Athea Maddox, 19, Victor of the 124th Hunger Games, District Three.
"Winning the Games was suppose to mean that I was safe. That we were both safe."
Another day.
Another nightmare.
Another sleepless night.
How had she not lost herself already?
A sigh escaped her lips as she pulled the cup of tea closer to her. It was already that time of year again. Six months out from another reaping where ever more kids will be picked and told to fight to the death.
But for what?
When Thea was younger, she always assumed once you win the Games, that you were safe. That you could live out the rest of your life in peace and quiet.
But when she won her Games, she found that it was anything but that. At only a couple days shy of her nineteenth birthday she had been reaped for the One Hundred and Twenty-Fourth Games. Only two days from that safety that ageing out would have given her.
And then her name was called.
Athea Orion Maddox.
What made it so that it was her name that got selected?
Why her?
So off she went to the Capitol, forced to fight for her life.
The week was filled with training and interviews, as she attempted to get people to sponsor her. It did help that she achieved an eight during training, which was mostly due to her skill with spears.
Her arena was one that she would have never done well in. An old abandoned city which lied in ruins. Thea had allied with her district partner and the pair from ten. But when the bloodshed of the bloodbath was over and done with, she was the only one that remained from her group. It would have been easy to give up right then and there, to let someone find her and take her out.
But then she remembered what her little sister made her promise.
"Promise me, when it gets hard in there, that you'll push though it. I need you Thea."
With that in her mind, she quickly found a safe place to hide and wait it out.
It seemed however, the Fates had something against her.
Day three was when she made her first kill. The girl from eleven had somehow made it past the bloodbath but when she and Thea ran into each other, she froze. Thea, not wanting to take the chance, took her life with the swing of the random sword she had managed to pick up in the bloodbath.
By Day six, only eight remained, and she had known that this Games would be quick.
Day eight and it was already the final.
Athea was against the female from One, the girl's name all but slipping her mind as they fought.
She must had blacked out or her mind didn't want her to remember it, but the next thing she knew was that she was being declared the winner.
Which brought her to now.
The reading of the Card for the fifth Quarter Quell.
Thank god her sister was out with friends at the moment.
As soon as seven in the evening struck, the TV switched from the program it was showing to the President.
The words he would speak were ones that she never could have imagined.
"To show that even if your parent or family relative won the Hunger Games, if doesn't always means youre truly safe from getting reaped as well. This year, for the One Hundred and Twenty Fifth Quarter Quell, the tributes that shall be reaped will be a relative of a past victor. No one is ever really safe from the Capitol and the Games. Happy Hunger Games and as always, may the odds be in your favor."
Silence.
Then screams could be heard from the lone house occupied in the Victor's Villiage.
It was the next morning that she set her plan into action.
Her sister wasn't immediately at risk of being reaped, but it was close. It was between her sister and another girl that was the niece of the victor of the 90th Games.
Not wanting her sister to go in their helpless, she started to train Daphne. Her sister took it in stride, knowing her sisters concerns and wanting to be prepared in the case that she was the one chosen that year.
Mornings were spent running and lifting the small amounts of weights she had, while nights were spent learning about survival skills.
Athea could see her sister gaining strength as the months went on, which made her proud of how much work her sister was willing to put in. Athea shoved as much of the training that she learned in the Capitol as her sister could take it in.
Her sister had a chance…..
But no amount of being prepared could have made the Reaping any easier.
Her sister was reaped.
"Daphne Lyra Maddox!"
The odds were not in any of their favor.
But now she had a job to do.
Get sponsors to love her sister more than they liked her when she was in the arena.
Either she would get her sister back alive and the Victor or she would get her sister back in a box to bury next to their parents who had passed when she was only fourteen.
As she got onto the train, she took one last lok at her District. A feeling of uneasiness overcame her, and she knew that this year would be harder than being in the Games herself.
heyyyyyy.
not nova popping back up after half a year...
how's every one been?
life has been pretty crazy lately. I had two animals pass on in the last couple weeks and work has been absolutely draining. But i managed to get a chapter written so that has to count for something right? To be honest, i'm going to try to push myself to get a chapter a month posted but we shall see.
This chapter was a filler chapter but it introduces a character who might pop in from time to time as the story goes along.
Questions;
1) Thoughts on Athea and her sister?
2) Would you like a chapter on Athea's games?
3) What do you think the arena is going to be this year?
4) Any twists/mutts you would like to see?
Keep checking my profiles for the updated tributes list, which will be updated by tomorrow.
all the love,
nova