A/N: This chapter has taken me a little longer than preferred to upload but I've been busy practicing for my grade 5 piano exam which I did today (didn't go too well but hey!) so here is chapter 5!
When the steel grey doors open, there is no welcoming committee on the platform, just a group of peacekeepers who direct us in to the back of an armoured truck.
"Really, you'd think we were all criminals."I frown as the doors clank shut behind us. Well really it's just me that isn't, I think to myself. Luckily the journey from the station to the Justice building is short and just about bearable and soon, we are greeted by the sultry air of District 11 but only briefly as we are soon ushered in to the back of the decaying building.
We pass a door which can only be a kitchen due to the heavenly smells emitting throughout the corridor, making me feel instantly hungry again. We are guided through a multitude of rooms, corridors and passage ways, all of which showing the true beauty of the once compelling building. We are led to a room that must be at the front of the building and on the ground floor as two towering doors made from rosewood stand before us with two peacekeepers stationed at either side. I look at the ornate clock on the wall and see that the mayor should be just about finished introducing the ceremony and when I listen to the slightly muffled sound of the microphone outside, I find I am correct.
An attendant swiftly clips microphones to Katniss and Peeta and leads them towards the door. "Big smiles!" I say excitedly as I nudge them forward and there feet start moving outside into the cheering crowds. Someone turns the television on and the cheers become twice as loud. I move to one of the threadbare arm chairs and position myself comfortably, which is harder than it sounds, so that I can see the screen.
"…Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, this year's victors." Concludes the mayor and two small girls, each with dark skin and hair, present them with a beautiful bouquet of orange and yellow flowers. The mayor moves to sit in the chair to the side of the podium and the camera shows the two families of the dead tributes, Rue and Thresh, as Peeta speaks out the scripted reply from the Capitol and then the personal comments I helped him and Katniss write.
"I think I speak for both of us when I say this… Thank you. Thank you for your brilliant children. Because without them, we wouldn't be stood before you all today." He pauses for a moment, looking over to Katniss who smiles and gives his hand a reassuring squeeze. "I knew neither Thresh nor Rue personally but I knew that they were both courageous and brave people. They kept Katniss alive - thereby also saving me, and for that we are eternally grateful. This is a debt we can never repay." He stops again and furrows his brow, lost in a thought. "It can in no way replace your losses," He begins and I instantly begin to panic as this wasn't written on the card. "But as a token of our thanks we'd like for each of the tributes' families from District Eleven to receive one month of our winnings each year for the duration of our lives."
I gasp and bury my head in my hands. Now they're most certainly in trouble. When I decide to emerge again, the mayor is presenting them with a large wooden plaque reading,
'Congratulations from District Eleven'
Katniss is staring thoughtfully down at Rue's family although she is about to say something. And she does. She stumbles forward asking the crowd to wait, not that they are going anywhere anyway. "I want to give my thanks to the tributes of District 11," She says looking down to the two women on Thresh's side. "I only ever spoke to Thresh one time. Just long enough for him to spare my life. I didn't know him, but I always respected him. For his power. For his refusal to play the Games on anyone's terms but his own. The careers wanted him to team up with them from the beginning, but he wouldn't do it. I respected him for that." The elderly woman whom I presume is his grandmother raises her head, a faint smile playing on her lips. The crowd is silent and listening intently to Katniss as I imagine the rest of Panem to be.
"But I feel as if I did know Rue," She turns her head to the significantly larger family, all who are looking down at the ground, lost in sorrow. "And she'll always be with me. Everything beautiful brings her to mind. I see her in the yellow flowers that grow in the Meadow behind my house. I see her in the mockingjays that sing in the trees. But most of all, I see her in my sister Prim." She is on the verge of tears, as am I. "Thank you for your children. And thank you all for the bread." She finishes.
Everyone in the crowd remains stationary and there is no sound to be heard until somewhere in the crowd, someone whistles. I immediately recognise it as the four- note call used by both Katniss and Rue in the arena. Then, as if on cue, each person in the crowd presses their three middle fingers of their left hand to their lips and then extends them to Katniss. The same sign from last year's reaping. We all exchange worried glances before looking back at the screen only to see that the feed has been cut off and all that plays now is static. We can all hear the muffled sounds of Peacekeepers through the door probably regaining control of the crowd.
We all look over to the door, expecting to see Katniss and Peeta walk through at any moment. That is until a loud bang comes from the other side of the door. "What was that?" I say jumping to my feet. "A gun." Haymitch replies, standing and almost instantly and I begin to panic.
"No, i-it can't have been. Don't be ridiculous." I say my voice shaking. Who was it? Katniss? Peeta? I am now in full blown panic mode and begin pacing the worn carpet to try and settle my nerves.
The door opens and in walks Katniss and Peeta and instantly, I breathe a sigh of relief though I am still on edge. "What happened?" I walk hurriedly over to where they are stood, frozen and their faces tight. "We lost the feed after Katniss's beautiful speech, and then Haymitch said he thought he heard a gun fire, and I said it was ridiculous, but who knows? There are lunatics everywhere!" I am on the verge of hyperventilating when Peeta finally speaks up "Nothing happened, Effie. An old truck backfired," Says Peeta evenly, though I wish he had said it a little later as it might have stopped the next two shots ring throughout the room. "Both of you. With me." Says Haymitch, leading Katniss and Peeta up the elegant curved marble staircase. Good. More secrets.
"Cinna and I are going to put the finishing touches to tonight's evening wear." Says Portia with a smile. I nod and they too descend the marble staircase.
I am left alone in the large room, like on too many occasions. I consider my options as I figure I won't see anyone until dinner. 1. I stay put. 2. I go back to our assigned quarters. Or three, my slightly preferred option, I go and do some exploring.
When I was little I used to love exploring. Inside, outside – anywhere really. I remember my mother used to say 'don't go too far' and 'you'll ruin your dress!' but I never listened. I knew she disapproved greatly, especially when I ran around other people's houses when we were at parties or invited round, but truthfully I don't think anyone minded.
I look around me and eventually decide on the door two to my left. I press my ear to the door, listening for any sound that would tell me I would be invading on anyone else's privacy. In a sense I suppose this is the height of bad manners but for once in my life I genuinely don't care. After all there is no one around to judge. I hear nothing so push down on the curved brass door handle, the door opening with a fairly loud groan. I look around me one more time to make sure I am not seen before I walk in, closing the door as quietly as possible behind me.
The room is large, extremely large. The ceiling is at least six meters high and adorned with old paintings of fruit, flowers and other beautiful things. Small wooden cherubs look down into the centre of the room from all angles. I continue walking across the red and brown threadbare carpet to one of the enormous marble fireplaces. I run my hands across its cold surface and across the intricately carved patterns weaving all over the marble. I look up at the mirror that goes all the way up to the ceiling and outlined with a golden metal.
I am shocked that the building is so grand despite District 11 being one of the poorest districts closely followed by 12.
I turn and see a dark wooden grand piano sat in the middle of the room, the lid open and the keys exposed to dust. I wonder how long it has been since someone played it. I move over to it and run the tip of my finger across the ebony and ivory keys leaving me with a rather dusty finger. I wipe it on the bottom of my dress and hope that no one sees it.
I sit down on the red velvet stool and pull it under resting my hands on the cold keys. I haven't played since I was about 15 so I don't remember any songs or bright melodies that might light up the dark room. I touch one of the white keys sending the sound around the room. I smile to myself and play another one until I am playing a random tune with my right hand and accompanying it with the occasional note in my left. I stop when I hit a chord that ends it nicely and smiling; I rise up out of the seat and turn around.
I jump when I see a man stood behind me. He's the mayor of the district.
"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to interrupt you. I was just admiring the building and I got carried away and-" I trail off feeling a little embarrassed. He smiles which calms me a little considering I thought he would be pretty mad at me. "No need to apologise. That piano hasn't been played in years and you did it justice." He says and I look down at the floor.
"Thank you. I haven't played in years and I'm not too sure why I chose to break that streak today." He smiles again. After a long pause I excuse myself. "I will just be on my way now." I say moving back towards the door but he says something before I manage to open it. "You watch yourself, won't you?" At first I don't know what he means but then I figure he's talking about the rebellion that is slowly unfurling. I nod and tell him the same before exiting into the room I was sat in only minutes ago. As I turn into the room I almost walk in to a Peacekeeper. I must stop meeting people like this.
"Excuse me ma'am but I have been given orders that you are to remain in your situated quarters following today's incident." She says flatly and I take note of the large gun held confidently in her grasp. "I'm sorry but I was just taking a look around-" I begin but she cuts me off.
"Now ma'am." She says and nudges my leg with the tip of the gun. I'm about to make a comment about rudeness but figure it will just add fuel to the flames. I am escorted back to the quarters just in time to touch up my makeup before dinner.
I open my compact mirror and apply some more deep red lipstick to my lips and then a little more powder. In the reflection I see Haymitch enter the room without Katniss and Peeta at his tail so they must be preparing for dinner. He crosses the room and slumps down in one of the chairs.
"What was that about?" I ask coating my eyelashes in mascara and when he doesn't reply I ask again.
"Why do you care?" He drones and I snap my mirror closed and look him in the eye.
"Because, Haymitch, I am part of this team as well and I never get told anything." I snap instantly.
"It's for your own good." He sighs
"Why? Because you think I'm too inconsequential to even know them – these secrets?" I say raising my voice.
"Jesus woman, stop talking like a bloody dictionary! And no, I genuinely mean that it is for your own good. You already know too much." He shouts but then lowers his voice.
I sigh and rub my forehead with my hand. "So it's about the rebellion." I say
"Yes. But the less you know the safer you'll be." he affirms.
"Safer from whom? And why do you care so much anyway?" I shout. The last question must catch him off guard as he pauses for a moment.
"Safer from your kind." He snarls putting as much emphasis on 'kind' as possible.
"Why do you always say that? 'Your kind'? Like people from the Capitol are a completely different species." I yell.
"Well in some ways you are. I mean, you come to twelve every year, yet you don't see it. You're blind, like everyone else from the Capitol who's ever been. Children starve, people die every day but you don't see it because you're egotistical, narrow, shallow people." He spits with disdain dripping from each syllable.
"I do see it!" I scream "And if I could do something about I would so maybe you need to take this up with the president because that's who's to blame here. Not me. Also I have never met a more egotistical, narrow and shallow man in my whole life. I guess it's not just in the Capitol."
He laughs bitterly and stands until there is hardly any distance between us. "You know, I have never understood what any man has ever seen in you. Because all I see," He looks me up and down "is a selfish bitch who has a fit when she doesn't get her own way."
I slap him in the face, the sound echoing throughout the room. "I'll see you at dinner." I say coldly as I exit the room.
A/N: Ahhh! Haymitch you had to ruin it haha. I know I'm evil. But don't worry there is (finally) some Hayffie love coming soon so that's something to look forward to ;) Continue to review etc.
With lots of love! ~H x