Against the Capitol
Chapter One:
My district was a humble district compared to the other eleven, although we are forever a slave to the Capitol. You are either with them or dead you don't get a choice. At least we get some special privileges and get to go into the Capitol sometimes. Most of the other districts hate us because of how bad my district sucks up to higher authority. Anything for a few warm meals and a comfortable home. The peace keepers resided in the middle of district two, a giant mad made mountain with an Underground Railroad system and facilities. I'm eighteen and these last five years of my life have been dreadful when the reaping comes around. My family prays my name doesn't get called by Effie Trinket every year. Seneca can only do so much; he promised that after I turned nineteen we would live together in the Capitol. Seneca Crane is the main person who makes the games, he has cost many lives but he must obey his job. My name was put into the reaping multiple times this year for the 74th Hunger Games.
Today was the dreaded reaping day. I sit up from my bed, incessantly rubbing my eyes and running my fingers through my thick hair. I pick out the ruby coloured dress that Seneca got for me a bit ago, and pull my long brown hair into a bun. Seneca was one of the only people besides my family that I cared about. He is more like my family than anything. He is there for me more than anyone has ever been.
I wandered into our living room where my little sister sat on the floor, shoveling food in her mouth with her eyes focused completely on the screen in front of her. Lily—my sister has long blonde hair that is usually always untidy. I sat down behind her and brushed her matted hair with my horse hair brush to make her unkempt hair luscious and lovely. She sits patiently with her eyes still fixated on the screen unmoving towards anything. I padded to her room spying the light blue cotton dress my mother laid out for her. Lily wasn't old enough to be in the reaping but everyone must dress nice. A loud gong rings through out the district which means it is time. I tuck a stray stand of my hair behind my ear nervously and start walking to the center. I went through the whole annoying procedure with everyone else the peace keepers take your blood, fingerprint you, whatever else they feel they need of yours. Nothing really belongs to you here. I take a deep breath and stand where the other anxious girls in my district huddle. I only ever had one good friend amongst these people and now she is gone. She got turned into an Avox, I see her sometimes when I visit Seneca. Effie Trinket comes on stage in her brightly coloured clothing and thick wedges that look about three inches high.
"Happy Hunger Games! May the odds be ever in your favour. Ladies first as always." She smiles far too large and excitedly places her manicured hand in the bowl of names. "Genevieve Collins, come on up dear." My heart feels like it stopped beating and crawled into my windpipe causing me to not be able to breathe. My feet start moving involuntarily to the stage, but slowly. I tell myself to remember to breathe and I meet eyes with my younger sister. She is seven years old, and doesn't entirely understand what is going on, but knows enough. No one volunteers for me and no one really makes a sound except Effie. "Alright on to our next contestant, isn't this exciting?" People shift their eyes around uneasily as Effie calls the male tribute. She calls Cato, he is loved by a lot in this district and I know when it comes down to it the district would want me dead first. Cato looks over at me giving me a subtle nod. He has been training since he could walk for this day. Effie grabs our hands and raises them in the air; no one claps so she takes us to the train. "Everyone sure is stiff, hm?" She shows us to our rooms where I shed off my gown and put on the clothes an Avox laid out for me. Effie calls us to dinner and I poke a fork at my food, feeling too nervous to eat. Cato exchanges glances with me and I get up and run back to my room, shutting the door behind me. Why does this have to happen to me? I would have been just fine if I was a year older. Seneca and I could be happy together. I sob in my pillow silently thinking about what horrors were to come. A knock comes at my door but I ignore it, burying myself deeper in the pillow. Someone sits on my bed, uninvited and pats my back. Their hand is warm and I shudder knowing its Cato.
"Genevieve I'm here for you now. I know this is scary to you, but our district depends on us." I get away from my pillow, wiping my eyes hard and face the other direction.
"Cato it doesn't matter, you wouldn't understand what I am going through right now."
"I suppose I wouldn't, since I look to the Hunger Games as a pride event."
"Exactly, I don't I love my little sister and my fiancé more than anything."
"Wait? You have a fiancé?" Who is it?" I look around nervously and a flush of embarrassment hits my cheeks. I pretend to ignore his question and we sit in silence.
"I can't tell you, okay…If people knew know. My life would be really messed up. I definitely can't tell you because you might think I will get some type of advantage when I won't."
"Genevieve, I won't tell you can trust me." Cato smiles and its true, I shrug and debate on whether to let him know.
"Don't judge me alright, or tell anyone else." He nods "Err…well when I turn nineteen Seneca Crane and I are supposed to live together in the Capitol, but I got pulled into his mess now and probably won't get to fulfill my dream."
"I'm genuinely sorry to hear that," Cato hugs me gently and leaves my room, setting a plate of food on the floor from an Avox. An Avox pokes her head in the room and it almost gives me more of a reason to cry. It's my friend Julia, the avox. She hugs me tightly and flees my room. I couldn't sleep so well at night and sometimes I would wake up crying or covered in sweat calling out to Seneca. Cato would come in sometimes and rock me back to sleep. The relationship we had was friendly like a family, I considered him a big brother for now. Effie was becoming too nosy of our relationship so I told her off one day and her reply was to scoff at me and say something about manners. If anyone needs manners more it's her. Brutus and Ebnoria talk to Cato and me from time to time about surviving and how to. They will explain more when we arrive at the capitol.
"Genevieve, I was to tell you we've arrived at the capitol." Cato gives me a sadden expression because he now knows what I will have to go through.
"Good luck Cato, see you later after the drama." He nods and wishes me luck as well with Seneca. I peer out the window and look at all the bright, vibrant colours of the Capitol. Many people are odd in the Capitol, some sport tails, implanted horns, and different skin colours. Amongst the crowd I spot someone familiar. My heart pounds heavier in my ears when I look at the face with a pointed structure, hair slicked back, fine capitol suit, a unique beard and a displeased/perplexed face. I hop off the train steps with my gown draped over my arm, and Seneca comes up to me slowly while others are trying to get my attention. He grabs me by the arm tightly pulls me away from the crowd leading me to the main building. He looks around quickly and leads me to an abandoned alley way.
"Genevieve, I hoped I never had to see you like this. I tried every year to prevent your name being called, but this year Snow is really on my case. I can protect you still, but I can't make it so obvious."
"Seneca…" my lips tremble as I try to form words to him, but nothing comes out. I reach out and trace my finger on his beard, gently. My finger stops and I go to trace his lips but he can't hold himself in anymore and kisses me with so much aggression and anger.
"Genevieve…" I move from his and put my head against the wall.
"It would be wise if the public didn't know about us Seneca, us much as it hurts us."
"We have a problem then, but maybe they won't suspect something…" I look up at him with confusion. "You are staying in the same penthouse as me because you're in district two; also I am your stylist."
"This news is exciting and also depressing, well at least my other stylists won't have to do much because I already keep myself clean. I'm scared to see what the tributes look like. I'm sure their hair won't look as bad as my sister's." I chuckle and Seneca smiles.
"Okay Genevieve, they are looking for you. I will see you in a few hours, alright?" He kisses me again and takes me inside while no one was watching. My stylists grab me and smile, they are happy they won't have to do much.
"You're already so beautiful darling but Seneca will make you look shocking to everyone. I'm so excited for what outfit he has for you. My stylists pluck my eyebrows a bit to make them perfectly thin, and I over hear them talking about how dreadful some of the other tributes were. "It's like they have never heard of a razor before, we are so lucky to have her." I look around my surroundings and notice another tribute outside and lock eyes with her. She's the tribute from district twelve that volunteered for her younger sister. First person to volunteer, she must love her sister as I would do the same. Katniss Everdeen is her name; she looked at me fiercely and troubled like how my own face was. The stylists smile down at me as a sign they are done, as soon as I stand up they rush me into a medium sized room with a steel door. I sit on the bench to wait for Seneca.
"At least they didn't kill your beauty, although I think that would be impossible to do." A soothing, deep voice speaks and I know it is Seneca. He materialises by the door and his hair holds even more mouse so it doesn't look as stiff. He also perfected his beard, by doing a quick trim. He reeked of aftershave and a deep, husky man scent. I feel my body temperature rising at a dramatic rate as he moved closer to me. I sit up straighter and cross one leg over the other to give off a nonchalant mood.
"So, what have you got for me Seneca?" He looks over to the door, making sure it's locked and looks back to me, moving about an inch away from me. He runs his warm hands down my smooth legs and I shudder. He then takes my hands in his.
"I have something special for you, for good luck and remembrance that you will get out of the games alive." He reaches into his right pant's pocket to enclose his hand around something small. "It will make everything between us, official and solved. I promise you, Genevieve I am trying as hard as I can to help you survive through this or get you out of the games some how. I never wanted something like this to happen." My lips quiver and I bite them, swallowing back my tears. Seneca grabs my left hand, "Close your eyes." I obey and he slips a cold, circular object on my ring finger. This time I couldn't stop the overflow of tears as they streamed down my cheeks in a silent motion. Seneca wipes them away, gently and kisses my forehead. "Come on then," he hugs me against him, "let's prepare you for the tribute parade." He walks over to the door and opens a metal closet that I just noticed, out he pulls a maroon dress matching the colour of his tie and under shirt. He slips my delicate feet into heels and stands up admiring the view. The heels gave me a boost that leveled me with Seneca's height. I admire his structure and he places a hand on my left hip bone to bring me closer to him. "You're getting warm Genevieve, could it possibly be…my fault?" He grins and moves even closer and I feel my heart beating so loudly in my ears like a train whistle. A low growl escapes from his throat that causes me to tremble with delight.
"Hey, people are probably looking for me since the tribute parade is soon and they are probably also looking for you..." I move so close to him the fabric of our clothing is touching and his light blue eyes bore deep into mine. I find it impossible to look away from him. I move my face so close to his that our noses brush against each other's cheek and I close my eyes while my pointer finger makes circles on his cheek bone. I bring his lips to mine and feel the passion with the movement of his tongue. I pull back from him and don't mention the lipstick stain on the outside of his mouth. "Okay it's time to go for me, I will see you later." I wet my lips mostly to get his taste again and leave where I run into Cato.
"Whoa, you will breathtakingly beautiful, I am at loss for words to form normally." I look him over and his hair is raised a bit with gel and he is wearing the same colours as me with velvet embroidery. "Let's go, they are waiting and we are one of the first districts…" I nod and he helps me on to the horse led carriage, and then links his arm with mine for support. When Cato and I make it into the path way the crowd cheers and whistles for their beloved, trusted district two. I spy Seneca standing all the way at the end with his face on so many screens I lost track. I start laughing to myself when I see he still has a faint of lipstick on his upper lip. Cato looks over at me suspiciously, so I tell him and he joins in with me. The crowd also turned their direction to Seneca and started laughing amongst themselves. Seneca looked around with a perplexed face with his eye brows cocked up. Someone with light blue hair comes up and whispers to him, he doesn't directly show his embarrassment but I could tell he was. He wiped away the red, quickly and searched for me. He gave me a look that read Oh, you think you're so clever, this will come back to bite you in the arse eventually. Suddenly the crowd becomes distracted by something else, Cato and I turn around to face district twelve coming out, as soon as they hit the path way their suits burst into flame. Cato smirks possibly out of a jealous rage or he knew this would piss President Snow off. Now that everyone is in the middle Seneca says a few words and dismisses everyone.