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THE IMAGES OF the three bloodied heads glitched on and off. She swallowed down the bile that rose in her esophagus every time she peered at the large piece of broiled chicken on her plate. With a silver fork clutched in her hand, her eyes were trained on the glass mantle piece sitting at the center of the table. The shadows of the trees merely licked the carpeted floor, as the train zipped through the night.
The tableside chatter continued, mostly between Aurelia and the prep team as they raved on about district three, and the magnificent crumb pudding, the incredible retro- decorations for the dinner party, and the guests. Orianna didn't really listen, she pushed around the fried rice on her plate. Her mind someplace else, her body was fatigued, she could feel the arteries and veins in her temple convulse and press against nerves.
For the past couple of days, she had been so unhinged with Snow's words replaying in her head. Every time she recited a speech in another district, she could practically feel the man's beady eyes blazing through the camera lens. She looked at the sorrowful or scornful looks on the family's faces, she just kept reading, then offered them a small nod, collected the flowers, and was on a beeline to exit the stage. She tried her best to smile, to put on a mask that Snow had advised her to do, but she couldn't hide the fear that lived in her eyes, no matter how hard she tried. For the people, she cared for back home. She knew that as long as she was in the spotlight, Everett and Lillith were untouchable. But Tyra, Mr. Crawford, the Cannings, the factory workers, she didn't know what would have happened by now back home, she didn't know what could happen in the next couple seconds.
Nights were no better, often plagued by ghosts of the dead; her father, Cassian, Marlin, Kent, Ruby, Zinnia, district nine boy, district seven boy, Augustus, the three bloodied heads. She was on the brink of insanity and she didn't even get to the Capitol.
"- Orianna, what about you?"Aurelia asked sticking a green pepper into her mouth.
Orianna, blinked several times to clear the daze from her vision. Her eyes slid to the side to look at the colorful woman with blue reflective talc dusted on her cheeks. Aurelia looked at her expectantly. The entire dining car was silent now.
"What?" she breathed out.
"What was your favorite dish at the party?" Aurelia asked, reiterating the words slower than usual.
" the- um- the stew," she sputtered after a short moment of thought. In all honesty, food was the last thing on her mind, every time she tried to put something in her mouth, her throat would close, and the acids in her stomach would churn due to the bundling nerves in her body.
"Oh, I loved the lamb stew, it was almost as good as the ones in the capitol," Juno croons from the far right of the table, his voice perceptibly higher than normal. There was no doubt he was intoxicated from sipping way too much of the neon yellow-colored drink.
