The mirrors...The mirrors were everywhere. Everywhere one could look there was some kind of mirror, some kind of silvery reflection of oneself. A reflection of the body that hid away the secrets and the minds of a person. Merla had noticed this that night more than she had on any other typical night.

On a typical night Merla would simply walk "home" and stride through the halls. Ignoring the reflective walls, the glossy metallic flors, and the reflective glass ceilings. She would simply keep on walking, not paying attention to the mnys shadows of herself that would along with her, their stride perfectly parallel to hers. She would simply walk to her room and plop onto her bed, the synthetic pink fur warming her skin and the soft foams of her pillow gently supporting her head. She would then turn on the television, it's cold blue light radiating across the room, or if she felt in the mood, she might pick up a book. But not on that night. That night she would do one of those things, she would do so much more and yet at the same time so much less.

That night Merla Nik was not striding in a high of intelligent confidence that she very well deserved to feel. Instead her feet barely left the ground, the soft rubber of her sneakers slowly dragging along the dull bronze floors, squeaking as they went along. She shuffled through the halls, not wearing her prefered grounds of extreme extravagance and splendor but instead the more modest black and red tracksuit that she was required to wear for training.

Her makeup had not been done. Her skin was dirty and bare, shining with her own sweat and grease. The few skin impurities she had were naked and visible to all she looked at, instead of being hidden away under layers of foundation and bronzer. Her eyebrows were bare, not shaped and drawn to perfection. Merla was the opposite of almost the entire Capitoline population in those moments. Modest and scared, not braving the arms of wigs and makeup.

When Merla had entered her quarters it was nearly midnight. Most of the tributes and faculty were currently asleep, drowning in their own dreams. Dreams where they experienced death, something they all knew would soon be upon them in one form or another. But Merla was wide awake, her sharp mind still picking up on the things most people in that brainwashed city had failed to notice.

As soon as the lock of her bedroom door and softly clicked behind her,her dark almost black eyes wandered upward, glaring at the ceiling. That's when she noticed the mirrors, and what she meant. The ceiling that hung above her was made of hundreds of small tiles, of varying sizes yet all the same square shape. Each tile was a reflective mirror of a different color though, the majority being a typical silvery color, but others were gold, bronze, and even a rosy pink color. They sent slivers of reflected light everywhere, covering the entire room.

Merla stared in admiration for a moment, staring at the things he had seen for what felt like hundreds of times before. She pondered for a few moments on these tiles, these reflective strings of light. And then it clicked... Her eyes fell from ceiling and found themselves intensely trained at her own feet, and the cold grey ground... It all came rushing upon her like the games itself.

Selfish.

That's what the capital had been... She realized in the moment why she was there and not at home. Why hundreds of other kids had been there too, crying as their own fate approached them. The capital had brought this upon themselves. For her entire life she had dismissed the games as brutal but essential to keeping things in order. A fear tactic yes, but a somewhat necessary one. But now she knew she was wrong... The mirrors, the games, the endless theatrics of daily life, the intensity of confidence even the lowest of people expressed. The capital loved itself. The capital loved itself all too much. They took away from Districts and had been utterly volatile and cruel in every way.

Merla approached the bed and slammed her body onto it, the foamy mattress absorbing her impact as it often did when.She rolled over onto her back facing the ceiling that revealed everything to her. The hate, the love, and the abuse she had supported for so long. No more... She decided no more.

Merla shot up like a bullet from the bed, and landed on the ground, her blood flooding with adrenaline. Her head whipped about the room searching for a way to convey her own message. A golden lamp sitting in the corner of the room had then found itself being swept away from its routing glass table and instead found itself in the cold hands of Merla Nik. She looked up at the ceiling , at its delicate intricacies and glossy surface. She then launched her arm forcefully, letting go of the small yet surprisingly heavy lamp in her hand. It sailed upward until it collided with the ceiling.

Glass and porcelain flew everywhere. Bits and shards of glass rained down onto Merla as the ceiling began to break apart, tiles cracking and falling out of place and not the hard floor. Metallic crumbs fell into her, losing their way as they got stuck to her thick black hair. Thick shards of glass impaled the bed and found themselves trying to drag along Merlas skin, but she didn't care. She just stood there, her face empty and emotionless.

She had sent her message, that's all that mattered.

Hey guys, thanks for reading this chapter! It means so much to me so please leave you're comments, don't be a silent reader!
I'm so sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out. As some of you may know I started a new Chatroom (which you guys should totally read!) and so I've been super busy with that. I also have been trying to complete stuff for the Scholastic writing awards which are in December so my time has been more split.
Thanks again for all the support!