𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋 | Hunger Games

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sɪx ʏᴇᴀʀs ʟᴀᴛᴇʀ

IF IT WEREN'T for the sound of the Capitol's television theme song playing loudly through her dimly lit bedroom Aella Barnes would've spent her whole day sleeping. Instead, she was rudely awakened by the chirpy tune of melodic trumpets blowing together in harmony to signal Caesar Flickerman's arrival on to her obnoxiously large television that had been mounted to her black painted bedroom wall.

Aella had never been one for television. Prior to her Games she rarely watched the small one she and her family had in the living room of her family home. Now, in her overly sized house within the Victors Village she had a flatscreen in every bedroom and a hologram in both her living room and drawing room.

Unnecessary, she always thought, but she always found herself reaching for the small remote, putting it on every night so she could fall asleep to distract her from the silence. She hated the sound of silence, it had haunted her after her Games. It reminded her of the night time where she pulled her injured and tired body into the highest buildings and hid there, straining desperately to hear any sound of movement. Now, the silence made her panic as if her throat was closing and she was choking on her own air.

She remembered someone once telling her that not being able to fall asleep without background noise was exceptionally common—that it was a trauma response to abandonment issues. She didn't have abandonment issues, she just didn't have anyone around her and the Games had scarred her so significantly she needed the white noise to help her brain shut down.

The young woman groaned in exhaustion, digging her head further into her soft pillow as she cradled it in her arms while the theme continued on. She barely paid any heed to Caesar's words, his voice was nothing but an echo in her mind while she slowly woke up. After some time, she pulled her head out of her pillow and looked to the digital alarm clock on her bedside cabinet, eyes dancing lazily over the time as it read 16:01.

The time didn't surprise her, not like it used to when she first emerged from the Games. It was insomnia until it wasn't, until she recovered and reality kicked in that it had been hardwired into her brain that she needed to stay awake through the night to keep watch for anyone coming. It was rare if she did sleep through the night, the darkness had left her scarred—physically and mentally. Her eyes liked to play tricks on her when she tried to sleep at night. She would see their faces... hear their whispers as they hunted her.

The lamp situated on the bedside table at the other side of the bed was switched on, a dim glow pooling across the room. She glanced outside through her parted curtains to see the sun had set and a deep purple swirled to mix with dark blues in the sky. For the fifth day running she had missed the sun and the daylight it provided, the winter months shortening the days significantly.

She noticed the phone wired into the wall on her bedside was sitting on the pillow next to her and she wondered at what time she had fallen asleep. There was no one else she would've been on the phone to at that time of night apart from him. He was home, much to her surprise, but they still weren't safe to speak freely. They had figured out years ago that their telephone conversations were never private but either way it was nice to hear his comforting voice when her nightmares were chasing her.

She hoped she hadn't fallen asleep during the midst of one of their late night confessions they liked to partake in—god, she'd feel awful if she'd fallen asleep during that. He wouldn't ever let her hear the end of it.