We Are the New Creators

(We Are the Chosen Ones)

Lavender, Age 20, Head Gamemaker, Capitol

I sat in my office in the Gamemaking Center and thought. In the last few months, so much had happened. We had, at this point, lost the war. But the Games would go on. I was terrified, working for District Fourteen, and on the Games I wasn't sure if I could do anymore…. But worst of all, so many of us were gone, Misty and Rissa and….

I took deep breaths to keep the tears back. I thought what I had been thinking for months: I had to focus on those of us that were alive. I had to keep us all that way. Even though I'd failed at it not once, not twice, but….

There were two more people I had to worry about now. Zeely and Laya, our new Gamemakers. Both were still older than me, Laya twenty-six, Zeely twenty-nine.

Laya was Thespian's little sister, who had changed so much, and I'd hired her without interview, because that had always been my plan should something happen.

Zeely I'd hired with interview, because I hadn't had a second backup plan. They were more outgoing than Laya, and while we all kind of knew Laya already, Zeely had almost fit in faster, willing to get into it with people, whether it was about their non-binary pronouns or whatever it might be, whereas Laya was more quiet and anxious.

We were all anxious lately though. We knew that this year, for the first time, there would be Capitol children in the arena. And there had been rumors in the Capitol that they might even expand the age range as far up as twenty-five, which had put Kaye and I in danger, and it wasn't like District Fourteen wouldn't dare to do it on purpose.

And that had made Kaye….

More deep breaths.

With District Fourteen running the Games, things would be different. Training would be extended and brutal, the tributes' scores based on real situations that would be televised as close to live as we ever got. Instead of interviews or opening ceremonies with individual attention, District Fourteen was giving the tributes—and us, instead of Opening Night—a "last night" party for all of them that was more a party for the Fourteen-approved citizens than for the tributes.

If only we were all here to see it.

Kaye. Kaye's gone.

The pain was more recent than it was for Misty and Rissa, and Kaye, well, Kaye was special. But she hadn't seen that. All she'd seen was that Misty and Rissa were gone, and Panem was taken over, and it was possible she or I could be going into the Games, at the time—and that wasn't even true—and that her parents hadn't loved her and the bullies hadn't loved her, either, and the mental health care system wasn't treating her depression properly, and she'd spiraled down, down, down….

Until, one morning, we found her on her bed, the euthanasia syringes she had for mutts empty next to her bedside, her arms spread like wings, like Rissa's had been.

I couldn't believe that this was Kaye's doing, that my first and best friend killed herself, until I'd heard Thespian say, "Lav, honey, there's a note." I'd read it, and Kaye had said goodbye, that she loved us and that was why she did this, that she was sorry but we were better off without her, telling us that it wasn't us, it was her, and she loved us again, she loved us, she loved us, she loved us.

I thought about that, and prepared to face the day.

. . . . .

"Our five victors plan fell through around this time last year," Aidan said to me later. It was around noon on a Monday, not long before the Victory Tour would begin. I was still in my office, alone with Aidan, talking about plans.

"Ah, yes," I agreed, fidgeting with my hair nervously. It felt too greasy, as usual, matted in my ponytail. The rest of my appearance was a wreck as well—bloodshot eyes ringed with dark circles, too pale, from exhaustion, with stress acne and worry lines; I wore a white polo shirt and khakis, not exactly the height of Capitol fashion. I didn't really care about any of that, but I wondered what the victors would think.

"Sassy was devastated when Sage died, same for Keith with Kenton; Trey's a traitor, and Kizzy is dead. Which leaves us with Litiea."

I nodded.

"I don't know exactly whose side she's on anymore, but she's done good work for us before. We'll keep her in mind." Aidan paused. "Meanwhile, we have the Victory Tour coming up. Have you sorted the details out?"

"As best I can," I said. "We worked out how to handle multiple victors, and arranged the speeches and parties so they'll do lots of… district socializing," I finished carefully. "As well as their families, who are going to be included in the Tour."

Aidan nodded this time. "And the tributes—victors now, I suppose—should be here for a meeting soon, so I'll leave you to it." She stood, and left before I could say goodbye, like so many others.

I told myself to stop thinking like that, and breathed more before going through some files, checking the security cameras on the lobby again out of anxiety that it would go back to its not-fixed-up state again. I saw the victors on that screen, so I headed down to one of the larger conference rooms.

There, the others had gathered, the victors still waiting out in the lobby. Thespian, Trace, Francisco, Ritter, Zeely, and Laya waited in the conference room. Everyone looked tired and stressed and sad, and I couldn't blame them, considering three of us had died as a result of stress among other factors, but I forced a smile and said, "The victors will be in here soon. Any last things to not say in front of them?"

"I have a lot of things to say not in front of kids," Thespian said. Laya nudged him.

"Anyone else?" I tried to joke.

"It'll be interesting to meet them," Zeely commented.

Interesting. More like "awkward". The victors didn't want to work with us, for obvious reasons. And we were working with the children we'd tried—and failed—to kill.

"Ah… yes," was what I said aloud. I tried to calm down about that, and about the fact that even with the Games six months away, this meeting seemed rather last minute, but District Fourteen had decided on the time, not us. There was only so much we could change at this point, but the victors' feedback would be valuable in the details.

How sick is that? Asking children I tortured about their worst nightmares, and using them on more kids…. Hell, I use my own worst nightmares for the arena, and most of them come from the Games in the first place….

The sliding doors opened and the victors entered, the ones working with us, anyway. Aurelia and Evander, Belle, Henrik and Ikky.

I froze. I stammered for a second, and then finally got out, "Ah, welcome. I mean, sit, please." They did, at the far end of the table. On my left, going away from me, were Thespian, Laya, Ritter, Henrik and Ikky. On my right, going away from me again, were Zeely, Trace, Francisco, Aurelia, Evander, and Belle.

I sat at the head of the table and took a long sip of headache-healing peppermint tea before proceeding. "Ah, so, we gave you all some information before this meeting on our current arena plans." Which they've been sworn to secrecy about. "And we wanted to know what parts of the arena last year—I mean, the one you were in—you found most… effective."

I was met with blank stares from the victors. At least Trace and Thespian gave me encouraging nods.

Kaye chose to die rather than face the possibility of even being in the Games. Especially without Misty and Rissa for support. Especially under District Fourteen's rule. But that won't be an option for the new tributes, who'll be in those circumstances.

Kaye chose to die rather than face the guilt of creating these Games.

"So, ah," I started again, and tried to not let my voice shake, "what are your commentaries?"

The Careers, of course, cooperated first. "I figure night was the scariest for everyone else, since we got to hunt," Aurelia grinned. Yet I knew, all too well from experience, that there was something broken behind it, now.

Evander nodded in agreement, though he looked pale.

"I can't imagine facing it without an ally," said Henrik, when the silence was getting long.

"It felt so much worse as our alliance got smaller," Belle said quietly.

Of course, all of the remaining tributes had had allies at some point. I couldn't do much with the information of tributes being alone—we couldn't ban alliances—but the nighttime….

With changes to one section, and—

"Moving at night was the worst," Ikky said. "There were the Careers out, and you made it seem extra dangerous."

Of course I did. That was what I did, wasn't it? Make people afraid? I didn't want these kids to be afraid of me anymore. I was tired of people running away from me. I knew what it was like to be afraid, and I didn't want anyone else to feel like that. But that was my job. To make those in the arena afraid for the rest of their lives.

And the sick, dark, twisted part of my mind was spinning with ideas.

And I hated it.

"I always felt like I was moving into a trap," said Belle. "Especially when we got to the end of the arena."

"The sinkhole," Evander muttered.

I murdered one of Evander's friends in front of him. I wanted to apologize. But I couldn't. These kids, who had survived the arena, they were supposed to work with us now to put other kids through the same hell.

I wasn't sure what to say. But my mind kept spinning. Things getting worse as you went into the arena, but not wanting to stay in the center because of the vulnerability, the other tributes; darkness being mind-altering, scary….

The meeting didn't last very long. The victors left, and I debriefed the others—Gamemakers—about what the victors had said, and my ideas, which came up from some of the others first.

Ritter and Zeely voiced ideas for elements that could be moved around the arena; Thespian would plan them out, and Trace and Francisco agreed to work on the coding, Trace more excited about it. Laya quietly worked off of the darkness idea, and showed me a holographic idea of what she had in mind.

"It's perfect," I said, and tried to stop twirling my hair around my hand, tangling it further. "It combines the two ideas. But can you make it happen?"

"I think so," Laya said thoughtfully, shyly. "I'm glad you like it."

It really did take all of us to make the Games.

"I told you hiring my sister was a good idea, Lav," Thespian said jovially, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

"I see," I said, and even smiled a little. "I think hiring Zeely was a good idea, too, if I can take credit for that one."

"Do I get any credit?" they asked.

"Of course," I said, and my smile widened. I reminded myself that I still had the others by my side, even with some of us gone. But as soon as I thought it, my smile faded again.

"Meeting dismissed," I muttered, and quickly left the room.

. . . . .

Author's Note: Welcome to One Last Melody! Title chapter from "Place for Us" by Mikky Ekko. Also, a friendly reminder that the one-shot contest is still going! Thanks, all.