Chapter Fifty-Seven; Waiting for the Slaughter

(Stephanie's POV)

Ascending the stairs and passing through the doorway at the top they seemed to have entered into the main part of the building. It seemed that the waiting area had been underground.

There were more Capitol officials bustling about and distantly the roaring and cheering of awaiting crowds could be heard as they walked down the corridor.

Stephanie clutched the silk, green material of her dress in her hands raising it off the floor by a good three inches. She didn't care how ridiculous it looked. The last thing she needed was to fall flat on her face…again.

They were hurried by a woman who seemed to be checking them off as they went by on a clipboard, and then finally they were pushed into an oblong room that had two long, low benches against each of the walls.

There was a designated space for each district on the benches as identified by the large, white numbers painted on the walls at measured intervals; 6 pairs of tributes on each long bench, odd numbers and even numbers.

At the far end of the room was a metal staircase that led up. The whole room was dark almost pitch black except for the bright, fluorescent lights along the floor and benches and beside the numbers. There were no windows and only the one steel door that was closed as soon as they were all in the room, with a heavily armed official standing guard at it.

Clutching Frenkin's hand Stephanie made her way towards the length of bench below the number 3. She felt a return of her nerves and looking around at the faces of the others it seemed that everyone was feeling something similar, even for once Har from District 2 looked a little less bored now.

After a few moments of fidgeting everyone had found their seats and now they all waited in relative silence.

Frenkin looked up at Stephanie, the harsh lights reflecting off his glasses. He licked his lips nervously. "How long will it last?" Frenkin asked.

Stephanie tried to shrug carelessly. "I'm not sure, but Isa said that Flickerman is known for helping the tributes if they get stuck." Stephanie tried to sound hopeful but she couldn't help remember Flickerman's words at the end of her video; "I'll get some answers from her!"

Stephanie gulped. She felt like a pig on its way to slaughter. The crowd would eat her alive!

Stephanie felt cold beads of sweat begin to formalise on her forehead, her vision becoming slightly blurred. Frenkin's face swam before her for a few disconcerting moments before she was able to force herself to breathe calmly.

The nausea was still there but it had abated to a level that Stephanie could handle.

Frenkin the whole time had held her hands, squeezing them almost to the point where it was painful. But Stephanie was able to concentrate on it, until finally Frenkin's hushed reassurances filtered through.

"Are you okay?" Frenkin asked, worry plain on his face.

Stephanie attempted a smile and nodded, not yet trusting her voice.

"As long as I can hold off from fainting until after the interview at least," she replied.

Stephanie sat up straighter and on doing so, once more caught Slena's gaze who was sitting opposite her. But in Slena's gaze there was no silent amusement or cunning, but rather curiosity.

Stephanie looked away immediately and glanced down the bench on their side.

Directly beside them was District 5, Ava sitting beside Frenkin actually. That brought a slight smile to Stephanie's lips as colour once more began to enter her cheeks.

Prall, Ava's district partner, was hunched over, his gaze was far off and he seemed to be mumbling; no doubt practicing lines.

Over their heads Stephanie's gaze fell on Astara. She was sitting stoically; her gaze focused on a seemingly insignificant spot on the floor a few steps in front of her.

As if sensing Stephanie's gaze on her, Astara's head snapped up as she turned to Stephanie.

Astara managed a small smile and an acknowledging nod that Stephanie never got to return for suddenly a voice boomed out.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of Panem!"

A wave of deafening cheers and shouts responded to the greeting so loud that the very room seemed to tremble, the vibrations sending tremors through Stephanie's body.

It was Flickerman's voice, distinctive and recognisable from the videos. All the eyes in the room were turned upwards towards where the sound seemed to be coming from…above them?

The cheers went on for minutes that seemed to stretch on interminably.

The inhabitants of the room almost gave a collective jump, as the until then silent guard at the door began speaking authoritatively.

"When your name is called make your way up the stairs."

The simple instruction given the door was opened and the guard left, the door closing with a decidedly resounding thud after him.

There was only one way out now.

There was a lull in the cheering above as Caesar Flickerman began speaking; making a general welcoming speech and getting the crowd riled up for the upcoming interviews, "Where all would be bared!" Stephanie closed her eyes, forcing herself to breathe calmly and remembering what Haymitch told her. She only hoped she would be convincing enough.

Stephanie zoned out for the rest of Flickerman's speech, instead focusing on steadying her breathing.

A few words however crashed through her calm as she heard Flickerman call the first name.

"The darling Tarii Simmons from District 1!"

The crowd roared and cheered and made a generally large ruckus that was supposed to be encouraging and welcoming. Stephanie could almost imagine them beating against the guards in a frenzy like a pack of wild animals. Animals that needed to be fed. And they were the prey.

Tarii closed her eyes for a moment and inhaled deeply before leaping nimbly to her feet. She literally sprang from the bench as though she couldn't wait to get to her interview and the roaring crowds above.

Stephanie watched with something like amazement as Tarii gracefully ascended the stairs, head held high and her black curls bobbing.

She looked to Stephanie like some incredibly elegant ballerina with her every movement. But the more Stephanie saw of Tarii's agility the more Stephanie shuddered in thoughts of how deadly an advantage it could be. Tarii could literally dance circles around her opponents.

"Good luck cuz!" Cron yelled at the last moment as only Tarii's glittering heels could be seen before they too disappeared, but she never looked back.

Then a strange thing happened.

For the first few moments Stephanie could hear Flickerman welcome Tarii and hear Tarii's response; high-pitched and girlish.

Then suddenly a high pitched ringing tore through Stephanie's ears. It was like metal screeching, the sound scraped across Stephanie's very skull, reverberating painfully.

Stephanie winced and when she could bear to open her eyes from when she had scrunched them up reflexively, she saw that everyone else in the room wore similar grimaces, hands clutching the sides of their heads and looking about wildly.

Stephanie tentatively took her hands from over her ears when she saw a few others do the same. She glanced about her and then it struck her with a cold panic.

Everything was silent. She couldn't hear a thing.

Surprisingly, or perhaps not so, the first person Stephanie looked towards was straight across from her; Vir. He wore the same confused expression as before but there was a slight hint of a smirk to his lips as he glanced about those around him, hands clamped over their ears in agony. He was clearly unaffected by whatever it was.

Stephanie then turned to Frenkin desperately and he to her with wide frightened eyes.

She opened her mouth to speak to him and he to her at the same time and it seemed every other person in the room.

A small cacophony of sound started up in the room.

"Frenkin, can you hear me?"

"Stephanie, I can't hear…"

Approximately ten variations of similar, frantic conversations sounded around the room between district partners in voices just a little bit high-pitched.

There was a collective sigh of relief from everyone when they realised they hadn't suddenly gone deaf. Well, all except Vir.

Realisation dawned as it became clear they could hear nothing going on outside the room. Most importantly they couldn't hear Tarii's interview.

A silence fell over the room that seemed so much more noticeable with the absence of the roaring crowds in the background.

A slight murmur started up around the room as hushed conversations were had as people waited in nervous anticipation.

The interviews like everything else that year had been elongated.

Stephanie heard a quiet whisper to her left but the words were too indistinct. However when she glanced out of the corner of her eye she saw it was Ava, who was now speaking in muted tones to Frenkin. Prall, Ava's District partner, had resorted back to going over his lines.

Across the way Stephanie could even see Slena attempt to have some sort of conversation with Vir that involved a lot of hand gestures.

The minutes ticked by, not that Stephanie had any way of counting them. Time seemed to stretch on unhurried and orderly, in perfect tandem with the Capitol.

Stephanie began to worry that something awful had happened and they would all be left in this room for hours. A taster before the arena.

…

(Haymitch's POV)

Haymitch sat broodingly, glaring at the amber liquid in his glass as it caught the light.

Flickerman gave his usual antics that got the entire crowd to its feet with a thunderous applause before he called the first tribute out.

She skipped out with a bright smile on her face, exchanging air kisses with Flickerman before taking her seat and her interview started.

During it Haymitch hastily scrawled a few words onto a page titled 'District 1 Girl – Tarii Simmons - 15.'

Haymitch was seated in a secluded box seat that overlooked the whole proceedings below. It was the best seat for his purpose. He could take notes on the tributes discreetly without the constant crowd around him.

Glancing over the edge he could see Isa third row from the front, with the rest of the stylists looking up on the stage with admiration.

Haymitch scoffed as he added the words "suck-up" under Tarii's page. He knocked back the liquid in the glass.

The process of this note-taking was annoying and frustrating. It had been years since he had done it.

In the beginning, the first few years of his mentoring even when he had been drowning himself in alcohol, he did everything he could for his tributes, which included this irritating note-taking like he was a child in school.

As the years progressed he found he didn't need to take notes anymore. By the Reaping Videos alone he had only to take one look and he could guess everything. He supposed it was just something that came with time. Experience or some other supposedly useful thing like that.

Well experience hadn't helped him any Haymitch thought bitterly, pouring himself another drink. But still, with surprisingly sharp eyes, he watched the interview and dutifully took the notes.

He was going to make sure Stephanie had every possible advantage.