Yes! It's another chapter! And I've got it up quicker than my first target for it, which is good :-) I hope you like this chapter and once again thank you to my reviewers, favouriters, and subscribers, including those that did reviewed the previous chapter – ILovePeeta0000, Ellii101, DizzyPotter and DreamingDementor! Now enjoy!
Chapter Three - An Unexpected Visitor
"Hey, I er... thought I'd see how you were?"
Hmm... doesn't really sound like Death. Then again...
I open my right eye slightly, only to close it quickly back over. Not her. Please not her.
Why has she come? I know that I'd never, not in a million years, come to see her if she'd been chosen. So why is she here?
"Uh, Med-Medea? Are you asleep?"
Brain of Panem, that one is. But after a quick sigh to steady my nerves, I stand and open my eyes to look up at the monstrosity that is Ainsley Sash. She can't really be that big, but to me, she is a giant.
She stares at me expectantly, as if waiting for me to do something. I don't see why I should have to speak to her. Still, if it means she'll go away quicker...
"No." I say.
"Oh, good!" she exclaims. Surely she couldn't really have thought I was asleep. "Er, I mean, not good, no, not good at all, because you're going to go in the Hunger Games and die, well except I'm sure you won't die, but I mean, you might do, I mean, anybody could do, but you probably won't, except you will an-" Strange how she loses her skill with words so quickly. I let my mind unhook as she rambles on. Hmm, I wonder how long till that damp spot on the ceiling breaks through the plaster...? This'll end up being the longest three minutes ever.
"Shut up!" I scream at her. I've been doing the silent treatment I've had practice in so often at school, but I can't let it go on any longer. I need to know why she came in here. The last things I hear from a real person cannot be 'oh, you won't die, but oh you will, but oh you won't but, oh you wi-'. She obviously had something important to tell me, that's why she came in here. Maybe I've secretly had a real friend all along. Though if so, she's been in very good disguise.
But Ainsley's angry now. Her face has morphed.
"You can't tell me what to do!" she yells, near-deafening me. "I tell YOU what to do, Orange Rod!" Orange rods are one of the ways we store electricity, to send to the Capitol. More people die from them than anything else at the power plant. See, it's because they pack so much electric into this one little rod, they're each about three fists long and two thumbs wide, which is really small compared to the massive vats they had to use before the start of Panem. Anyway, every rod contains the same amount of power that'd keep a house's lights on, non-stop, for two weeks. They're really efficient, but they pack a punch, because if you don't handle them properly they can explode. And I mean EXPLODE. This is the reason that our district is so square. The border is marked by the power plant, which goes around all sides, north, south, east and west. It's so each worker has their own massive warehouse, so minimal staff, supplies, and buildings will be lost. They needn't worry about payment for it, as it is paid back over years and years by the victim's families. This is why it is such an insult. And because of my unusually-coloured hair, Ainsley cannot resist using it as my nickname. It's her second-favourite. I wish she'd go back to her ramblings.
"You think you're so smart, don't you Orange Rod? Well, you're not. If you were really smart, you wouldn't be a tribute, would you? Would've slunk off, or made sure they couldn't choose one of your slips. You've got enough of them. Why didn't you just take them out of the bowl?" Ainsley smirks, dead proud of herself. "I bet you'd have found your own ones straight away, anyway. You're the only one with extras." I stare at her plainly. I don't have to take her up on her remarks. That's just what she wants. She stares at me expectantly, but not with the sweet, dimness of earlier. Now her eyes are ferocious, like tigers', challenging me. But I shall resist.
"Still, it's a shame about how you'll be leaving your poor little sister behind. Who's going to look after her when her big sis gets slaughtered, her daddy kills himself and she's left all alone in the community home? I wouldn't be surprised if she volunteers when she turns twelve!"
I'm at her throat in a fraction of a moment. Nobody gets away with saying anything like that about my sister. Not even if I promised to resist.
I don't say anything to her. Actions speak louder than words.
It seems she agrees, since now she grabs me by the hair, and manages to hold me up in mid-air for about five seconds, before slamming my head hard against the metal by the door. It's much harder than when I hit myself on it earlier.
Two Ainsleys now whisper to me, "Now, now, we mustn't hurt people, not yet, must we, Medea?" She makes it sound like 'my dear', or is it my ears just playing up? She grabs hold of my neck as her face leans in against my own, making me look straight up into her eyes. "Nothing to say, Medea?" her hands close over my windpipe tighter with every second, "No witty remark?" she takes each question slowly, letting each sound last for an infinity, "Why so shy, you sly Foxface?" Foxface. Her favourite name for me, because of my hair and the shape of my nose. But I'm not sly. Having a face like a fox doesn't make me a fox.
Just as I think my head will explode, she releases her grip, and I slump to ground. "Why not just kill me?" I croak, breathing heavily, "I know you want to. I don't know why, but I know you want to."
Ainsley pauses for sometime, before saying, "Because this way, it's more fun."
"Fun? What could be more fun than killing the one person you hate most in the world with your own hands?" I say, rather sarcastically.
"Letting somebody else do it. Because this way, I win. It's easy to tell you'd much rather die here than in the arena. You don't want people trying to kill you from all angles. You want one, simple way. And that's why I have to deny you it."
"Oh wow. How... thoughtful of you."
"Yes, I know. But it just makes sense, really. If I killed you now, they'd need another girl tribute. And as I'm so close at hand, that'd hardly be wise, would it? Especially as it would be my fault that you couldn't enter yourself."
I guess that makes sense.
"You know," I struggle to say due to the hit to my head, "I think I much preferred you when you were babbling."
"Oh that reminds me!" Ainsley's voice changes back to her 'sweet' one, being the two-faced person she is, "Don't forget to mention me on the interviews' night! We are both best friends," she quickly yanks a clump of my hair, "remember?" I nod slightly.
"Great!" she yells happily, now skipping away, "I'm going to be famous! I'm going to be famous!" She swings the door wide open, making it near fly off its hinges. Before it closes back over I can hear the sound of: "Mr Peacekeeper! Mr Peacekeeper! I think Medea just tried to-"
And then I drift into unconsciousness.
I awake to find myself lying on the sofa – and chained to it.
Smart men, is what I think, before I find myself sobbing into the couch uncontrollably, until my face is as red as my hair. A true Foxface.
To DizzyPotter: Sorry! It wasn't a foxosaur! But I kinda wish it was :-) Unless if Medea's the fox and Ainsley's the dinosaur... X-D
To Everybody: Please review! Even if you thought it was rubbish! I literally do a little dance whenever I get a review or something X-D
