Disclaimer: I own very little, as you know.
Chapter Forty-Four: Crystal Vox
It was, shocking, to say the least when I opened my door early one morning to see a bubbly young woman with electric blue hair standing at my door. She had a rather long dress on that, even by Captiol standards, was a little edgy. It was nearly the exact same shade as her hair with layers upon layers of heavy, silky, and sheer fabric. She was carrying a large bag, which she immediately dropped when I opened the door.
"Who are you?" I asked, still trying to force sleep from my eyes.
"Crystal Vox, at your service, ma'am!" She said very chipper and nearly shoved her hand into mine for a firm shake.
"Yes, yes and what exactly is your service…Miss Vox?" I asked tentatively, leaning against the door frame.
"Why, you are Mrs. Crane, correct?" She asked me curiously as she dug into her bag, searching furiously for something.
Behind me, I heard Seneca's footsteps coming toward the door. Perhaps he would have more knowledge of who this young woman was for I was moments away from dismissing her and saying that she had the wrong apartment number. Seneca, however, came at just the right time and seemed to know precisely what was going on.
"Is that the help?" He asked from a distance.
I turned my head to call back to him," There's a Crystal Vox at the door…do you know-?"
"Oh wonderful!" He cried as he turned the corner and came to the door next to me. By this point in the pregnancy, I was definitely showing and it was a squeeze for him to stand next to me in the doorway. Nevertheless, he squeezed himself through to shake this young woman's hand. "Do come in Miss Vox!"
As the girl was gathering her belongings with a huge smile on her face, I turned to Seneca wanting an answer as to why there was a chipper, almost-teenager on our doorstep. He met my eyes directly as I whispered harshly, audible to only him," Who is this?"
"Help. For you, me, and the baby," He said with a smirk and a tap on my protruding stomach.
"Seneca," I nearly growled. He hadn't mentioned anything to me about this, seriously, until just now.
"You'd be surprised how difficult it is to find this complex!" Crystal nearly yelled from behind us, lugging in her oversized bag with her as she slammed the front door shut behind her. "It's the tallest in the city, yet it's the least accessible. Truly, Seneca, make it a little easier for the everyday citizen to get here."
I bit the inside of my cheek to stop any rude comments that were about to escape my lips about the purpose in keeping some citizens out.
Seneca, being the social man he was, only laughed before clapping her on the shoulder," Why, Crystal, if we made it easy to get into, then it wouldn't be worth finding, now would it?"
They laughed and laughed while I forced a smile and entered the kitchen to prepare a small breakfast for Seneca before he left for work. Already, he was dressed in a grey pant suit with electric yellow streaks in it while I had barely even looked in a mirror. My relationship with Miss Vox was seemingly already strained.
"Would you like any juice, Miss Vox?" I asked nicely, opening our cooler.
"Oh no, not at all. Acids and my intestines do not get along, but thank you anyways," She answered sweetly, tossing her bag onto the couch before plopping down on a stool. Her and Seneca continued into casual conversation as I fixed myself and Seneca a glass of juice as well as a special breakfast pastry that came especially from one of Seneca's coworkers just days before.
"Now, Crystal, do explain to my wife what it is you'll be doing for us," Seneca finally said as I placed a small plate and glass in front of him. I met his glance for a moment, letting him know that I still did not approve of this.
"Oh me?" She asked, giggling as she did. "I'm the Capitol's one and only baby-care provider. If anyone knows anything about children…it's me."
A teenager was supposed to know everything about children? I furrowed my brow, seeing right through her ploy.
"Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating that a little, but I am really good with kids. I've babysat my siblings ever since I was thirteen years old," She spewed out, resting her head on her hand as she looked at me.
"Oh? And how old are you now?" I asked, looking right into her bright blue eyes.
"Nineteen," She said proudly, looking straight back at me.
I swallowed hard before leaning back on the cabinet and looking warily at Seneca. He trusted a teenager to watch our child full-time? He was lucky that she was sitting directly in front of us at the moment for I wanted to rip his head off. I wish that were an understatement, but at the moment, it certainly wasn't.
"Mostly, she's going to be fixing up the room for us seeing as both you and I are extremely busy right now and won't have the time to do it. She's extremely talented and I assure you that we will not be disappointed in how she watches our child or how she prepares the room," He said looking at me before taking a final bite of his breakfast before standing to brush the crumbs off of his suit and quickly stepping over to kiss my cheek.
I wiped excess crumbs on the front of his suit off as I kissed his cheek and he turned to rush off to work. During the Games season, he was so incredibly busy. Especially this year with him being the Head Gamemaker and all, everyone was demanding his attention. As he was sprinting out of the apartment, I realized how underprepared I was for work that day and immediately ran back to our room to throw on something more presentable.
Within several minutes, I was as professional-looking for work as I was going to get. I came back into the kitchen, where Crystal sat sketching in a large book. Shoes in hand, I stood at the table, looking at what she was working on.
"What are you working on?" I asked, leaning over tenderly to put on my shoes.
"Oh, just the baby's room. I've got so many ideas that I wish I could just channel them…this isn't a final sketch by any means, but it's what I'm leaning toward at the moment," She said, dropping her pencil to show me the project.
I took her sketch in my hands and was utterly in shock of what I saw. Never, did I think this girl would actually be talented…especially not at interior design. The shading, the shapes, everything about this sketch was lovely. Without much hesitation, I dropped the book back in front of her and genuinely said," You're talented, Miss Vox."
"Thank you," She said, smiling as color rushed to her face and she continued sketching. "Would you mind showing me the room before you leave so that I can see what I'm working with?"
My heart sunk as I pictured that nightmare of a room. I nodded my head and quickly walked her to spare room just doors down from Seneca and I's. She immediately entered and plopped down right in the middle of it, amongst the boxes and all. I couldn't help but chuckle at her willingness to get started.
"If you'd like, I can move some of the boxes when I get home-"
"Oh, no! I want to move them for you. You're not meant to do much of anything and I'll make myself useful for something!" She exclaimed, looking up at me adamantly.
"Yes, of course, well I will leave you to your thinking and I should be home in the mid-afternoon. Sometimes, my hours can be unpredictable, but make yourself at home," I said, though the words felt odd going out to a stranger whom I had just met. There was a part of me that was softening toward her, however.
If Seneca trusted her, then I should, but I couldn't help but be a little angered that he didn't at least mention this to me. Needless to say, we would be discussing this sooner rather than later. With one last smile to the young lady, I turned to return to the kitchen, grabbed my coat, bag, and tablet before rushing off to work.
Honestly, as time went on, there wasn't much I could complain about over Crystal. She was absolutely happy and always had a smile on her face, but I certainly couldn't hold that against her. She did her job well with the baby's room and even went beyond that at times to make the rest of the home look better. As much as I wished to dislike Miss Vox, I couldn't.
In this time, I had many discussions with Seneca over the matter, but I finally simply had to trust him and put it behind us for I knew that there was no firing her. I did make it known that I had to at least know of future decisions of the sort. His argument was that if he had told me that it was a nineteen-year old, then I would have never agreed to it. This may have been true…but still.
Also in this time, I was experiencing more and more of the "joys" of pregnancy. One day could feel as though it was the best day ever while the next could be absolutely horrendous. One day I could be absolutely in love with Seneca while the next I wished to kick him out and file for divorce.
was still favorable amongst my coworkers and my job was doing well. There was no reason for complaining, in all honesty. The Games meant that the security department could actually see some excitement. Twice this Games, I was able to report crews to break up street fights over lost bets. Some worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
One evening, I remember getting home late from work. It was one of the low days, but when I arrived home, Crystal was burning a fire and painting some sort of mural on the child's room. She made it known that I was not allowed to see it, but I managed to sneak a glimpse en route to the den, where the large television was located.
Slipping off my shoes, I gingerly sat down in the chair and turned on the television. Seneca had told me earlier that he was to interview with Caesar this evening. Quickly, I was able to find the interview as the energetic man was asking my husband all sorts of questions about the Games. They were laughing and putting on the show that I was sure everyone in the Capitol was eating up. After all, Seneca may have been waiting all his life for this job, but the people were able to see him grow into these shoes.
"Do tell me Seneca, what has been your favorite part so far about these Games?" Caesar asked, leaning forward interested.
"You know, every Game is unique, Caesar, but this one…I really like the spirit of the tributes," He continued on, but I knew that this was all simply talk. If he really liked the spirit of the tributes, then he would be more actively pursuing one of them to show mercy to and from what I had heard thus far…Seneca had shown little mercy.
They continued on this topic for several minutes before Caesar spoke again.
"And how's the wife at home, Seneca? We all know that Savera's expecting a child, right folks?" He asked, flashing that spectacular smile to the crowd.
They all cheered as Seneca smiled and leaned back in his chair. I also had to smirk at how incredibly uncomfortable Seneca was growing talking about his personal life and at how incredibly interested Caesar and the folks were.
"Oh, we are doing spectacular, Caesar. We're working on the child's room still and making preparations around the home. It's truly an exciting time for the both of us," He answered cooly.
"How wonderful, Seneca! We know that your child will be an absolute blessing to the society and I do hope that Savera knows this too," He said looking right at Seneca as he said this. Seneca smiled and accepted the notion before Caesar asked one last question about the pregnancy. "Is it a boy or girl?"
"We are not going to know until the day it is born," He answered with a small smile.
The crowd gasped and cooed over this. I smiled at their reaction and Caesar trying to reel their attention back in for they were running low on time.
"With that being said, why don't you leave the crowd with your final thoughts on being Head Gamemaker so that you can get back to your dear wife at home?" He asked happily.
Seneca put a hand on his chin, as if he were thinking on just what to say, before he looked straight into the camera and said," Know that there is no greater honor than to be your Head Gamemaker."
And just as the words left his mouth, they echoed in my head, haunting my body so terribly that I immediately shut the television off. Surely, he hadn't meant that…but it was still only slightly disturbing to see the man I loved in charge of such a murderous event. I had to remind myself the cause he was putting himself on the line for. And for just a moment, I had the picture of the perfect society in which Seneca had played a role in creating. Just a moment, I could feel precisely what Seneca had always felt, but it wasn't long before his words were echoing through my ears reminding me of the reality that faced us both.
Once more, this realization was covered up by the happy times that were coming up for the both of us. Very soon, we would be finishing the baby's room as well as our shopping for this highly-anticipated child. As the Games progressed on and they came closer to a winner, I avoided the televisions more and more frequently to be sure that I witnessed none of the actual action. For several weeks, we were happy.
Honestly, there was nothing but pure joy in our home, between the ups and downs of the hormones.
For the most part, being pregnant was exciting for us all. The reality of having a baby to raise was coming closer, but it wouldn't be until that day that it would hit the both of us hard.
A/N: CHRISTMAS BREAK! It's really that exciting for me because now I actually have time to do what I love: write. Hope you all are doing well and know that I will be updating much more frequently now! Thanks for all the feedback thus far! Please let me know what you think
