Careen Ellis- 18
The Games were never quite as important in Four. It was harder for us to be so careless with our lives when we lived somewhere so beautiful. There were always enough volunteers to go around, which made life even more carefree for the ones who didn't, but there was never much of a surplus. We lived our lives more or less the way we wanted to. The ones who wanted a challenge trained for the Games, and the ones that didn't stayed home.
Because of that, there was a disconnect between the Four Victors and the other Careers. The others based their entire lives around the Games- Pray had never even been to a party before she won. After they won, all they did was talk about their time in the Arena or train other people to do the same. They spent their days in the same gymnasiums and classrooms they'd spent their lives before the Games. It was like their old, bygone glory days were all that mattered.
I wasn't ready for my life to peak yet. Like the others from my District, I was barely getting started. None of us had intended this to be the highest point of our lives. Jonah hadn't even volunteered. Shelle did it because it was expected of her. Shane regretted his Games more than anything else and rarely spoke of them. And me, I just did it to show I could. It was like climbing a mountain. I knew it might kill me, but I had to see how far I could go. Now that I'd been there, I wanted to go further. That wasn't the end of everything.
There was a lot more to life than fighting. It had been fun (and scarier than I admitted to most people), but it wasn't everything. After winning, I didn't have to worry about working anymore. I was even freer than most people in Four. I could do anything I wanted, and I did a lot. Some days I sat in the house all day with Aidan. Some days I lounged on the beach, and sometimes I surfed. I talked to friends and threw parties and collected seashells.
It wasn't all relaxing and partying, either. I made sure to keep myself busy and stay useful. I raised funds for a group that worked to preserve the sea turtles that nested off the coast of Four, and every summer I went out with a flashlight to help guide the hatchlings to the ocean. I donated money to causes that came up, and I stayed active in the community. I didn't directly train the Academy students, but I did volunteer as a mentor. I helped the prospective volunteers decide if this was what they really wanted, or if their lives were better spent elsewhere. It wasn't the right choice for everyone.
The Games brought me economic stability and permanent social status, and I was grateful for that. They were a helpful tool, but they weren't my end goal. I was glad that more came after the Games ended, and that I didn't peak at eighteen and spend the rest of my life talking about my battle scars. I was proud of my time in the Arena and what I accomplished, but life after was just as fulfilling.
Here we have Careen, perhaps the single best-adjusted Victor.