Beth Crissino, District Four female (17)
It had to be Kade. It wasn't Mike or Sky, and I could thank God for that, but Kade... At least Isabella or Zeb could have defended themselves. We could have hashed things out and maybe even come to an agreement, though maybe I was just being idealistic. Really it was probably better I never found out what would have happened if it had been Isabella or me. But Kade was just a girl. She was the youngest of us but Amaranth, but Amaranth had seemed older, with her confidence and her big plans. I'd only ever seen Kade once outside of training. She'd been wearing a black dress and it had unsettled me how she'd looked like a woman- like someone you'd sleep with instead of someone you'd push on a swing set. Thirteen years old. I didn't even get my first period until I was halfway to fourteen.
So what do I do? It was the same thing I'd gone through with Mike. Mike would have been harder for me, but it would have been easier for him. Now that he was gone, all I knew of him was my own idealism. It seemed to me if I'd found him, he would have told me to win. Not Kade, though. Mike would have greeted me with a sad smile and some gentle words. Kade would meet me with screams and tears and pleas not to kill her like the monster I was to her. It was clear what my choices were. That was easy. The hard part was how to do it.
I hoped it would take me a long, long time to find Kade. I walked through the jungle perhaps less cautiously than I could have, some part of me hoping Kade would hear me coming and run. Even the endless, soul-crushing suspense was better than its end. If I could just stall long enough, maybe the audience would rise up and beg mercy for her. She was famous there, just like Isabella. How could they save one but not the other? Why was one life worth more?
I found her at the foot of a banyan tree, tucked into the arch at its base. She was loosely covered with leaves that had slid free as she settled. She was clutching a flashlight to her chest like a stuffed animal. She was facing me, but her eyes were closed. Dirt was streaked on her face, though I saw some of it was just her birthmark. I hadn't thought she would be so thin. She looked like a little cancer patient. A little cancer patient- she looked ten years old.
So what am I going to do? I held a sai loosely in my right hand, its tip pointing at the ground. I sat back against a rough-barked tree and slid to the ground, looking at Kade as she slept. It wasn't right, what I had to do if I wanted to live. What right did I have? The Capitol was wrong for doing this to us, but their wrong didn't excuse mine. I looked at Kade's muddy face, and her tousled hair, damp in the early morning mist, and I shuddered. She looked just like my students. I thought of their faces looking up at me in admiration, knowing I was the best swimmer, that I would make them just like me, that I would always pull them up if they went under. That I would never, ever, push them under myself.
Then I thought of my father. I thought of him holding me as a baby, promising me every good thing he could provide. Holding me when my mother was gone, when I was too young to understand what he'd lost and how much more he clung to what he had. I thought of my brothers, each swearing I would be safe as long as they lived. The way I was looking at Kade, all my life people had looked at me.
What am I worth? Since Mike died, I'd been thinking of Kade. I'd thought how could I deprive someone of a life? But wasn't I alive, too? Shouldn't I hold myself to the same standard? I wanted to be alive. I wanted to see the ocean again, to hug my father and tell him I was safe, to make new friends, to touch the warm water in a tidal pool. I wanted my whole life, not just a fraction of it.
I walked soundlessly over to Kade and knelt by her. Light was just creeping into the jungle, spreading a twilight glow. I thought of Kade's mother, watching a monster step closer and closer to her daughter as she was helpless to rescue her, just like my father was helpless to save me. In the end, there was no one else. There was me and there was Kade.
Kade's chest rose and fell with the life flowing in and out of her. I felt my own heart stirring inside me, pumping my vitality through me. So many times I'd eaten a fish and never thought about what it meant. I hadn't thought about how my life was bought with someone else's. Even plants were alive. I'd never felt guilty about it. A fish wasn't a person. My life was worth more, for some reason. Kade was human, just like me. Our lives were equal. Was it wrong, then, to choose mine? If Kade's life had value because she was human, then mine did, too. It might be there were things too great to ask, even for someone who always wanted to put others first. It wasn't a failing at all to value yourself. My life was precious. My life was worth defending. It was wrong the Capitol threw lives away, but I was not what they thought I was. I was not worth less.
I picked up my sai and rested it straight down at Kade, nestling it into her hair just above the side of her head. I laid my other hand down flat on its handle. Some people would hate me for this. They would say I should have thrown my life away for someone else's. They were wrong. I was worth as much as Kade. I was worth life.
With all my weight I bore down on the sai, praying it would fall straight. Kade was alive, and then she was dead. There was no movement or sound. Her breath was warm on my thigh, and then there was nothing. Nothing at all lying beside me.
2nd place: Kade McNamara- Stabbed by Beth
Funny enough, Kade kind of just happened. My original thought was for Charm to snipe the Cult of Mothman and develop into a real front-runner, and then for Beth to prove her mettle by killing Charm in a grand finale fight. Amaranth demanded Charm for herself, so I adapted. I thought about Laken, for that District partner juiciness, but then I had this idea and thought well wouldn't that just be really messed up. Since this has been a messed-up Games, it seemed right. For some reason, Kade seemed more "alive" than some Tributes. I really got a feel that she was a person going through a real life, with value and weight. She didn't seem like a Hunger Games character so much as just a character. It made it all the better for Beth to make their difficult choice about her. Kade died on the cusp of womanhood. Her life ended before it properly began, and there's no way to make that not a tragedy. In a sea of over-the-top deaths and grand exits, may Kade remind us of what those moments really mean. Thanks to Maia for another great Tribute and we all hope she treasured the few moments she had.
Victor: Elisabetta Crissino, District Four female
For the second time in all my stories (first was Medusa), my original pick actually won. Beth was mild-mannered and seemed to want to fade into the background, but despite her opinion, she was worth all of this. They will no doubt fit in among the more philosophical Victors and be a balance to their more confident Four Victor companions. In time she'll go back to her life, but the lessons she learned in the Arena will be with her forever. And so, after all this time, Vr enters the ranks of the Victor submitters. May its long time in coming be balanced out by the coolness of the one who finally did it.