I drew some inspiration from The World's Shortest Hunger Games by Tiny Bluebird. This is an AU of the 2nd Games. Previously named Lapse of Sanity, I took it down and edited it fye.
Consider the rating a T+/M-
Ephemeral (eh-fem-er-ul) = lasting a very short time. (adj)
I clutch my token in my hand, shaking at what I'm about to do.
They thought it was harmless, my token. At least that's what the escort told me when she dismissed my worries of it being confiscated. Supposedly, it was meant as just harmless fun. Meant to amuse me until my untimely death. And yet, it was all too easy to adjust it slightly. Just enough to turn it into a weapon.
Watching the last Games, I realized that they say "Ladies and gentlemen, let the Hunger Games begin" at the end of one minute. The kids last year didn't realize it, and it wasn't until they obliterated four kids that everyone began to fight each other.
Now I see everyone around me tenses, ready to run. Nikola, from 5, catches my eye and gives me a reassuring smile. Her partner, Terzn, keeps his eyes on the supplies in front of him. And Electra, my district partner, nods determinedly when I look in her direction. I give a smile that doubles for a grimace, but I don't bother readying myself; if I execute my plan right, I could walk away as victor five minutes from now.
It's been 55 seconds. My fingers find my token's little triangle button. They press down hard on it. As clear as day, a loud gong rings out, so close to me that I almost ruin my plan. Almost immediately, the world comes to life with sounds of explosions and kids screaming as they were blown to bits. I jump as far forward as possible, away from the mine stationed under my pedestal. The explosion from the mines propel me further than I would've thought possible. I almost impale myself on a knife which was standing blade up. Why a knife would be standing like that is beyond me. But my biggest concern is avoiding the blood and pieces of skin and organs landing on me.
The mines stop blasting almost as soon as they'd started. I look up and see 23 holes where tributes and pedestal initially stood. Only mine was still intact. I had won! I'm going home. Back to District 3.
I push myself to my feet, only for two squishy round objects to hit my head. They bounce off my head and fall. They're eyeballs. With blue irises capturing a look of horror neither face expression nor words could ever capture.
I scream loudly and hurl the eyes away from me, backing away from them as fast as I can, careful to avoid my own intact pedestal. One eye rolls next to it, which promptly explodes. The Gamemakers must've forgotten to turn off the mine. Or left it on, hoping I'd accidentally step on it, killing me. Either way, the explosion knocks me back down. I don't have the strength to get up.
My hand brushes something soft. Electra's soft red curls. Someone's heart, still beating sluggishly. All around me lay charred bits of tributes. No, not tributes. Kids. Innocent kids who had been unlucky enough to get chosen to kill others.
Grabbing the knife that almost killed me, I begin walking around the clearing, looking at each person. Most are definitely dead. A few are still clinging to life. Some are missing eyes, or their fingers, or-
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. I couldn't have done this. No, it's all a dream. Despite my insistence, I can feel the blood on my face. Can feel myself shake in absolute, undisguised horror.
The cannons begin sounding. The first one just about killed me, that's how much it scared me. Then another. One more. All the way to 22- no, there's number 23 now. In two minutes, I went from Baud Melzer, tribute in the 2nd Annual hunger Games, to Baud Melzer, murderer. No better than the Capitol.
Seeing everyone's bloody remains shakes me badly. I can still fool myself into believing it's all a horrible nightmare. But what truly rattles me is the smell of blood. That's what made everything so real. I was really reaped at age 16. I got a 4 in training for my below average knife skills. I was allies with Electra, Nikola, and Terzn so we could get as far as possible. I was portrayed as clever, yet modest in my interview. I-
"Ladies and gentlemen," a voice booms in the arena, again almost killing me. "May I present the winner of the 2nd Annual Hunger Games, Baud Melzer of District 3!"
The hovercraft will be coming for me soon. I look around one more time at what I've done. Terzn understood me the most; Nicola helped me in every way in training; Electra gave me the idea for my plan, no matter how inadvertently.
If only there was a way to just kill everyone all at once.
The four of us promised not to kill each other, and now look what I've done. So desperate I was to get home that I blew up 23 children, 3 of them my friends.
Hearing a faint humming noise, I look up to see the hovercraft descend. My slack fingers drop the knife as I clutch my head, struggling to rid myself of the innocent kids around me. A brain, impaled with pieces of bone. A bunch of teeth still attached to blackened gums.
A gloved hand grabs my arm. It drags me away from the sights forces me to grip the ladder, which freezes me with an electric current. It pulls me up and into the hovercraft. Once I'm released, I look around, panicked.
A doctor starts talking to me, explaining that I'm safe now, I've won, I'm going home, but I can't hear his words. I don't want to live. Not after what I've done in the arena. I should've died. My eyes fall on a scalpel in the doctor's pocket. He follows my eyes, and knowing I've been found out, I lunge forward.
But I never get there.
More hands seize my arms and pull them behind me. The contact happens as suddenly as if I were experiencing explosions kill 23 kids. I buck violently, screaming senselessly, trying to free myself and run away. Shouts fill the room; my mind struggles to think coherently, but a needle is jabbed into my neck, and everything fades into oblivion.
-Three Hours Later-
Warm. That's the first thing I feel as I wake up. Warm sheets and a soft bed. I wonder what I'm doing here until I remember everything. I smile, but as soon as I do, I hear screams and loud explosions. Right. I won the Hunger Games, but blew up 23 kids to do so.
I try to move my arms only to find them strapped down. My legs and chest, however, aren't pinned down. Which is perfect, because some nut left a syringe full of morphling, probably the most powerful drug Panem has to offer, next to me.
Wiggling out of my restraints was almost too easy, but I pull until they slide neatly out of the loops. My arms protest the overexertion, but I ignore it as I grab the syringe and inject the drug into my skin. Right over my heart.
The morphling takes effect almost immediately. My eyelids grow heavy, and I can actually feel my heart slowing down.
I get impressions of the future. How the medics are unable to revive me. How the president announces that I've died in the hospital due to "severe emotional shock" and an overdose of morphling someone accidentally injected. How tokens will be thoroughly inspected so as to give every tribute "a fair advantage." How a verbal countdown will be added so the tributes will know how long until the Games start. How my gong noise will sound at the end of sixty seconds to signal the start of the Hunger Games, as Panem's way to remember the late Baud Melzer.
Smiling slightly, I close my eyes for the last time, knowing that I've compensated for my mistakes with something far more valuable: my life.
Again, this is a prompt for the forum Caesar's Palace. Definitely worth a look.
Ciao!
~dd626