Chapter 2 - Running Late
A/N: It was a long time to wait, I know, but it was worth it! This chapter has been literally abandoned in my writing notebook, and when I tried to write more, I drew a blank. But, anyway, here is the second installment of the Capitol Games!
P.S. I'll be utilizing the *** to stimulate a break in time or a page break. I don't know whether it'll be useful for this chapter or not but, still.
I was running late for the Reaping, but I didn't care. The 'kindhearted' rebels wouldn't harm children, unless you call a death sentence harmful. It's not as if what we did was just, I thought, my headache throbbing to the beat of my heart, It just doesn't make sense for them to do it to us, after the heartache it caused them.
The road I was walking on was once a gleaming representation of exactly how much control the Capitol had, but now lay in ruin. The bullet-laced cobblestones lay in dismal piles of staggering height, arranged so that the common walker wouldn't stumble and trip over stray pieces. No matter how much scrubbing was utilized, the bloodstains and burn marks were showing up through the concrete foundation. I warily stepped around a misplaced arm, wondering vaguely what the owner did to deserve his appendage removal.
I started running past the boarded windows and fallen doors, for the announcements were starting. From the center of our Shopping District, the voice of someone sickeningly familiar rang out. When I came into view of the crowd, it struck me that those as young as twelve will be putting their lives against others. Although this has always been a brutal fact about the Games, but it was much more horrible when you realize that those dying are your own friends and family. Will I be forced to become a killer? I shooed the thought away.
It struck me how right it was for the rebels to, well, rebel. Being forced to lose two members of your community is horrible, especially if you know and like those stolen. Even if one comes back, the victor, they are changed, and the victor lives in their very own village, separated from those still common.
I joined my age group, ignoring the stares of officials and peers alike. It took me awhile to realize it, but these were my, well, not necessarily friends, but acquaintances required to know by the upper-class men. Their stricken looks surprised me, and I strained my neck to see my best friend, Sparkle, looking uncomfortable in the section for girls. I still snigger at her name, and the fact of that is enough to force her to make me refer to her as Maddy, the given name of all the women in her family.
She looked through her golden curls over to me, her eyes filled with a passion, her mouth set in a grim line. She somehow new that we wouldn't be walking home together. When I saw the pale sheen of sweat glistening across her forehead, I made a comforting gesture.
Besides her name, Sparkle is the most down to earth, normal girl in the Capitol. Her golden hair fell far past her shoulders, resting halfway to her elbow. Her green eyes scanned the crowds, lingering on the speaker. I don't know how, but she somehow lacked the pompous Capitol accent. She wore normal clothing, while the silly girls around her were wearing diamond studded dresses and truckloads of that awful powder christened makeup. Tears tracked across the faces of most of those girls, and they sobbed quietly into their handkerchiefs, regarding their idol from the past two Games with more tears.
My attention was drawn back to the raised platform, where he was continuing to speak, leaning heavily on a simple cane.
"It is with pain to announce the final Hunger Games, where a sudden twist of tributes is occurring as we speak." Peeta Mellark announced to the silent crowd, his cool eyes giving away a trace of… fear? I missed a larger part of his speech as I looked past him, expecting to see the girl wonder supporting him.
"Although it was not my idea to put you people through this," His voice became acidic at 'people'. "I must say, let the odds be ever in your favor."
A small murmur brushed through the crowds, everyone astounded by the shocking reference from Effie, the well known representative of the second district to be blown out of Panem.
Peeta continued, "I will be your host of these Games, strictly for the enjoyment of the Capitol." He spat this sentence out, and reached for the glass orb holding the name of every girl in our section of the Capitol. When he withdrew the single piece of paper, a girl in the seventeen section burst into hysterics, mumbling on and on about how 'unfair' this was. A few rebel guards walked over to her, shushing her until she relapsed into silent tears.
Peeta's look of disdain towards the girl wasn't lost to me, and I felt a burst of unexplained anger in my chest. It isn't his right to treat us like trash, no matter how bad his torture was! This thought bounced around my head, and I almost didn't catch the name of the girl who's life would end right now.
"Sparkle, Sparkle Blackthorn."
I stood there, shocked, my mouth gaping at my best friend. I thought it would be me being sentenced to death, not her! My plan didn't account for this detail. But, in my heart, I knew that she was the best survivor here, better than me, than Peeta. But, this interfered with everything. I had to be reaped! Her mouth was open in a silent 'o', but her eyes held a fierce determination, not wavered by this minor inconvenience. She stepped to the platform, not meeting my eyes.
"Devin Cranberry." Peeta spoke to the crowd, his hand crutching the slip of paper from the boy's orb, and I saw one of my few 12-year-old friends burst into tears, and the words slipped out of my mouth like a slippery snake, and it was exactly not what I expected.
"I volunteer." The crowd stared at me, wondering if I left a piece of my insanity at home. I knew that Sparkle would absolutely kill me later, but I had a reason. And it is not because I have a bit of infatuation for her, A small voice butted in my mind. I spoke my name at his inquiry, thinking how he didn't deserve to know either my or Sparkle's names.
I stepped from my spot within the ranks of the other boys, stepping up to the platform and sitting next to Sparkle.
"Sparkle, I'll talk to you about it later." I murmured in her ear, knowing that is exactly what she wanted to do right now. I tuned out Peeta's conclusion, and focused on not letting the tears form in my eyes. I was a contender in the Capitol Games, and there is not a thing I can change. I was sure my dad would yell and scream for the final goodbyes, but he didn't understand the need to prove my mother right, about how I was not just a Capitol blob. And I had the perfect way to do it.