Don't Play Games

22

I watch as the station rolls into view, a small speck on an endless horizon. It grows bigger the closer we get, and a large crowd of people become visible.

I'm home.

A strange mix of excitement and dread floods my system until it becomes me, and I forgot who I am. A Victor. A killer.

I can hear the roar by the time I role into the station. Nearly everyone in the District is standing near the platform, applauding me. My success.

Why are they applauding a killer?

The door to the car slides open in front of me and I descend the small flight of stairs. I smile at a few cameras and watch them flash, leaving colorful spots in my vision.

A car awaits me to take me to my home before taking me to the Victor's Village. I'll gather all the things from my childhood home, and take them somewhere that will only remind me of death.

The car rolls past the crowds and through the rows of houses until I point to a small cottage and the car rolls to a stop.

I swing my door open and step out. The air here in 7 feels so much more friendly than the air in the Capitol. Much warmer, too. I walk down the small path to the front door and swing it open.

Maple is in the kitchen. She stands from the table, tears beginning to well in her eyes.

"I'm home." I say.

She runs over to me and envelopes me in a tight hug. I feel her body shake with sobs.

I wrap my arms around her back. I'm nearly as tall as she is now. How much have I grown during these 2 weeks?

"I'm so glad you're home." She cries.

"Me too." I whisper.

"Well, we're packing things up." I say after a pause. "Grab everything. We're moving to the Victor's Village."

She nods against my shoulder and pulls away. She disappears into her room - our parents' old room - and closes the door behind her. I take a right into my own room.

The room is exactly as I left it. Messy bedsheets, an open drawer, leather boots toppled over each other on the floor. Closed curtains that filter in light like the morning of the Reaping.

So much has changed since then. My whole mentality has changed, I've become a killer, I've grown. Only a couple weeks ago I would have never thought I'd go into the Games and survive them.

I take a box and begin to pack up my things. I pile in boots, clothes, curtains, bedsheets, and books into the box. My dress and shoes are missing, cleaned on the train and never returned. Maybe someday they'll arrive in the mail.

As soon as Maple and I have loaded almost everything into the back of the car, we get in and speed off more towards the center of the District. Awaits us there is the Victor's Village, with its fancy houses.

The car ride is long and dreary, even if we're going to live as close to royalty as a District citizen can get. People will be all over Maple and I for a few weeks until it all dies down a bit, before being revamped for the Victory Tour.

Soon, the car halts to a stop in front of large iron gates. I see Claudia standing in front of a house along the left row, pacing and fanning her face. Behind her stands my prep team and Canna.

I run up to them, my box of things bouncing in my arms. "Hey!"

Claudia smiles. "Hazel!" She fans her face again. "How do you survive in this heat?"

I shrug. "Lets go in, it looks like you're about to die of heat stroke."

Claudia gratefully opens the door to the house. She steps in and takes a deep breath. "Lovely."

The house is already furnished, with couches and a kitchen table and chairs. There's a TV, a coffee table, and a desk in a room past the stairs.

I walk up the stairs and find a room in the back corner connected with a bathroom. I set my things on the mattress and walk back downstairs.

"Home again, home again." I sigh, slouching into one of the kitchen's many chairs.

------

It isn't finished yet, I swear!

I've been writing really fast lately wow :|

Haha. Anyway. Sorry it's so short. Next chapter will be up as soon as its done!

-Zane