The Hunger Games has been proven to test everyone's virtue, not just the young and unfortunate kids plucked from their districts and thrown into the arena. Venus Hummingstill has never cracked under pressure. Regardless of everything being stripped...
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Life had never seemed so bitter sweet than when night fell on the last evening of the Hunger Games.
Venus wanted to be happy, to feel an ounce of relief for her extension of mortality, but all she could think about was him. Dr. Gaul and Dean Highbottom dismissed her, the mad scientist stating that their work would begin the day following Graduation. With the ceremony being the following week, it provided her no time to gather herself and her emotions and lock them in the furthest parts of her mind.
While she was given a new chance on life, Coriolanus's was being stripped away.
It was nearing dark outside when Venus finally made her way to his apartment. She racked her brain trying to recall where he lived, she had only been to his home once when she was very little with her Mother. She couldn't remember the reason why she had been there, most likely when his Mother was pregnant and the two women were catching up.
The elevator was running slowly, she wasn't sure why, the one in her building was seamless and quick but she ignored it. Venus ran up the various flights of stairs, she had absolutely no time to waste in trying to find him. They couldn't have shipped him out already? They must have given him one last night with his family before completely taking him from them. By grace of luck or just womanly intuition, Venus found his apartment on the top floor. Entering the hall, she furrowed her brows. The carpet was ragged and torn ever so slightly with only a few of the lights working to illuminate her path. In the back of her mind she wondered how the landlord allowed the building to fall out of code, but, she ignored that as well as she approached the apartment.
She knocked on the door ever so slightly, wanting to make herself known but not be obnoxious to his neighbors. The paled face of Tigris came into view, sorrow written all over her features as the entrance opened. Venus noticed her hands were shaky, her trembling coming to a complete stop when she realized who she was staring at. The reason why she never allowed her past sweetheart to come home was to save herself of the embarrassment, now, Coriolanus was suffering the very fate she avoided.
With a wide view, Venus was able to see a bit of the apartment. The lights were dim, there was tape covering little cracks in the window directly behind Tigris, the room smelled the faintest of potatoes and cabbage. It was like day and night compared to her own dwellings. This is why the Plinth prize meant so much to him, why Highbottom used the money as a way to taunt him while he was already down.
The blond girl appeared as if she'd seen a ghost. "Oh...Venus." She sighed, imagining how hard this newfound shift must be for her as well.
"Who is it?"
Venus could hear his voice in the background, footsteps pacing as he rushed toward the door. Before his cousin could respond, he came face to face with her, the girl with big brown eyes that he had done so much to impress. As if his life could not get any worse, his facade was crumbling down in front of the girl he loved. But why was she here? How was she here? Did Dr. Gaul give her a new date of death? Was this Venus's last wish that they decided to honor?
