The Mythical Nightmares
Story Time
Papers fly everywhere, dust and ashes lay on the ground as well as the decaying bodies of what used to be Capitol citizens. I walk a little closer to what used to be the arena. The one where 23 kids died and I lived. The one that has souls trapped inside of it. The one with my friends. My family.
"It's bad isn't it?" Alexandria asked. I nod. She shows me the now crumbled colorful yet stained buildings.
"Crews are coming in to pick up the bodies of the dead" she went on.
"Good, they deserve to be buried" I tell her. As I walk through the debris of the building occasionally stepping in paper. Suddenly the wind starts.
"Do you need a jacket?" She asks. I shake my head.
"You know, some people would actually talk about what happened in the arena, but you stayed quiet, like nothing happened, but people could see it in your eyes, the pain, the anger, the loss, we waited for you to tell us what it was like, but you, you didn't, you stayed quiet and just turned mute, wanting the others to leave you alone, not needing the attention, but that just grabbed it even more" she pauses looking at me occasionally.
"You changed everyone, the whole nation" she goes on.
"I didn't want to" I butt in.
"But you did anyway! You caused all this, the rebellion that finally set us free, you killed those who caused us all the pain just for their entertainment!" She yells.
"Don't say that! I just caused hundreds of deaths, I caused even more pain! I didn't want that!" I yell back.
"Even if you didn't want it you still caused it! You set us free!" She yelled.
"You set yourselves free! Do you know what it's like to have kids die in your hands, to watch the life drain from their eyes?! To go back and see their family grieving because they didn't come back!? No you don't! Cause you weren't in the arena! I was!" I yell.
"I don't know what that's like, but I do know what it's like to loose someone you love just like you did, hell every single one of those families did! They finally opened their eye as realized that all of this wrong, all thanks to you! You saved them. You saved them from further pain.
"Sometimes opening your eyes is the lost painful thing to do" I say. He stays quiet and we continue waking through the debris. Suddenly I slip and fall in front of a decayed body. I stare at it, Shocked.
"Are you ok?" Alexandria asks. I stand up and dust myself off.
"I'm fine" I clear my throat and step on a crumbled piece of paper. I take my foot off of it and pick it up slowly. Not believing what I see. I blink the tears away.
The Mythical Nightmares it read. A picture of everyone's eyes on it. I cover my hand with my mouth. They even made posters. What sick idiotic people. And I'm one of them.
"Do you remember what it was like? In the arena?" Alexandria asks. I stare at the paper. Not letting it go. The last memory of them is in my hands.
"Of course I do, I remember it like it was yesterday" I whisper. I trace over all their eyes and smile.
"I remember it all, the reapings, the outfits, everything. Everything" I say smiling at the memories that start flooding in.
"It all started when the president made the announcement" I start in aware of the camera recording. I just want to let it all out, and that's exactly what I do.