Prologue-
There I was. Just me and Arty Brooks. He was almost dead, about to die any moment. I guess I didn't need to do what I did. I would've won anyway. But I did do it. Just like I did with the other eight people I killed. I decapitated him. Right there in then. Not a care in the world.
Then I kept hearing it. It was the sound which replayed in my mind over and over again. It was like a television stuck on instant replay. His last scream. The sound of his head rolling on the flood with a surprisingly loud thud. Seeing the blood that sprayed, not only on the floor, but all over me.
All that was nothing though. It was nothing compared to the sound of that one scream. Over and over again I heard it. I felt myself notice how much of a monster I'd become. It was because of the capitol. They had no right. No right to take me away from my family. They had no right to kill my little brother and sister. No right.
"Attention ladies and gentlemen of Panem! I give you Piper Summers! The winner of the 24th Hunger Games!" I stood there for a moment before falling to the floor in tears. I broke.
I sprung up in bed breathing hard and sweating like a pig. Tears littered my hazel eyes.
"Piper?" I heard. "Piper, are you okay?" I looked up, sniffling, to see my older brother, Cory, standing in the doorway. His blonde hair was utterly messed up and you could obviously see I'd been the one to wake him up. "You were screaming... kind of loudly." I didn't respond. I couldn't. I hadn't noticed before, but despite sweating, I was shivering like one would in the dead of winter. I just brought my knees to my chest, clutching them as tightly as possible.
"He won't get out of my head!" I cried. This was one I'd been having for quite a while now. Sometimes it was Bliss Lifton or Dylan Gonzalez -Whom I burned to death- or one of the other people I killed. But most of the time it was Arty. Every time I closed my eyes I saw his bloody cranium hit the dirt covered floor. Every time there was silence I heard his last scream. I couldn't take it anymore. It was as if he'd been haunting me for the things I couldn't change.
It'd been a year since my games. It was about 4 months since my victors tour. Now, it was the day before the reaping for the 25th Hunger Games. The Quarter Quell.
I'd be a mentor now. Responsible for two new tributes every year... or so I thought anyway.
"I know," Cory sighed, sitting on the bed and wrapping his arms around me. He rested his head on mine and I snuggled into his chest like a three year old would with her own father. When Cory took care of me like this, you wouldn't be able to tell he was only twenty-one years old. You'd think he was at least thirty. And as for me, being seventeen, it was almost shameful the way I'd been acting. But if you went through the things I'd been through... well, you'd understand.
"Why won't it go away?" I whimpered, fighting away the tears that were threatening to spew from my eyes.
"I don't know, Pipe." Cory sighed. "I don't know if it'll ever go away." He breathed, stroking my hair softly. I whimpered at the thought. "But don't think about that right now. Okay?"
"What if I can't keep either of the tributes alive?" I asked. "I don't want to be responsible for two lives every single year."
"I know, Pipe..." He sighed, "I know." But he didn't know. He didnt know how I felt. What I'd gone through. Sure, he'd gone through a small portion of it. Losing Kenny and Lydia, our little brother and sister, yeah. But not killing eight people. Not being so paranoid you keep a knife under your pillow. Not any of that.
After a while I felt my eyelids grow heavy. I didn't want to sleep. I was scared to doze off and maybe never wake up again. But the temptation of sleep had won over and I slowly drifted off.
Little did I know what was to come.
The next day was the first ever Quarter Quell after all.
So, that being said, wish me luck. And may the odds be ever in my favor.
So... thoughts? I've never written on here before so I hope it's alright... please comment and stuff... Thanks!
A new chapter will be out soon... I hope.