Flash Back Games (Closed)

Silence wasn’t something Everest was used to. The training halls in District 2 were filled with angry shouts and brawls, or knives hitting dummies. The games always has some background noise, either that of a tumbling building, rubble hitting the ground, a cannon, or even something as simple as background laughter from his group.

Most of said group, he felt, he would never see again.

But silence was what he knew now. Other than soft words spoken with Amadrya, they simply waited for the return of the third tribute, Holly, but silence. Long, long silence.

Moments before, he and Amadrya had been talking, about District 7 and District 2, slightly about their families. For a girl he came to love, Everest felt terrible that he could have known so little. And yet, hearing her words only made his feelings grow, as like falling in love with Amadrya Darrow all over again.

And no, as much as he wanted to admit that his feeling for Darrow were just a crush, he knew it wasn’t. It physically hurt when Louden would have peacekeepers beat her, it wrenched his heart. He would die for her.

And it made the guilt so much worse, he almost killed them in the Arena, he thought about it, at least. At the time, the win mattered, making it home, a victor, was his goal. But her response, her sullen, but understanding reaction hurt.

“Darrow,” he commented, he wasn’t always the best at expressing feelings, but to her, it came easier, “In the arena, when I got the message to-“ he couldn’t even repeat the message, it hurt to think about, filling him with guilt, and she seemed to get the point anyways, simply nodding at him. He sucked in a breath, nodding at that, “I’m sorry.” He tagged on, lamely.

“You were raised to think like that, I was upset at first, but now that our days are numbered, I don’t want to be angry anymore.” Amadrya commented, seemingly okay with what he ad done. Then again, she did have a point, they would most likely live out short lives in a cell. Why waste time thinking about the ast and being angry?

But he couldn’t leave it there, that hurt too much, “I wouldn’t have done it-“

“Everest...”

He glared her direction, a cell to his left, too far in his opinion, “No, I couldn’t have lived with it, killing you-“ he felt his cheeks warm, tagging on a “All,” before continuing, “It would have killed me.”

“Maybe it would be better than this,” She stated simply, staring forward, “For what it’s worth, forget about it, it’s in the past. We can’t change it,”

“Maddie-“ He started, and that’s when the gunshot sounded, echoing though the halls. The conversation was forgotten as they both hopped up onto their feet, gripping the cell bars as if doing so would give them better access in regards to looking down the hall.

He contemplated what it could have been, dully, and sullen, because he already knows and one look at Amadrya reveals that she does too.

Still, his mind thinks in overdrive. He had heard distant shouts, too distant and distorted to hear, and not at all loud or shout-like when they finally echoed into the cells. But he could tell anger when he heard it even in whispers. Holly had been gone, and hadn’t yet returned.

Would Louden already make an example this early on?

“Maybe it’s a rebellion, maybe they’ll save us?” He suggested, but he doubted it, more than one gunshot would be heard. Inside he knew it had to do with Holly.

Louden must have killed her, her sharp tongue...he must have. But that didn’t make sense, wouldn’t he want tributes to be tortured, in pain, not killed in such a quick manner.

“I doubt it,” Amadrya said, looking rather upset. For some reason, Amadrya and Holly seemed to have some mutual understanding, to the fact that Amadrya was willing to save Holly in exchange for betraying the other Careers. But he kind of understood, seeing Macaria fall for Alessandro was not the same, but similar. Macaria was his District Partner, he knew her for a long time because of the academy, and he knew Alessandro was going to break her heart. Alessandro was deadest on the win, as was Macaria, but it was different, Everest was rooting for Macaria, behind himself of course, up until Alessandro and her started flirting.

Suffice to say, Everest hoped the two were okay, not pressured by death no longer(at least, not to fight to the death), they would finally have a chance to be normal kids, teens in love doing normal teenager stuff, instead of training to kill other children,

Then again, Everest didn’t have that option, and no one could really do that when part of a revolution, but whatever.

He could dream, and hope, that one day he could, even if that was unrealistic.

But it was silent then, the shot was a broken memory for a moment, and Amadrya didn’t speak either. The silence was consuming, they both worried over their friend.

Footsteps, and his gaze locked up, he was still standing, gripping the bars tightly. But Louden was alone, some blood along his grey suit, and Everest felt a chill through his spine.

“What the hell did you do to her?” He surprised himself with the bold words, and the anger they held. But Louden only chuckled in response, and it was dread.

She had to be dead.

“Is she dead?” Amadrya asked, echoing his angry thoughts and Louden’s annoyed look gave Everest some hope.

Maybe..

But Louden didn’t answer.

---

It was a week, a week of torture, or beatings, and of waiting. Every day the doubt grew, Holly was dead.

Holly was dead.

He was comforted by Amadrya, he wasn’t all to close to Holly, but even the small amount of time in the cells built a bond. Her raging fire, never dying, was comforting.

But silence, he and Amadrya didn’t fight in fear of hurting one another, and no voice was there to snark to Louden. The fight was gone, but inside it reigned. A fight, and he was starting to lose control.

He wanted to fight back.

Footsteps, again, broke that silence he and Amadrya held. He looked up, not expecting much, another beating, yes, but he felt the faintest of smiles.

She returned, just as she left. Except, she was different. She was bandaged, her left shoulder was, and she wore a grimace. Yet that was all. No words spoken.

That was the difference in her, no fight, no snark. Her voice was gone, silenced, and her gaze was so blank and distant and hollow just like her old Capitol nickname suggested. She wore a look of acceptance, of pain, and of fear.

She was afraid before, accepted the predicament, and had experienced the pain. But something troubling hid in her gaze, a willingness and haunted thing.

Before he could take up anymore time questioning her silence, what Louden had done to her to kill her flame, his cell was unlocked, and he was being beaten once more. Amadrya’s wide, saddened eyes trailed him, he could spot them from his curled up position, but she no longer cried, learning it made the punishment worse for him, and not only in a physical way.

Seeing her tears, her cries of terror and pain, broke him more than their punches and blows.

Yet he was hit by Deja Vu, when they stopped, and a small clink hit the floor. A baton, right before Holly’s cell.

She felt the Deja Vu too, and Everest was in his cell, this time locked. Louden was moving on to Amadrya.

He could see it, the taunt tension her gaze held, the contemplation, and he felt a ghost of relief when her hand snaked slightly out of the cage. Closer, closer, closer, and mayhem Amadeya wouldn’t be tortured again today, maybe she could get rest.

Closer and it stopped. Her green eyes flickered to Everest, and just as quickly she retracted back, like a turtle into a shell, curled into a ball.

And Amadrya cried, pain lacing each hit, and he was helpless to aid her, to ease the pain. He had to watch, and the baton just lay there.

That night, no one talked. No one probed, no one asked. Holly wasn’t beaten, instead, when he and Amadrya were given scraps, she was not.

Figures, Louden couldn’t push her past some physical limit, but he could sure starve her instead.

But that’s where it was left. And the next day came, he didn’t know when, he didn’t know the time.

He was, seemingly, the first to wake, but when his eyes fluttered open, he noticed that indeed he wasn’t.

Holly was to his right, in her cell, curled up in the same ball with just her head poking out, staring ahead. Her fingers idly traced her arm, lightly tapping, drawing symbols and figures, and he was almost intrigued in what exactly she was doing.

She was silent, he knew, but a closer look, even in the dark revealed that soft, quiet tears littered down her cheeks, and he frowned. Not because she was crying, but because he spied on her doing so.

Turning over, he forced himself back to sleep, letting the image of the woman he loved fill his mind, easing away the visions of broken girl’s crying and strong one’s being beaten.

---

“Holly-“ Amadrya pressed from his left, he knew it was futile, it had been a rather peaceful few days, no beatings, not really, probably a false calm. Yet the peacekeepers came with their food, placing it before the cells. This time Holly had some, and thus lead to the current issue.

She didn’t touch it, she only looked at it for a moment before going stoic again.

“You have to eat, you have to talk,” Amadrya pressed, and he sighed, Holly wasn’t going to talk, she hadn’t since she returned, and this was her first meal since. She had to be hungry, he was sure.

But she didn’t eat, and she didn’t talk. And he knew she wasn’t going to do either that day. Not by choice. She may look broken, but she was a fighter under all that broken armor, her silence may be for a whole other reason than brokenness, but he doubted it. She still seemed snide at times, often glaring at him or Maddie when they said something stupid, or well, that she considered stupid.

Then again, she was always an odd little book. Amadrya was not much easier, but he preferred her. But he did grow closer to the girl in the cell to his right, almost like a sibling. One he felt bad for.

And Amadrya’s words were ignored, as they always were. Holly ignored them both, and he knew she wasn’t an avox, she mouthed things, he could see her tongue, and despite her best efforts, sometimes she would wake him or Amadrya with her cries and whimpers in her sleep.

She wasn’t an avox, just quiet.

And she wasn’t the one Everest should have been watching.

---

He fell asleep earlier, Holly already had dozed off, and he and Amadrya were talking. He was beaten, the only for the day, just hours earlier. The pain lingered, this was a worse one than usual. More public, electroshock wasn’t fun, and it was his first experience with it on that day.

Amadrya had of course been worried, his screams still streamed down the halls, and he had only grown closer to her.

Despite his pain, he should have stayed up, been there, to tell her no.

But he was helpless, in the fingers and claws of his sleep, Amadrya, to his left, was left awake, to the upcoming footfalls that’s fell on his deaf ears.

He thought it was just some crazy dream at that moment, a figment of a dream, but he came to realize hours later that he should have been watching Amadrya closer, that he should have been there.

But he wasn’t, and Amadrya had agreed when Louden offered it.

“Let’s make a deal.”

And he wishes he would have just been content with the silence instead.