When one Door Closes

My vision was a blur. The Hell spawned explosion above us not only affected the arena, but as the mines were below ground the explosions resounded within the Headquarters. The entire main room shook with cataclysmic severity.

My chair flung to the ground and I was catapulted across the room. My head smashed into Thresh's screen which cracked. Blood trickled down my temple as I crashed into the cold floor. Every single Gamemaker had been thrown into the walls except for my old friend, Gretel, who had been attending to Claudius Templesmith.

Footsteps echoed through the corridors and Gretel, a tall pale,old, strict but kind woman burst into the main room. As she ran in, she tripped over my flipped chair, her head smashing into the table and her body rolling under the table.

BOOM! CRASH! CRUNCH!

The next gruesome scene horrified me. There were a few lost strings of explosions and the Great table began to vibrate. With one final aftershock, the table collapsed, crushing Gretel under it.

I screamed. There was a small crack as the main screen displaying the EKGs and Tributes faces was transformed. President Snow's face now occupied the entire screen.

" What the hell is going on. Seneca, get up! The Doctors are arriving through the underground tunnels as we speak. More importantly, the Avoxs will fix up the room. Now you need to do your job. Watch the screens!"

I looked at Cato's screen. He was bursting into the destroyed field, followed by the other Careers, minus Marvel.

White cloaked doctors ran into the room. A group of Avoxs had already lifted and fixed the table. The doctors only needed one look at Gretel. They turned to the screen with the President.

" Mister President. Gretel will die without proper Capitol treatment. Shall we take her back to the Capitol."

" No!"

The doctors walked out, got into the underground carts which launched them through the tunnels out of the arena. I turned to President Snow with a look of horror. " They said she'll die without getting to the Capitol!"

" Then she'll die!" The finality in his voice shook me. " She is old, weak, and frankly, better off dead!"

My emotional wall weakened as the Avoxs wrapped up and took away Gretel's corpse. I found myself just going through the motions, watching the screen, tapping the camera as Edgar from 3 was murdered by Cato. It took many hours, I lost track of any sense of time. I decided to find out what was going on with the obviously unstable since Glimmer's death Marvel.

Marvel was walking in circles. He would randomly smile, cry, laugh maniacally, his face perpetually convulsing. Then suddenly, he was in the air by his foot, caught in a snare. Mindy Crawford appeared, smiled seeing her traps worked, and vanished again. Marvel cut himself loose. Then he saw that the ground was laced with snares. Marvel climbed into a tree, muttering " food, food."

I heard Rue's call and turned to her screen. She was jumping through the trees. Oh No!

Rue's ankle caught in a branch and she crashed to the ground. A snare caught her and she was lifted up. When she saw the eyes of Marvel she let out an inhuman scream. I covered my ears, tears blurring my vision.

I turned and saw Katniss running, calling out. She appeared in Rue's screen, trying to comfort her, but was too late. Marvel plunged a gory spear, deeply embedding it in Rue's stomach.

I don't know what happened next. An EKG flatlined, I hit the cannon.

Then, on Rue's screen, Katniss was singing a beautiful song. Then, Rue's screen went black. I hit the cannon.

BOOM!

I went to my room, overwhelmed with confusing emotions. My body shook with silent sobs. After a few hours, Plutarch told me we were having a conference...with the President.

" There are Riots in the streets." President Snow, on his screen of course, not in person, said. " People are screaming Katniss's name."

Arguments broke out, I remained silent. All the Gamemakers had opinions. Levi Crocket confidently said we should kill them. Finally, I spoke. " 2 Winners!"

"What?!" Came the astonished outcry.

Then, the idea hit me. Of course we couldn't really have 2 winners, but the Tributes could think so. The plan formed and everyone agreed on the deceit. President Snow vanished, and we called for Claudius.

I wrote in fast handwriting a simple script and handed it to Claudius along with an AMP microphone. After the second anthem I hit a gold button and trumpets blared. Then Claudius began to read, fumbling over the words.

The tributes expressions were that of shock. Katniss cried out Peeta's name. I smiled a half smile.

There could be 2 winners of the Hunger Games...

For now.