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001. the quarter quell announcement ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
THE NIGHTMARES AND HORRORS NEVER STOPPED. The Hunger Games were filled with terrors that you couldn't help but bring back home if you were to survive. Esther never knew how much of an impact surviving out of twenty-three people would have on her mind until she was a victor. Finnick was already labelled as strong, but knowing he was taking care of her whilst dealing with the trauma from undergoing the games, she saw him as the bravest person alive.
The guilt never left. It was always rendering in the back of her head, waiting till the teenager was vulnerable enough to pop out and take control of her body. The memories would flash through her mind in pictures—a montage—of the light fading from the three people she managed to kill during the games. The only thing that gave her the courage to carry on through the Hunger Games was knowing Finnick was watching over her.
Because he was a winner of the previous games from years ago, he was her mentor. Finnick showed her through the training and the steps she'd have to take to prepare for stepping into the arena. Esther knew that if Finnick wasn't her mentor, she wouldn't have been able to survive. But, sometimes, her mind would go into a dark place where there wasn't a patch of light, thinking about the possibility of her dying. What if she had died during the games? Would it have been better to die than live with the memories that flooded her mind?
She'd wake up screaming, not even understanding the loud yells leaving her throat until Finnick would come crashing into her room, eagerly grabbing onto her limbs as she scratched at her skin. Once fully waking up, comprehending what occurred, she'd feel the stings of her nails clawing at her body—feeling the rawness of her throat from the screaming. She'd distantly hear the soothing phrasings of Finnick and the worried calls from Annie and Mags as they glanced down at the broken frame of Esther.
One thing the blonde was right about was that she wasn't as strong as Finnick. That was for sure. The games broke her to a whole other measure. Not even Finnick, her older brother, could put the pieces of her mind back together again. If it was possible to repair the girl, then it'd take years—time that the siblings might not have. Despite not having to participate in the games again, President Snow was unpredictable.
Nobody knew what the future held for the districts, and it made people hesitant. Esther thought she knew what it was like to be afraid before entering the games, but now she knew the definition of what fear was. Fear was the type to make your body become immobilised, unable to move no matter how much strength you managed to conjure. Especially now that the Quarter Quell was coming up, having something special than the norm because of it being the 75th year of the games, Esther felt the same she did when being in her games two years ago.
