When Thresh stormed out we just sat there in silence. I stood up and left the same way Thresh left. Hopefully my room will be in that direction. I find an assistant arranging some flowers in a vase. I recognize her as the woman who cleared our plates earlier.
"Excuse me?" She turns towards me, her black hair flipping over her shoulder. "Ummm… where is my room?" She starts to walk in one direction. "Oh no, you can just tell me the room number." She shakes her head. "Why not?" Then she opens her mouth.
There is no tongue there. There is a long scar among the back of her jaw. But the tongue is gone. I immediately know that it is the Capitol that has done this.
"I'm so sorry," I whisper. She shakes her head and pulls out a small black spiral notebook and a stick of graphite. In large neat letters she starts to write. I catch her hand; she glances up at me, surprised.
"I… I can't read." I finally manage to say. Then tears are flowing down my face. She pulls me into a hug. We walk to my room and we both sit down on the huge bed.
What an odd pair we are. I can speak, but cannot read. She can read, but cannot speak. I am being sent to my death. She is practically the living dead. She mimes writing and points to me and then to her.
"You'll teach me?" I can barely believe it when she nods. She then writes out 3 squiggly lines on the paper. Then she points to me. "Is that my name?" She nods and hands it to me. I admire the tall first letter, the curved line in the middle, and the swirly last letter, R. U. E. Rue.
"Can you write my family's names? Aster, Iris, Bryony, Zinnia, Pansy, Mum, and Pa?"
Their names look all so elegant. She begins to teach me more words, by drawing pictures and then writing the word. I am grasping on to every single word, not wanting to forget any of it. But it is getting late and she starts to leave. I grab her arm.
"Wait! What is your name?" She draws one last picture. A flower.
Rose.
Sorry this one is so short, I wanted to get this in before Monday.
Please R/R!
