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Katcia Elspeth
District Seven Female, 17 Years Old
Victor.
"May I present to you the victor of the Sixtieth Annual Hunger Games – Katcia Elspeth of District Seven!"
"I… I want to go..."
Dropping to my knees, I keep myself up, not wanting to fall back down. In front of me, the image of Ceres lying on the ground, the axe imbedded in her neck… I did that. I killed her.
I was the one who killed Ceres. Who killed Evan.
I was the one who watched my allies die. Silas. Halley. Damaris.
And I have no one else to blame except myself. I didn't do much to help them survive. It was people like Ceres that got in the way, that were always one step ahead of me before I could do anything. Looking back at Ceres, I shudder, the blood still pumping out of her neck.
Good game. That's all that's ringing through my mind… That this was all some Game to her. That she volunteered to play this… to play this Game. This is what she wanted, but she didn't get what she wanted.
I got what I wanted.
I won… I won.
I won.
"Katcia, dear. Can you please lift up your leg?"
Nodding, I lift up my leg, watching her slip on the high-heel onto my right foot. It fits comfortably on my heel, and as she straps it over the top of my foot, she looks up at me. She smiles, a genuine smile, one that I don't feel as if she's patronizing me. That she's only smiling so that I feel better about myself.
That's what it's been out, apparently. Trying to make me feel better. By congratulating me and smiling at me, they think that will make me feel better. As if I need their condolences.
"How does it feel?" She asks, standing back up.
"Great," I say, wiggling my foot around in it. "How much longer?"
"A few more minutes, dear. Don't get all antsy."
Leaning back a little, I smirk, knowing that I'm not really getting antsy because I'm nervous. I just want to get this all over with, to be able to go back home. Why would they force the victor to watch the recaps? If anyone would know about what happened in the Games, it would be the victor.
They just want to make it worse.
And that's exactly what will happen. To see the images of my allies again, to see the images of the two people I killed… Shaking my head, I refuse to think about that now, since I'll have time to dwell on that soon enough.
"Okay, stand up, dear."
Standing up, she pats the back of my dress, making sure I'm presentable to the crowd. Now, it's the Victor's Interview, where I'll have to stand in front of a Capitol audience and act like I'm okay. Act like I'm unfazed by it all, as if nothing ever happened at all.
And maybe that's what I'll be better off doing.
Pretending like nothing ever happened.
To just forget.
"May I introduce to you the victor of the Sixtieth Hunger Games – Katcia Elspeth of District Seven!"
Bracing myself for the loud claps and screams that will follow, I walk onto the stage, pacing myself so that I don't get there too quickly. Watching the Games recaps is inevitable, but I can drag it out, can't I? Of course I can. I am a victor. I can do what I want.
They can't tell me what I can and can't do anymore.
"Katcia, oh my! You look fabulous!"
Caesar holds out his hand, and as I wrap my hand in his, he shakes it. We make eye-contact for a moment, and as Caesar pulls his hand away, he winks at me. Sitting down across from him, I get myself comfortable, knowing that I'll be here for a while.
This is only the start.
"How are you doing, Katcia? Glad to be home? Antsy to get home? Tell us, Katcia."
"I've been better, Caesar," I reply, not sure how to really answer his question. He just wants me to tell him that I'm fine, that I owe my life to the Capitol for getting out of there alive. That's what they want. "I'm glad I'm here."
"And so are we, Katcia."
Before either one of us can speak again, the Capitol emblem pops up on the screen behind us, the crowd going wild because of it. The chair I'm sitting automatically swerves around, so that I can see the screen on the stage and the crowd at the same time. Caesar has a wide smile on his face, holding out his hand to the screen now.
"But, wait! We have the Games recaps to show. We'll save the chit-chat for later."
As Caesar looks at me, I try to force a smile, but I can barely make my lip twitch. I don't want to do this, to sit here and act like I want to watch this. To remember everything I'm trying to forget, to remember everything I'm trying to force out of my mind.
I've seen it all before.
And that's the past.
The Capitol anthem begins to play, the crowd quieting down, wanting to give all of their attention to watching the Games they've all probably seen before. Why would they want to see this all again, too? What are they getting out of this?
And then the arena pops up on the screen.
The darkness. The circle of fog surrounding us during the Bloodbath. The tree in the middle with the branches. The weapons and supplies placed randomly throughout that small area. And then I see me.
I was standing next to the District Eight girl and the District Ten male. The camera flicks across some of the tribute's faces, some I notice specifically are the two from District One, the girl from Three… and then my allies. They show Silas, Halley, and Damaris.
They show them all to me.
And then the gong sounds. The audience gasps, and as I grip the edge of my seat, I can't help but watch my own Games. I remember the first death, too – it was the boy from District Six, Nerva. The camera is on him, showing him run right into the fog, disregarding the foreboding aura of it.
He died just like that.
Then the camera goes to the male from District Four, Alamar, the one that killed Halley and Damaris. The Career that ruined things for me. It shows him toss his spear accurately, right into the boy from District Eleven. Two dead now.
From the angle of the camera, I can see myself in the background. I'm hunched over a backpack, with Silas right next to me. I remember that part too; when I was trying to get supplies for us all, not just me. It wasn't all about me then, but now it is.
On the screen, the girl from District Four, Carina, has killed the girl from Five. I never really knew either of them, so their deaths don't make me shudder as much others will. As Carina's body fades from the screen, the next person they show is Ceres.
The girl I killed to win… The girl I had to kill.
She stabs the boy from Ten right away, not even with a flinch. They go away from Ceres quickly, knowing that I'll see more of her later on. Now, it's a little after the Bloodbath, after my allies and I all got away.
The girl from District Eight, the one who I was standing next to, is on the ground. Alamar is standing over her, and as he thrusts his spear through her chest, she screams. But, when the camera turns a little, I can see the girl from District One, Constance. She has someone on the ground too.
It's the girl from District Twelve. There's another scream as Constance stabs her, meaning that the Bloodbath has come to an end. But, wasn't there another death on Day One? It was at night – or, what I thought was night. In the arena, it was always dark. There was no sense of morning and night.
It's a little darker on the screen now, the whole auditorium we're in darker as well. Then, we see three figures running, being chased by muttations. The muttations are hopping up and down, and once I see who's on the screen, I see that it's Evan… the boy I killed. The boy I had to kill.
It's the girl from District Six. The boy from Three and Evan are on the other side of the hill, and as Evan says something to Three, the two of them leave her. They leave the girl from Six to die, completely abandoning their ally.
How could they do that?
They are allies.
Day Two is up next, and it dives right into the action. It's the boy from District One, Audric, and the girl from Four, Carina. The boy from Nine comes near them, attacking first, which surprises me. Why would he waste his life like that? But, when Carina and Dymas begin to fight, I realize that he wasn't throwing his life away.
He manages to stab Carina, as does Carina. They both fall down to the ground, with Audric just standing in the back. Two more deaths, and it's only Day Two.
That was all, though. I remember that much.
Next up is Day Three. It jumps right back to Evan and the boy from Three, with Evan sabotaging his own alliance. He hits the boy from Three in the back of the head, and as he screams, it catches the attention of a mutt. Is that what Evan is doing? Killing his own ally, but not with his own hands?
That's the second time he's betrayed an ally. He deserved to die, didn't he? He did… I had to do it.
As the camera switches to a darker scene, it shows the boy from Eight and the girl from Eleven. They're both in the cave system, with fog closing in on both of them. The girl from Eleven is crawling on the ground, and as she comes across the boy, they both just sit there.
They couldn't do anything.
They just let the fog swallow them whole.
As Day Five begins on the screen, I look away for a moment, knowing what's coming up next on Day Six. The day where I killed Evan, him being my first kill. As I look back, I see that it's the boy from Twelve and the male Career from Two. But, there seems to be someone else in the distance, and I only can see her red hair.
Is that the girl from Three, then? Did she have something to do with this?
The boy from Two quickly kills the boy from Twelve, after a rather long chase. But, as the Career stands back up, he drops suddenly. There seems to be a dart in his neck, showing me that it was the girl from Three. I never thought much about her, but now… Maybe I underestimated all of my competition.
And now it's Day Five.
The four of us come up on the screen, with it going right into the action. Evan comes up from over the hill, and as he stands there, I watch myself. I remember this so clearly, the image stuck in my mind. He tried to attack my ally, so I attacked back. I had to do it.
As I stab the knife into his back, I see the horror on my face. My jaw agape, and even now, I can't believe I did that. I don't know what came over to me to act like that. It was for my allies, though. It always was.
And then it switches to Silas. I remember that night, when he wanted to take lead of the group. But, he couldn't do it. As he steps onto the flat part of the land, I blink as his foot gets stuck in the ground. He sinks down right into the ground, with all of us screaming around him.
That wasn't my fault.
Yet, I didn't do anything to help him.
As Day Six comes to the screen, it shows the girl from District Three. She's on a flat piece of land too, and as she steps into the center, a gaping hole opens up beneath her. The camera goes above her, showing her struggling to keep herself latched onto something to keep herself from falling.
But, after a while, she just lets go.
She lets herself fall.
And now it's time for Halley's death. When the fog got worse, and we were all standing there, the sound of footsteps closing in on us. As Alamar pops up, it shows him throwing his spear right into the back of Halley. Then I see Damaris, getting trampled by Constance, but it doesn't stop there.
They keep playing that moment, where Halley is dying on the ground, and when I came and threw myself at Constance. Just as Constance is thrown off of Damaris, the screen switches to Day Seven.
On the screen, it's Constance, the girl from One, and Alamar, the boy from Four. Alamar is shouting at Constance, and as Constance just stands there, things begin to get physical. Alamar pushes her down, still screaming at her, yet Constance is doing nothing.
Is that what Careers are trained to do?
Act like animals? To act like barbarians? But, as I look at them all, I see that Ceres and Audric aren't there. They must have split then, too, since I don't remember them being there when Constance and Alamar attacked the day before.
When Alamar kills Constance, it zooms in on his face.
He's a monster. A monster that I am grateful was killed before I had to deal with him.
Now, it's Day Eight… The day where Damaris died. The day where I lost my final ally, the one thing that I was clinging onto for hope and for peace. She died that day.
It shows Audric and Ceres, with Alamar on the opposite side of him. When Audric and Alamar begin to fight, though, Ceres doesn't do anything. It's just like when Audric didn't do anything for Carina and the male from Nine, except for just standing there.
Alamar kills Audric, and as he lies on the ground dying, Ceres disappears.
Just like that. She's gone.
But, then Alamar comes back in a different scene. I'm there too, as is Damaris. It shows Damaris looking down at the gravestone with Silas' and Halley's name written on it, with her running away from it after. Then, she gets caught by Alamar, the moment that I can't forget.
What if I didn't let her run away?
Would she have survived a little longer? I know that she couldn't have won… I know that.
The camera shows me running away. It shows me running away from my ally, running away from my friend. Why didn't I stay there? The odds were against me, but… I couldn't die too. I had to fight for Damaris, for Halley, for Silas. As Alamar slits Damaris' throat, I shudder, not wanting to see anymore.
But, I hold it in.
I have to watch this.
As Day Nine begins, on the screen are Ceres and Alamar. This is the moment that helped me win, where Ceres took care of Alamar. It's a long fight, but Ceres comes out on top, plunging her weapon deep into his neck. She killed him, and as he walks away from the scene, I know that next is the finale.
Day Ten.
The day I won the Games.
It only happened a few days ago, yet it feels like a century. I remember it so clearly, even if it feels so distant. It shows the two of us running away from the fog, meeting up right back where we started the Games. Next is Ceres and me standing across from one another, waiting for either of us to strike. I didn't want to fight her – I didn't want to fight anybody – but I had to do.
I had to win.
When we begin to fight, I close my eyes slightly. The fighting gets intense, with each of us trying to get on top of the other, trying to stab them. The fight goes on and on, until at one point I take advantage of the situation.
But, that's enough. I've seen this all – I lived it. And I don't need to live it again, to show myself what I did to get out of the arena. I did what I had to do.
I killed because I had to do.
I won because I had to.
"It's time to go home."
Looking up at Blight, I smile, hearing the sound of the train's horn. The train begins to move, starting slow, but getting faster as we get further away from the Capitol. As we get closer to District Seven, closer to my home.
Closer to my family. Closer to my friends.
Closer to the life I fought for.
"Yeah," I say back, letting out a sigh of relief. "It is."
Blight sits down across from me, and as I look around the rest of the cart, I don't see Adalia anywhere. I don't see my escort, either, which doesn't surprise. My escort's never here, and Adalia is of somewhere on her own. Ever since I won, we haven't spoken much, but at least Blight will talk to me.
"You looked pretty during the Victor's Interview."
I laugh a little, knowing that he's being sarcastic, and as much as I don't want to talk about it, I'll have to eventually. And, if I could trust anyone here and feel comfortable around, it would be Blight. Maybe not Adalia, but Blight definitely.
"Did you like the look on my face as I watched them all die, too? Or was it too dark to see that?"
Blight's eyes widen, and he throws his hands up in the air. "Woah, okay. No need to get aggressive."
"It's a joke," I say. "Laugh."
Blight laughs, kicking his feet up on top of the table. He brings his hands behind his head, stretching out to get comfortable. I stare at him as he watches out the window, his face seeming rather relaxed and content.
"What are you so happy about?"
"I'm just glad I have another victor to talk with. I mean, if that's okay with you, but I'd like for us to spend some time together."
"It's because I'm young and blonde, isn't it?" I joke, only trying to make myself feel better. Blight only won about five years ago, but he gets it. He understands what I'm going through.
"Nah. You're just not annoying like Cassia or Adalia."
"Flattering," I reply, rolling my eyes. "I'm still a murderer like them, huh?"
Blight looks back at me as I mention that, and as he sits back up, he leans his elbows on his knees. He looks at me, a small smirk forming on his face. "I killed four people, Katcia. With my own hands, too."
I nod my head.
What is he trying to prove?
"It sucks. It really does suck. But, what's done is done. You killed because you had to do. I killed because I had to. That's what we get for going into the Games."
"We didn't really have much of a choice."
"Yes, we did. We could have died. Our choice was to stand up against the Capitol and to fight for our own lives. That was my choice, and that was your choice."
And maybe he has a point.
Winning was my choice.
Killing was my choice too.
And I'm proud of my choices; look where they've gotten me.
I'm going home now because of my choices.
And I couldn't be happier.
Rocking the chair back and forth, it creaks as I go up and down. I stare out the window, looking into the forest outside of my new house. There's a gate around it, but beyond that, it's free. Just rolling trees, seemingly never ending.
It's images like this that I missed in the Capitol.
Imagines like these that I fought for.
There's a knock on the door, and as it opens, I assume that it's my parents. They walk over, and as they sit beside me, they place their hands on my knee. I've only been home for a day now, and as I got home, I went to sleep. I slept for the rest of the day, not really in the mood to see anyone just yet.
"We're so proud of you, Katcia."
And, in a way, so am I. I'm proud of myself.
"Really, we are."
But, I didn't just do it for them. I won for my life. I won for my allies. I won for myself. I won to come back home. And, I did. I did come back home.
I was the one to live out of the twenty-four of us, the twenty-three other lives having to perish in order for me to come back. But, that isn't selfish of me – it's just rational. I wanted to survive.
And, in order to do that, I had to kill. I had to fight. I had to struggle and overcome hardship. All of that made me the person I am right now.
The Games have changed me in ways District Seven never could. And I don't regret a thing.
I won for a reason.
There's no turning back now.
Author's Note:
Well, that's the end of Shot in the Dark!
This one was interesting. Different tributes, different plots, different arena (obviously.) It was a nice run, but now I'll working solely on Set in Stone, so don't be too upset.
Hmm. I don't have much else to say. So, let's get to the closing questions.
Final questions of this story!
Overall, who were your favorite character(s)? Favorite District pair?
What was the most shocking death? What was the least shocking death?
Overall, what was your favorite chapter or most memorable moment?
At any point in the story, who did you think the victor would be? Are you content with the victor?