Molly Malachite D1 {fin}

Name: Molly Malachite

Age: 14

Gender: F

District: 1


“Wow, look, so many shinies!” thought Molly Malachite as she strolled through District 1. From infancy, Molly had had a fascination with everything that sparkled. It didn’t even have to be expensive, like the various gems her parents worked with in their profession as jewelers. Even something as mundane as glass would strike Molly’s interests when the light from the sun would hit in just the right way. In fact, nothing fascinated Molly more than taking pieces of colored glass and playing with them outside, seeing if she can make them reflect colors on top of one another. She called her creations masterpieces and could devote hours to manipulating the shiny fragments.

When she would see the sun reflect in pools of water, she would slow her pace so she could take it in, watch it reflect on her face. A part of her wished she lived in District 4, where she could watch the shimmering ocean every day. But she knew it wasn’t worth it. Why give herself one more shiny when it would mean giving up all the ones that surrounded her already?

Like the ones Molly loved to wear. She never left the house looking bland. That would be boring. No, she needed to make sure she was the shiniest girl in school. An only child, her parents’ treasure, Molly always had enough sparkles to decorate herself. Even without any additions, though, her bright blond hair, streaming down her shoulders, already gleamed under the sun’s light. But no, that wasn’t enough of course. She had to add sparkles to her long lashes, accentuating the deep blue of her eyes, fill her lips with the most glimmering pink lipstick she could get her little hands on, and sprinkle glitter down her thin pale arms.

Without the sparkles, Molly sometimes worried she didn’t look good enough. After all, she was pretty, but she wasn’t the curviest girl around. She was just barely 5' tall and more on the skinny side, though still healthy of course. Her parents wouldn’t let the little gem starve. What worried her most, though, was her nose. She always felt that it stuck out way too much. “How could anyone appreciate all my shinies with that big old thing in the way?” she would ask herself. No matter what she thought, when decorated, Molly was sure to turn heads whenever she walked into a classroom at school.

Her teacher didn’t like her much, which was understandable. When Molly had been young, the shiny sticker she would get for doing well was motivation to try in class. Once the students got too old to be rewarded with shinies, she lost her drive. After all, the chalk and board on which the daily lessons were written were boring, they didn’t even glimmer a little bit. So instead of focusing on her work, Molly would spend the entirety of the day staring outside for the sun to reflect off the ground in just the right angle. More often though, she would twirl her arms around, watching all of the glitter sparkle in the air, and if it drew some boy’s attention, she didn’t mind. She appreciated anyone who liked shinies even half as much as she did. That’s why she got along so well with her two best friends. They weren’t as obsessed with them as she was, but they could certainly appreciate the beauty of glitter, which may have been one of the reasons they all shared a favored training weapon.

Even Molly, who wanted nothing more than to live in a world full of glitter, had to train for the games. Her normally upbeat and cheerful personality made it seem like she could never harm another living creature. To be fair, she would much rather watch an ant gleam in the light than squash it beneath her shoe. But she always reveled at the chance to go train, especially when they had target practice outside. She absolutely adored throwing knives. They were the most beautiful weapons, so shiny in her arms and as she tossed them in the air. When she would fire them at her targets, she would jump for joy as she watched a continuous shiny streak travel the distance between her and them. She did not truly understand the danger the knives posed, or at least, she did not mind it. All that mattered was that they shined oh so bright, and that was enough to keep Molly’s joy alight.

The duller or darker a room was, however, the more Molly’s cheerful personality would fade. Even at the age of 14, she refused to sleep in the dark. Her childhood fear of it had never truly left her, and she saw it as a presence that wanted to take away her shinies. As a result, Molly’s room contained a diamond-shaped nightlight, which shed light on every crevice. Its ambiance was amplified by the two glass pillars on either side of Molly’s bed, surrounding the girl with a glow even when she slept.

A curious girl, Molly spends her days with only one thing on her mind – her shinies. Radiating a brightness that she surrounds herself with, how ironic is it that light is the very thing that brings out the darkness within her, the ability to become a ruthless Career and a killing machine.