A/N: A quick interlude. There will be four of these. One will introduce the Head Gamemaker Ludum Factorem, a second the interviewer Fabula Obcubo, and the third will check in on the Presidential family. Here, though, we have an old, sly friend from Oceanside. Enjoy.
Did you forget me?
Did you forget me?
I wish I could say that I never left
But sorry just sounds stupid and quiet
In this house
Did you forget me?
Did you forget me?
Did you forget me?
And the letters don't talk
And my crying's too loud
Paper's no palm
And I wonder where yours are at
Paper's no palm
And I bet you'd laugh at that
Please forget me
Please forget me
Forget me
Bethany Taylor, 28
Resident of District 2
District Seven Female of the 10th Annual Hunger Games and Avox to Serephina Manchas
It's Reaping Day, and the Victor's Village of Two is abuzz. I hurry to get ready, launching myself out of my bed. I jog into the bathroom and picking up my toothbrush. The Manchas-Anniston's are nice enough to give me room and board. I sleep in one of the smaller bedrooms in their Victor's Village home and they provide me with the basics of life: food, water, clothing, and toiletries. They're kinder than I could have ever believed. In the arena, I would stare at the starry night skies and pray that Serephina's face and Cephas's face and all the other faces of those proto Careers would show up. I would squeeze Chen's hand and laugh with Andi and smile at Holly as I always placed my bets on the dead of the day being the Careers. I thought they were wicked monsters, despicable beasts just waiting to slaughter all of us. They were, really, in that arena. But outside of the arena, I see past the bloodthristy monster named Serephina Manchas-Anniston who killed Andi and watched Chen and Holly die. I see past the woman who stands on stages in the Capitol with a cold, brutal grin and the woman who beats disrespectful cadets in her office in the Academy. I see a woman in stained sweats and a frayed sweatshirt holding her little kids and laughing. Her face might be sterile and frozen in public, but in her house there's always a small smile on her face. Every morning she conceals her laugh lines with thick makeup and I'll never understand why. Serephina confuses me. She has for the past dozen years that I've worked for her, and I doubt I'll ever really understand the Headmistress to a full extent or her motives.
I've been standing in front of the mirror for ten minutes with the toothbrush hanging out of the corner of my mouth, watery toothpaste dribbling down my chin. I turn the knob on the sink and water flushes forward. I rinse off the toothbrush and set it down, and then I open up my mouth and let the toothpaste drip out of my mouth. Without a tongue, it's rather hard to spit things out. The tiny, scarred nub of muscle in the back of my throat works itself around like it always does, but it does nothing to help. Finally I take the water glass, fill it up, and swish it around my mouth by shaking my head back and forth. Then I let the water dribble out of my mouth. I never realized how strenuous life was for someone lacking a tongue until my own tongue was sliced out by Aenea Chariton's minions. I felt sickly happy when Aenea turned up, murdered by an ex lover, soon after the 14th Games. She did this to me. I would probably be dead if she hadn't taken me out to interrogate me about the wanderers (who, as far as I knew, were all either gone or dead by now). But still. It was easy to blame her for my problems, and I did so.
I walk out of my smallish room and down the stairs. Serephina's just left for the Reaping, so it's just Roman and the four kids left. Roman has all the kids awake, and he smiles at me from the kitchen, waving me over. The three older kids, named Garry, Kate, and Clarissa, sat in chairs at the granite kitchen island, while Roman had the youngest, little Gaius, in his arms. Roman had gotten some of the breakfast stuff out but I take over. Roman straps Gaius into his high chair as I turn on the high tech, flameless stove and put the black iron pan on it. I make a whole pan of scrambled eggs and divvy it out between the family, and then I pop a piece of wheat bread and make myself a bland piece of toast. Once we've all eaten, the kids clamor to go into the living room and watch the Reaping Recaps, which should be airing any minute now. I already know who's in it for Two; Serephina has been talking about Ardin Varnell and Tyberios Palatium for days. I still follow them into the living room. I may despise the Games, but I've become interested in them. I've found myself recently rooting for the Two kids instead of the Seven ones.
I've changed, like it or not. I'm not that girl I was in the arena, relentlessly optimistic about our chances and head over heels in love with Chen Evoncurst. Chen. It took too little time for me to get over him. Sure, I cared for him. But I was a fool, a young girl trying to scrabble and find passion and love in a world without any of that. I won't say everything was fake; we thought it was real, so I guess that means it was real. But I'm not sitting here, twelve years in the future, with my mortal heart trembling for Chen still. I'll probably never have a romantic relationship ever again since it's pretty obvious I'm not supposed to leave the boundaries of the Victor's Village of Two and no Victor is going to go for me. I came to terms with that, to terms with who and what I am now, a long time ago. I'm comfortable in my new skin. I'm not vulnerable and naive and insecure any longer. My tongue's been gone for twelve years; the most sound I've made in that time is a few dry gasps whenever I laugh or try to talk out of reflex. It feels weird to know I'll never her my voice again.
I sit on the couch and good distance from Roman and his children, bowing my head respectfully. The Manchas-Anniston's are lax with me for sure, but respect and honor are the core that makes up this family. I know my place. I know I should feel resentment or something like that, but I don't. This is my life now, and I've accepted that. I stare at the screen and watch as the tributes trickle by, not really seeing them. I'm seeing the tributes from my Games, I'm seeing the beaches and the jungles and the bloodthristy kids and the slain bodies and the spraying blood and the glittering green serpent and I start shutting down. I manage to run into the pantry and calm myself down enough to come back out. I may have gotten out of the arena before the Top 8, but I still have nightmares. Andi's screams will haunt me to the day I die. I just think of the trees of Seven, about Mom and Dad and the Krensons trekking through woods far away from here, safe from the Capitol, remembering their brave daughter Bethany and telling tall tales about her to the others at their wanderer camp. I didn't know much. All I told them was what the wanderers were, a group of people who just wanted to live their own lives outside of Panem's control, and that they were in the north. They tortured me for days and ran multiple lie tests and realized that I was telling the truth. I had nothing left to give. They threw me to the side, and then I found myself employed to help the stage crew set up, and underneath the stage I met lucky Victor Serephina Manchas waiting to rise up onto the stage to meet her adoring people. She recognized me, and out of some strange act of sympathy she took me back to Two and I've lived here ever since. Serephina rarely talks about the Games with me, but there are nights when I'll come down to get the house set up early and I'll see her sitting on the porch with a mug of earl grey tea. That's my signal to sit beside her and listen to her whisper about her Games. Those encounters only last a couple of minutes, and then I'm sweeping the front entrance and she's waking up her kids, but I cherish those moments. Serephina and I are the only people who can truly understand each other's fears. I just wish I could truly talk to her on those mornings, communicate my thoughts, and tell her that I've forgiven her for all she's done.
I step out of the pantry and head into the kitchen, where I start scrubbing the skillet I used to make breakfast. Roman's already taken the kids into the backyard to play with them on the big playground Serephina and Roman built for their kids by hand. I helped out a bit. I smile sadly. I've become interwoven with this family, like it or not. This is my life now. I'm strangely content with it.
A/N: Bethany Taylor has made another appearance! I hope you like her development, those of you who read Oceanside. Sorry those of you who don't know her character. Basically her family was planning on leaving the District, and then she was Reaped. The Head Gamemaker that year, Aenea Chariton, realized that Bethany was a rebel during the Pre-Games, but by that point Bethany's relationship with her District Partner Chen had begun to develop, and Aenea couldn't bear to kill her off early so she hid the fact that Bethany knew about these rebellious wanderers from Snow. In the Top 10, Bethany revealed to Chen her rebel secret, and Snow raged and almost killed Aenea and tasked her with having Bethany give up the information. To do this, Aenea took her out of the arena via a huge machine that was disguised like a monsterous serpent. She was then given the choice of death if she did not give up her info on the wanderers, or she would be Avoxed if she did give up the info. Bethany did give up the info, and the rest happened. Her parents are still alive and well with the wanderers, having evaded Peacekeepers, and her two younger sisters, Yetta and Panema, now adopted by a happy younger couple, are growing up well. A bittersweet story so far for our friend, Ms. Taylor.
Some of you were wondering what the trivia was for. All your trivia points along with 1 point per review will give you points for the sponsor system, so if you want to give lots of sponsor gifts you might want to do the trivia :)
Bethany (1 pt.): What type of tea does Serephina drink when she wants to talk about their Games?
I hope you enjoyed this interlude! Sorry this was posted soooo late, very early in the morning, but I just wanted to get it out. :)
Until Next Time,
Tracee