Emma Wolfe, District One- 18
The Hunger Games showed me a whole new world. I didn't mean the Arena. That was just a boring shopping mall. I'd seen a hundred of those in One. What made it different was the people. I'd never met someone from outside One before, obviously. I got to the Games center and suddenly there were people from all across Panem. I'd never known we all had different accents. What a funny thing to discover. We sounded like we were all from different countries. Once I was walking past the boy from Nine and I heard him say he was going to "warsh" his hands. It got me thinking how I must sound to them…
Then there was Calvary. I'd never met anyone like her. Obviously, since she was from Ten. It was funny how her accent made her sound soft-spoken and polite since she was anything but. And also she judged me and not my reputation.
When I saw her in the training room I couldn't believe it. She was wearing a sleeveless shirt and she was jacked. She didn't look like anything when she was wearing long sleeves but once they came off I could see her arms weren't skinny. They were wiry. I asked her once if she stuck out in Ten and she said no, everyone looked like that. In one they told me the other Districts were poor because they were lazy. Something didn't add up about Calvary being "lazy" with those arms...
Splitting from the Careers with Calvary was the best thing I could have done. I easily took out Mase while she stood guard. Then we went after Hunter and it wasn't even me getting the job done. Calvary killed him before I could even break into the fight. And we killed the rodent mutt together. I told her one night that I didn't think anyone left could outfight her.
No one did outfight her. Kisarna shot her in the back. And why didn't she aim at me? Because I was on the ground while Calvary bandaged me.
I didn't hunt Kisarna down after that. I wanted her to stay as long as possible. I didn't want to kill people anymore. But I wanted to live. I'd kill Kisarna, but I wanted her to kill as many people as she could so I wouldn't have to.
While Kisarna hunted I prepared. There weren't any real armor stores but there was one of those stupid stores we have in One for people who have never set foot in the Academy but are convinced they're ninjas. The armor in there was cheap and plastic but it really doesn't take much to stop a throwing star. Humans just don't throw very fast.
Kisarna saw I was wearing a helmet so she threw at my torso. Unfortunately for her, that was where I was wearing a very overdecorated but still functional breastplate under my shirt. If she'd let me get closer she would have seen it. I kept coming and she kept throwing. By the time she smelled a rat and turned to run I had too much momentum and there wasn't enough time for her to build up speed. I didn't stab her in the back out of vengeance. I just wanted to end the fight quickly.
I was a princess once again. I wore beautiful gowns at Capitol galas and all the jewelers of One sent me products in the hopes I'd wear them in public. I started sending them to random families in outlying Districts I picked out of a directory. It made me smile to think maybe Bessie Northcutt from District Ten sold my necklace and had a better life. Or maybe she wore it and felt pretty. And through all the adoration and fawning I found myself wishing for a girl with a weird accent who told me to my face that I was a rich snob.
When Rose Snow announced her contest I barely paid attention. Then I heard Calvary's name and my head snapped toward the screen. I was sure she'd win. The Tributes dwindled further and further and still she was there. What an indescribable awe to see Calvary again through that screen. To see her having not changed a bit after all these years like they never happened. To see her fight and persevere and finally to see her win. I jumped off the couch and screamed when Calvary stood alone in the Arena. I didn't know what to think would happen next. I was forty-two years old. I didn't know how things could be like they were. But Calvary was alive and I would see her soon. I didn't know what the future held. I just knew that once again there was a future.