A/N: Trigger warning for graphic violence at the beginning of this chapter.
Sayori Mizushima, age 25
District 4 Mentor and Victor of the 36th Hunger Games
One month before the Reapings of the 44th Games
I leap out from behind the dead tree and plunge my dagger into my District Partner's throat. There's no time to waste. Sure, my rope snare caught Finn by surprise and left him dangling by one foot from his dead tree, but I had to act quickly before Finn could find a way to get himself free.
BOOM.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Tria Eyre announces, "the Victor of the Thirty-Sixth Annual Hunger Games, Sayori Mizushima of District 4!"
Tears fall down my face as I stare at Finn Aldridge's dead corpse, my dagger sticking out of the gaping wound in his neck. Fresh red blood gushes out of Finn's throat and drips onto the ground, and his eyes are wide open with shock. He was eighteen years old, but he was still too young to die. And unlike me, he didn't even want to be in the Arena.
I look away from Finn's hanging body and glance towards the sky, which is as cloudy and gray as ever. I'm so sick of this damp, cold, misty, foggy, and generally depressing Arena. At least I'll be able to see the sunshine again now that I've won.
Holy crap, I did it. I'm the Victor.
But even though I won, I still feel empty inside, which isn't helped by the fact that I don't hear a hovercraft.
"Hey!" I yell, wiping my tears away quickly. I need to look happy to have won, or people will feel worried. I wave my arms in the air.
"I won!" I exclaim to the air, forcing a smile. "I can go home now and see the sun again, right?"
"Sayori."
That's Finn's voice.
I whip around, my heart rate quickening. When I see what I see, I almost faint.
Finn's bloody corpse has changed. It's moving, but his eyes are nothing but black pits, and his mouth is making talking motions even though no words are coming out.
"What-" I gasp.
"Sayori, look at you," Finn's corpse says as it sways from where it hangs from its branch. "You're so selfish. You thought volunteering for the Games was a selfless thing to do, but look at you. You've killed. You killed me, even though I was from home. You killed Auto on Day 4, even though he was twelve years old. You killed Willow in the Bloodbath, even though you had no reason to. What were you thinking, Sayori? Don't you want everyone to be happy?"
"Stop!" I scream, covering my ears. "Stop it!" I try to turn and run, but one of Finn's arms stretches, grabbing me on the shoulder and forcing me to turn and face him. I try to wriggle free, but he has me in an iron grip.
"I'm sorry!" I yell, looking everywhere. Why hasn't the hovercraft arrived to free me of this nightmare? I don't remember this being a part of the Games.
"Finn, I'm sorry I killed you," I say to the distorted eyes of my District Partner's corpse. I'm not even trying to fight my tears now. "I'm sorry I killed Auto. I'm sorry I killed Willow. I'm sorry I just made everyone feel worse. I'm sorry I volunteered for the Games. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm-"
"Take this," Finn says suddenly, ripping the dagger out of his throat and handing it to me. "You're a monster, Sayori. A selfish monster who hurts people." When I stare unresponsively at the dagger, Finn points its handle at me. "Take this. You know what to do to make everyone happy."
My fingers shake as I take the dagger from Finn. I scream as I stab the dagger into his animated corpse, again and again. I close my eyes as blood sprays all over me.
A cannon fires as Finn's hanging corpse stops moving, and his eyes and mouth return to normal.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Tria Eyre announces, "the Victor of the Thirty-Sixth Annual Hunger Games, Sayori Mizushima of District 4!"
"Just end it already!" I scream at no one in particular, my eyes avoiding the mutilated corpse in front of me. "I thought I won the first time Finn's cannon fired. Is this some kind of a sick joke?"
A horrible, distorted laugh emanates from Finn's corpse. "No, Sayori!" the thing screams, its eyes turning into dark pits again. "You're the sick joke."
"STOP!" I scream, plunging the dagger three times into Finn's corpse, twice into the pits where his eyes should be and once into his weirdly moving mouth. Blood sprays from where I stabbed the corpse, and, as if to taunt me, a cannon fires again.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Tria Eyre announces, "the Victor of the Thirty-Sixth Annual Hunger Games, Sayori Mizushima of District 4!"
This time, I'm running as soon as the cannon fires. I don't want to be around to see what new horror awaits me as I linger near Finn's corpse… or whatever that thing is.
"You knew what you had to do with that dagger I gave you, why didn't you do it?" Finn's voice sounds, but I don't want to know where it's coming from. I weave through the dark, dead trees, trying to get as far away from Finn as possible, and suddenly the ground gives way beneath my feet, and everything goes pitch-black, and I'm falling, falling, falling-
Sunlight glows through my blinds. It's morning.
My eyes stay closed as I think about staying in bed. What did I dream about last night? I had a nightmare, that was for sure. I've been having more nightmares recently, which is strange because it wasn't like something in particular happened to remind me of my Games, which were almost ten years ago. Maybe Monika knows something about nightmares. She's always very knowledgeable. Yuri might be a good person to talk to too, because she's been a Games Victor for so many years. I wonder if P.C. has as many nightmares as I do, considering that his Games were right after mine. Either way, I guess I can talk to anyone about my nightmares aside from Natsuki. I don't want the youngest Victor to feel sad, knowing that she might suffer from nightmares even years after her Games ended. But then again, I don't want anyone to feel sad thanks to me.
I decide not to tell anyone in the Literature Club about my nightmare last night for the time being.
The Literature Club…
Crap! We were going to have a meeting today! My eyes flutter open, and I smile at the sight of sunlight streaming through my window. I'm glad I'm not in the Arena anymore.
I get dressed quickly, hoping that I won't be late. At yesterday's meeting, during which I think everyone had a good time, Monika suggested that everyone write poems and share them with each other today. The way our club works is that we meet for three consecutive days starting from the first Monday of every month, and then meet again the next month. That way, everyone has time to do other things, such as spend some time in their home Districts. Monika and I came up with the Literature Club schedule together, and I think it works very well. I hope that P.C. will show up to the meeting today with a poem. It was definitely a short notice for him, but I know that he's the type to keep his word.
As I'm about to head to the kitchen to eat breakfast, I suddenly realize that I never wrote a poem to share today. How could I forget such an important thing? I grab my tablet and draft out a poem, putting down into words whatever comes to me. I like impromptu poems like the one I'm writing now. Even though the other members of the Literature Club have different styles than mine, I think that's what makes us so unique. Personally, I love reading all sorts of literature because it lets me see other perspectives in the world.
I want breakfast.
Satisfied with my poem, I place my tablet in my bag and head to the kitchen in my Capitol apartment to get some cereal. On the way, I check the time. Thank goodness - I'm not late as I feared I would be. In fact, I have plenty of time to eat a relaxing meal and enjoy the sunshine streaming through my full window.
I hum to myself as I prepare my meal, watching the cityscape below me. The sun is beautiful and bright, and the Capitol is as colorful as ever.
I'm definitely looking forward to what kinds of poems everyone has written for today.
A/N: Alright, here's our second prologue chapter! What did you think of Sayori? Please let me know what you think of this chapter, this story, and my writing in general.
Most of this new version is the same as the original version for now, so I will let you know at the beginning of a chapter when we hit new material.
Thanks for reading, and may the odds be ever in your favor!