Not Your Hero

by Ritardando

There were the Hunger Games as you read them – the way she wanted you to see them. She never told you she was from the Capitol, did she? She never told you that what you were reading wasn't fiction, that it was my life. I am Katniss Everdeen, "The Girl on Fire". Don't let her make you believe I was a hero.

1. Not Your Hero

Do not call me the "Girl on Fire". I wish she had told you the truth. I only agreed to let her see the real me because she promised me she would tell the truth! I told her everything; let her rip me apart because I thought it would shed some light on the real Hunger Games, not the Hunger Games they painted all over, the Hunger Games that glorified the winner, the Hunger Games that might've broken a few, but made life better so many more. But she just added one more layer to the lie. If you can't figure out who I'm talking about, it's the bitch, Suzanne Collins. She pretended to be one of you, and you believed her. She is just another one of them, hiding behind a mask of makeup and dyed hair and technology that I could only dream of.

I will not tell you the flaws in her story; I will let you see them for yourself. Please do not think any less of me because I was not the hero that you wanted me to be. Please do not think any less of me because I fell in love – with the wrong person. Please just let me tell my story as I meant for it to be told. Please. There are so many people, glorifying me as a hero, one to be revered for her contributions to a "fictional" society.

I am alive.

Panem is real.

My name is Katniss Everdeen, and this is my real story, the story of the girl who got caught in her own flames.

A/N: I apologize for the short, short prologue! I promise the other chapters will be more eventful; I just felt this was the best way to convey the general "pitch" of the story. Next update is schedules for the first of October, though that may or may not happen. Happy reading! :)