booze and bitterness [open]

[kap]

marina summers

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this time,

this time

Marina was stressed out, to say the least. After watching the bloodbath on the TV in her home with her parents, she had stepped outside, smoked a cigarette to try to chill out, and simply hoped that nothing else too drastic was going to happen in the Hunger Games for the rest of the day. So, she called up a friend who often threw parties, and asked if she was having one tonight, because it would be a good distraction from what was going on.

Luckily, Marina's friend came through with exactly what was needed. A party: people, chatting, dancing, alcohol and most importantly, no streaming of the Hunger Games. Her friend had promised her that. The television would remain off during the party, no matter what. If anyone turned it on and refused to turn it off when asked, they'd get kicked out, even if it caused a scene.

So, Marina made her way to the party. A lot of the parties that happened within walking distance of her house nowadays mostly consisted of a bunch of older career kids, which was something Marina had gotten used to, she supposed. She was almost always one of the older ones at the party, being twenty-three years old, but as long as no one else was bothered by it, she wasn't either. It wasn't like she was there for anything but alcohol and friendly, platonic drunken conversations, anyway.

When Marina got to her friend's house, she didn't have to knock. She had been told to just come inside. With the volume that the music was at, Marina was honestly surprised she'd heard her friend so well over the phone, and that her friend had even heard the phone ring to begin with.

She was greeted when she entered, but not by anyone she knew. She supposed that didn't matter, though. Marina didn't necessarily need to be around her friends tonight. She just wanted booze and someone to talk to, whether or not she knew them. So, she got her first drink: some sort of cheap beer out of a keg. It wasn't the typical for her friend's parties, but then again, neither was this amount of people. She must've gone the cheaper route knowing she'd have so many people.

Maybe there were a lot of people trying to get away from the thought of the Games after the death of the other District Four tribute, Anarchy. That was certainly possible. That, or people were celebrating the start of the Games. Marina supposed that was more likely. Nevertheless, if she could avoid talking about the Games, she'd do it at all costs.

After finishing her first drink and heading to get another, Marina saw a small group of guys her age that she recognized from when they used to career train together. She spoke to them for a little bit, got frustrated inwardly when one of them asked how she was handling the Games, and then continued to head over to get her drink while walking away as politely as she could from them, a little irritated but trying not to show it.

Once Marina retrieved her drink, she leaned up against a wall, and allowed herself to get lost in thought about Nixie for a moment or two. At first she told herself that she had no reason to be thinking about Nixie right now. Then she really thought about it: she had every reason to be thinking about her and to be upset about the situation right now. Her sister was in the Hunger Games, for Ripred's sake. She shook the thoughts from her head, however, when she heard a voice.

"Huh?" Marina asked, looking at the person who'd just spoken to her. She realized she must've looked kind of strange, zoned out and lost in thought, leaning up against a wall, and now she was asking the person what they'd said to her.

Just great, she was one of the oldest people here and probably still looked stupid anyway.

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661 words

turning white

and senses dying

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Thank you, Arx!
lyrics: "Into the Fire" by Thirteen Senses