Secrets

Chapter Six

My dad was 16 years old when my cousin was born. His brother was only 24 and recently married to a beautiful young woman whose eyes always remind me of chocolate. I met Elijah, my cousin when I was four and he was fourteen. We were at my dads birthday party. Mason, my father's brother, boasted about how well Elijah was doing in training. He had been training with a sword, a lethal weapon if used correctly.

I remember Elijah saying, "When I'm eighteen, I will volunteer and win. Come home and buy us all birthday gifts!"

So during the 62nd reaping, he volunteered. I stood in the crowd with my father, as I was only six at the time. Elijah stepped onto the podium and sent a smug expression to the girl who also volunteered.

The same girl who took home the crown.

Enobaria.

Enobaria was only 16 when she ripped the boy from One's throat out after watching him stab Elijah in the gut. They were a pack, with one tribute left from District Seven still somewhere in the woods, she needed Elijah alive. Or at least, wanted him alive. After the vicious murder, she sought out the girl from seven and then murdered her in a brutal fashion as well.

The victory tour was intense, my dad became obsessed with figuring out ways to end the games or to retaliate against them. My uncle lost his mind as well, attacking a Peacekeeper during one of Enobarias' speeches. My mother pulled me close and buried my face into her shirt, rubbing the back of my head, but it didn't stop me from hearing the cries of my uncle.

Because of the games, my father hasn't allowed me to train; yet alone touch any sort of weapon. However, after the victory tour, I became obsessed with victors. So much so that I began to study them. I learned their weapons, how long it took them to pick up each skill, how they won their games, and how old they were at the time of their games. Some of them, like Finnick Odair, were saught out by Snow as prostitutes. Others like Brutus however, were granted with fame and looked up to as role models. A kind of person you want to be when you step into the arena. Bloodthirsty, sadistic, murderous, fearful... anything that makes people cower in their boots.

It was kind of a sick fascination, the way I admired how Johanna Mason could kill with an axe or how clever the weird pair from District Six were for hiding in camouflage the whole time. Each victor had a motive and those motives allowed them to rise above all else; even the lucky ones who didn't belong in the arena at all.

So by the age of 12, I knew that I wanted to be just like them. I wanted to be a victor and I would stop at nothing to become exactly that. Sneaking out late at night to venture to a dark academy. Breaking in through the girls' locker room window, the sound of my knives striking the hearts of dummies that were stored in a corner far off from the main entrance. The familiar white line, that now matches my old dirty sneakers, marked on the ground to give you a starting point. The yards between me and a target I wanted to turn into yards between me and the cornucopia.

Receiving a project that you're told to do research on a victor is almost rigorous when you so desperately want to be talking about yourself in their shoes. Regardless, I chose Gloss. A male tribute from District who is highly skilled in knives. Alongside his sister Cashmere, the two of them make a deadly duo. I've always wondered what would have happened if they had both been in the arena at the same time. I like to think Cashmere would have prevailed, but Gloss is bigger than her. Stronger both mentally and physically. He would have killed her or watched her die by someone else's thirst for the crown.

Gloss, on his own, is quite a character. Even after winning the 63rd games, his overall demeanour is not as arrogant as the other career victors. He occasionally appears on Ceaser Flickermans show to give his thanks to the capitol and express his fondness for the people. Gloss has even been reported training students in their academy sometimes and apparently for the games last year he got so many sponsors for his tributes they had to hold back some of the gifts. Then again, that could just be a rumour.