The Victor woke up from a nightmare, beads of sweat dripping down their forehead. They had just dreamt about the games, only this time they didn't make it. The ghosts of the people they killed came back and got their revenge, ripping the Victor limb from limb. The Victor wiped the sweat from themselves, trying to get it out of their head. They weren't in there anymore. They were safe. No more looking over their shoulder.
They surveyed the room, it was near blank. They were lying in a hospital bed, the walls were white, clinical. They didn't remember being here when they fell asleep...they couldn't remember where they were. It had all happened so fast.
They annouced the winner and the hovercraft appeared, taking them on board. A billion people rushed around them but they were too in shock to take in whatever was happening. They had been so close to death. An inch or two closer to them and the blade would've got straight through them and their opponent would have won. It was only when one of the paramedics that had been attending to them started patching them up that they actually realised the sickle had lodged itself in their leg. The paramedic yanked out the weapon with all their strength. The pain was unbearable. They screamed until their voice went hoarse and then they screamed even more. More paramedics came and held the Victor down. One of them produced a needle. The Victor felt a prick in their arm. It went black.
Then they woke up here. How long had they been here? They searched their body for their wounds but found nothing, not even scars. They quickly rushed to see their leg and breathed a huge sigh of relief when they found it was still intact.
An Avox girl came into the room with a tray of food, she set it down in front of the Victor and smiled politely at them, a congratulations? She walked out of the room and the Victor was alone again.
They stared at the food. They probably were hungry, but just the sight of it sickened them. They wanted to get out of here. They NEEDED to get out of here.
They jumped up and searched the wall where the door had been. Some sort of secret panel or something, but they MUST be able to open it somehow. They just won the freaking HUNGER GAMES! They had to be able to open a stupid door!
They tried to find a crease in the wall but there was nothing. They tried pushing it, as if there was a motion detector or something. They pushed and pushed, harder and harder and ended up banging on the door, punching it, throwing themselves against it. Nothing.
The Victor crumpled in a heap on the floor. Why weren't they letting them go? Then their eyes travelled over to the food. Was that it? Did they just want them to eat that? It flickered across their mind that it might be poisoned, but that would be ridiculous. The capitol would have a lot to answer to if their victor randomly died before they even had their post-games interview.
They slowly stood up and made their way over to the food. They sat down on the bed and slowly took their first bite. A sudden hunger rushed through them and before they knew what they were doing that had devoured it all. As soon as they had finished the door opened and the Victor ran as fast as their legs could take them. They ran straight into their stylist nearly knocking them over.
"Woah, calm down. Wow, we need to get you to the prep team stat!" He exclaimed, pushing them through the doors behind them.
They were poked and prodded by their prep team for hours until there was absolutely no mark of them being in the arena. Their stylist gave them a simple black number for them to wear for their post-games interview and they got changed. The whole thing was bizzare, like they were in a dream and floating from place to place. It was only when they were under the stage waiting to be lifted up that it all became real to them.
That had all happened. All of it. They felt sick to their stomach and almost threw up on their mentor as they came over to give them one last little pep talk. "Just be yourself, but more...ya know...human." Great, just what they needed to hear. Now they really wanted to throw up. "Good luck!" Their mentor added before rushing off to their place.
The next few minutes were excrusiatingly long.
At last they felt themselves being lifted up to the stage and Caesar Flickerman's voice filled their ears.
"And now we welcome to the stage the Victor of the 52nd Hunger Games..."