A Whole New Game: A Hunger Games Story

Chapter 11: Monsters

Clove

    "I'm sorry, you're what?" Eleanor barks from across the table.

    "I told you, I-"

    "Oh, no, I heard you. Snow's little grand-shit or whatever. I'm just curious as to how on earth you expect us to believe your ridiculous bullshit."

    "I'm not lying," I snap, more cross than usual. "I wouldn't lie, not about this."

    No one reacts, all too shocked to do much more than stare. I sigh with relief when Athena decides to break the silence.

    "How could you possibly have been reaped if you are his granddaughter?" She questions. It's the first time she has spoke at all. Her voice is like a corpse's. "And even if you were reaped, everyone here knows how the Capitol manipulates everything to work the way they want it. Why would your grandfather, the ruler and controller of the Games, possibly put his own kin in them?"

    "Just because I am family does not mean I am treated like it," I start. "No one is safe from the reapings. And it's not like we are exactly...close," I say bitterly. "You'll notice we don't keep the family name. I'd rather not be associated with a misanthropic tyrant. I'm sure the feeling is mutual."

    "Wait," Peeta interrupts, "how did you even manage to end up in District 2 in the first place? I mean if your the President's relative, shouldn't you be living in the Capitol?"

    I sigh, reveling back into the story I had kept quiet for so long. "My mother was Snow's child, and she did live in the Capitol for some time. My father worked alongside a primitive form of the Rebellion, working as a spy in District 2, disguised as a peacekeeper. One day he was called to the Capitol for a top secret mission, and while he was there he met my mother. The two of them fell in love and and when he was asked to return home, she ran away from the Capitol and returned with him." I smile a bit as I remember their love story, remember the nights when Carver and I were little and they would tell it to us like a fairy tale, eyes glazed over in bliss and love for each other. "The two of them moved back to District 2, got married, and started a family. My mother' presence was essentially erased from the media and history, couldn't risk everyone knowing that even Snow's children were turning against him. But he kept in contact with my her, provided financial assets for her, made sure she was okay. I had only met him once before the Games, when I was very young. My father was away, and Snow came to our home. He told my mother he couldn't protect me or my brother in 2. That accidents happened, even to...us. I guess he meant one of us being reaped."

    "During training, before the Games, he pulled me out and told me that the Games were fixed, that I was going to win no matter what. That as long as I didn't make myself vulnerable, he would protect me. The Gamemakers were going to send mutts or fire or anything they could think of to eliminate the rest of the tributes and leave me to be the victor." And I stop. It...hurts. It really hurts. It hurts to know, that had it not been for the Rebellion, they all would be dead. All because of some stupid family line. All because I was too scared to say no.

    I was too scared to die.

    Athena and Peeta remain silent, gears turning with calculation. Katniss and Gale share quick sideways glances, a telepathic conversation of sorts. Eleanor just laughs in disbelief, Marvel gazing wondrously my way, eyes unblinking gemstones beside me. But Cato's stare is the one that sends chills through my veins. His usually lively emerald eyes bore into me blankly, as though I might not even be there. His expression suggests he should instead be looking at a hated criminal. Someone manipulative and dastardly. Someone vile and cruel. Someone like me.