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When Oli woke up his eyes inevitably landed on the dusty guitar hanging on his bedroom wall. He hadn’t played it in a few years, but for the first time in a long time looking at it did not fill him with dread and regret, but with hope.
When he was 19, Oli had been the best musician of his generation, talented with multiple instruments and his voice, many people had believed he’d have gone on to have a brilliant career in the entertainment industry. His parents had other ideas. Both had been Gamemakers back in their day, and had earned quite a fortune from their work, so they had decided that working in the Life Games was the only acceptable career path for their son. Oli hadn’t had quite the grades required to become a Gamemaker, but his mother had ensured him a spot to train as a Capitol Escort, so that’s what he became.
Oli was good at his job, no doubt in that at all, but he’d never once felt like he’d made the right choice. Still for the past two years he had made his way out to District 3 and dutifully followed the procedure required of him. He always handled everything smoothly, made the right friends, both with his colleagues and with the richer folks in District 3. Nothing ever made him truly happy, and the dreadful feeling he was wasting his life clung to him everyday, until yesterday.
Oli had been making his way back to the apartment after a particularly gruelling meeting in preparation for the upcoming Life Games, when Jevin had stopped him.
“Hey! Hi, how are you?”
He didn’t know Jev well, and the last thing he wanted was to strike up a conversation, alas he was polite and too friendly looking for his own good.
“Hey Jev, I’m great, just enjoying summer finally starting. What about you?”
“Doing great, though I’d be better if I didn’t just sit through that. Every year it’s always the same thing. Like we get it…”
Oli nodded, not sure how to answer.
“Look I gotta talk to you about something, in private, do you wanna grab a drink at my place.”
“Oh… Oh?”
“Gosh not like that! I got aircon and some lovely whiskey, and nothing like that.”
Oli chuckled at the clarification,Jevin had a reputation for getting weirdly close with everyone, but he still decided to join him, if anything, to get in the good graces of one of the most influential families of Panem.
“Sure, I’ll come over, is the whiskey from 7?”
“You got a taste for that? Honestly I’m more of a scotch guy but the particular bottle I’m thinking of is indeed from District 7. Come, after that meeting we deserve a treat.”
The conversation stayed light all the way until they got to Jevin’s apartment, Oli was a natural at small talk and Jev let him lead the conversation.
“Here we come to my humble abode.”
The humble abode was the fanciest apartment that Oli had seen, and also one of the messier ones, which was weird because usually all the richest in Panem had Avoxes picking up after them. As they made their way to a marginally less disorganised library, furnished with three comfortable armchairs, Oli noticed a framed picture sitting on the fireplace mantle. Jevin’s graduating class at the Academy, all in their fancy red dresses, he was almost unrecognisable but right next to him sat Wels who still looked the same, give or take a few piercings.
“So you weren’t always blue?”
Jev followed his eyes over to the picture and chuckled as he poured two glasses of a dark spirit.
“A lifetime ago, but you never forget your Academy years.”
He made his way to what was clearly the most word chair, gesturing for Oli to sit in front of him.
“The reason I asked you to come is because any other apartment in the Capitol is bugged.”
“I don’t have bugs in my apartment. I clean up after myself thank you very much. Unlike you.”
“Not what I meant. I mean that every single home in the Capitol has hidden cameras and microphones to monitor and track us.”
“Right, and the government puts drugs in our water to keep us docile. You are sounding like a conspiracy theorist.”
“Well yes, sometimes they do. But also, not a theory, and I can prove it to you.”
“Sure you can.”
“Last night you went to bed at 2:24AM, after having a few, even if you were already tipsy from the club, and for some reason you stared at your guitar for 13 minutes before actually getting in bed. Also your pajamas with the lime dots are adorable.”
Oli shot up from his seat.
“What the fuck. How do you know that? Have you been stalking me, you weirdo.”
Calmly, Jec picked up a tablet from his desk, and turned it on to play a video. Oli’s empty apartment, exactly as he’d left it that morning. Then he sped the video backwards, until Oli saw himself leaving his home, drinking his coffee, coming out of the bathroom.
“Alright. Why do you have this? And why are you showing me?”
“We have hacked into the surveillance system. I have access to every home in the Capitol. I normally don't use it to watch people, but it allows me to alter the recordings of my own home so that they can’t see or hear us right now.”
Oli sat back down, and took a small sip of his drink.
“Who’s we?”
“The Rebellion. The People of the Hog. It’s the resistance against the oppression in Panem. We are getting closer and closer to stopping the Games, but to do it we need everyone working on them to help us. So here I am, asking you to join us.”
“That’s crazy. Like completely insane. Why are you doing this? I mean, I’ve seen the lives of the people out in the Districts, I can see why they want it to change. But you, I mean you could be President one day.”
“That’s right, I could. Still I never could really believe in the Capitol, it’s my calling to help people. And being as powerful as I am, I can. But not if I’m complicit in the horror that the Capitol brings, not only upon the Districts – even if they definitely have it worst – but it’s own as well. Just not being up to their standards gets you shunned, or made into an Avox. But I’m sure I don't need to tell you that.”
“How do I help?”
“Wow, just like that?”
“I mean, yes. I want to help. I never wanted to work in the Games anyway. Now you tell me there’s a chance to stop it, so I’m in.”
“Alright, great! First I’d say take one of these pills, unless you wanna forget this whole conversation.”
Jevin handed him a small pill from a box on his desk, smirking to himself.
“What?”
“The drink is laced, so that if you did not agree to help us out you’d have forgotten this whole conversation. The pill has the antidote. A necessary measure to keep our secret.”
“Right.”
Oli took the pill.
“What I need you to do now is to not tell anyone anything. Even if you think, or even know that they are with the People of the Hog. You only talk to me about this, and only when we are in a safe place, like my home. For now just keep acting the same, and good luck.”
“That’s it? No missions? No secrets?”
“It’s a weird time, we really all have to wait and chill out because the President and the Head Gamemaker are planning something and I can’t figure out what.”
“Oh… Like what? Is it gonna be for the Quarter Quell next year?”
“That’s- not a bad hypothesis actually, I’ll look into that. It seems like they are gonna rig every single Tribute, so that this year’s cast is completely chosen by them.”
“They can do that?”
“They can do everything, every year there are at least a couple of Tributes who aren’t just chosen by chance, either to punish them and their families, or to add a bit of spice to the Games.”
“That is disgusting, and less surprising than I wish it were. Do you know the name of who is gonna get Reaped in 3?”
“I guess, tho- I don’t know what use it is knowing who he is.”
Jevin rifled through some papers in a drawer, until he seemingly found what he was looking for. He skimmed the letter quickly and got the answer he needed.
“The Tribute for District 3 for next year is gonna be Mambo. No wait- Mumbo. Right I remember, he’s the kid of those industry big shots, I’m pretty sure they tried to pay some Peacekeepers to keep his name out… Oli are you ok? You just went pale? I mean it’s not so rare for wealthier District people to try to buy their safety.”
“It’s not- I know the kid, met him a couple of years back, it just makes it so real. How are you so unaffected?”
“I got desensitised, too long spent playing the game. It’s probably not good, but it helps to get used to it. Makes you stronger and more useful in the long run. Want an actual drink?”
“I think… I wanna go home, thanks but I need to process.”
“Sure, I get it. Anything you need, let me know.”
“Are there cameras in my bathroom?”
Jevin laughed, and even Oli mustered up a smile at that. It was definitely silly to ask, given the scope of everything he’d learned.
“There are only microphones in the bathrooms.”
Oli got home, and immediately went to bed, making sure to change in his bathroom, exhausted by all the new information and the drug cocktail that Jev had fed him. The next day, instead of just staring at his guitar wishfully, he actually got it down from its spot and played.