Dear Avery,
I have to say, this writing letters thing has been really nice. I was skeptical about the idea when Darcy suggested it, and I wasn't planning on doing it daily, but it's so nice to get to take time every day to kinda talk to you. She said something about processing grief and reconciling with the past but really I just think… well, it makes me feel like you're here with me again.
It's getting harder and harder to think about what to write though. Like on the one hand I want to write to you, because it makes me feel closer to you. But everything is all the same all the time so I don't have all that much to say. Sometimes we do activities but it's just… waiting till we can go home. And I'm definitely ready to go home. I like all the other kids, but I don't really feel close to any of them. A lot of them have other friends – Mina has been hanging out with the Fours quite a bit, the Eights and the Fives hang out, there's the Elevens and the Capitol pair who beelined for each other when the Elevens came back today. And I'm just… I'm just kind of here. I don't mind just… being, but I'd rather just be with people I love and miss.
We got to go out again into the Capitol today. They took us to this chocolate factory and we got to try some of the chocolate and it was absolutely decadent. I do love all chocolate, but this might be the best chocolate I've ever had. It just melted on my tongue; it was incredible. The one kind of chocolate that they had that I didn't love was this bar that had these pieces of candy in it that popped and tingled in my mouth. It was the strangest feeling and I do not recommend it to anybody else.
I guess I'll talk about today's competitions too? Today's challenges were themed around District Eight's value, ingenuity. I think it's a good one for Eight because you have to be kind of ingenious to figure out how to best assemble products the way they do. The morning challenge was really freaking cool. The four teams were each sent to one of the four corners of the Arena, where these incredibly complex escape room type things had been set up. I think one of the challenges last year was also an escape room, but last year it was only one room; this year they were like four rooms long with at least four or five tasks in each room. Their goal in each room was to find a puzzle piece, and then once they got all four pieces together, they were able to find the key to unlock the door they came through. There's a part of me that does wonder why this wasn't the last challenge because it was so big and stuff but I don't care enough to think too much about it. The challenge was honestly closer than I thought it would be between the Six and Nine pairs, but in retrospect I don't know why I was surprised at who won. The kids from Nine work so well together; it makes sense that they'd outperform the older, stronger teams at a challenge like this.
~.~.~
As Berk and Nova stood in front of the door to the first room, a wide grin spread across both of their faces. "This is perfect," Nova said. "It's exactly what we had to do back in Nine when they were picking us."
"Just on a bigger scale," Berk replied, a look of concern flitting over his face.
"Hey, we did this once before and we were the best in the district at it. And that was just, what, a month and a half ago? We've only learned to work better together since then."
"Yes, but how are we going to do at this? This is so much bigger."
"Hey, don't stress about it. We just take one room at a time."
"Yeah. One room at a time." Berk took a moment to shake himself out. "What did Violet say to do when we're ready?"
"We're supposed to press the button there to unlock the door so we can go in. It'll lock behind us when we're done." Nova took a deep breath.
"You gonna be ok with this? I know we're gonna be locked in for a while."
Nova looked over at Berk, whose eyes were wide with concern for her. "Yeah. I think so. Are you ready?"
"I think so." In unison, the two put their fingers on the button and pressed it, then rushed into the room.
The challenge was on.
~.~.~
I'm not at all surprised that the team from Two was the team that ended up in the elimination challenge; Nova and Berk sent them in. That's the move at this point. They're the only Careers left, and will probably be very difficult to beat in a big final challenge. The problem is that it's kind of hard to beat them now, because Noel is good at physical challenges and Mack is pretty good at mental challenges. Like, when we saw that the elimination challenge was just to come up with three riddles the other district couldn't solve, we thought for sure the Elevens, who were sent in on popularity for the third straight week, would win. After all, the Careers don't seem particularly smart or clever. But lo and behold, Mack was able to come up with three really challenging riddles that the Elevens couldn't figure out, sending the poor girls home.
There's not many teams left now, I think just three. They say there'll be two more days of competition – tomorrow and the next day – and then the day after that is the results show and then we go home. Well, most of us do, except the I can't say I'm upset about leaving. I miss Sebastian and Marcella and Mom. Like, a lot. But at the same time, the further away from the Capitol I get, the further I get from you. This is the closest I've been to you in, like, seven years. It's so surreal to still be here in the Training Center, sleeping in your bed, walking along the paths you once walked. Sometimes I feel your presence there with me, almost as if you were a ghost.
…
…
You know, I was hesitant to come to the Capitol because I didn't want to be away from my family for that long. I was worried that if something happened that I wouldn't be able to protect them, being so far away and all. But I guess I never thought about what going to the Capitol would mean for me. Being here with you… well, not with you but with you… it's almost given me closure? Like I didn't realize I needed to take time for myself to figure out what to do after losing you, but now being able to be here, so close to where you were... it's reminded me that you'll always be there for me, in a way. I can always ask you questions or whatever and maybe you can't give me an answer but I can think about you instead. And I don't think I'll ever truly recover from losing you so young but… I am almost, maybe ready to move on.
At least I hope so. Maybe Marcella can help me with that too.
The other letters I wrote to you left out on the table. Didn't think much of it. But maybe I'll take this one back to Seven with me.
I love you, Avery. I miss you so much. But I think I'm more ready than ever to be me.
Love,
Oksana
~.~.~
From a small room tucked to the side of the escort lounge, Amos Nardelli watched on the security cameras as his sister put her pencil down. Sitting on the counter was the empty plate from the pancakes that he'd made for her that morning, next to a bowl from the previous night's chocolate ice cream that he'd asked her escort to offer her. Oksana read the letter she wrote over once more, then carefully folded it into thirds and stuck it in her pocket. As she stood up and turned around to go back to her room, Amos saw something on her face that he hadn't seen in a very long time: a slight smile.
As he leaned back and turned off the cameras, Amos breathed a sigh of relief. For the first time since he was forced away from her, he was confident that Oksana would be ok.
Full Placement List:
1st: Nine
2nd: Six
3rd: Eleven
4th: Two
Xayah Amano:
Xayah was such a lovely character to write! I think she was a great take on perseverance, and reminded me, too, the importance of pushing through and looking for the bright sides. Her dynamic with Mettius was so perfect and I'm glad that I got the chance to explore it! Thank you so much to LordShiro for Xayah!
April Salinger:
April was another character that I really enjoyed writing! She was one that I tried my best to handle carefully and sensitively, and I hope I did my job right Like I said last week, in a longer draft of the story, I definitely would have explored her relationship with Titania more. There is always IDIDE3 though! Thank you so much to TheMayflyProject for April!
~.~.~
And there's the end of Oksana's arc. I've been looking forward to writing this for a while so I'm happy I got the chance to! I think I ended up projecting on her a little bit here but that's ok, it happens, we all do it. I know this chapter was a bit shorter than the others, but I'd been debating doing two or three Oksana letter chapters, but I thought three fit better even though it meant one shorter one. I hope you enjoyed regardless!
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I can't believe we're already down to the final 3! A quick heads up that we might get a Monday update next week instead of Sunday, as I have a family wedding! It depends on if I remember to prep the chapter Saturday night tbh. There's also gonna be a subplot interlude the following Wednesday or Thursday! Which I'm stoked for I love me some subplot! Anyway, I haven't had much to say these past few authors' notes, but I will say this: things are gonna be heating up from here, and they're not gonna stop!
Catch y'all next week!
-goldie031