Early in the Year of the Forty Second Games:
The next few months I kept trying to improve myself, I started to eat again, I went for walks and then runs and I kept opening up to Dad. Yet all wasn't well yet, Silk began to avoid me again and my paranoia grew, had I done something wrong. I tried to visit her house but there was never anyone in. Dad told me that she'd heard that she'd been seen boarding a train to District Two. Why hadn't she told me where she was going? And as soon as it had come all my optimism from the previous month's so called lessons had vanished.
"Look she's just busy with her own life and knows you're happy now. You are happy right Diamond?" Dad asks, his eyes shining with so much hope.
I nod "I just feel odd" I admit "Like something is missing."
"You need friends, not just some old fart of a miner or any of those other victors. Go out there and meet some normal kids."
"Jewel was normal" I sigh "well as normal as any ex-career can be. Maybe I shook her off too soon."
Dad smiles as he continues to stir the pot of stew we we're making for tea. "Go out there and find her then. She moved back to her parents after she left here."
"That's what my Mother told me, back in the graveyard" I say, "but I never found out where that was."
"Well you know where the factory is don't you? Go ask there for her."
I agree and later that evening I slip on my coat, scarf and a hat to hide my face and head out toward the factory sector. It's a little bit snowy out, unusual for District One, but a perfect excuse for me to cover my face as I make the long walk from the glamour of the Victors Village to the factories. I'm thankfully ignored as I move into the more populated area of town and join in with the crowd of people heading to meet with loved ones after their shifts end. Reaching the gates of the large factory where I knew Jewel worked I duck out of the small crowd and into a small alleyway.
The smell of dye is strong here and I gag for a moment before realising that I'm crouched bellow an pipe exhuming fumes from inside. Moving out of its way I position myself to look around to the door of the factory. It's been a while since I've been this side of town and I'd forgotten how gloomy it was, it didn't really make sense when I thought about it too much, with all the technology and wonder I'd witnessed in the Capitol why did this place feel so run down. Then I remember seeing the other Districts on my tour, this place seems like a technological wonder in comparison to the factories of Eight and it's workers that I see around town are filled with more happiness and food than those I saw in Three. The system isn't fair I realise, the games are the Capitols way of pitting us Districts against each other when surely we should be working together to create a fairer system.
My revelation comes as a surprise to me, as something that I should have found obvious but didn't, was I just that self focused or was it just how they conditioned us to be? A shrill whistle fills the air and I freeze as if someone had read my thoughts and were coming for me. Of course I was being ridiculous as I watch as the crowd in the courtyard look on expectantly. After a few minutes the first of the workers emerge and begin the short walk home. As I watch them closely their hands stained with dyes and their eyes staring blankly in the direction of home, I forget for a moment why I came here.
But then I see her, arm in arm with a girl of a similar age, she steps out of the factory with a smile on her face. I see she's dyed her hair with an orange streak and that she's started to grow it out too so it resembles mine less. Not sure what to do next as it would strange of me to simply emerge from this dark alleyway I decide that the best cause of action would be to follow the two of them. At least then I'd have an address for her and I could plan a proper reunion.
Remaining hidden in my scarf and coat I slip out into the open and join the throng of people all heading to the large apartment buildings a short distance away. I expect the two young women to separate at some point, to give me an opportunity to talk to Jewel, but they stick together until they enter the building and I can't bring myself to follow them any further.
"Why didn't you just walk up to her" Dad had laughed when I told him about my dilemma once I'd returned home.
"Because she wasn't alone" I say "I didn't want to cause a scene, she probably hates me after everything I did."
He just chuckles and continues to read his magazine; I notice the front cover has an image of Mason on the front and a promise to tell his sauciest secret yet. "I didn't think you read that trash" I say to Dad.
"I always have" he responds "It used to be the only way I knew what was happening with your life. But you know what?"
"What?"
"You're not mentioned once in this edition."
A smile forms on my lips as I bid my Father goodnight and head up to my large bed in this large house built for a girl who was so much different to how I felt today.
The next morning I wake up early, still smiling, my mind clear of dark thoughts and my memory empty of horrible dreams. For the first time in a while I feel at peace with myself and I know exactly what I have to do to cement that feeling.
Leaving a quick note for Dad who was still to wake up for his work I slip out of the house and jog over to the apartments I saw Jewel enter the night before. The run takes me less time than it would have a few weeks ago and as I stand outside the building catching my breath I feel more alive than I have in months.
After a while the door opens and a group of people head out to the factories, they are soon followed by another crowd, and another and another. The groups become smaller and more spaced apart until I'm sure that everyone in the building has gone to the factories. Everyone that is except Jewel.
I start to panic, was she alright, did something happen in the night?
"Diamond?"
I turn around to see Jewel, her hair pulled up into a short ponytail and a black sack in her hand. Close up she looks just the same since I last saw her, but with less hate in her expression and more worry.
She pulls me into a hug. I stop in shock, didn't she hate me? I'd honestly expected her to turn me away, but here she was her arms wrapped around me still holding the bag.
She quickly lets go "Oh dear, I'm hugging you with my trash aren't I?" She grabs my hand and leads me to the trash cans where she deposits the bag.
"You want to go for a walk?" she asks "I need to get some groceries."
"Aren't you working today?" This all felt to normal, was she planning something?
She shakes her head, "I'm getting fewer shifts at the moment it's a pain in the butt really but I'm managing." She shrugs but looks uncomfortable at the topic so I let her change it back to me. "How are you feeling after the incident in the capitol, you certainly look better?"
"I'm good" I tell her, "I missed you when I came home. I thought you were mad at me."
"I was at first" she says as we walk away from the apartments and towards the District centre, "But then I realised you weren't well" she keeps her hand tightly gripped to mine as we walk and I like the security that it brings. "I wanted to be there for you but then my parents got involved, they said that they'd help me pay for my own place if I got rid of you. They believed the stories you see."
"What stories?"
"I'd rather not repeat them and anyway I'm sure you can guess"
"Yeah I think I can."
We continue on in silence until I can think of a way to continue the conversation; "So how's living on your own then?"
She chuckles "I'm not exactly on my own; three of us share that apartment. Its fun though, just like when I used to go to sleepovers as a kid, plus we all failed at getting into the games so we have quite a bit in common."
"You didn't fail" I sigh, repeating what I kept telling her all those months ago "You survived. If you had entered, you would have died, or if you were unlucky like me you would have won it."
"Don't say things like that." She says "Winning is a great thing, the glory you have."
"Had. No-one cares about me anymore. Not now I'm ruined."
We weave through the market place where Jewel buys a loaf of bread and leads me towards the green grocers' stand where we join a large crowd. I notice it does seem like there are more people here than there usually is in the middle of the week. Weren't we always guaranteed work here in One, weren't we secure? I knew Dad had been working less recently but I always assumed he was being there for me, giving his shifts to his colleagues.
I almost don't bring it up until I see a young woman with a baby on her hip approach me and Jewel.
"Please Miss Diamond" she begs "Please help me, my child she's starving?"
I'm not given a chance to reply before the large green grocer steps in-between me and the woman and she scarpers without a word.
"My apologies Miss" he says with a little bow "She's been pestering us traders for months, we've tried asking the peacekeepers to move her but they're not being very helpful lately." He lowers his eyes and disappears behind a stall of vegetables. He is swarmed with the people in his line, desperately haggling to lower his already low prices lower.
"What's happened to our District Jewel?" I ask "It was never this bad was it? I know I had a rough time but we had money didn't we?"
Jewel shrugs "We were too young back then; I was sheltered by the academy and you by your own needs."
"Selfish you mean."
"No just human, children don't notice the bigger picture do they."
"I guess all the food my victory brought has gone then" I sigh remembering the faces of the people in this same market the last time I was truly here before my mind was altered. "I'm so ashamed" I say "I've been so caught up in my meaningless problems that the Capitol created to notice this"
I don't let Jewel reply again and instead set off in the direction the young woman ran. Jewel follows me, her foot steeps keeping up with my pace on the gravel path that lead towards the warehouses. We find one with a partially open door and I slide in.
"Hello" I whisper "Is anyone there?"
We listen for an answer but there is silence, I turn to leave when I hear a baby cry.
"Hello" I repeat "It's Diamond Hart, you asked for my help back in the market."
"I know who you are" comes a reply from the same woman "You here to get me arrested, have them take my baby away."
"No" I exclaim "I would never. What's your name?"
"Satine" she whispers "and this is Diamond, I named her after you." She steps into the light and I take her in, watching her as she shivers in a shabby little dress and a thin shawl while her baby was wrapped only in a blanket.
"I don't have any food on me" I tell her "but if you want to come back to mine."
She shakes her head and shuffles back into the shadows, "I'm not going near the Victors Village Miss" she says "No way"
I don't need to ask her why; we are a pretty scary lot after all.
"Do you want this?" Jewel asks stepping in front of me, she holds out her hand offering out her recently purchased bread. Satine nods her head enthusiastically and takes the bread from Jewels hands.
"Thank you Miss" she says.
"Names Jewel"
"Thank you Jewel"
We stands awkwardly for a moment and I can see the hunger in Satine's eyes but she doesn't start to eat. "We can go" Jewel offers.
"No please urm... stay. I don't get much company here" she gestures for us to follow her to the back of the warehouse we follow her and wait as she lies little Diamond on a pile of rags I took to be her bed before she ripped into the bread and began to eat.
We don't have to wait long for her to finish the bread "Thank you" she says, her eyes tearing up a little, "I never expected you to be so kind" she lifts up her baby who has begun to stir and lifts her to her breast to feed her. "Don't know what I'll do when she needs real food."
"I'm sorry to ask" I say "But how have you got so desperate." I blush "I'm sorry that sounds rude, I just thought we had it good here in One."
"Then you've fallen for the lies" she says "Yeah we have it better than those poor rats in Eleven or Twelve but one mistake and they throw you on the slag heap. My little Diamond here was mine; her father refuses to acknowledge her as his and my parents threw me out in shame. They own one of the small jewellers and that's all I know how to do, now no-one will hire me for fear of angering my father." She begins to cry "I thought I had my life set you know, I never had to fear the games, I had a career and I thought I had a man who loved me." She continues to weep and Jewel leans around to comfort her. "and here I am" she says wiping a tear away "Telling a victor my life story. Diamond Hart here in my little hovel" she chuckles through her sobs.
"I'm no big deal" I say with a shrug "Just a stupid kid who got lucky in a stupid game. But I do want to help you, somehow. I just don't know how."
"I could go back to the market" Jewel suggests "Get you some things"
Satine shakes her head "You've already been so kind Jewel I can't take anything else from you."
"I'll come back tomorrow with some things" I offer "I have some warm clothes that they've declared unfashionable and I'll bring you some more food."
"You really are my hero Diamond" she says "and I hope my little Diamond grows up as kind as you."
We make our leave and I make sure to close the door of the storage barn tight behind me, though it's a different direction from the Village I end up following Jewel home.
"I'm sorry you've lost your bread" I say as we walk through the now empty marketplace.
"It's okay" she replies "I'll tell the girls he was out, it's happened before. Do you want to come round one evening meet them?"
"Sure" I reply hugging her farewell, "just tell me when"
"Tomorrow" she replies "I'm working till six, come meet me outside the factory."
I agree and after a quick hug we go our separate ways. I walk home with a purpose and as I think through the stack of unworn clothes in my too large closet I wonder what else I can do to help people other than myself.
A/N: Ooo that was a bigger chapter than I was planning. Thanks to the person who followed yesterday for inspiring me to get this chapter done. Got a couple of big plans for Diamond and I hope I'll be able to get them to you quicker than last time.
If you have the time could you please either review or send me a PM saying what you like the most about the story and if you follow it why. I'm just really interested to find out. Thanks.
S