The morning comes all too soon the next day. I wake just after six to the soft chirping of the bedside alarm clock. I unwillingly pry myself from under the sheets of the plush bed, which is nicer than any I've ever slept in. I quickly turn off the alarm, not wanting to wake a sleeping Cassius. I pick up a pair of black pants and a plain black t-shirt I selected the night before and take them into the washroom to change. When I close the door I look in the mirror and am yet again surprised by my reflection. I inspect myself for a while, still dumbfounded by how much I don't look like myself. I find it almost creepy in a sense, even my eyes aren't mine.
Once I've stopped inspecting my reflection, I change into my new clothes and a thought dawns on me. Today I'll start my assigned mission of befriending the president. I continue to ponder this as I pull my hair into a high ponytail, leaving only my blunt bangs out of the elastic. I look at the clock implanted in the wall and see it now reads ten after six. I splash some cold water from the faucet onto my face. The water is much cleaner here, we have running water at my home in Twelve however there are oftentimes flecks of dirt and rust speckled throughout the water.
When I exit the bathroom I find Cassius still asleep and quietly make my way through the bedroom and into the kitchen. I still can't believe all of this, not only did I survive the Games, but I now live in the Capitol in a beautiful apartment. This is all so surreal I find myself making a tea and drinking it on the balcony, simply taking in the view of the Capitol. As much as I hate this places and all the pain it has caused me and everyone I care about I can't help but be grateful for the second life I've been granted. I watch as the sun begins to rise over the many buildings of the Capitol, causing them to shimmer with the reflections of orange and yellow light.
I think back to all the sunrises I took for granted in Twelve, I'll never see another one again. I'll never sit on the porch with my father and watch the sun set over the forest. I'll never get to explore the woods with my mother as she tells me about her days when she was young and living in Twelve. But the thing I'll miss most of all is teasing Rye. I'd always tease him when he'd walk home with a girl, or when he'd burn a loaf of bread he was trying to bake. I'll never get to tease him again, and I'll never get to comfort him when he's scared.
I lean against the railing of the balcony, watching as the screens below flicker with new images. The crowds have yet to join together in the square, leaving the city in a calm silence. I'm about to enter the apartment again when I see something familiar from the corner of my eye. I quickly turn back to the city and see the white screen with black lettering again.
Free The Mellarks
I watch the screen and try to squint to see if there's anything else to help me decipher the message or it's creator. After nearly half a minute the screen fades back into advertisements again and I'm left in just as much confusion as before. I grab my mug from the railing and enter the apartment again, rinsing out the cup as I think.
Dew told me about the phrase before I went into the arena. The government doesn't like my parents because they voted against the leaders. They tried to frame my parents into looking like they were against the districts, but the districts saw through the lies and now wish to clear their names. But that simply leads me to wonder what Rye and I had to do with it all, we we're never framed by the Capitol and I volunteered for the games. Perhaps I can see Rye's implications, but I willingly volunteered myself. I shake my head in confusion and look at the clock on the wall.
Six forty. I've still got twenty minutes until someone is supposed to come and take me for training and this waiting is simply making me nervous.
I don't know the first thing about peacekeeping, let alone protecting the President. I get a churning feeling in my stomach at the daunting thoughts of my task, and the potential importance of how I execute them. I find some comfort in knowing I'll have Apollonia to confide in, but I don't like not being able to tell Cassius what's happening. I don't know how I'll be able to lie to him.
Just as I finish my thought a sleepy Cassius enter the kitchen. I can't help but laugh at his appearance, his new black hair is tousled and messy from sleep and his eyes are slightly red.
"Mornin'." He nearly grunts and I grin.
"You look great." I tell him with a grin, my voice dripping with sarcasm. He shoots me a glare and I continue to chuckle at his appearance.
"At least I look better than I did in the arena." He says, pouring himself a cup of coffee from the machine I hadn't noticed.
"Well…" I begin, only to be cut off when there's a knock at the door.
"Who the hell is that at seven in the morning?" Cassius asks. "I swear, if that's Athena or Kai they won't have hands to knock with." He says, taking a sip of his coffee and making a move toward the door. I quickly realize that it's likely my escort and make up a story quickly.
"That's probably Apollonia, we both wanted to get to know each other better and decided to tour the city today." I lie through my teeth.
"Gotta go!" I say, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before I quickly walk over to the door.
"Not sure when I'll be back." I call over my shoulder and quickly open the door and slip out, blocking the opening with my body so he can't see who was actually there.
I find a man in a black suit standing outside my door. He looks up from a folder he's holding, surprised by my sudden appearance.
"Miss Anastasia Briggs?" He asks me, reading the name off his sheet.
"That's me, Sir." I respond, trying to pull off the act of being a well disciplined Two. He nods and closes the folder.
"Follow me." He says as he begins to walk down the hallway toward the elevators. We walk in silence, and I'm unsure whether or not I should begin conversation with the man. I'm pretty much as far from a well disciplined peacekeeper as you can get, so the comportment is a total mystery to me. He calls an elevator and after the doors open we step in. He presses the button for the ground floor and the doors close slowly.
"So you're from Two." He says, catching me off guard, I guess we do make conversation. I quickly rack my brain for any information Dew gave me about my background.
"Yes Sir," I begin, "I've been a peacekeeper for the mayor for two years now, I'm honoured to have been selected to come to be a Presidential Peacekeeper." I say, my heart beating quickly, desperately hoping I've said the right things.
"And you're a survival expert?" He asks me as the doors to the lobby open. I widen my eyes when he turns his back, unaware of this aspect of my position. It fits me though, having survived in the arena for a decent amount of time. Coming up with an explanation shouldn't be hard.
"Yes Sir. I've had some experience." I begin as I follow the man out of the elevator and out of the apartment complex.
He remains silent for the remainder of our walk. He only speaks when we reach a black car with windows that are equally black. He knocks on the front window and the driver rolls it down just enough to see the man through the crack.
A door further down the car opens and the man who retrieved me gestures for me to enter. I've never seen a car this close before, let alone ridden in one. I quickly comply with the mans directions and climb into the back of the vehicle. There's a bench of plush seats and I sit on the far side, near one of the blacked out windows. I hear the man tap the glass again and the door closes automatically, without anyone there to do so. I feel my heartbeat accelerate with anxiety as the car begins to move foreword.
For a moment during the trip I have the sickening feeling of something horrible yet to happen but that subsides soon after. I don't know how much time has passed, but when the car jolts to a stop the door near me open. I hesitantly step out of the car and squint in the morning sunlight, trying to adjust to the new conditions.
"Name?" Someone barks at me. I quickly turn around to see the shilouette of a large man in front of the Presidencial Mansion. I'd seen it on television many times, and my parents had described it to me, but I'd never seen it in person. I stand there, gaping at the beautiful building until the man barks at me again.
"Name?" He asks again, more forcefully this time.
"Anastasia Briggs." I say quickly, trying to cover for my distraction.
"Why are you here?" He asks me. I look behind me at the car.
"Because I was driven here..." I begin, unsure of how to answer that question.
"And why were you taken here?" He barks, unamused by my answer.
"I've been offered a position as a Presidencial peacekeeper, specialized in survival." I answer confidently, desperately hoping this was the right answer.
The man looks at a screen he's holding in one hand and then back up at me.
"Go ahead." He tells me and says somethig into a radio in his shoulder.
I hear a beep and suddenly the large iron gates begin to open slowly. I pause for a moment and look around before walking through the new opening to the mansion.
The walk is fairly long along the paved stone road. I hear my footsteps clicking along the stones as I can feel all the security cameras on me, inspecting my every move, trying to figure out what exactly my intentions are. I'm about to begin the acting career I never really wanted.
Only this job could cause the fall of a government.