Hi guys! It's been a year since I last wrote anything and that's just awful so I've decided that I'm going to restart this story and actually get to the end this time! I am in the middle of college at the moment so I can't promise updates will be frequent but I guarantee this story will be finished! Anyway, I really hope you read this and I am accepting tributes from now. I still have the tributes I was going to use last time but I feel it's a good idea to start from scratch so please send me your tributes! The tribute form will be on my profile :)
Romany Amora, Head Gamemaker
At 23 years old, President Syamon Mannion is the youngest President of Panem ever and this is his first time being in control of the Games. Even though I'm head Gamemaker, I always have to run everything by the President, from the design of the arena to who would be best suited for the title of Victor.
He began his presidency at age 22, after his father, Orias, died of "unknown causes." Everyone always knew the son of a bitch would die of an overdose of morphling at some point in his pathetic, miserable life. I just helped speed up the progress.
And I take pride in that fact to be honest.
This man couldn't even fit into the 'evil' category. I swear there are at least three times more avoxes in the Capitol than there were 10 years ago, when I first joined the Hunger Games team as an intern. I was only 18 at the time. And there are without a doubt twice as many execution stands in each district. Orias would have you strung up for anything from stealing, to simply nudging a peacekeeper as they passed you. There was no end to what this man was capable of. But, like most people with uncontrollable power, he became addicted to the power, and then became addicted to the morphling. Only a select few, including myself, knew about his morphling addiction and we knew this was our one chance to wipe him off this godforsaken planet. It was only a matter of time before the news teams and journalists started headlining "PRESIDENT DEAD, NO SUSPECTS CONFIRMED!" Eventually the coroners ruled out the possibility of murder and came to the conclusion that he died from an overdose of morphling. The only people to suffer from his death were his close family and his suppliers of the drug, the latter of whom were executed in private.
Even though Syamon was not his eldest child, Orias named him next in line because of Syamon's brother, Rory Mannion. Rory was always a rebellious child and never had a healthy relationship with anyone in his family. He would always go out drinking and sleeping with men and women all over the Capitol. One of the most obvious reasons he hated his family so much was because he passionately hated the Games. No one has ever understood why, though.
One year, however, he took it too far. This was during the 100th Games where the twist was that each tribute must be accompanied by a person below the eligible age of reaping. This meant 11 years old or below. Rory took a special disliking to these Games because he couldn't sit and watch children who were too weak to hold a sword get slaughtered by tributes twice their age and three times the size of them. After seeing the 18 year old District Two by slice the neck of the 9 year old accompaniment girl from District 9, his mother applauded to the TV saying "that girl was pathetic. By age 8 I could use a bow and arrow perfectly."
Rory snapped and grabbed the knife that was laying on the dining room table. He leant over the table and slashed his mother's throat with such brute force that you could literally see into her throat. She was dead before she hit the ground.
Because Rory was the President's son, he wasn't executed but was almost immediately incarcerated and taken away to become an Avox - a fate worse than death, some people say. However, he has never been seen since and rumours speculate that he was tied up on an empty ship in District 4 and set off to sea, with only a knife and a day's worth of food to his name.
Thus, it just left the President and his son, Syamon. Some people said having a younger President will be good as he won't be so sadistic. They were all wrong. He is nothing less than the most sadistic man in Panem. This is his first Games and he wants to make it terrifying. He has given me the responsibility of creating the next arena and I believe I have done better.
Walking up to the door, I notice several empty bottles of alcohol lined up along the corridor in disarray.
Tap, tap, tap
"Come in."
That voice. It literally gives me chills down my spine. If I didn't already know that was the President, I would have assumed there was a completely different person in there. His voice does not fit with his body. It's just too low. As soon as I enter, the scent of strawberries shoots up through my nose. The contrast between the smell of strawberries in here and the smell of old, dank buildings outside is intense. I shut the door and gaze at the room. It's circular and very large, with 24 little stools going around the edge. Each stool has a folder on top of it with the description of each tribute that has been chosen. He sits in the middle at his golden table, adorned with papers, stationery and lots and lots of alcohol. The stress must be getting to him already.
"What do you want?" His voice is menacing. He doesn't even lift an eyebrow. He's too focused on his work.
"I have the design for the arena. You told me to make it scary and I think I've done just that." I hand him the sheet and his eyes immediately light up.
"Explain it to me. Remember, the oral presentation must make up for the visual presentation." No pressure then.
"Okay then. To start with, the arena will be set in one of the abandoned funfairs in the Capitol. However, there will be absolutely no weapons at the cornucopia. Only food and water."
"But how will there be deaths?" He interrupts. Crap. I hadn't thought of that.
"The tributes can use their initiative and their expertise in hand to hand combat." Phew. "Instead of there being weapons at the Cornucopia, they will be hidden in rides and games. A mace hanging between the stuffed animals and knives in carts on roller coasters and Ferris wheels. You can get other weapons by earning them as well. For example, you can get a hammer from "Test Your Strength." If the tribute succeeds, they will be rewarded with the hammer. If not, there will be… another kind of reward," I say with a smirk on my face. "This can also work for the archery range and others. Obviously the tributes can use the carts as hiding places but at random times, the ride they are hiding in will light up to let other tributes know where they are. They may even move."
"I'm liking it so far. Give me one more thing. The clincher that will make this arena complete."
One more thing? I look at him nervously and I'm not sure what to say. I look outside for possible inspiration but it's just pitch black outside.
Wait.
That's it! "The arena will be never-ending night."
"Nailed it! Congratulations Romany. If all goes to plan, this Hunger Games will be one to remember. Now make a copy of your file with the extra information and report back to me tomorrow at 10am. Now get out of my sight." Back to himself. Typical, rude President Mannion.
I go back home and am greeted by my genetically engineered dog - Cezar, my avox servant - Sherri, and my 5 year old daughter, Tilleia. Tilleia's father, Pette, was a drunk since before I met him but for some reason I fell in love with him. Only a couple of years later Tilleia came along and it wasn't until after her first birthday that I found out Pette was a lying bastard. Turns out he was only out drinking half the time. The other half he was out sleeping with anyone he could find. I wouldn't be surprised if he found his way into Rory Mannion's bed.
Anyway, after finding out Pette was a liar, I decided the best thing would be to make sure he had no more "little Pette's." I just pray Tilleia's the only one. After his "amputation," I decided he shouldn't be allowed to speak because most of what he says is slurred anyway. After mutilating him a bit more I got really bored because all the interesting stuff was gone. I couldn't be bothered with a beautiful ending so a quick stab to the head was all it took to satisfy me. Hiding the body was pretty simple thanks to being Head Gamemaker. I have access to all the mutts that have been used since the first ever Games.
Once I was done I woke up Tilleia from her nap. She could sleep through an earthquake.
Sherri nods and leaves the room as I pick up Tilleia. She has already been fed and and cared for so now I get a night in with her while I do my work. Cezar is sat next to me. The latest fashion is to have a silver husky with blue eyes. He has yellow lines on his back which look like lightning strikes and his tail is completely dyed bright yellow. I'm the main trend-setter in the Capitol when I'm not being head Gamemaker so I have extra pressure set on me.
I put on one of the reruns of a Games from several years ago.
Ah yes, the 94th Hunger Games, my personal favourite. This one is set in an overgrown greenhouse. Those glass buildings they used to use to grow plants and stuff. Pointless now as everything is grown artificially. It's much easier this way as it saves our hands getting all muddy and little bugs getting all over the place.
I sit Tilleia in her special chair and lay down on the leather sofa with a cool glass of wine in my hand. I am too heavily focused into watching these Games to do any work so I start teaching Tilleia about the Games. It's about time she learnt, I guess. I mean, she's definitely going to become the head gamemaker some day.
This has to be my favourite Games because this is the first time the Gamemakers have experimented with plant DNA to create plant mutts. Usually they create mutts based on animals and monsters but this year they decided to take it up a notch and work on plants.
"Okay, Tilleia, I'm going to teach you about the Hunger Games because it's about time you learn." She replies with a simple nod and a giggle.
"You see where they are?" I ask.
"G'eenhouse!" She replies with glee.
"Very good, darling! Now, there are 24 tributes in these Games and they come from the 12 disgusting districts that surround this city. Understand?"
"Yes mama," she replies enthusiastically.
"Good. These tributes have to fight to the death in this greenhouse because their districts have been very, very naughty!" I realise I have to explain the Games in a way that's not too confusing for Tilleia. I spend about 20 minutes explaining what the Games are and what happens etc etc until we get to the start of the Games. The last 20 minutes have just shown us each tribute reaping and their training scores and interviews.
The Cornucopia is right at the entrance of the greenhouse. I know exactly what happens as I've studied many Games since becoming part of the team and have watched them over and over.
After the gong strikes 0, the tributes leaped off their podiums in every direction, most towards the Cornucopia. However, there wasn't much in terms of weapons and supplies for that year: a few short knives, a couple daggers, and a single sword. Only general bags of supplies but nothing else spectacular. After noticing this, most tributes gave up on getting weapons and went immediately to find their alliances. However, the tributes from 8 and 2 all wanted that sword. After an intense battle, the tributes from 2 killed the tributes from 8 with their bare hands. The boy suggested they create a small alliance between the two of them and share the sword, but the girl wouldn't have any of it. After an intense brawl, the male came out on top by grabbing the sword while he was pinned on the floor by the girl and slashing her throat, blood spilling all over his face. That was the first time a District 2 tribute had died in the bloodbath in a very long time. These were the only deaths at the bloodbath that year but more was coming.
These were one of the longest Games in history because the arena was so big that tributes wouldn't run into each other. Sprinklers would go off for a certain amount of time, giving tributes an opportunity to drink and tributes who had been to the poisonous plants section of the training had the advantage because over the course of the Games, 6 tributes died from the poisonous plants.
Lots of the tributes turned on each other because of the gas the plants were giving out. This caused some tributes to lash out and attack anything, or even commit suicide. 8 tributes fell victim to the gas, or someone affected by the gas. Tributes realised the cactus thorns were extremely sharp so decided to use them as weapons. 3 more fell victim to thorn-wielders.
3 left. The girls from District 9 and both tributes from District 11. This was the first time in many years that a career tribute hadn't gotten to the final 3. The annoying thing was, they had been in an alliance since the start and the only reason they all got to the end together was because they knew everything about plants and avoided all other tributes in the arena.
The Gamemakers got increasingly bored so they decided to bring the plants to life to seek out the tributes. The first tribute found was the girl from 9 and the vines wrapped around her entire body, suffocating her and eventually snapping her neck. This meant District 11 would finally get another victor! The plants found both tributes at the same time at opposite sides of the arena. The Venus fly trap, which had grown to 10x its original size, attacked the boy while the vines chased the girl.
The boy's forearm came clean off in one bite by the Venus flytrap and at the same time the vines tripped up the girl, causing her to fall over and land into a field of cactus thorns sticking out of the ground. A single cannon sounded and no one could tell who the victor was because no one moved. It was only when the hovercraft picked up the girl's dead body that the Gamemaker announced the District 11 male as the victor of the 94th Hunger Games. He didn't leave in one piece though as his arm was missing from the Venus flytrap bite. He now walks around with a synthetic arm which has been modified to help in many ways. I heard that he has a knife, fork, and spoon which he can swap with his fingers when he's eating. Wish I'd thought of that first. But then again, how could I paint my nails?
I start imagining myself with a synthetic arm and then going into the Games with my dog by my side. Since when were dogs allowed? I make it to the Cornucopia when I hear a shrill scream. I look over to find the District 2 boy slashing Tilleia's throat and I scream as loud as I can as the image begins to fade.
Am I dreaming?
My question is answered as I'm woken up by Cezar pawing at my face. I look at the clock on the wall saying it's 8am. Bollocks! I have just two hours to wash, complete my notes and make it to the President's office. Completing the notes should only take 15 minutes. To get to the mansion should take about 45 minutes, so that leaves me with one hour to wash. You'd think that would be enough time but my hair needs to be treated delicately as only certain products can be used in a certain order. This goes for the drying part too! I'll be lucky to get it done in less than an hour.
By the time I'm finished with my hair and makeup I'm about 15 minutes behind schedule so I'll have to do my notes in the car. Before I leave the house I make sure I have everything I need and then say goodbye to Tilleia, Cezar and my avox. I hop in my car and my chauffeur takes me directly to the doorstep of the President's mansion 40 minutes later. The notes are completed and I now have five minutes to find his office.
There! You couldn't mistake his door for anyone else's. Mainly because it's surrounded by very large bodyguards. I wonder why it wasn't yesterday...
Hmm. It appears the bottles of alcohol have miraculously disappeared. Oh wait, they're in the bin over there. Never mind. The President has never really been one for cleaning. Apparently his servants aren't too fussed either.
"I'm here to see the President, boys. Move outta my way." They give me clearance without hesitation. I guess I just have that effect on people.
Tap, tap, tap.
"Come in," the President replies. Here we go again.
The smell of strawberries hits me again. For some reason I always forget about the strawberry-scented room.
I hand the notes to him at 10am sharp, trying to hide my panting from running around the mansion.
"Brilliant. Right, I'll call you if I need anything, Amora. Now get out." It's always his last sentence. Everything is normally happily said, and then he wrecks it by saying something completely rude at the end. But I guess that's just his normal way of speaking. I exit the room and walk to the car. As I step into my car, I think to myself.
This is going to be an unforgettable Games.
So there is the design of the Games and I thought I'd write about past Games as well. I'll try and do that more throughout the story because I really enjoy doing that. Let me know what you think in the reviews and please submit tributes through my PM :)
Question time: What do you think of the arena design?