Ashes of Hope
The fire blazed brighter than I have ever seen it. It burned the buildings, it burned the sky, it burned the soil, it burnt the forest, it burnt the people, it burned my eyes, but most of all it burned our hope. It burned the hope we all had a hope the burned in us. That fire is gone, now all that is left is this fire the fire on the outside of us telling us that we have lost, telling us how crazy we were for thinking we might have just won, telling us how hopeless it all is, telling us its time to surrender. And we do. We always do.
District 13 is gone. Really truly gone. Never to resurface, never to be seen or heard of again. Is this what they wanted? Did they want to destroy so many people just to teach us a lesson? Well it was a lesson well learned.
Hovercrafts fly above our heads. They know they have won now. One by one by one by one we put done our weapons, throw them to the ground, what used to be the ground. I'm only 16. I fought in the war. I'm only 16 and almost died. Hell I've almost died many times even when there wasn't a war. I needed to fight, not for me but for my family that cant fight and will never fight again, I'm starting to wonder if I ever will.
They know we have surrendered now because the fire stops. It all stops. The screaming, the gunshots, the fire, the death, the hope. Its nothing but silence. Pure silence. I look at my fellow soldiers. Much less of them then there was when this war started. I exchange sorrowful glances with all of them saying; "I'm sorry we lost" "I'm sorry this happened in the first place. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." We also exchanged questionable glances. "What happens now?" "Are they going to kill us all?" "What now, what now, what now?" There is only one answer, one horrible answer "I don't know."
This used to be District 7. Filled with green trees. Those trees are gone now. Like they never even existed. Its all ash now, just like our hope. We stand for god knows how long waiting for death or worse, torture. This same standing in utter silence with ash all around is happening in all of the 13 well 12 Districts. We all rebelled we all fought only one fell. I suddenly wish we all did. At least we couldn't get hurt anymore.
A large hovercraft appears in front of us carrying a large projection screen for us all to watch and await our fate. At first its completely black but then our President appears on it. The cold hard face of President Throne.
"Citizens of Panam. You have all betrayed not only your President or Government but your Country. Your country that has supported loved and protected you. This rebellion is now at an end, and will forever be an end for eternity. Why? Because it is this rebellion that caused us to lose our beloved District 13. Because of you District 13 is in utter ashes and below Earths surface forever. Naturally any traitors of Panam are sentenced to complete death, but considering if we did that there would be no one left to provide for Panam I, your generous President is prepared to grant mercy to you all."
A large sigh of relif comes from all of us.
"However, to ensure that this act treason should never be repeated, it is decreed that each year, the Districts of Panam shall offer up in tribute one young man and woman between the ages of 12 to 18 to compete in a fight to the death and the Victor will be bathed in riches beyond their imagination to serve as a reminder of the rebellion, this pageant shall henceforth and forever more be known as the Hunger Games. These games will serve as a reminder to you all that no one can ever overthrow the Capitol. The first reaping's for the Games will commence in 6 months time to allow the Districts to be rebuild. May the Odds be ever in your Favour."
And with that the projection goes blank and there is silence once again. This is our punishment and what a punishment it is. I'm 16 I could be reaped. I along with the rest of Panam wishes we never rebelled. This is far worse than the life we used to live. Now we will never be free, now we will forever be prisoners sent to our death in an arena. The thought makes me sick.
All I and the rest of us helpless prisoners can think is that nothing will ever be the same, and there is no more chance of a spark that can be set ablaze now.