any time soon.
PLEASE REVIEW! It would mean so much to me.