maybe is a losers word - c.hadley

i.i fourth of july

It was a day dreaded by anyone who wasn't a capitol citizen. a seventeen year old girl was getting her hair plaited by an elderly woman who was absent-mindedly humming a nursery rhyme meant to tame her nerves, however it did nothing to calm her nerves, it fed them. all her former childhood favourite was doing was making her reminiscent of how her mother had braided it on the fourth of july, four summers ago, when her mother had promised her and her sister annie, that as long as she was there with them, they would be invincible. a then thirteen year old marin cresta trusted her mother's word blindly. that was the first mistake of the many made that day.

young and naive, a twelve year old maren believed she and annie could not be touched, just as she believed the other fairytales her mother whispered in bed. how could she ever take her mothers word as anything less than the truth, when they were from one of the wealthiest families, dealing in pearls and other expensive oceanfound treasures that the extravagant capital members would kill for, making it so that the girls were both only in there once, for every year.  how could a child predict such horror's when they had no need for tesserae and the odds had always been in their favor? looking back on that day she could only mourn her own naivety and hopefullness. her mother had lied and her closest companion, annie had been taken to the capital to die in the seventeeth hunger games.

she knew her sister had hardly any chance of winning. despite having been privileged enough to have a balanced diet and enough free time to train, annie had never had any interest in anything other than swimming and school. maren had begged annie to atleast consider training, but the older of the two had pointed out that she was only going to be in there for this last year and

the third mistake that was made that day wasn't even one made by her. her mother and father had organized a riot. they were absolutely furious that their little girl was reaped and decided to go on a strike at midnight. almost a hundred man were hung that night, not including one pregnant lady, she had lost her mother father and sister(s) all in one night. you'd think she would be sad, devastated even. in a way she was, however sadness turned into anger and as she saw the light leaving her sisters eyes while murdering the boy who she used to build sandcastles with and the girl from district two, who annie had publicly fallen in love with, betraying her when they were in the last three, breaking the last of her sisters spirit, anger turned into more. this was another mistake that wasn't hers. this was a mistake made by none other than president coriolanus snow.

in the comfort of mags flanagans home, inside of the victor village, which would now be her home, she sat sobbing as her sister was crowned victor of the 70th hunger games, that was the moment marin cresta vowed to volenteer, win and destroy the capitol starting with the games. ending with a life, either hers or that of snows.

she had trained for the next few years, trained by district fours only living male victor, finnick, who might as well be her own brother and an academy, raised by the older lady and her own hatred and her skills could now easily hold up against any of the other careers, plus she had something that they didn't have, she knew when to step back, she knew how to win hearts just like they did. but they didn't have a greater goal they were doing it for glory, she was doing it for justice, not even just for mags, finnick all those children, of course it was for them, for her sister but, somewhere deep inside of her she was selfishly doing this to avenge herself, the childhood that was taken from her when that last bit of naivety was taken from her.

finnick and mags, although hesitant, had both agreed to help her when she brought it up two years ago. annie was the only one blissfully unaware. the role of big sister little sister had been switched and the redhead figured it was now the eldest cresta's turn to be naive. she knew annie might not be able to cope with it, even finnick might break by her stunt, but he knew this was going to happen regardless and he was going to make sure it would on his terms. he loved the girl too much not too.

she wasn't too stressed, though she knew to never let her guard down too much, she might have been naive but she was no fool. annie was reaped when no one expected it, everyone knew that coral bloomingdale, annie's classmate was going to volenteer that year, but sadly the girl regained her senses and chickend out. this year would have another volenteer, obviously there was nothing to worry about. so why did it feel like her stomach was filled with a swarm of wasps then. as she finished zipping up her flowy white dress, a popular choice that was carried through the whole district, she took annies hand in her left mags in her right and started walking to the town square and a feeling of dread came over her once more. she couldn't help but doubt that the odds would be in her favor, this might just be her worst birthday yet.