Amber Mastiff
President of Panem
"And all the other animals cheered because the tortoise beat the hare! It doesn't matter the differences you have. Because everyone has their strengths." Adela lies down in her bed as I close the book. Her long brown hair lies in locks around her face. She is two now and I can't believe how much time has flown by.
"Again, mommy!" she says, "Again!" I know she's just stalling. She always stalls right before bed. Every little excuse they can think of is thrown your way. This was the hardest part about being a mother for me, was learning to say no.
"Baby, you know I can't," I say. "Bedtime." I kiss the top of her head and walk over to the nightlight in the corner of the room and turn it on. I switch the baby monitor on and walk towards the door to leave her.
"But Mommy, the man." she says before I close the door.
I sigh, this is the newest thing that she's been obsessed over since bedtime. The first night I thought it was funny, but it's been about two weeks now. I've had the baby monitor in here the last few nights and I haven't heard anything.
"Sweetheart," I say throwing my head against the door. "There is no man that talks to you."
"Yes there is, Mommy!" she says sitting up in her bed. "He comes and he says scary things to me. Things that make me scared and feel...uh...I don't remember the word but you used it before!"
"Uncomfortable," I say reminding her of the word.
"Yes!" she says. "Uncomfortable."
With my head still against the door and a smile on my face, I look at my daughter in the eye and do my best to come up with something that will finally let me get some sleep tonight.
"You tell that man if he shows up that you're a daughter of the President of Panem!" I say. "If he wants to mess with you, he messes with the President."
She looks a little less frightened after I say that and lays her head back on the pillow. She closes her eyes and I begin to close the door when she sits up one more time. "Good night, mommy," she says with a smile. "I love you."
"I love you too, sweetheart," I say as I close the door.
"You handled that nicely," says Richard as he wraps his arms around my waist as I close the door. We've been married for four years now. Running this country was a wreck after the death of Snow, but he made it a lot easier on me, and I was able to push through because he supported me so much.
"Thank you, First man," I say as I smile and twist my body to where we are face to face. We kiss, and then he scoops me up and begins to walk me to our bedroom. "Richard! Put me down right now!" I say giggling as we reach our bedroom door and open it.
We walk into the room and he walks over to the baby monitor and turns it on. I close the door behind us and begin to take off the silk robe that I was wearing and toss it on the floor. If the people of this country saw how messy I actually was they'd freak out. I just don't have it in me to stay clean in my own house when I have to do it all day.
"Sleep tight, Madame President," says Richard as he walks over and kisses me on the cheek and walks into the bathroom. I hear the shower turn on and I crawl into bed and I pass out the moment I hit the pillow.
I wake up around 3:30 am and Richard is not in the bed. The sheets are messed up, so I assume that he's just in the bathroom. I hear a voice on the baby monitor and it takes me a second to process Adela's voice.
"I'm the daughter of the president!" she says with a shaky voice. "If you mess with me, you'll mess with my mommy!"
I dash out of bed and run to her door to hear what she's talking to. I put my ear to the door and right as I do I hear a deep masculine voice coming from inside of her room say, "Tell your mommy to bring it."
I barge into the room and flip on the light. I don't see anyone in the room, so I run over to the closet and begin to search there. As I open the door there is nothing in the closet but Adela's clothes, and when I turn around she sits curled up in a fetal position with her head buried in her knees.
"You're okay," I say as I run over to her and wrap her in my arms. "Mommy's got you." I run my fingers down her back soothingly and look around the room. "I don't know where you are. I don't know who you are. Let me tell you, though, you're messing with the wrong person."
"Ah," the deep voice says. "Madame President, welcome, we sure have missed you all these nights of deep conversations with your daughter."
"Adela mommy is so sorry she didn't believe you," I whisper into her ear.
"It's okay mommy," she responds. "Just make him go buh-bye."
"You need to get out of her baby monitor," I tell him. "Right now."
"Madame," says the voice. "Tell me, have you checked on your husband?"
Right as the voice says that the lights in the house click off. We hear a door open and close quietly, but there are no footsteps to accompany them. Adela clings onto me tightly as I pick her up and walk her over to the door.
"Mommy, don't," she says. "I'm scared," she says.
"We're big girls," I say. "Anything a bad man can do, we can do back. Only worse."
She nestles her head into my neck and we walk down the hallway. None of our staff works overnight, so there is no one in the house other than us, Richard, and hopefully not this baby monitor guy.
"Richard," I call into the hallway. "Richard, if this is you this is not funny. Our daughter is very scared and you're not making your life any easier right now." We finally make it to my bedroom door and I walk into the room. Inside the dresser when you first walk into the room in the top drawer is a flashlight. I pull it out and turn it on and walk over to the bed. I bend down and check under it to make sure no one is there and then set Adela down.
"Go hide under the bed, sweetheart. Stay very quiet. Don't say anything. Whatever you do."
"Okay, mommy." she says with tears starting to well up in her eyes.
"Mommy loves you," I say giving her a hug and then tucking her under the bed.
When I'm sure Adela is hidden I begin to check various areas in the room. The first place I check is my closet, but there is no one in there. I check the wardrobe where Richard keeps his clothes, but there is no one in there. I decide that the room is safe after checking every last place an adult man could hide, and then go to the bathroom to see if Richard is there.
I get to the bathroom door and I feel my heart rate intensify. You know when you get those feelings that something bad is about to happen? Those feelings where everything is about to change and you're not ready for it? That's what I'm feeling as I turn this knob and push open the bathroom door.
As I walk throughout the bathroom I don't see anything out of the ordinary. I was expecting the man to be there with a gun to my husband's head or a knife to his throat. All I see is an empty bathroom as I walk through the large room.
"Why the hell did we get such a big master bathroom?" I whisper to myself as my heartbeat is still picking up. "Who needs this?!"
I walk to the shower and put my hand on the curtain. I take a deep breath and pull it back. Nothing is there, though. I take a breath of relief as I close the curtain and walk towards the closet where we keep the towels. I open this one a lot less hesitant, and when I do my husband comes falling out of the closet.
I scream like I've never screamed before as I see a knife in his chest, his eyes wide open, and a line of blood falling from the corner of his mouth. He falls into me and I fall to my knees as I allow the body to sink to the floor.
"No!" I scream. "NO NO NO NO!" I scream louder as I pound on the floor with tears rolling down my face.
"MOMMY!" screams Adela as I hear her tiny feet running towards the bathroom.
"Adela! No! Don't come in-"
But before I can finish that sentence, Adela walks into the bathroom. She stands in the doorway and looks at me, and then looks at her dead dad on the floor. She's quiet, and not moving, and then her eyes roll into the back of her head she falls face first onto the ground.
I get up from the floor and run over to her. I pick her up, and I run out of the bathroom to get out of the room. When I get to the door in the master bedroom I turn the knob and throw it open, but a hooded figure stands in the doorway. I'm unable to see his face, but I'm able to close the door before he is able to get into the room. I lock the door, and then a sudden realization hits.
In your last moments of life, there are a lot of things that run through your mind if you're not a mother or father. As I hear this man trying to break down the door to my bedroom, I know that I'm about to die. That doesn't mean my daughter has to.
I look around the room for a place to hide Adela. Her body still lies limp from fainting in the bathroom, and I decide that the best place for her would be her daddy's wardrobe. I open it up and throw a few outfits of his off the hangers and onto the floor of the wardrobe and set her in them. I then lie her down on the floor and throw more clothes on top of her, careful not to cover her mouth so she can still breathe. When I get her hidden I run to the bed against the center wall and throw myself under it.
Right as I get under the bed, the door breaks in.
I hold my breath as I hear him moving around the room. I hear doors opening, I hear the bathroom being moved around, I hear the wardrobe gets opened, but it quickly closes afterward. I let out a quiet sigh of relief as I continue to hear the man move around my bedroom, and then it goes quiet.
I sit under the bed and wait for something to happen. I don't hear movement, I don't hear doors open, absolute silences comes from my room.
And then I feel a hand grab the back of my leg.
He drags me out from under the bed, and I begin to fight him as he continues to pull. He's very strong, and he's capable of getting hit and kicked by me and still not let go. I drag my nails into the carpet as he continues to drag my body out from under the bed, and when he finally gets me up I begin swinging my fist in all directions. The punches land but they're no use as he flips me on my back and pulls me up to my feet.
I make a brave face as he gets close to me. I'm looking for any identifiable marks as to who this could be. I hear him chuckle as he flips me around to face the bed again and pulls something out of his pocket. I hear a gun cock, and the barrel touches the back of my head as I take a deep breath.
"Long live the President." are the last words I hear before the gunshot rings and everything goes black.
Eumanius Powers
Presidential Maid
I've always hated working on Saturdays. There is nothing to clean ever in this house, and all I do is stand around and follow the little girl all day to make sure she doesn't make a mess. I guess the only good news is that all three of the first family will be gone today. They have a charity event which means I get paid to sit around and watch my favorite soap on television.
I put my key into the door and unlock it, and walking into the house I smell a disgusting smell. I walk up the stairs and follow the scent as I walk down the hallway and towards the couples room. When I open the door I see Madame President lying on the bed with blood all over the sheets. I see Adela sitting on the floor in the middle of the room just staring at the ground.
I run over to the little girl and pick her up in my arms and run out of the room closing the door. She buries her head into my neck and I run down to her room and sit her on the bed. I pull out my phone and call the police to let them know that the first family is dead, but then I think better of it.
There's only one person to call if something like this happens.
Scrolling through my contacts I land on the name that I know will best handle this situation. I click the call button and it rings three times before I hear the ever familiar voice answer and say "Hello?"
"Ms. Schapp." I say "You need to come to the Presidential Mansion immediately. They're dead." I wasn't quite sure how to say that not blunt, but when I do she hangs up immediately and I know she's on the way.
Adela sits there with her legs crisscrossed as she just stares at the floor of her bedroom.
I've never heard her this quiet before.
Welcome to my 10th SYOT! I'm really excited to continue this story after Over the Edge! For those of you who don't know who Amber or Cassidee are, I would recommend reading Over the Edge, but it isn't required to follow along with this.
I'm not quite sure when the deadline is. My last story I got some of the best tributes I've ever gotten, and I don't want to make people rush to get things in, so take your time and I'll decide on that soon.
The form is on my profile, as well as rules to follow. Please follow all of them.
Happy Hunger Games. And let me know what you think of this opener!
Keep it classy,
Caleb
