Maverick Duke | District 3 | FIN

You think you are a tough guy don’t you?

A boy made of amber that cant be touched because he doesn’t let people come close to him. Its easier this way? That is what he tells himself as he tried to traverse life as it was in three.

He wasn’t afraid of anything, a modern renegade turned bookworm turned rebel turned melancholy in the course of a couple months.

---

He never used to be like this.

He grew up with a vision of how his life was supposed to be as told by his parents. Twins were always a blessing in the world of Panem, at least how his parents saw it. Two mouths to feed, but two chances to make things right. The Dukes did not waste any time trying to push them into a future that they knew little about.

They were told they had to excel at everything.

They did, but one grew resentful of it, and it wasn’t Maverick. He wasn’t afraid of a challenge, rising to many occasions simply because he was bored. He could solve riddles in seconds, puzzles in minutes, and full mathematical anomalies in less than an hour as long as he had the right materials at his disposal. He always had favor from his parents because of this. A boy that was obedient and smart? That was hard to come by in a world like this, and Maverick could check every box that could double as a dream for them.

Charisma on the other hand would always be different.

They were always compared to each other, and while they truly were the same side of a coin, there was one major difference between both. Maverick listened. Charisma did not. She was full of spunk and confidence and always marched to the beat of her own drum, even when growing up side by side. Maverick would do what he was told and Charisma would do the opposite. Their parents knew that they had two gifted children, but one would not sit still. 

They called her a lost cost and stopped focusing on her for that exact reason.

---

And Maverick tried to make things work.

Of course, when the world was thrusted on his shoulders, he was expected to collapse. His parents were monsters at the end of the day, but their expectations could drive a man to insanity.  Maverick on the other hand thrived on them. He expected nothing more then perfection because his parents did as well, and even then he knew his parents expected far more than just perfection, whatever that meant to them.

Charisma always had a way of acting out, and Maverick always tried to cover for her. He cared, and that was the one thing that Charisma had always loved about her twin brother.

However, they still found ways to never see eye to eye.

No matter how similar they seemed, they would always be different.

---

And even now, as the house grew silent, Maverick still wonders what could have been. Had his sister not volunteered for the games, what would have become of her? Would she have left like she had always wanted? Would she have stayed and tried to make things right with the family? Would she take him with her?

Its hard accepting the fact that she was gone, and even now he tries to block it out by locking himself in his room and drowning himself in literature that he had already learned years ago. Anything to keep his mind busy at this point. He didn’t care that he was ignoring his family, or trying to find a distraction that would keep his mind off the last words they shared. Charisma was a part of him that now he would never get back, and having to accept that was the cruelest thing thrusted upon him.

The saddest part was that no one seemed to care like he did, and even his parents carried on with their own business, not even lamenting over their daughters demise. Maybe it was a touchy subject, a cruel dream that no one wanted to admit was reality. Maybe they just wanted to pretend that everything was alright, even though it was always clear that nothing truly would be alright. 

Cruel was the only word that Maverick could associate at this point with the whole situation, even at the funeral, no one cried for her.

Not even him.

Maybe he was becoming numb himself, or maybe he just didn’t know how to process death like a normal boy who lost a part of his world that he would never get back.

Even though he could solve the toughest of problems, he still would never understand the equation of Charisma Duke.

But he would spend the rest of his life trying to find it.