At first when I read the Hunger Games I really didn't like Glimmer. I don't even know why- I think that she was made to seem a little bit slutty.
It wasn't until Catching Fire and the victory tour that I started to think about characters back story. Like Katniss, all the players in the game must have had a reason for wanting to win.
Peeta wanted to win for Katniss….Katniss for Prim…even Cato must have had something in mind. They couldn't all be mindless killing machines- at least I don't think so.
So I started thinking about Glimmer and how she was portrayed. And I started to think that maybe, like Katniss, she was in the Games to win them for someone else. And that is how I came up with the idea for this fic.
That's the one problem I have with the Hunger Game series, the fact that we don't find out many of the characters back stories….but I guess that is what fanfiction is for!
Enjoy, and please review. Any comment good or bad is greatly appreciated! And I would just like to thank the people that have reviewed by stories so far. It's a great feeling to know your writing has an audience so thank you.
Glimmer had always been running. Running from her past, her mother, her sister and even herself.
But most of all running into the Hunger Games, waiting for the day she could shout to her tormenters she had done it.
Crossed the finish line.
But as she lies dying, the tracker jacker stings invading every pore in her body, she knows deep down that she was never quite running fast enough. Her legs always felt heavy, laden with grief and anger.
And now, as her heart beats as softly as the butterflies he used to love, she can't even lift her foot a centre meter off the ground.
What a great end Glimmer, she thinks absently, watching the darkening sky…..what a waste.
Glimmer is six, and held in her mother's arms, watching the reaping take place below.
Her father's voice is low and quiet when he says, "That will be you one day Glimmer."
She nods her deep brown eyes alive with promise.
Glimmer is ten, and watching her older sister sashay down the stairs.
"What do you think mother?" Her sister calls out into the lounge, her long dark hair fanning out behind her head. Her chest practically bursting out of the red dress that is so tight Glimmer wonders how her sister can even breathe.
"Oh Opal! You look gorgeous!"
Her mother's eyes are groggy from wine and lack of sleep.
From her perch at the top of the stairs, Glimmer watches her mother's eyes- deep and black and lifeless like a cloudy day.
"Glimmer! Glimmer hurry up you'll be late for your first day!"
Glimmer is now twelve, her nose small and flat on her face, her lips full and pink. Brown eyes filled with malice and sadness.
Her face is lovely, but hard to behold.
It is frightening in its beauty.
"Mother I don't want to go….please, please don't make me."
"Glimmer we've had this conversation a thousand times. You are going to the academy whether you like it or not. Someone in this family will be a victor."
Glimmer is strong, years of playing and running outside have paid off.
She has her father's steady hand too, and her spear hits its target sure and deadly every time.
And the boys notice her too. But not for her strength or speed or agility. But for her flowing blonde hair and figure that curves in and out in all the right places.
And Glimmer hates it.
Hates them all with a furious passion.
Glimmer enters her Aunt's room, holding a tea tray balanced on her tapering fingers.
"Lunch time," says Glimmer, placing the tray on her Aunt's bed.
Her Aunt sits up, her blue eyes suddenly bright.
"Glimmer you are so beautiful…such a waste. Such a waste!"
Glimmer backs out of the room, calling her mother, but thinking on her Aunt's words.
Such a waste.
Glimmer stands in front of her mirror, twirling her skirt back and forth.
"I'm ready mother," Her voice catches on the end. Broken.
"Oh Glimmer," Her mother breaths, but instead of smiling or hugging her daughter she pulls her dress even tighter.
"Nock 'em dead."
Glimmer found the photo album when she was seventeen.
Her aunt was so beautiful that she put even her sister to shame.
And she had won her Hunger Games, taken Glimmers mother's top spot at the academy.
Her beauty had stunned the sponsor's and had the audience captivated….but the spear through the little boys heart…..it had sent her Aunt mad.
And as she lies dying, a smile plays on Glimmer's lips.
"We won Aunty," she whispers, blood moistening her lips, "We won…..the most beautiful victors…"
The sponsors turn away, but the audience don't. Another girl dead. Cut down before her life had even started.
And Glimmer's aunt, propped up in bed facing the TV whispers, "Such a waste Glimmer, such a waste."