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Chapter 2
Alfred
When I wake up the next morning I realize that I am not in my usual bed back in District 2. I am on the train, heading towards the Capitol to fight in the bloodiest fight known to man, the Hunger Games. I hop out of the king sized bed and put on a dark blue shirt that a 2 on the sleeve showing that I was , in fact from District 2, and proving that all of this was real.
I leave my new room and head to the dining car to go and get some breakfast. The last time I had eaten I was with Roy and we were at my house discussing who we thought would be reaped and who would be killed quickest in the games.
"I trust you slept well?" Clove said to me with a warm smile on her lips. I had already reached the dining car and I didn't realize it until Clove said anything.
Man how fast was I walking? Oh well at least I'm… OH MY GOD I'VE NEVER SEEN SO MUCH FOOD IN MY LIFE. I tell myself, my eyes widening at the vast amount of food that was provided for the two tributes of District 2. There was a large amount of bread stacked high with pancakes, waffles, bacon, and sausages at least two feet off the table looking as though it was going to fall over.
"Yeah man, that was the best sleep that I have ever gotten. Are all the beds like that in the Capitol?" I turn to ask Diana, our escort for District 2. She was wearing, once again, all black with the jacket that made her boobs pop out of her shirt. At least this time she had the decency to wear skin-tight leggings that revealed how muscular she really was, for a Capitol citizen anyway.
"The beds on this train are the worst, back at home I immediately fall right to sleep, and here I stayed awake for almost two hours, my eyes wide open. So no I don't think so." Diana said with a wide smile on her face.
I give her a nod saying that I understood what she was saying and turned to Babs. She had the same shirt on as me except hers was pink instead of blue, I guess to let people know that she was the female tribute, if it weren't obvious enough with her long red hair and well developed body that any guy would be lucky to get and any girl would be lucky to have.
"How did you sleep Babs, obviously not enough considering the fact you still look ugly." I smirk at her remembering our conversation last night before we went to bed.
"Are we really still on that, Dick?" Babs asks me with a slight frown on her face. "You're going to be first on my list of people to kill Dickie, just you wait." She says smirking at me and I laugh, a real, true laugh, for the first time since before the reaping. She turns to Clove to ask her a question.
"So, Clove, how exactly do we win these games? What did you do? Explain to us." Barbara said to Clove demanding answers.
"Ok, well when I was in the arena, I acted like a vicious, conniving, and ruthless killer that would do anything to win, even though that is like the exact opposite of who I really am. For example; when Katniss Everdeen put the tracker jackers down on us, everyone started to panic and scream. Cato, Marvel and I ran to the lake that the Gamesmakers had made. But before I started running away I noticed Glimmer, the girl from District, 1 just standing up. I ran over to her and pushed her down, she couldn't regain her composure and get leverage on the ground. She died because of all the stings that she got, looking back at her she was a swollen mess, and it was all my fault. She looked nothing like a beautiful girl that I allowed into my alliance, she was disgusting. It gave me nightmares for weeks, but I never told anyone till today. Point is that you have to do whatever it takes to win these games. They are not something to screw around with. Another example for you two, when the boy from District 11 ripped me off of the Everdeen girl, he underestimated how strong that I actually was, he had me by the throat, but I flip-kicked him and broke his jaw, he released me immediately and I stabbed him in his head, heart, and lungs; he died instantly. Then I killed the Everdeen girl by slicing her throat. All while nature took care of her boyfriend." Clove stated with a blank face. I could tell talking about something like this made her feel somewhat ashamed of herself.
Clove shook off all the harsh feelings for herself, and turned her attention back on to us instead of staring blankly into space.
"Look, I'm not going to lie to you two, you're going to see things that you never wished you had, do things that you wish you hadn't. The games will change you if you let them, so don't let them. You're going to kill people so you need to get over that now….. Although your boy over here seems to already have gotten past that." She says to Barbara and looks where Brutus was killed, all while smirking.
I stare into her eyes to find that she has been through a lot of trauma in the past two years.
"What you've been through, and I'm not talking about the games…. How are you always so happy and smiley all the time?" I ask her trying to avoid any awkward territory, but I was failing miserably.
"It may seem that way to you, but I actually tried to kill myself last year because of all the nightmares I had of the games. I tried to hang myself with a scarf that my mother gave me for winning; it seemed appropriate to kill myself like that. If it were not for Cato, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you guys. Every night I cry over the visions I see, you see I have the record for the most kills ever gotten by a single person, 14 people I killed, that's more than half! Last night I cried longer than I have in a long time….. This is the longest I have been without Cato since before my games." She says to us, tears rolling down her face.
"Excuse me one moment….." She runs out of the dining car at a rapid pace knocking things in her way over. Books and magazines lie on the floor waiting for someone to pick them up, but that girl wasn't coming back for a while.
I look at Babs and she looks at me, both of us were really concerned for the 16 year old girl. Just by looking at her, you could assume that she was a very happy girl that was hardly affected by the Capitol's Hunger Games. But on the inside, she was positively traumatized. One might say that the victor was losing her mind due to her grief. She needed help, but no one but Cato was there to give it to her.
"WE ARE HERE!" Diana shouted out loudly. I jumped at her voice, because it really did shock me out of my thoughts.
Babs and I rush over to the window to see massive buildings, four times the size of the buildings back at home, if not even taller. I look around to see every color on the rainbow and even some colors I had never seen before. Red, yellow, blue, and many more colored buildings shined in the early morning sun. The cameras did not do the Capitol justice, it was a pristine utopia. Once we reached the inside of the gates we started to see people, they matched the buildings with the clothes that they wore and the colors that their skin colors were. They were chanting at us, yelling our names out in the sky. I start to wave at them, while Babs starts to blow kisses. I turn to look at her, questioning what she was doing.
"Well they want a show; I suggest we give them one. You heard what Clove said, we can't let the games change us, and the way to avoid that is by putting up a fake personality for them, like Clove did in her games." She said to me.
"I'm just going to stick to being myself, I don't want to end up like her" I say to Babs and point in the direction that she ran.
Once the train was stopped, we go and find Clove who is in her bathroom balling her eyes out. After comforting the 16 year old victor, we leave the train and follow Diana to a large Capitol building that was made of glass. It rose up higher than any building I have actually seen in person.
"Today you two will be meeting your stylists, and might I say, Iris and Alfred are the best of the best, you guys are going to show the other districts who is boss …..It's us by the way, District 2, the masonry district!" Diana exclaimed while jumping up and down clapping to us while we walked down a long hallway that was lined with precious gems that glimmered off of the beautiful mid-morning sun.
After walking down the long, pristine corridor, Diana took us to a large room with flags hanging off the wall. Each of these flags had different numbers on them, each number representing one of the districts inside of Panem.
"Richard, your stylist will be Alfred. He is a little advanced in age, but he certainly knows what he is doing and he is a sweetheart so there should be no problem. And for you Barbara, Iris is going to be your stylist. She is new to our prep team, just joining this year, so if you could please try to be on your best behavior, both of you, and remember; manners!" Diana said with a wide smile plastered on her face. She took both of our hands and led us to our prep teams.
"Well Dick, I guess this is where we part." Babs said to me with a grin on her face. "Oh and Dickie before I forget, try not to kill anyone this time. I don't want to have to call in more peacekeepers to take the bodies away." She said with a smirk on her face.
"I will truly try Babs, but I'm not going to make any promises. People tend to really piss me off and killing them is the only way to shut them up." I said to her, we both pause and start to laugh until our faces are crimson.
"Children!" Diana boomed. "What did I tell you, MANNERS! This is no way to attract sponsors and you need sponsors in order to win the games so get it together!" Diana yells at us, but we are not listening to her. We are having way too much fun at her expense.
Once Babs and I part ways I was taken in the direction of the blue flag with a number 2 on it, while Babs was taken to the side where the pick flag with the 2 lie.
"So you guys must be my prep team, please you guys, you can do anything you want to me; just don't mess up my face. I need it." I was going to be honest with these people, I am a very tolerant person when it comes to things like this, which included pain and changing my body, but if they did anything to me that I even suspected would keep me looking like one of those Capitol freaks. I would be rolling some heads.
"Oh of course not mister Richard, we would never do anything to alter your face, but we do have to fix you up a little bit before we send you to your head stylist, Alfred. But touching your face will only be consisting of plucking and waxing unwanted hairs off of your body; your eyebrows for instance." The large woman in front of me said with a smile on her lips. I could see the determination in her eyes, this woman knew what she was doing, and nothing that I could ever do would stop her, in all honesty it scared me a little. This woman was tough as nails. She wore a large bow on the top of head; the ribbon black with the actual bow part being red as a ruby. Her dress was a very deep blue; one might even compare it to the sky due to its depth. The shoulders of her dress puffed out about 3 feet making it very hard to see her face from the side. The dress itself went all the way down to the ground and even farther. I almost stepped on it four times walking over to where I am now. Her shoes I only got a glance at, but to me her heels were about ten inches off the ground, blowing my mind.
"How can anyone walk in those things, you could literally fall and break your neck if you aren't careful of where you step. I will never understand Capitol fashion. Ever." I think to myself.
"So if you could just remove your clothing, we can begin the re-construction process and have you ready for your big impression to the world, after of course we send you to Alfred." Another woman behind her said out loud, I couldn't see her due to the large shoulder plates that the large woman had on her dress.
I go to the nearest bathroom and strip off my blue t-shirt with the 2 on its sleeve, I had been wearing that since I woke up and not even realized it. After I remove my shirt, I take off my pants and fold them neatly beside my shirt.
"My underwear too? I am just going to leave them on, who knows some of these people could be perverts. I'm not taking them off."
I walk back over to where my prep team was. They were gathered around a bench that I assumed I was going to be lying on as they altered and changed my body. Once I reach them they greet me with smiles at first, but once they notice that I had left my underwear on, their smiles dropped.
"Excuse me but we asked you to remove all of your clothing, you seem to have forgotten something." The woman said pointing to my remaining underwear. The large woman is again in the front speaking to me in a challenging tone. It seemed as though she wanted me to deny this request, but I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction; but I wasn't taking my underwear off either.
"I don't see why I have to take these off. What do you need under here anyways? It's not like anyone is going be looking down below my waist. I'm not taking them off." I told the woman bluntly. I could see her seething with rage until she finally said something.
"Fine you can keep the undergarments on, we shall work around them." She said to me with her eyebrows dented forming the most unattractive face I have ever had the displeasure of setting my eyes on. Her pale skin mushed together like marshmallows in a tight bag. Throughout all the years of plastic surgery, this woman's face looked like loose skin was hanging off every single bone in her face. It was awful, even when she did return her face back to what would be called 'normal.'
I lie down on the hard solid piece of steel and wait for them to begin waxing, plucking, and tearing me apart.
"Ok this may sting a little but it will only hurt for a second." A short man said to me holding a white paper with hot wax on it. This guy looked fairly normal in my opinion, well compared the 'monstrosity' I dubbed the large woman that first talked to me, with the large shoulder plates. He wore a silk suit that was a bright orange with a bright blue bowtie around his neck. As for his face, he had a lot of make-up that reflected a lot of the bright artificial light that they were shinning in my face.
"HOLY FUCK, YOU SAID IT WOULD ONLY HURT FOR A SECOND! YOU LYING BASTARD!" I scream out as the man swiftly removed the paper with wax reveling a large patch of hair that he removed from my leg.
"Terribly sorry sir. Usually it is the boy who have a harder time with the legs, seeing that they have more leg hair than the females do." The skinny man told me as he started getting more wax ready.
After hours of excruciating pain coming from my legs, arms, hands, and eyebrows, the prep team was finally finished with me and my sculpted body. Years of practice and hard work in the career academies back in District 2, my body was at physical perfection. I felt around my arms and noticed that there was absolutely no hair left on them, I look down to my thighs and calves and there was no hair to be found.
"You can search all you want, there is not a single hair left on your body other than your head. You are now ready for Alfred." The monstrosity said to me smiling. In the smile, she showed her teeth that were a perfect shade of white, so white in face that you could see them in the dark.
The lady sent me though a glass door that lead down a narrow hallway that was painted a royal blue. It led me to a room that was completely closed off from everyone, no windows, and no doors. Only an old man standing there with a smile plastered on his wrinkled face.
"Good evening Master Richard, I trust that everything has been pleasurable for you and your stay in the Capitol?" The old man asked me with a happy Capitol accent. This man was not what I was expecting. He was wearing a black tuxedo that went with his grey hair perfectly. He didn't look like someone that would be living in the Capitol. In fact, he looked like he was from one of the districts if I didn't see him in the Capitol with my own eyes. This man and I were going to get along swimmingly, I could already tell.
A/N: Sorry this took me so long to upload, anyway here it is and I hope that you guys like it. Please review if you want too! :)