Chapter 16:
I slowly open my eyes, and I'm blinded by the bright white lights. Where am I? I look at my left arm and see all of the tubes sticking out of it. Then everything comes rushing into my mind. The final battle with Cress. Kendall being stabbed. Me killing Cress. Then Kendall dying in my arms. And now I am being made pretty again by the doctors before I'm presented in front of the Capitol.
I place my hands against my face, wanting to pretend Kendall is still alive. Wait...hands? I pull my right hand away from my face and see a fancy prosthetic hand attached to the stump where my real hand had been. The Capitol doctors had done this. I start to look at the rest of my body to see what else they did. All my scars are gone. There isn't a single imperfection on my body.
I didn't notice the doctor that had walked in until she said something. "Hello Lauren, how are you feeling? Is your new hand working out well? I figured you would want to have a prosthetic hand."
"It works great," I say while flexing the fingers.
"Excellent. You are all fixed up and ready to leave. Here are the clothes for you to put on." She hands me a pile of clothes and walks out through a door that blends in entirely with the wall. I cringe when I unfold the clothes. Of course, I forgot that the tributes leave the hospital in the clothes they were given to wear in the arena.
I pull them on and stand in front of the wall where the door is. It opens and I walk out into the hallway. I walk tall and keep a blank face, knowing that they will be showing me right now. I turn a corner, and see Cresselia, Stefan, Logan, and my prep team waiting there for me. Cresselia and my prep team are all crying happy tears; Stefan is even smiling at me. But the look on Logan's face shows how truly proud of me he is. I hug him first, and then hug everyone else.
They lead me to an elevator, and we head up to the floor I stayed on before the games in the Training Building. Being here is a bit hard for me, and I fight hard not to cry. This place has memories of Kendall.
We eat some food, but I'm only allowed a small amount. Then the prep team leads me into my room to get me ready for my crowning of victor in front of the Capitol.
Calpurnia is chattering on about my best moments in the games while painting my nails pink. Icilius and Emboria are talking about how each moment made them feel while he does my makeup and she curls my hair. I don't have to say much in the conversation, which I am glad for.
I'm finally done and Logan walks in with a garment bag. I smile at him, looking forward to seeing whatever it was he designed for me. "So what am I wearing tonight?" I ask.
"You'll see," he responds. "Now close your eyes." I do as he says. He slips a dress over my head, careful not to mess up my hair and makeup. He makes a few small changes. "Ok you can look."
The dress is a pale pink floor length gown. It has one shoulder, is tight the entire length, and has a slit up the left leg to about mid-thigh. It completely complements my figure. My hair is curled perfectly and pinned to my left side. For my make up, I have smoky eyes and deep red lipstick. The outfit is simple, but it's simplicity is what makes it beautiful. I look mature and sexy, showing how much I have been changed by the games. I look perfect.
"Logan, it's perfect, like everything else you have designed for me," I say and hug him. We then walk down the elevator to the lobby of the building. The stage is right in front of the building, and we walk under it to prepare for our entrances. Stefan and Cresselia are already there. Cresselia leads Logan and the prep team to where they have to stand, and leave me and Stefan alone.
He tentatively smiles at me, and holds his arms open for a hug. I don't hesitate to return it. "Great job, Lauren. I'm so proud of you," he says, and steps back. "You proved to me that you are tough, and I admire how you played the games. And I'm sorry about Kendall. I see tributes die every year, but his death was one of the hardest. Probably because you two have been my favorite tributes. I'm glad that you made it out, but I wish there could have been something I could do to have Kendall make it as well."
He genuinely looks like he cared for Kendall. Maybe Stefan isn't too bad. I smile at him as my eyes start to water a bit. "Thanks Stefan. You know, I'm actually kinda glad to see you," I say.
Before I can say anything else, Cresselia comes running towards us. "You two need to get in your places, we're about to start!" She pulls Stefan away to where he has to stand, and I step onto the metal plate that marks where I will rise up.
The prep team goes up first, and the crowd starts cheering. I'm sure Calpurnia, Icilius, and Emboria are loving all the attention right now. Then Logan goes up and the crowd starts cheering even louder, since they loved his outfits. Next is Cresselia, who is shortly followed by Stefan. Stefan is received with a lot of cheers, since he helped me by being my mentor. Then my plate starts to rise up. I raise up my chin, and put a smile on my face. This is my night.
The crowd goes absolutely insane when they see me. I smile and wave at them as I walk over to where Claudia is sitting near the victor's throne. MY throne, I realize. She gives me a hug, and we sit down.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," she begins, once the crowd finally quiets down. "I give you Lauren Knight, the victor of the 124th Hunger Games!" Loud screams answer her.
Once the crowd gets quiet again, everyone's attention is on the large screens that are all over in the City Circle. It was time to show the main highlights of the games.
They begin with the reapings. Then they show me shining on the chariot ride next to Kendall. I smile as I remember the time I spent with Kendall before the games. Next is the interviews, they show mine, and I'm surprised that they show Kendall's as well. I guess the person who puts together the highlights wanted to show the brother/sister relationship.
Then the games begin. I see myself running towards the cornucopia and grabbing items. But then I see every gruesome death: Draco from 3 being stabbed, Clair from 3 being killed by the knife Kendall threw, Morty being completely sliced in half. This makes me shudder a bit at the pure blood lust that Brycen had. Then Brock is stabbed with a sword, Lucius is hit in the head with a malice by Angela, and then myself killing Jasmine. I'm shocked at myself; I look almost like a graceful animal launching herself at her prey.
They show Gabriella and I running from the cornucopia. They show us for a bit in our tree, and I smile thinking about Gabriella. Then they cut away from us to show Brycen and Elesa hunt down Erika and Carlos; Erika's throat is slit, and Carlos' neck is snapped. Gabriella and I are shortly shown again, sitting in our tree.
It switched over to when the mutts first appeared. Falkner is killed by a mutt, and they show Skyla's struggle. Then Elesa is shown gracefully shooting the bow and arrow at Skyla. Gabriella and I are shown killing our mutts. The producer even decided to show Kendall killing his mutt. He looks almost graceful as he throws a single knife at the mutt, killing it. I smile at him, proud of my brother.
But the next scene shown almost makes me cry. I see Gabriella get stabbed by Sparkle, and the video cuts away to show me running towards them. I get to the clearing, and kill Sparkle. Again, I am shocked at how I look like an animal attacking prey. The crowd screams louder at my kill. I smile at the feeling that I avenged Gabriella by killing her murderer. The entire moment with Gabriella dying is shown, and then I leave her. I'm kinda shocked at my face, how I looked like I wanted to kill.
The Careers are shown next and Iris is killed, simply because she didn't agree with Brycen. I can't believe how insane he was. The screens cut back to my face when I had jumped out of the tree. My face shows my thirst to kill the remaining tributes. I am shown briefly walking to find Kendall.
Next I am in the tree in the morning near Kendall. I am shown throwing the ax at Angela. I can't help it, I throw my fist in the air, happy with killing the girl who had caused so many problems for me. This makes the crowd scream louder. They continue cheering as Kendall and I reunite. We are shown for a bit sitting in the tree. Whitney is shown briefly, she grabs a fruit which ended up being poisonous.
But then I am shown fighting with Glam. Every detail of the fight is shown. I look down at my new hand when I see Glam cut off my old hand. But then Kendall kills him, and I am smiling again. They show everything about Kendall working on my hand.
Then they cut to the feast. Kendall darts out of the cornucopia and runs to the forest with our bag; Elesa and Blaine both run towards the bags and fight; Elesa kills Blaine but dies shortly after in Brycen's arms from blood lose; Cress grabs the bags and runs towards the mountain, pursued by Brycen. So that's exactly what happened at the feast.
Kendall is shown taking care of my wound. The crowd goes aww about how much my brother cared about me. Even I let out a quick tear as I remember those last few days in the arena with Kendall.
Brycen and Cress are shown fighting, and Cress finally stabs him with his trident. Finally, it's the last battle at the cornucopia. I see Cress block my attack and stab Kendall. I gasp at the wound, and I'm surprised at how fierce I looked. Then Cress knocks me down, and Kendall manages to stand up and stab him in the neck. I'm shown standing up, and bringing the ax down on his neck. I looked merciless, like a beautiful assassin.
Then it's Kendall's finally moments. I'm starting to silently cry, and I wipe the tears away. They show every detail, and the crowd is even crying. They show me standing up as I'm announced victor, and the last thing shown is when I stand up again after kissing Kendall's cheek goodbye, right before I get on the hovercraft.
The crowd erupts in loud cheers. I smile at everyone proudly; they are cheering for me, their newest victor. President Xavier walks on stage with a small boy who is carrying my crown. He congratulates me and gives me a hug. I actually like him, he is a good president and has done a lot for Panem. He places the crown on my head, and the crowd erupts in even louder screams. I smile and wave at them.
"Alright everyone," Claudia finally says. "That's it for tonight, but don't forget to tune in tomorrow morning for our interview with Lauren!"
We all walk of stage, and go into the training building for a celebratory dinner. I am congratulated by many people, and by the end of the dinner my face hurts from all of the smiling.
I finally get to walk upstairs to my room. I pull my heels of in the elevator, glad to be out of them. The door opens and I see Stefan sitting at a table waiting for me. "Great job tonight. I suggest you go to sleep soon, you have your interview early in the morning." He smiles at me before I walk away to my room.
I take my dress off and grab a pair of warm pajamas. I get under the covers, enjoying the softness of the bed. I haven't slept anywhere this comfortable since prior to the games. I fall asleep quickly, exhausted from the events of the day.