Disclaimer: I did not create the Hunger Games or any of the original characters mentioned here. Credit to Suzanne Collins and her brilliant books.
Chapter One
I can remember the year of my sixth birthday very, very clearly. It is the year the Rebellion of the Districts took place. I remember how upset my mother was when she found out that some of her favourite Victors were in favour of the rebellion and were actually helping District 13.
She would pace up and down our living room whenever the rebels would hack into our TV set for a special message and would keep repeating. "But she seemed like such a nice girl." She never said who she was talking about but I know it must have been Katniss Everdeen.
Katniss Everdeen the Girl on Fire. She stole the hearts of us in the Capitol and broke them just as quickly. So many people here loved her, no, adored her. I remember school when she was on her victory tour. The closer she got to the Capitol the more little girls like me and my friends started to act like her, even dress like her. And when our former President Snow's granddaughter came into school during the days of the tour with a braid in her hair identical to the one Katniss wore in the arena, that's when I knew, she must be a good guy. Most of our Victors were. And her and Peeta's love story. It made for a game I would never forget. It was one of the last games I remember. Well the last of the Original Hunger Games anyways.
Now we call them the After Games, unofficially. Apparently before President Snows execution the surviving Victors sat around a table with our current President, President Coin and voted on whether or not they should hold another Hunger Games but using Capitol children instead. This is when the tables turned. After all our old leaders were tired and either executed or imprisoned they immediately started working on The Hunger Games again. Coin took control of Panem and split the Capitol into 12 Sectors. They don't mean anything; it's just easier to reap us this way. All the old victors show their support of course. A part from Annie Cresta who disappeared after the birth or her and, the now dead, Finnick Odair's son. Peeta Mellark rarely travels to the Capitol to witness the training and interviews before the games. I know that Katniss must really have to persuade him.
I think originally they were planning on the games to be totally different from the first set. I guess to make them feel better about themselves.
"Well if we don't call it the Hunger Games will it still be the 'Hunger Games'?"
"If we don't refer to it as the Reaping will it still be seen as the 'Reaping'?"
"If they aren't called tributes they won't be made to feel like 'Tributes'."
These are exactly the reasons why Coin said no to these changes. She wanted to let us know that there will be no changes. She wanted to let us know that it is still the same old Hunger Games we knew and loved. She wanted us to know that she has just as much power as Snow and she wants us to be scared and afraid to hope, like the Districts were.
So the kids of the Capitol call it the After Games. No one knows how this name came about but it stuck. After the originals, after the rebellions and uprisings, after the war? No one knows.
The 76th annual Hunger Games was held nine years ago. The 1st annual After Games was held when I was eight years old. Four years from being legally entered into the Games. I'm in Sector 5 so our reaping gets held at 3 pm. That means I have six hours to try and do what I can today before I try my luck at the odds. The Sector 1 reapings begin in an hour.