𝑳𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝑹𝒆𝒅 || 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝑮𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔

𝟏𝟖 || 𝑭𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔

EVELYN DIDN'T TELL SASHA WHAT REALLY HAPPENED ON THE TRAIN RIDE HOME, and she felt like anxiety was going to swallow her whole the whole time. The way her brother wrapped his arm around hers and started speed walking toward victor village without saying anything to Sasha or her wasn't helping with her anxiety either. She tried to ask him what was happening, but he just shook his head and said the same thing every time.

"Look at the ground and don't look up, don't look anywhere."

"Evan what-"

A gunshot caused Evelyn to pause and turn to the square, but Evan forced her to look back at the ground and didn't let her head go until they made it to their houses. At that point, her anxiety was crushing her and she felt like she couldn't breathe. Everything around the village was normal, but it all felt eerily silent.

"What's happening?" The victor asked her brother, and she raised her tone so he'd actually answer her.

Sasha's face was pale when he caught up with them, and he glanced at Evan before turning back to Evelyn, "What the hell did Snow tell you at that party?"

"I told you-"

"Now's not the time to lie, kid."

"Will someone just tell me what happened?"

Her mentor threw his hands up in frustration and muttered something under his breath as he walked away, and Evelyn didn't try to stop him. She didn't understand what was happening or why he was getting so frustrated, but she needed to understand what was going on.

Evan watched Sasha walk away for a moment before clearing his throat. "Look, as much as I want to believe that the Laines protested or broke some sort of rule that can't be true. Everything was calm during the day yesterday, and suddenly in the middle of the night, the whole damn district is woken up by screaming and peacekeepers shouting."

The victor's heart dropped to her stomach and she felt a horrible feeling of guilt wash through her. "That gunshot?"

"I'm assuming by the look on Sasha's face that yeah, they killed them," Evan nodded, and he had a solemn look on his face. "Evelyn, just tell us what you did."

Evelyn's throat was too dry to speak, and she simply sat on the stairs leading up to her door with her head in her hands. Evan was begging for some sort of explanation but she couldn't give him it. She felt awful and it was like everything was crashing down around her again. She had gotten the Laines, a family who didn't even deserve it, killed. They were dead because she was a fool. The girl had believed she was invincible, and Snow had proven her wrong. Sasha had warned her and Snow had warned her, yet she was so selfish and self-centered she didn't listen to anyone.

She looked up when she heard a child laugh, and Sasha's sister was running around his front yard. At first, it was a cute site, but then it turned into something else. Just like everything else in Panem.

The girl was holding something in her hand as she ran: a perfect, fresh, and elegant white rose.

The victor pushed herself off the steps and told her brother one thing, "I need to speak to Snow."

"What?" Evan's eyes widened, "What do you mean you need to speak to Snow? No, you don't Evelyn, don't be ridiculous."

He tried to grab her arm, but she brushed it off and headed toward the city center. Some peacekeepers would have to listen to her. She needed to speak with Snow. She needed to tell him that he agreed to his terms, or else Sasha's sister and probably mother would end up dead. Sasha would never talk to her again. Of course. Snow wasn't aiming to kill anybody she was super close to; he wanted Evelyn to be all alone.

✮

Evelyn hated it when she was in Snow's office, but the parasite being in her home was even worse. Evan was in his house; she hadn't told him anything about the meeting. She didn't even tell him that Snow was going to come to District 8 to talk to her.

"You win," Evelyn muttered, standing up with her arms crossed as Snow sat at her desk, "Congratulations."

Snow smiled coldly, "Oh, dear Ms. Brinley, you are still misunderstanding everything that just happened. There was never a game. I knew I would win in the end."

"Yeah, yeah," The victor said impatiently, "What do you want me to do."

"It's simple," The president shrugged, "You simply allow my residents to buy you, they pay you, and you spend a night with them. If you don't do anything stupid everything will be fine."

"Okay."

Snow raised his eyebrow, "Okay? No argument? You were quite confident the day before."

"Yeah, well I'm not arguing now."

"Wonderful, I knew killing that family would work. And the roses too. Well, have a good day, Ms. Brinley. I'm sure we'll see each other again."

Snow walked out the door without another word, leaving Evelyn alone to think. She didn't like anything about what she just agreed to, but she couldn't get anyone else killed. Nobody in the district had said anything, but they all knew it was her fault the Laines were dead. She could feel it in the way they all stared at her as she walked by. She could see how mothers would rush their young children past her. It was as if they were all scared to talk to her. They all thought if they talked to her they'd be next. Oh, don't get too close to her. She got the Laines killed.

And now everyone was going to blame her for every tribute that ended up dead. District 8 wasn't a winning district; the three wins in the last five were pure luck. That meant she was going to have to lead children straight to their deaths if she didn't mentor them right, and some of them could be as young as Jordan was.

It would've been better if she had just died in the arena.

✮ 𝑫𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒂'𝒔 𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒔 ✮

Sorry for the short chapter, this is the last chapter of Act 2 so there wasn't a lot to put. I'll probably upload CF today too.

Also, I'm not going to go into detail about the whole selling thing because I don't want this book to become mature. I have a 17-year-old as a face claim and I REALLY don't wanna write out those weird ass scenes.

P.S. I like totally forgot to add Finnick to this Act