The party below is raging as the night air fills the courtyard. The Capitolians are having a ball of a time dancing, conversing, singing and stuffing their faces until they can barely move only to drink pink liquid that makes them vomit so they can keep eating. It's disgusting how they waste food like that. District Seven, home, is one of the wealthier districts in Panem, so not many of our people are starving. But out in the likes of Twelve, Eleven and Ten, people are dying of starvation every minuet of every day. The food they waste here in the Capitol in just one night, could keep a family of five well fed for months out in those districts.
Another thing with these people here in the Capitol, the vast majority of them are sideshow freaks. Some of them i've seen below in the courtyard have had their cheekbones completely reshaped to point out, others have had colourful spikes impaled under the skin to act as eyebrows. The scariest part is, they think they are beautiful, the literal height of fashion. What they don't realise is that to the rest of Panem they're laughing stocks, aliens who we mock because it makes us laugh.
This is one thing I aim to never become. Like one of them. I won't wear their stupid make up, or have my skin incrusted with diamonds. I won't talk with a stupid accent or walk on my damn toes. And I will not - not ever - truly consider myself to be a relative of Snow. I don't care about the truth. I might have to put him with him day in and day out, but the tide will change eventually. I will get out of here, I will get back to District Seven even if it kills me. I'm hoping Powell has something that can help me with that. Even if it's just some form of motivation to get out of here, more motivation then I already have. Anything is good enough for me.
I can't stay here. The more i'm stood here looking out of this window down at the party, watching as Blight tries to get Johanna to mingle with the people, the more i'm certain of the fact. I stay here and I never see those I care about ever again. Not my family not any of them, and it's made worse by the fact that they all think i'm dead.
By the time it's almost ten in the evening, i'm growing impatient. After waiting for four hours, doing nothing but watching the prats below dilly dally and laugh falsely, I think i'm starting to go crazy. I'm grateful to be out of the room when I eventually decide it's time to move. Before I leave to meet Powell, I make sure I lock the door behind me. That way, the only other person with a key is Wilks, therefore only he can get in. Unless the door is kicked in, which is always possible depending on who it is.
I avoid the main hall and staircase all together, the patrols are out in full down there, making sure nobody comes into this part of the mansion. Instead I take a faster route, and use the windows on the left side of the mansion to get to the meeting point faster, using the trees and bushes growing along the walls to get down safely. At exactly nine fifty five, Snow begins his speech to congratulate Johanna on winning the Hunger Games. Though I can't hear exactly what it is he is saying, i'm betting it's some corny crap that Egeria - the minister of affairs - has wrote for him as always.
Right on time Powell arrives, somehow his all black clothing proving useful by concealing him in the night and making him hard to spot. The first thing he does when he reaches me is pull me into a hug. I pretty much just stand there with my arms in the air until he takes his arms from around me and steps back.
"You are looking dashing." He comments. "Those suits look lovely on you."
I can't believe I miss this guy and his terrible compliments. "Thanks Powell, but..."
"But compliments aren't your thing and they're not why you are here." He must have read my mind.
"Exactly." I nod.
"Well, what do you want first, the good news or the bad news?" He asks leaning against the support beam for the patch of roof above.
"The good." I say without thinking.
"Right." He smiles a little. "Well good news is the little missy kept that necklace you gave her."
I only sigh. "I already know that."
I saw her wearing it in every district throughout the victory tour and yes it makes me feel happy, in fact better than that, to know that she decided to keep hold of it. I wanted her to have it after all. But the point of this was so I could find out information that I otherwise can't obtain by just watching TV.
"Well, I asked Blight how your family are and he told me that from what he knew they were doing fine, if still mourning you." That's a little bit better.
"Anything else that's ... Good?" I ask.
"Johanna has been insulting Cam these last two weeks. Giving her classy nicknames - the burning bush - and making a nuisence of herself at every opportunity." He chuckles. "I thought that would amuse you."
It does, but this is hardly the kind of news I wanted to hear. I'm starting to think that the bad news will be a story on how Camomile broke a damn nail and then wailed about it for hours.
"What's the bad news?" I rub my eyes.
When Powell sighs and a look of distress flashes across his face, my previous thoughts on how the bad news would be silly soon disappear. With a lengthy sigh, he reaches into his pants pocket and pulls out a crumpled sheet of paper that had been stuck back together messily.
"This isn't all of it, but it is the most important part I think. It's all I could recover from the trash without looking oddly suspicious." He explains.
I straighten out the paper and begin to read. I won't highlight the details of the letter, but within it's contents are Snow asking - no forcing - Johanna into prostitution. Just as he has with Finnick and Cashmere, and how he had with my real dad.
Crumpling the paper into a ball in my fist I say. " ... " Nothing. I don't know what words to use to describe what i'm feeling. Anger is too light a word.
"I did manage to talk with her the other night, by the sounds of it she has every intention on saying no. Not as politely as that from what I heard her screaming at Blight." Powell says quietly.
She can't do that, Snow would ... I don't know what he'd do but he'd make sure it hit her close to home. Right now i'm not sure which is worse.
"She can't refuse him, right? He'll kill her?" Powell asks.
"I don't know." I run my hand over my face.
"What exactly do you plan on doing?"
"I don't know, Powell." I say it angrily but quietly. I calm myself down before saying. "I'm sorry it's just ..." The fireworks begin firing into the air, meaning Snow's speech is over. "You should go. But thank you Powell."
He goes to argue the point, but in the end sighs and lets his head drop to the floor. "You watch yourself now. It's a dangerous game you are playing."
I nod.
"Until next time." Powell bows and begins walking off back to the party.
I break out into a jog as I get back into the mansion via the side doors. I know i'm supposed to get back to my room, but i can't force myself to go there, not when i know of Snows plans or how he will enact them this evening. Though what exactly can I do to stop him? Short of punching him and giving him something else to think about for awhile, i've got nothing. Even then it wouldn't do anything much but get me killed.
So what should I do? The question that revolves in my head as I round each corner and avoid the patrolling peacekeepers. Maybe if I can find Snow I can convince him too ... Who am I kidding? There's no way that he would listen to me. He doesn't like me, which is strange considering he keeps me around. I've never quite gotten around to finding out why he does and I doubt I ever will. The only other thing I can think to do is head to Snow's main office, he'll still be upstairs now, or at least he should be. I don't know what i'll do once i'm there, but I have to try something, anything. It's better than doing nothing at all. Maybe I can engrave a note for Johanna into his desk.
There isn't any problems as I sneak past the patrols in the main hall, they all seemed too enthralled by the fireworks outside to look behind them. It's when I reach Snow's office that I encounter the problem. Locked. Of course it was locked, why didn't I think of this? The only people who have keys are Snow himself and Egeria and i'm not getting it off either of them.
Damn it! There is no other way in that i know of.
Short of kicking it in i've got nothing, and it'll be pretty stupid of me to do that.
My next daring plan - and likely suicidal - is to go outside, into the party and find Johanna. If she doesn't kill me out of shock then i'm sure Snow and Thread will do it for bad behaviour. If they don't kill us both. No I can't do that, it's too risky for our lives and possibly everybody either of us knows.
Sighing I turn my back on the door, intent on going back to my room, only when I turn a solid fist connects to my jaw and knocks me onto the ground.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Commander Thread stands over me, an angry growl in his as points at me and then kicks me. "Get up!"
He grabs my hair and pulls me to my feet, only to kick the back of my legs and put me on my knee's. When he stands in front of me I try to fight back and swing for him, but I miss and fall down onto the ground face first.
"I knew you'd never be able to just stay up there as you were told." He uses his foot to kick me onto my back and smirks as he looks down at me. "I hope you like dark cells kid."
The last thing I see is Thread's armoured foot coming straight at my face before I blackout.