The Capital thought I was one of them. They were wrong. The rebellion thought I was one of them. They were wrong. The human race thought I was one of them. They too were wrong. My whole life I was believed to be someone I wasn't, by myself included. I am done with that though. My real life begins now.
The explosion shook the building, and I felt it begin to splinter into the ground. This was not how it was supposed to happen. This was not how I was supposed to die. I ducked under the flaming doorway, the ends of my hair catching on fire. My artificially beautiful Capital hair. I didn't think about Him as I rolled under a fallen ceiling beam. He who I was supposed to love, supposed to follow off a cliff. No, I thought of Her. How she died for me, and how now I could join Her. How after all of this, Her death was the biggest tragedy in my miserable life. How if I followed her path, we could finally be happy together. What we'd always wanted... But no. I also thought of how sad she'd feel. How guilty she'd be, that I'd died for her. How thoughtless she'd been when she had died for me. How the only thing she'd want me to think about right now would have been my life and how to save it. So I did. For once, I followed her wishes, and I got out into the singed air. Air with the stench of death. Air that had been bombed by the Rebellion.
I shot forward in my bed, my blankets in a heap on the floor despite my consistent shivering. The trip to the bathroom was now familiar to me, jerking up the toilet seat, retching up the little food I had eaten for dinner. This dream was no different than the previous ones, all them having been based off of memory.
Wiping off my nightdress, I tiptoed back to bed, carful not to wake my brother. Or who I had thought was my brother. Now I know nothing but escape. Escape from Panem, escape from who I thought I was, who everyone else thought I was.
As I lay back down and tried to sleep, my mind couldn't help but wander. The memories I had tried so hard to bury began to flit back, and I braced myself for the pain.
Groaning I slid out of bed at Mother's calls. What did she want at this hour anyway?Probably trying to get me to go with her to the Hunger Games sponsorship assembly. Like I'd want to support the murder of innocent children. I mean, I used to love the Hunger Games, before I met Olivia, and she revealed to me the reality that the Hunger Games were, the reality that none of we citizens of the Capital saw.
We had met in the Plastic Zone of the Capital, I there to replace my stubby fingers for long slender ones, her there to rebel. I don't know why she chose a simple 11 year old to approach, but she did, and I was forever grateful for the friendship she forged with me.
"Hi there," she said, tapping my shoulder. I looked down at her; though 18 by that point, she was always fairly short. I am ashamed to say that I didn't really want to talk Olivia at first. My father, a Capital official, always ranted against picketers, so I had grown up with a dislike for them. Still this one didn't look as bad as he always made them seem...
"Hi! I'm Kaley!" I chirped with the innocent happiness of one who hasn't felt pain.
"Hi Kaley. I'm Olivia. Would you mind helping me put up these signs?" I hesitated. Talking to these so-called "rebels" was one thing, but aiding them... I wasn't so sure.
"Oh, um I'm sorry, miss er Olivia. My parents said that I'm not allowed to-"
"Kaley, how did your parents explain the Hunger Games to you?" She stared intently at me, with cold, calculating green eyes.
"I don't see how that's relevant."
"Kaley, answer the question."
"Well... They said that it was a representation of what our world should be, a place where children have the opportunity to demonstrate how brave and noble they are to the whole of Panem."
"So, did your parents tell you why children the Capital don't get to participate in these... 'Noble games?" She asked. I had to think about this.
"Hm, I guessed I never wondered. It is the way it is and that's that." She let out a hoarse laugh. "Do you happen to know Olivia?"
"Would you like to enter in the Hunger Games, Kaley? A place where you would be set against other teenagers, made to kill them or be killed? Does that sound noble and brave to you?"
"B-but it's just entertainment!"
"Our entertainment yes, but not theirs. It's their doom and pain." I frowned. How had this never occurred to me before?
"How do you know so much about this?"
"I have... Let's say experience. So, do you want to help me now?" Of course I did, but I wanted to do so much more too. I wanted to bring down this unfunctional society we had built for ourselves.
So I started to. Piece by piece. I stole documents from my father and altered them so they would hurt the Capital. Olivia and I together ambushed Peace Keepers, put up (illegal) documents hounding the government and President Snow for their wrong doings, and over all became very close. We were sisters, a team.
I told her all the new information I learned, and she did the same in return. Which was why the minute she found out about District 13, it was my door she was knocking on.