I drink two mugs of coffee at breakfast. I'll need it due to my sleepless night. After breakfast, I am taken to a small hospital close by where I receive the body polish. I am put to sleep for three hours and when I wake up I admire my body. The skin is so smooth and clean. Many of my scars have almost completely vanished. The biggest ones still remain but they are less noticeable. I barely have time to dress before Marge has whisked me away into a car and back to the training centre where my prep team waits. They make me up similarly to the ceremony except I am dressed in a pale green, buttoned shirt, dark grey pants and a dark grey vest. It is a formal casual look. The interview takes place just next to the dining room. Mikel Angelico sits patiently in a chair as I arrive on set. I am certain that Mikel is close to seventy years old yet it's hard to tell under all that makeup and cosmetic surgery. He wears an orange suit and his perfectly white hair is slicked back. His lips are an amazing bright yellow.
He hugs me when I come in. "Good to see you Tomas, how are you?"
"Fine thanks" I reply
I sit down opposite Mikel and then the interview begins. The conversation goes over the events of the games. We talk about my experience in the career pack and how the alliance had been broken. We talk about my mental breakdown in the cornucopia and Mikel ventures to ask more about this mysterious green ring that pretty much brought me back from the dead. When he asks this, I stare straight into the camera and say that the ring belongs to the most valuable person in my life. I want Aliss to know this. I don't give many details and Mikel doesn't push the point. I don't want our love to be advertised all over the country. It belongs to us and us alone. The conversation turns to the lagoon. "You and Edgale had the whole of Panem on the edge of their seats!" exclaims Mikel. So that's what Seven's name was. Edgale. "Six times! I counted six times that you two nearly bumped straight into each other in the water maze! Each time we all thought we were about to witness another brutal fight to the death! The most excruciating bit was when the pair of you were sleeping on islands barely twenty metres from one another. I can tell you, I could barely go to bed that night out of fear of missing something." When the conversation gets to the final fight with Plato, Mikel gets serious. "During that last fight to the death no one knew who was going to win. I assure you that the whole of the Capitol was cheering for either you or Plato. You had the people divided! Oh, and when you jumped into that fire I literally screamed. For a few shocking seconds everybody thought that we weren't going to have a victor this year, but when you wriggled out of those flames I cannot tell you how relived I was, and I think that goes for every person in Panem!"
When the interview finishes I thank Mikel then head back to my room. I sit by myself for a while until Slade calls me out to head off for the train station. We are driven to the station where the train waits. I wave goodbye to Selvia and my prep team as the train moves away from the platform. Night time draws in quickly. We eat a large dinner then watch the replay of the interview before I go straight to bed. The nightmares are relentless and I try to stay awake. Not even the food of the Capitol comforts me for the next day of travel. All I want to do is get home. I want my family and I want Aliss.
When the station of District 2 comes into view my pulse quickens. I am dressed in neatly fitted clothes similar to what we wear in the district. I stand by the door. I can't take it anymore. I need to get out. I need my family. Tears begin to well in my eyes. The slowing of the train in front of the station seems to take forever. I wait for the doors to open and Slade puts a hand on my shoulder. "Watch it tiger, don't get too excited now." The doors open and my legs work on their own. I shove my way through the cameras that pack the platform. I hastily make my way through the station exit and when I reach the dirt road that leads into the district I begin the sprint, completely leaving my group behind. Slade is behind me calling my name. He doesn't know what I am doing and is just trying to save me from doing something foolish or dangerous. I don't care how foolish I look. I just need to find my loved ones.
As I run the streets, I notice that nothing in District 2 has changed. Nothing except me. Within minutes I can see the city square. People are gathering there to welcome me home. I begin to notice the decorations in the streets as I rush through them. Shouts of delight and surprise surround me as people see and recognise their victor. I assume they all expect me to be with my escorts at the station, not tearing down the streets.
I reach the city square and push my way through the crowd. People begin hooting and cheering as people realise who has arrived. People respectably dart out of my way. I swear that I even see oafish figure of Zander step aside to let me pass. I keep running and look around frantically. I see them now. Standing on the victor's stage. Not Aliss, but both my parents and Jade. My eyes blur again with tears and I push my way towards them. They catch site of me and rush off the stage towards me. It is in the very heart of the city centre where we are reunited. They embrace me tightly and I embrace them back. They weep, I weep and the crowd cheers. For five minutes we hold each other tight. My early appearance was unexpected but the mayor of District 2 verbally welcomes me back through the microphone, asking for another round of applause.
The crowd gradually dies down after a while, but as I continue to stand with my family, the volume of the crowd begins to pick up again. The mixed sounds of hooting, cheering, whistling and whispering begin to fill the square. What have they seen? A shiver runs down my spine and I begin to tremble. I take a step back from my family and turn around. Those green eyes penetrate my very soul. I take a step towards her but my legs waver. My eyes darken and the next thing I remember is I'm lying on my back. I open my eyes, letting the light enter slowly. I must have fainted. I stare upwards and Aliss' face fills my vision. So radiant and beautiful. A tear falls from her face and lands on my cheek. I become aware of my own tears as they stream down the side of my face. I open my lips to say something but she presses a finger against them to silence me. She then leans down and presses her lips against mine. If the crowd had cheered any louder, I would have gone deaf.