Chapter One: The Victor, The Morphlings, and The One Blind Guy.
They tell you it is not an easy win, especially when you come from a district where you are trained for a job instead of the Hunger Games. That is why I never expected to win. That is why that I was more reluctant to shoot that final arrow. If there was anything that I knew to be true was that I was still human. I still had a beating heart. I still had human emotions. I still had everything that made me human. The games never did change me into a monster.
There was nothing that motivated me more during my games than my grandmother and my brother. I could see my grandmother's face when I first won my games, the gentle smile that would engulf her face. She would more likely hug my brother tightly, because she knows that our life will be much better with me winning. My brother is six-years-old, so he really never knew what was going on. That was the only good thing that came with age; you still had sometime to be naïve in this world before your innocence was taken away from you.
Knowing that I was going back home was a relief. Even if I just shot the final arrow, and in return I replied with the song that I remember singing as a child. The song was some kids song, but I felt as if it would be a sign of respect for the District 12 boy that I did end up killing. His face after he thought he had won would forever be imprinted into my mind, and I could never forget what had happened when I shot my first arrow. He was so discouraged, and he had nothing else to fight with. He was pretty much at the mercy of my bow and arrow. The boy just exposed his neck and shouted, "kill me now! I have no reason to go on!"
I shot my arrow, and the 66th Hunger Games had been won. Within seconds of the cannon, Claudius Templesmith's booming voice was everywhere. "Ladies and gentleman! May I introduce the winner of the 66th Hunger Games, Jennifer Perez of District Six!" I was stuck in a state of awe and nothing could bring me back into reality. I still could not believe that I won, even if I knew that I took the final shot. Me, the girl with the mentor that is a Morphling. I was the quiet one during the interviews. I was the one that scored a nothing score of a four! I was the one that they never expected to one! I, Jenna Perez, had beaten the odds that the Capitol had created!
I was brought back to Earth when the hovercraft came to pick me up and take me back to the Capitol. As much as I hated the place, I was pretty happy to be going back there, but I preferred to go back home, but the Capitol was a pretty great place to be going to. Anything would be better than this God-forbidden place! When I first stepped onto the hovercraft, the doctor were poking and getting answers to their questions. They asked me things from the color of the walls, which were an ugly grayish-white, and how old I was, which I replied with a firm sixteen-years-old. They seemed to be impressed with the damage that I took in the games, because I had barely had a scratch on me. The only thing was that I was thirsty, and not just for one glass of water, but maybe fifteen to thirty glasses of water. I just wanted a glass of water and to curl up with a warm blanket. However, I was knocked out by one of the doctors before I could request it.
To wake up was the hardest thing that I had to do, for that I did not have the energy to end of waking up. It felt like the medication that they gave me had knocked me out for days, maybe even if years if they gave me enough of it. When I eventually wake up, I hear a gentle ring and peer into the mirror. The first that I notice is my usually blue eyes; they were clouded and looked murky. It was not until seconds later when I notice my black hair was tied up into knots and my clothes had changed to a pair of pajama bottoms and a white t-shirt that fitted me well. I did not have shoes on, which was a blessing because those tennis shoes that they gave us were horrible. I also notice a glass of water on my left with some applesauce. I am starving and eat the applesauce quickly and drink the water within seconds.
"Jennifer," I hear a voice from one of the doctors from before. He walks in, his white coat wrinkled, his dark green eyes staring at me, and he had a hand in his dark hair, which I could not tell what color it was.
"Jenna," I correct him with a stupid and fake Capitol accent.
"Oh yes, of course. Jenna, I do have to talk to you for a second," he laughs at my accent and takes a seat on the foot of my bed.
I sit there quietly till he starts going on about what is going to happen, "well it has been two days since you have been in the arena. Your mentors, stylist, and escort will be waiting for you when you get back to the Capitol, which will be minutes from now. You will get to see them again for the first time, and this will not be publicized. In exactly three days you will be doing your final interview and be heading home. I am pretty sure that you want to go home."
I nod my head and reply, "I want to see my grandmother and brother."
"Well they look like a sweet family that will take care of you, hope to see you again Ms. Perez," he smiles and taps the side of the bed and motions for me to put on my shoes and get up. I realize that I have a pair of white nurse's shoes now, which seem to be wonderful to me. I gently pull over the shoes and head straight to doctor. He smiles and opens the door and lets me roam the hallway. I just wander for a good twenty-minutes, looking at the bare silver walls, looking at my reflection in the silver. I could see a glint of happiness in all the despair. When I get to the last room, I rush in to find my mentor, a woman who is a morphing addict, and the male mentor, a blind young man that is just a view years older than me. He is the first one to smile and hold out his arms. My stylist was also there, but he was letting the male mentor be the first one to hug me.
"Let me guess, little Jenna is here," he grins when I fall into his arms and hug him back.
"Yeah Mr. Augustus, " I smile and let go.
"Just Augustus," he laughs, "I am not a mister yet."
"You sure that you do not have every girl chasing after you in district six," laughs my stylist who gets up and gives me a hug, "you never know, you and Ms. Jenna over here could fall in love."
"Oh shush it, Sienna," Augustus laughs, but I could see the slight blush on his cheeks. I smile and hug Sienna for a couple of minutes, just happy to be reunited with the two guys who I absolutely loved and counted as family. The female morphling does nothing, and I have yet to figure out her name yet. I believe it starts with a C, but I could be wrong. I did not care though, all I cared about that I was back with Sienna and Augustus and I am one more step till I will be reunited with my family.
I am taken to dinner with Augustus and Sienna, because the morphling does not feel like going out anymore and just heads upstairs. However, Augustus and Sienna seem relieved that she does not want to go with us. I never understood that, but the smile on their faces meant a hundred words explain.
"You are going to love this place!" Sienna explained, "it is owned by the Heavensbee's, and run by their lovely daughters!"
"They got great chicken soup," Augustus laughs, grabbing onto my hand, "will you lead the way Sienna, I will just tag along with Jenna."
"Of course, of course!" he laughs and starts to lead the way, and I lead Augustus right behind him. We are outside in the open air within seconds. There were already parties going on in the Capitol, a few drunken people coming to hit on me and a few guys hit on Augustus as well. He just laughs and shoos them off. We get to the restaurant in a couple of minutes and Sienna gets us a table as soon as possible and one that was hidden from the general public.
"We asked if it was okay to take you out, and well they did not say no," Sienna laughs and pulls out a chair for Augustus and me.
"It is fine, it is better than staying in a room with the morphlings while they tell me about all the butterflies that they see," I smile and sit Augustus down and take a seat myself.
"Correction, ever since you had won, they see dead people," Augustus sits there, "but it is interesting when they say that they see the founders everywhere. They also tell me they have seen my mother, which scares me deeply."
"Well they are very interesting, aren't they?" Sienna smiles and takes a seat, "I think last year it was that they were in the ocean and they saw fish everywhere."
"Yep, just because Finnick won," Augustus says and then turns to me, "just a fair warning, the morphlings will see a ton of things. They will range from dead people to a magic sea unicorn that likes pie."
"Well okay," I laugh, "it is not as bad as my friend. He used to talk to a pole thinking it was me."
"You seem to have an interesting friend," laughs Sienna, "is he okay now?"
"Yeah, I said I would beat him up if he did not stop," I sigh and lean against the table.
"What is wrong?" Sienna asks, adjusting a blonde strand of hair out of his face.
I look up and sigh, "nothing actually. Just a ton on my mind."
Sienna looks as if he is going to say something, but Augustus stops him quickly, "she just got out of the games."
"How can you do that?" asks Sienna.
"It takes a lot of skill, but a skill that I will not need anymore. It turns out that I was blinded by wood that got logged in the back in my head, so I need surgery soon. Which is what I am planning on doing. Okay, I just hated my games, and that is why she is thinking so much. Every victor thinks to much, but let's change the subject," Augustus hisses at him.
"Lets," Sienna looks at the menu, "my son wants to be a stylist."
"Really, which district?" smiles Augustus. I just sit there quietly and just stare at the menu for a couple seconds, every once in awhile looking back up at them. They seemed to ignore me a bit, anyways.
"Twelve," he smiles," I do not know why he wants to do district twelve, but he wants to and that is all that matters."
"What is your son's name?" I butt in the conversation a bit.
Sienna grins wider, "his name is Cinna. Do you want to see a picture of him?"
"Sure," I try to smile the best I could.
Sienna digs through his pocket to find his wallet, and when he does he opens it up and shows the picture of him and his son, "that is him, looks a ton like his mother." His son had his dark hair, but had really bright green eyes. He did not look bad at all.
"May I take your order?" I peer up to find a girl who is our waitress. She did not look that much older than myself. Sienna and Augustus read out their orders to her. I just say chicken. They look at me like I just got shot by an arrow, but they realize I did not know what I wanted. The waitress laughs and says, "so just some chicken and maybe so mash potatoes?"
I nod my head, because I am very quiet around people that I did not know. Augustus and Sienna both knew this, because I was quiet around them all the time when I first met them. Eventually they accepted me under their wing and proved to me that they were just like my family. That is when I started to talk to them and eventually and well I can barely shut up around them. The waitress comes back with our drinks almost instantly.
"So, Jenna, you live with your grandmother?" Sienna smiles.
I nod, "yeah, also with my younger brother. It has been like that for awhile."
"Ah, I see," Augustus looks in my direction, "would you mind to tell me why you live with your grandmother?"
"I will tell you one day," I whisper to him, "when we are back home." He nods and looks up at the waitress with our food. We all start eating our food. There is not much conversation after we get our food, but the occasional 'this is great' or 'can you pass the salt'. When we are done, Sienna and Augustus fight over who will pay for our food. Eventually Augustus wins the fight and he pays for our dinner.
"Well guys, I need to get home. I will see you both tomorrow, goodbye," Sienna gets up and bows before heading out of the restaurant.
Augustus gets up as well, "will please lead me home, Ms. Jenna."
"Of course Mr. Augustus," I laugh and get up and wrap my arm around his. We both head back to the training center. I hit the six on the elevator and we are there within seconds.
Augustus smiles, "you are such a sweetheart, thank you."
"No problem," I hug him, "I am here to help until your surgery."
"Thanks," Augustus smiles and lets go and heads towards his room, "good night."
"Good night, Augustus!" I shout back and head into my room. I just fall back, already dressed in my PJs, and close my eyes. It is just a couple of seconds before I fall completely asleep.