MPHFPC ➵ The Hunger Games AU (DISCONTINUED)

Chapter 13

.☆ POV- Jacob

Daylight was swept out from under my feet so quickly I found myself grasping for something to hold on to; this thing happened to be a small rock that my parents gave me "to remember them by." It was sort of a stupid rip-off version of an heirloom or something to that effect, but nonetheless, it was all I'd had left.

I rustled from beneath the covers and rolled over. The back of my neck was warm and sticky from my anxiety, like mud on a solid surface. I couldn't imagine how I would feel the night before the Games, which was extremely close anyhow. But all I could think of was how tomorrow I had my interview.

"The sponsors are watching."

The sponsors are watching.

I was tired yet restless. My mind soared in millions of directions and my stomach ached. I looked out at the moon and wondered if anyone was watching, too, perhaps. The very thought that someone might be looking out at the moon, the same as I, at that very moment- it was the only thing that managed to coax a smile out of me.

My eyelids drooped.

"Good night, whoever you are," I whispered to the stars. I wasn't usually all caught up on "maybes" and "the meaning of life" but it was at times like mine that people started to reach in new directions. I rubbed my thumb over the rock. "And may the odds be ever in your favor."

.☆ POV- Horace

I woke up in a cold sweat. The nightmares hung like shadows over me, clawing at my skin and threatening to rip out my mind. I was so scared.

So scared.

Every night they got worse. Me dying. My rotting corpse. Me, dead, dead, dead. Gone. Erased.

It wasn't even the day of the Hunger Games yet, and I almost wanted it to be. Then the real suffering would be over. The wait.

But today was the day of the interviews.

Nerve-wracking.

My mind started murmuring. Minds can't murmur, minds can't murmur. Was I going insane? The true pain has not begun.

AM I GOING INSANE?

The true pain is yet to come.

.☆ TIMESKIP

The interviews had started a short while ago. Someone from District 5 was up,  but I felt their words slip past me.

Whatareyougoingtodo?

"Be quiet," I hissed to the voice. Oh, no. Now I was talking to myself.

You'renotgoingtomakeit

I was going insane. I was going insane and hallucinating and now I would be driven out of my memories and do something messed up and I would die.

You would die

I fidgeted and tried to ignore the voice. It's fake, it's fake, I tried to convince myself.

I'm more real than you'll ever be

And then suddenly it was my turn. I walked out onto the stage, my legs shaky and numb.

The announcer person gave me what I assumed to be an encouraging smile and shook my hand. "Horace, Horace Somnusson."

I nodded for some reason.

"How do you feel about the Games? Determined, anticipating, excited?"

Scared

"A little uneasy," I admitted, receiving some empathetic aws from the audience.

You liar, you liar, you're terrified

"Any certain motivations that lead you to want to win? Fortune, the greater good, someone back home, anything?"

Saving your own skin

"No!" I spat, spiteful at the voice. Too loud. The audience was clearly confused. "I mean, no." I was shivering despite not being cold. The world was spinning.

"And what about your... first impression... how do you... about... she..." I thought he was trailing off, but his mouth never stopped moving.

You can't escape

I screamed.

The voice got me. I was insane. I was insane and I was far from home and I wanted to go back to a time where none of this involved me.

Vibrant colors swirled and then I felt arms wrap around me and then I was gone.