𝘉𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 [TBOSAS]

Prologue | Cadet Everdeen

PART I

Memory Game

It was a luxury the Snows deserved.

The fine furniture. The gold trimmed decor. The big, spacious mansion, all theirs. Rightfully so, too. The president's estate was a luxury he hadn't experienced in a long time. He had worked so hard for it all.

All the late nights, eviction notices, and empty-hearted moments, they all lead up to this. They were all hard on him. His campaign after Ravinstill had passed away due to illness was doing amazing, and soon everyone was echoing the family saying.

Snow lands on top.

It was incredible, really. He felt as if he didn't exist, and as if it was some big dream he would wake up from. But, sometimes it seemed to be more like a nightmare.

Sometimes, he'd have his brain to himself, when he didn't think of politics and such, he thought of her. 17 years, and she still haunted him. Her beautiful rainbow ruffles made him scream into his dreams. Yes, she had started to come in dreams, her beautiful face milky and distorted when he looked back at them from the groggy morning.

He felt the hole crumple into his chest, bit by bit as he woke up, sweat dripping down his face and soaking his hands. He turned slowly, finding the empty cold in place of what was supposed to be the wife he hated.

First lady Livia Snow sat down at the breakfast table, sitting opposite her toddler, eyeing him as he sat down, across the table, silence straining between the two with deadly intensity. The babbling of their son stopped it, and he turned to him with a half-forced smile.

It wasn't his. He knew that all too well, but he was still very fond of him. His gray eyes were hopeful, almost making them a glowing silver. His platinum blond hair started to branch down in straight lines, nowhere near Coriolanus's curly springs.

"Morning, Sejanus."

He knew she hated the name. His wife always winced at it, commenting about how it was strange to name her son after a traitor. But he didn't care. It was the least he could do to wash away his guilt into the sea of lost memories.

Soon, his screams became bland and blank, making it difficult to remember him. Soon, he forgot the curly brown hair, flinty brown eyes, and weeping soul.

The pictures brought him back, though. Way back through time, to the days where he was never going to murder his loved ones, who didn't suspect a thing until it was too late.

The child's eager giggles brought him back, and he squinted hard with his smile as the toddler threw his hands up with glee, a screaming mouth revealing tiny teeth.

"My, my! You're growing by the day!" he said, his words and smile contrasting with the bitterness and resentment towards his wife and 'son'. Livia sat next to him, her mouth being pulled up by a string, her thin lips knitting to a smile.

"President Snow, sir."

All three turned to the door, revealing a soldier with deep blue eyes and a twisted smile roughing down into a sincere frown.

"Yes?" Coriolanus replied, bored as he twisted his fork around his eggs, Sejanus watching him with the intelligent gray in his stare. The soldier straightened, feeling his insides twist with nervousness.

"Tributes will start being picked at 11," he said shakily, his hands being twisted together like interlocked stars.

"I'll start getting ready," Coriolanus said, standing from his heavy chair with a push against the marble floor. Sejanus looked at him, his thick cheeks forming his giggle to a frown, watching him go silently.

Snow walked past his wife, who shoved him an evil eye (No point of returning them, though) as he walked away from her. He stopped near the soldier, who stiffened, visibly shaking. The president sighed, looking at him with disappointment.

"You're free to go, Cadet Everdeen," he sighed as he walked away.