.
#24
THE VICTOR
District 9 Female
Name: Teff Withers
Age: 14
Training Score: 5
Odds of Victory: 35-1
Fact: Aside from the avox he swapped places with, Teff was the only person who had seen Trevy Vex escape the night before the 55th Games. She never told anyone.
Teff just wanted it to be over. She didn't care anymore if she lived or she died, she just wanted the fear to stop.
How long had it been? She had no idea. There was no way to tell the passage of time down in the salt mines; no clocks, no sky, no cannons, no anthem. There was nothing but silence and darkness.
What little light there had been… she didn't want to think about it. Not at the face of the boy from 11 when she'd looked down at him.
She'd honestly thought he was a mutt or one of the careers. If she'd known that it was just one of the youngest tributes, she wouldn't have killed him. She wouldn't have!
She had no idea where she was or what was going on anymore. She'd long since given up hope on ever seeing her family and friends ever again. There was no way out of this nightmare.
It wouldn't be long until the careers tracked her down again. Biggie, Speary and Punchy, as she called them, would be along to kill her any minute.
Teff wanted to keep running, but she was so tired. All running would accomplish would be prolonging the inevitable.
So, she cried.
She cried for her parents.
She cried for her dear Uncle.
She cried for her hover ball team.
She cried for food, for it had been days since she had last eaten something.
She cried.
Then she screamed as a bright light formed within the darkness, startling her backwards where she tumbled over a crate.
Rising with a soft groan Teff gazed at the light. Rather, she gazed at what shape the light - the hologram - had formed.
It looked just like a loaf of bread.
Hunger drove Teff forwards. She scrambled up and made a run for the bread, thinking it was real. The holographic bread began to quickly float across the ground, steadily making its way up the tunnel.
Often, Teff would trip over from her sheer exhaustion. The bread would always stop and wait until she was back on her feet to resume the chase.
Teff could hardly keep going, but hunger and desperation kept her moving. She wanted the bread more than anything else in the nation.
Eventually the bread led her back to the entrance of the salt mines, the rubble having all been cleared away and the rain having ended.
The bread came to a stop. Teff made a flying lunge towards it.
It vanished before she could grab it, leaving her to faceplant on the beach.
At first Teff began to cry again, but her sobs trailed off when she saw the sight before her.
The hovercraft was coming down for a landing upon the sand, its loading ramp slowly opening until Teff could see the medical team inside beckoning for her to come towards them.
Disbelief, that was what filled her up.
Were the Games over?
Had she won?
…Was there food on the hovercraft?
Teff began to walk.
Then she began to run.
Then she began to madly sprint.
She rushed into the hovercraft, hurrying right past the medics and easily dodging their attempts to grab her.
She sped right to the on-board kitchen just a few rooms over, nearly tore the fridge door off of its hinges and began to frantically stuff herself with everything she could get her hands on.
Such flavour and rich goodness after two weeks in a cave quickly caused nutritional shock to set in and had her puking half of it back up all over the floor.
Unfettered, Teff continued to madly eat. She only stopped when the medics caught up and one of them injected her with a sleeping formula in the back of her neck.
At last, Teff was able to sleep without any fear.
(2 MONTHS LATER)
Teff woke up in the middle of the night with a wheezy, bloodcurdling scream. Only her habit of sleeping with all of her sheets wholly over her stopped it from waking up the entire house.
Her slumber was never without fear anymore.
It was the same as it always was. Dreams of being chased through the caves, spiked and slashed with all manner of sharp weapons, mutts eating her alive… there was no end.
She was out of the arena and safe in the victors' village with a night light to keep the darkness at bay, but that was just it. She didn't feel safe and it was like she'd never left the arena.
She'd not even left her room in weeks except for the bathroom or for snacking. She was always afraid. Of being snuck upon, of starving, of being killed, of ending up back in the salt mines.
It didn't matter how much her family signed to her that victors never went back to the arena, the fear wouldn't go away.
It had taken three weeks before her mental health was deemed stable enough for the interview after the Games ended. It would be a lot longer before she was stable enough to leave the house for even five minutes.
For an hour Teff remained in her bed, weeping and trying so hard to get herself back to sleep. It was like trying to fight a career tribute with only a shoe.
Totally impossible.
Eventually Teff gave up on sleeping as a new fear settled into her. The fear of starving to death, something that had been a very real possibility down in those tunnels.
She'd lost so much weight. It was a miracle she even had the power to run from the careers at the end. She'd barely had the strength to reach the siren mutts.
It was a fluke she'd been immune to them.
It was a bigger fluke she'd randomly found her way back to their den.
Her victory was a fluke.
As much as Teff didn't like to think of it in such terms, her disability had saved her life.
Soon enough, all she could think about was hunger and the fear of it consuming her. She wasn't even hungry, not really, But she didn't want to give herself the chance to feel hungry.
Hunger would just lead to starvation.
It was barely any time at all before Teff had made her way to the fridge and almost wholly unloaded it of its contents.
With shaking hands she sat alone in the well lit kitchen, gorging herself on whatever was closest at hand.
Half an hour later her Mother entered, nothing but concern in her eyes.
It was far from the first time this had happened. It was more like the sixth.
Teff, sweetie, it's three in the morning, her Mother, Maizie, signed.
Teff just shrugged, gloomily devouring another slice of bread.
You need rest, you need to eat at proper times. This isn't healthy, Maizie continued signing.
It was some time before Teff gave any kind of a response. For a time she just sat at the table. Maizie sat down beside her daughter, ever so gently laying a hand upon her shoulder.
I need to eat or I'll starve, Teff signed.
You're not starving. You're home, and safe. You'll never go to the salt mines again, Maizie assured her.
...I never left them, Mom.
Teff resumed her depressive eating. Maizie could only watch, teary eyed, at the state her daughter was in.
She'd not planned on having a child when she did. It started after she was called in her final reaping, and Gwenith - her sister in all but blood - had volunteered and taken her place. At the time Maizie hadn't known it was because three cruel girls had tricked her with a horrible dare.
She'd just been relieved and had 'celebrated' being free of the reapings with her then-boyfriend and now-husband. Then before she knew it her daughter had entered her life.
It wasn't always easy being a young mother, even when her brother was the first victor and as rich as they came, but she adored Teff with every fibre of her being. She never once regretted having her.
She just regretted that she couldn't help her when she was reaped. She regretted that she couldn't help her when she was suffering a sanity-break in the tunnels. She regretted that she hadn't been able to help her recover since she'd returned home.
She couldn't do anything.
It was some time before she was able to get Teff back to her bed, and more time after that when the poor girl was able to drift off to sleep.
Something had to be done for Teff, that much Maizie knew. But what options did she have? What could she, someone who was lucky enough to never enter the arena, really do?
It wasn't as if the Capitol and its army of peacekeepers would help. No, as Mizar had discreetly told her before, they wanted the victors as broken down as possible.
But therein lay her answer. Maybe her brother would have an idea?
He always did.
(1 WEEK LATER)
It had taken quite a bit of effort to get Teff to leave her house.
It had taken even more to get her to leave the victors' village.
It had taken more still for her to walk down the nearby streets and beyond to a location she was unsure of.
But Mizar Aldjoy always had a way with words, spoken or signed, and empathy greater in size than a mountain.
Teff kept close to her Uncle as they walked along, never once letting go of his hand. She dared not to look anywhere other than at the ground, fearful of what, or who, she might see around herself.
Mizar had no intentions of letting go, not until his precious Niece was ready to. He knew all too well she wouldn't be ready - not truly recovered - for a long time. Perhaps she never would be.
He knew some of what she had gone through and what she felt. He was a victor too, and when he won he'd not had a single person alive who understood the trauma. But as much as he knew what to say, how to act and so forth… there were some things he couldn't aid with as much as he wished he could. Teff's Games had been so very different to his own.
His arena was small, all things considered. Hers was multiple square miles in size and had various levels to it.
His arena didn't have a single volunteer nor any trained killers or mutts. Teff's arena very much did.
He only got into one fight and it was self-defence, and he'd tried his hardest to talk the boy from 4, Kai, out of fighting him. Teff had killed three people and, in her own words, was an animal.
His Games had lasted just three days. Teff's had reached fourteen days.
Mizar saw sunlight and had fresh air. Teff was lost in the darkness.
There were all too many things he didn't know.
What he did know, however, was that she didn't have to face this all alone. Nobody deserved to be alone.
That was why, when they finally reached their destination, he told Teff to look up.
She did so, reflexively hiding behind her uncle when she saw almost a dozen people looking her way. It was several moments of fright before she realised who they were.
It was her hover ball team. They were all there; Zea, Milo, Crisp, Panko, Brice… all of them were there.
For a moment Teff truly had no idea what to do or what to sign. She stood in place, lost and shaking somewhat.
She was ashamed of herself. She'd been so full of fear that she'd forgotten about her team, her friends. Just what sort of a Captain was she?
Mizar knelt slightly, enough to be perfectly eye level with Teff. He gently gestured at her team with his always-patient eyes.
They've been worried about you. Always asking about you, he signed.
Teff continued to tremble, though it was obvious she wanted to approach her team. She just couldn't will herself to do it.
They're lost with their Captain. Who else is gonna lead them to victory?
Teff couldn't help but chuckle very weakly.
Thank you.
Teff approached her team, but locked up before she could reach them. She had too many things to say and yet no idea what she would say. Her hands began to shake.
The team moved forth, making the choice for her. They would sign first. They would get the hover ball rolling.
We've been so worried about you. In the arena, the village, we've missed you, Crisp signed.
We kept trying to visit you, but the peacekeepers kept turning us away. We should've tried harder to get past them, Milo signed.
We're sorry if we made you think we didn't care, Zea signed.
The team continued signing such things, signs of affirmation and care. Teff felt her eyes growing salty with tears.
She flung her arms around Milo, the closest person to herself, and wept into her shoulder. The rest of the team moved forth as one to make it a big group hug.
It was a while before Teff broke the hug and composed herself enough to sign anything to them.
I love you guys.
Mizar watched on as signs were exchanged on both sides. To have a team learn sign language to ensure they could always communicate with his niece on and off the pitch, making sure she knew how much they loved her… what a thing it was.
It would be a long time until Teff was better. But it brought him relief to see she wouldn't be facing her demons alone.
In the arena, she'd fought the worst sort of battle all by herself; the battle against her crumbling mental health.
Out of the arena, she'd fight it with an army behind her.
C'mon guys, let's score some goals, Teff signed, a smile on her face for the first time in so very long.
Zea picked the ball off of the bench she'd left it on and firmly booted it into the field. The team ran forth towards it, Teff leading the way as she always did.
Mizar sat on the bench, watching as Teff and her team kicked the ball between themselves, quickly losing themselves in having fun. It was exactly what any uncle wanted for his niece.
It was visual proof it wasn't too late to pick up the pieces.
Like the rest of the team, he jumped up and cheered when Teff easily swiped the ball from Crisp and nailed a firm shot on the goal from a solid eighty feet away.
Teff might not have been able to hear the cheering, but she could see the smiles. She could see the support. She could see the love.
She could see how glad everybody was that she was home.
Just for the afternoon, it was enough.
(62 YEARS LATER)
Unfortunately, Teff's story didn't have a happy ending. No amount of twisting words, changing of perspectives or wishful thinking can ever change that.
Teff died mere minutes into the Second Rebellion, just after the quell arena had been destroyed. Not long before the lightning tree was due to go off, with the forcefield planned to go down right after it, information had slipped.
The Capitol knew. They knew.
Peacekeepers approached the victors in the mentoring room en-masse and the notion of all of them getting out was a laughable one, or would be if not for the dire situation at hand.
Teff had been amongst those who had stayed behind to buy time for the likes of Haymitch, Gwenith, Rhyder and several more.
A scant few had survived the shootout that had followed, taken away to be questioned.
Teff had been the first in the room to fall, though not before taking out three peacekeepers with her, one of whom had been amongst Snow's very finest generals and not easily replaced.
The unit had been over half-way wiped out, enough chaos caused for some of the victors to make it out and escape into the night. Some of them made it to District 13.
The war went on for months. People good and bad and all shades between died. Some fast, some horribly. But many people died, their bodies left to rot.
Teff's remains hadn't been forgotten. Her body, alongside those of the other victors who had fallen in the mentoring room, were taken for preservation. Some would theorise their remains might've been intended as a base for mutts or some other morale crushing plan had the war dragged on long enough.
Luckily, this never came to pass. Not when the Capitol's losses, such as power from District 5 and the fall of The Nut, had pushed the regime into a corner.
When the Capitol fell and reparations could finally begin across the broken nation Teff's body was recovered around the time the Eightieth Hunger Games would've been held and, finally, was able to be put to rest.
There was really only one place where anyone could justify laying her down.
The field where Teff had played hover ball with her beloved team all those years ago. The place where she'd made her friends and found her biggest passion.
It was expected to be a quiet affair. Teff never had any children nor siblings and no cousins were alive and kicking either to pass on the bloodline.
In practice, as was usually the case for the hover ball matches she'd played in, it was crowded and loud. It was just as she would've wanted it.
Not so much to hear the cheering, but to see just how many people cared.
The victors who were still alive, Gwenith still amongst them. Residents of District 9 who Teff had known throughout her life and who had cared for her. Descendents of her deceased team. Sports fans from across the nation.
Nobody was silent. Nobody had a dry eye.
That day, when Teff was buried and words of love and loss were read out, many a match of hover ball was played in her honour.
In a certain sense she was there to see it all. While her Uncle Mizar had received a statue built in his image in the district square, Teff's own statue had been built right beside the field. Any match ever played upon the lush grass would be played under her watchful eyes.
In the end, the matches ended much like days always did and the crowds dispersed to return to the lives they still had to live. Some lingered, some for quite a while, but in the end the pitch was left empty of all aside the statue and the peacefully resting women who had given her life for the rebellion.
The pitch was rarely empty in the days. Not when residents and visitors of all ages would often come by to play hover ball or just enjoy the wide open spaces, so very far removed from tunnels and sea caves.
Some say that, as the years passed and became decades, the field wasn't empty during the nights either.
Some even say, if you can believe such a thing, that they've seen the spirits of a team of youngsters running about that field, kicking an ethereal ball to each other just as they did all those years ago, long before there was ever a girl on fire.
Leading them forth, they say, is a sweet young girl running quickly about the field under the moonlight, happy, free and fast as can be.
Like her team she'll always be gone before long, they say, but she's the last to go and always manages to do one thing before she has to depart.
She scores an incredible goal, one side of the field to the other.
THE END