Doctoricy requested: "These drabbles are so cute! :) Can you write one where Olive finds an old picture of Effie as an escort and asks why her mom looks so weird and happy and everyone in the background of the reaping doesn't?"
She never really ventured into the attic without an absolute need to. To her, it had always been a frightening place. Dark. Dusty. A boy at school had even told her once that that's where the monsters lurked after her parents put her to bed. Of course, she didn't believe him. But on the off chance he was right, she was going to make sure it was at least daytime whenever she went up. And today was one of those days. Two separate pairs of geese had hatched a clutch of eggs and with her mother refusing to use the "fine china" as water bowls, she was left to search in the musty hole of uncertainty known as the attic.
Olive stood at the top of the ladder, her eyes scanning the room as she took in the many boxes that were in some cases, stacked two times taller than her. Most of the stuff she wasn't sure even belonged to her parents. Just little things the builders left behind when they created the houses in the Village. Inhaling deeply, the five year old took a step forward. The faster she did this, the sooner she'd be back outside with her father and their geese. However, as she began to move towards a corner of the attic that looked promising, a ragged box in the corner captured her attention.
Compelled by curiosity, she went to it, pulling back the moldy flaps of cardboard. Olive peered inside, seeing a great deal of what looked like newspaper cutouts. But there was one particular one that called out to her. With delicate fingers, the young girl removed a faded picture. The ink was weathered, but she could still clearly make out a what looked like her aunt and uncle and…her mother? At least, it looked like Effie. It was hard to tell with the ridiculous amount of makeup and strange clothing the woman had on. And why did she look so happy while everyone else looked so sad? Forgetting all about the geese for the time being, Olive gripped the image and flew down the stairs in search of answers.
"Mama!" she called out. "Mom!"
Effie leaned out of the kitchen, a feather duster still gripped in her gloved hand as she looked at her daughter with concern.
"Why are you shouting, Olive?" she asked, placing the cleaning device down. "Is everything alright? Your father didn't slice himself open cutting that chicken wire again, did he? I told him a thousand times to wear long sleeves when he worked on that darn coop!"
"No, mama," Olive shook her head. "I found something upstairs." And with that, she held the clipping towards Effie. "Mama, is that you?"
The color drained from Effie's face as she carefully took the image from Olive and studied it. It had been so long since she had taken a look at her newspaper clippings. When she was an escort, she had always saved the image (no matter the size) of her that ended up in the papers during the Hunger Games seasons. But now they no longer brought a sense of pride to her. Only heartbreak.
"Why," she swallowed. "That's me, Olive. And Peeta and Katniss."
"You look funny," Olive commented. "Why do you have all that stuff on?"
"Well," she inhaled, trying not to be offended by her daughter's innocent lack of what was once fashion. "That was the style back then."
"Why do Aunt Katniss and Uncle Peeta look so sad?" Olive inquired, pointing at each individual as she named them. "And you look happy?"
"It was…" she hesitated, trying to find the right words. "A very confusing time. I used to do somethings that I am not proud of. Your aunt and uncle suffered a lot because of it. Your father too. But I didn't know any better, many of us didn't."
"What kinds of things?" Olive asked. "Mama, what kind of things did you do?"
A sad smile formed on Effie's features as she rested her hand on Olive's shoulder. "One day," she told her. "When you're old enough to understand I'll tell you everything. But for now, I think it's best you go out and help your father with the geese, yes? Make sure he doesn't get tetanus or salmonella for me?"
Olive sighed, "I don't know what those are but okay, mama."
Effie watched as her daughter trudged out the door, disappearing from sight as she rounded the corner. Exhaling, the old escort's eyes fell to the image, taking in the sight of what she used to be. Shaking her head, she gripped the paper in her hand.
"You were a fool, Effie Trinket," she whispered. "A damn fool."
With that, Effie crumpled the picture up and tossed it into the trash. She made a mental note to herself to one day clean out the rest of that box if she ever got around to it. Picking up her duster, she went back to the kitchen and began to clean once more.