The flame will burn forever {Leticia's funeral}

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Sleepy Fluttershy
District Mayor

970 POSTS

last seen Mar 30, 2022 16:20:24 GMT -5

«Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm». (Winston Churchill)

The flame will burn forever {Leticia's funeral} Mar 6, 2017 14:24:51 GMT -5

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Post by Sleepy Fluttershy on Mar 6, 2017 14:24:51 GMT -5

Aileen Wheeler.

I am standing in front of my sister's mangled body. Three broken bones, one huge blood stain in the place where her heart was supposed to be beating right now. This heart deserved to be beating more than anyone else's in that Arena.

Since the very moment when I saw her face change after that boy volunteered I have known that she didn't go up that stage by choice. I don't know who he is and why she cared about him so much. I can still remember her calling that guy an idiot when she stood there next to him. I don't remember much after that. I think I was crying and trying to punch one of the Peacekeepers in the stomach by one of my twiggy elbows until I was dragged away by my mother. I don't know what I was trying to change when her choice was made already. It was probably just a tantrum.

I remember those last five minutes we spent together, though.

“I am sorry! I really am! But I had to do it! Luke, just trust me, I had to, okay?”

And a desperate look in the eyes. I don't know if she realized that I know why she had to yell the two words that changed the life of our family forever.

“I am sorry about being such a jerk, sis! I really love you! Please, take care of them! Stay safe, okay?”

You had never been a jerk, Leticia, you were just never afraid to be yourself and express your feelings openly – something I have never been capable of...

It all began in a few days and in the first few seconds of the Games her leg was broken by some guy from district one. Maybe he didn't mean it, but my only sister was injured and barely escaped from the Bloodbath. If her ally wasn't there to help her, she wouldn't have made it until the next day. I was feeling so grateful to that dark haired fairy from district ten and even believed that together they could manage anything, but only for a while. My sister was in pain and there was no one there to actually treat her injury and deep bruises all over her body...

After she bumped into the two other tributes, one of which was trying to lay her hands on the bracelet I gave her, my heart sank. In a few minutes I saw another bone cracking in Leticia's leg. After I saw her throwing my gift at the greedy district one, I couldn't endure this any longer. I ran to my room and locked the door. I took the paperclips I had saved to make a birthday present for my mom and started making another bracelet. When the last rose was finished, I tucked it into my pocket and sat on my bed, crying. Leticia's room was next to mine in that attic and now I was left alone...

Another day came and my sister could survive then, if she just ran away when she saw those tributes. But Leticia was never running when someone she cared about was in trouble. And the reward she got for trying to help another boy from our district, whom she didn't even seem to know before the Games, was a red spear in her chest.

When it happened, tears flooded my mother's shoulder as I buried my face in her arms. But before that, I saw her lips moving and could only understand one word that escaped her mouth – Marcus. Was she in love? Or were they just close friends? It is hard to tell now. Maybe that guy won't even live to tell his district partner about Leticia's death.

I make another step towards my sister's corpse, take the new bracelet out of my pocket and put into the middle of the red spot.

“I am sorry, sister. I promise I will tell him if he comes back,” - I whisper quietly. Was it all even worth it? The tears of sorrow and regret are streaming down my face. Maybe that blond boy is not who she had thought he was. Maybe when she was drawing that picture of him on the floor, he wasn't even thinking about her. I saw him kill a girl after Leticia passed away. I wouldn't think he could be anything but selfish and ignorant if my sister didn't give everything she had to go after him...

Yes, it was worth it. It definitely was. We will never see her again. But the last thing she did was showing us that nothing could break her. She didn't kill anyone and only fought to protect the ones who needed it, forgetting about herself. She never lost hope. She never stopped believing in the people around her.

She signed her death sentence by trying to protect her district partner and her own loyalty might have killed her, but it also made her who she was – my sister, my friend, my one and only brave hero. And I will never forget this. I wish I could at least be a little more like Leticia. I will try my best to live like I am both me and her, to always do the right thing, like she did. She might be dead, but a memory of her will never disappear.

Mom and Luke are standing behind me. They are the only family I have left now. Leticia always did her best to make Luke's life as good as it could be for someone who will never walk again...

"I love you, sister. Don't worry, I'll take care of them for you, I promise," - I whisper, kissing her on the cheek.

And then I burst into tears, sobbing quietly. I have to accept that she is not here anymore, but it is too hard to make myself think that everything will be all right.

(graphics by Kaplan)

☆GABRIELLE☆

kap
Retired Staff

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last seen Apr 18, 2024 21:10:25 GMT -5

goomy goomy on the brain

The flame will burn forever {Leticia's funeral} Apr 3, 2017 9:27:20 GMT -5

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Post by kap on Apr 3, 2017 9:27:20 GMT -5

-----Josephine Wheeler-----

tag: Wheeler Family // words: 446 // notes: Rest in peace, Leticia

As Josephine awoke that dreaded morning, she was up and out of bed before her remaining children were. She wanted to be ready before they woke up so that she could comfort them immediately. Josie had always been an extremely caring woman. She cared for her family more than anything else, which is part of why she still couldn't place why her daughter would volunteer for the Hunger Games. It wasn't that she didn't think Leticia could win. No, she had plenty of confidence in her daughter's survival skills. It was more so that she feared that another tribute would have those same skills, but perhaps a bit more fine tuned.

That was exactly how it ended up.

Leticia had tried her very best in the Games to survive. Josie knew that. She knew her daughter wasn't just throwing her life away, but it was still hard to believe that she'd left by choice. Even if Leticia had survived and become victorious in the Games, she would be different. There was no way anyone could stay the way they were before they entered the arena by the time they left. Surely killing another living, breathing human being would change someone. Josephine just couldn't allow herself to imagine Leticia killing someone else. She also, however, didn't want to imagine her daughter dying, but it was too late for that. It had become reality as soon as the final weapon pierced her skin.

Today was Leticia's funeral.

Josephine got ready for the gloomy day in silence. She brushed her hair out as nicely as she could and put it back, then adorning herself in a long sleeved black dress and a silver-colored necklace. It wasn't real silver; they needed that kind of money for more important things. This was costume jewelry, but looked nice nonetheless. When she finished getting ready, she went to wake up her remaining children.

Upon arriving at the funeral, Josephine knew she had to be the protective mother. She had to stay strong and hold back her tears, despite her wanting to sob upon seeing her daughter's mangled, deceased corpse. She watched as one of her other children began to cry, then whispering to her sister's body and planting a kiss on her cheek. Josie knew that she couldn't just stand there with her child in tears, and quickly went over to embrace her in a motherly hug. After a moment, when Josephine released her living daughter, she made her way over to Leticia's body to say her own goodbyes.

"Leticia, you will remain my beautiful girl, even in death. I miss you more than you can ever imagine. We won't forget about you, dear. Rest in peace, my darling."

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Gryphon
Career Tribute

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last seen Aug 31, 2020 22:24:24 GMT -5

heading to cloud nine

The flame will burn forever {Leticia's funeral} Jul 1, 2017 4:43:09 GMT -5

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Post by Gryphon on Jul 1, 2017 4:43:09 GMT -5

♔ r u s s e l l v a n a l p h e n. ♔

It's something unimaginable.

The Quell twist this year was volunteers-only. Unless somebody stepped up to the stage because they wanted to and not because they had to, they'd make the entire district starve.

I'd much rather die of hunger than watch somebody get themself killed out of their own free will, but not everybody feels the same way.

Seven people thought otherwise, in fact.

It was horrifying, watching the hands fly up and hearing the words out of multiple voices, shrill and deep, before the faces belonging to them went up the stairs for the entire nation to see.

They all wanted to die.

Three boys and four girls, they stuck their necks out for the kids from the other districts to chop off. Life was already bleak for so many people in my neighborhood but this has to be the kicker for them, and I don't know what to feel or to think anymore.

So I buried my soul in work instead of continuing my search for what I want, what we all want deep down despite them letting darkness wash over their gazes and graveness take hold of their faces.

Because if I thought my chances of finding the happiness everybody needed were incredibly slim before, there's no way in hell I'll be able to find it now.

So I focused on the weight in my hands as I lifted it up and brought it back onto columns of wood, the calluses that formed on them during my lunch breaks, the sound of my voice as nature's pillars fell to the earthy floor with a booming thud.

Because I didn't want to watch as more than double the amount of tributes fought to the death in an arena fresh out of some kind of painting made by one of our past victors herself, the twisty girl from two who can breathe fire and snuff out the ones of fifty-something others on top of twenty-three more from her own Games.

I hate her.

She was bred to be just like them but even worse, she got the power to actually be one of them. All they did was crush people's hopes in the palm of their hands, squeeze it between their fingers and torture families all across Panem rich to poor, there was no way we could ever escape pain without this happening every damn year and sometimes, I don't even know if I'll ever be able to.

I'm the only one seeking for the answer to a curious childhood question of innocence anymore in the patch of houses I live at and I wish I didn't have to be so alone in the endeavor all the time. It'd make my quest easier, wouldn't it?

To have somebody like-minded by my side and aiding me in this mission to bring smiles upon other people's faces, the glow back to their gazes, the dimples and wrinkles in their expressions from smiling so wide and bright it contorts their faces to something less recognizable?

But I guess in the end, everything that brings about the signs of hope and happiness is near-impossible to attain.

I'm slowly becoming like the people around me and I don't want to end up like them.

It's all so difficult.

Especially when Aileen invites me to her sister's funeral.

She only lasted a day, she told me, and it happened quick--she was killed by a Hope, a girl with the blood of tributes past just like others before and others to come.

It's all just so fucking difficult.

And when I get there, with Aileen and I presume her mother and brother by her side in front of the coffin that holds Leticia Wheeler's body, all I hear is suppressed sobbing.

It's all just so fucking difficult.

My lips curl into a frown and I make my way over to the trio and stand on Aileen's opposite, free side, wrapping an arm around her shoulder as a sigh swirls out of my lips like cold air and I just stare at what remains of yet another lost family member.

It's all just so fucking difficult.

"I'm sorry, Aileen." My eyes tear away from the body and move to my feet. "I may not have known her, but I do know that she was family--and nobody deserves to lose their family like this.

Never like this."

Maybe I'm just drunk on the idea of taking away what is only nonexistent in dreams, in images seen in our head and made in our head. Ideas, fiction, no matter which form it takes it is all unrealistic and unseen in humanity.

I wish I could sober up already, then, but it's too bad I'm still intoxicating myself because I still want to believe that it can be done.