I'm gently roused from my sleep by my mum and I prop myself up onto my elbows.
"Morning, sleepyhead." She says in a quiet, raspy, voice. My mum looks rough. You can clearly see the bags under her eyes from a sleepless night. "Did you sleep okay?" She asks.
"Yeah, I slept fine." I lie.
"Good, well our prep team will be here in an hour and I know that they'd like to help you get ready too so quickly hop in the shower, wash your hair, do whatever. Just make sure you've got a towel around you for when they get here because they won't hesitate to walk in on you naked!"
"Oh gosh, I definitely don't want that happening again." I laugh. Last year, the entire prep team walked in just as I was about to step into the shower and insisted that they wash me. I had to endure an awkward sponge bath from them they literally have no boundaries, none. I get up, quickly shower and sit in my towel eating a slice of toast while I wait for my prep team to arrive.
Soon enough, the prep team arrive and I'm rushed back into my bedroom to get dressed. The prep team chirp like birds as they look through my wardrobe, deciding on what I should wear. Down the corridor I can hear Effie barking orders at everyone, stressing that we must leave at 12:55 on the dot to get to the reaping with plenty of time to spare, especially since Effie and my parents need to be there earlier than everyone else. All of a sudden I hear multiple gasps, followed by an awful squealing sound.
"It's perfect!" Venia says in delight as she holds up one of my dresses. The dress is a soft, baby blue and has a white collar. It's a fitted dress that I wear on special occasions.
"That colour will look fabulous on you Willow! It'll really compliment your blue eyes!" says Flavius.
"Put it on, put it on, put it on!" Octavia chants excitedly.
I sigh before taking the dress out of Venia's hands and I put it on. The Capitol's interest in fashion will never fail to bewilder me, it's absolutely pointless. Once the dress is on, the prep team stand there gawping at me.
Venia hands me a cream coloured coat to put on with it and they all sigh in sync.
"Willow you look absolutely beautiful! You look so angelic! Now that I've seen how wonderful your brown hair looks with your outfit, I think I'm going to dye my hair brown!" says Flavius.
You mean buy a brown wig. As if that's his real hair! For all I know, Flavius actually has dark skin and ginger hair.
The other two are too busy holding back tears to comment.
After they've pulled themselves together, they sit me down on a chair and begin on my hair. After what feels like hours of brushing, pulling, and blow-drying my hair and listening to them talk about what they think Cinna has done with my mum, the prep team step back to admire their work. They've braided both halves of my head but left the bottom half down which falls into perfectly sculpted ringlets. The braids are then pinned at the back of my head in a way that looks like a flower. The prep team are dying to use makeup on me but I refuse.
"We'll make you look natural, we promise!" Octavia says as they all pout at me.
"Ugh, fine." I mutter, even though I hate the feeling of it on my face. The last time I wore make up, I merely rubbed my eye and the next thing I know, I've got Effie screeching at me, explaining how I've smudged the prep teams beautiful masterpiece.
They add a little bit of pink blusher to my cheeks and apply a light layer of mascara before finally finishing off with a nude lipstick which isn't noticeable and it doesn't look or feel as bad as I thought it would. "Wow...thank you guys so much." I say as sincerely as I possibly can. It's not that I don't appreciate it but I don't particularly want to stand out. I don't feel like I should be dressing as if the reaping is a special occasion, I think it would be more suited if everyone dressed in black as if it were a funeral because let's face it, District 12's tributes don't exactly have a winning streak.
The prep team are eager to present their work to Cinna and Portia, and excitedly lead me to my parents' bedroom where Cinna is styling my mum. Cinna has done a wonderful job. My mum looks very elegant and her features are delicately outlined. She's wearing a smart, cream coloured ruffled top, tucked into a pencil skirt and a simple pair of heels. Her hair is in an updo which makes her look very mature but I can tell she'd rather be having her usual braid.
"Mum, you look so lovely! I wish I looked like you..."
"Oh no, I wish I looked like you little duck!" she says coming over to me. "You look so beautiful, I'm sure every girl in district 12 will wish they looked like you."
"Oh yes, you'll be the talk of the district." Octavia chimes in and the rest of the prep team nod in agreement.
As if District 12 is interested in fashion.
My Dad walks in, already dressed in a casual shirt and trousers, and his hair slicked back. "You both look beautiful." He says.
"Oh! I'd almost forgotten!" Says my mum suddenly as she goes to take something from her drawer. When she returns, she presses something cold and round into my hands. "I found this in an old box and I thought it would be nice if you had it, since you haven't got a token."
I open my hand to look at what my mum had given me and my mouth curves into a smile.
"Your Mockingjay pin?"
"For good luck." She replies.
"Wow...thank you mum." I say a little taken aback. I'd never thought in a million years that she'd want to see this pin ever again, surely it would bring back too many bad memories?
"Here." She says, "Let me pin it on your dress for you." She bends down and carefully pins it just below the collar of my dress. "As long as you have this, it will protect you. I'm not saying that nothing bad will happen because we both know that that's not true, but it's worked for your Aunt Prim, it's worked for me, and I'm certain it'll do the same for you."
Breaking the moment, a loud sob escapes from Octavia's mouth. "Imagine the Capitol watching this right now, the whole of Panem would be as emotional as I am! It's just such a beautiful moment between a mother and daughter and I feel so honoured that I got to witness it and-"
"Octavia, I think, maybe we should let them have their moment alone?" Cinna interrupts.
"Oh of course, of course! Silly me!" She chuckles. "Well you heard Cinna!" She says to the rest of the prep team. "Let's leave the happy family to have their private, special, wonderful, precious-"
"Octavia!"
"Right! I'm actually leaving now Cinna, sorry!" And with that, she tots out, shutting the door behind her.
We make casual conversation until Effie comes into the room telling us that it's time to go.
We reach the Justice building at exactly 1:20pm and as usual, the Justice building is decorated with bright banners. Rye will arrive with my Grandmother and Aunt Prim to watch from the crowds behind the potential tributes.
"Go sign in and we'll see you soon." my Dad says.
"Okay, see you soon."
I silently walk over to the line of teenagers and wait for my turn. I watch and see new people arriving, the look of anxiety and pure terror across their faces. It could be any one of us.
I finally reach the front of the line and I'm presented with a harsh looking peacekeeper.
"Give me your hand." They say sternly and I obediently do so. They prick the tip of my finger and I'm then quickly waved on to join the group of 15 year old girls. I suck on my finger for a while to ease the slight sting the jab gave me and I stand and wait in an orderly fashion. Slowly, the crowd builds up and soon enough the town square is filled with the residents of District 12.
The clock above the Justice building strikes two and Effie walks out, right on cue, with my parents, Haymitch, and the Mayor following closely behind. The Victors and Effie take their seats while the Mayor walks up to the microphone.
Madge, the Mayor, then begins to read the same speech heard every year. She begins to tell us of the history of Panem and I completely zone out. The previous Mayor read so unbearably slow that it was almost a relief for him to pass the role onto his daughter, Madge. My Mother is friends with Madge, we often share a meal with her and her family on special occasions. When I zone back in, Madge is reading out the list of our Victors, only one is no longer with us. Thankfully, Haymitch doesn't appear to be drunk in public anymore thanks to my parents and is currently sitting in his chair, eyes closed with his head gently swaying. If I listen carefully, he appears to be humming.
Everyone gives a respectful clap when the speech is done and the Madge introduces Effie before she sits back down on a chair. Effie then energetically jumps out of her seat and more or less skips over to the microphone. Evidently, Effie is as bubbly as she usually is and drabbles on about what an honour it is to be in District 12 when really, she's only here for Haymitch and my parents otherwise, I'm sure she would've moved up to a better District years ago. She goes on to say her signature "Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be ever in your favour!"
Beforehand, I hadn't really taken any notice of what Effie was wearing this year but I must say, she should never again wear a red wig. Her big, bright, fluffy outfit does not compliment her wig at all, she looks much like a clown which, I have to admit, adds some humour to the atmosphere.
The dreaded moment arrives and it's time to reap two unfortunate kids.
"Ladies first!" Says Effie and she tottles over to the glass bowel in her 6 inch stiletto heels. Effie elegantly puts her hand in and begins to dig deep into the pile of names until she latches onto one and dramatically pulls it out. She waits till she arrives back at the podium to open it and I find myself sucking in a breath. Then I see the excitement on Effie's face slowly fade away and she begins to stutter.
What's wrong with her? Effie never stutters, unless she's picked a name that belongs to someone she actually cares about, Effie would never, ever stutter. Manners and proper etiquette are a big deal for Effie so whoever it is, they must be pretty special.
Then it dawns on me.
My heart sinks. I feel the colour drain out of my face and suddenly, it feels like there's no air for me to breathe. There's only one person in this crowd that Effie cares enough about for her to lose control over her emotions on live television.
That person is me.
Author's note:
Hey! So I'm still trying to figure out how to work and so in terms of replying to reviews…I have no clue what I'm doing lol! But thank you to RueJabberja for my very first review, I am more than happy to hear any character ideas or any plot/story idea's in general so feel free to send those ideas my way!
I agree that Willow is a lot more innocent than Katniss because she's somewhat more 'shielded' by her parents but then we'll get to see a little more of her fire later on ;3 Also, we'll soon be meeting one of my favourite characters! I won't give too much away but they'll be fuelling the humour in this story; so exciting!
Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!
Liv