The 62nd Annual Hunger Games

Chapter 35

Months pass, it's time for the Victory Tour. Reed, Ali, Mindalia and my prep team will come along with me. We start at District 12, and work our way to The Capitol saving my district for last. I am dreading this tour, I knew so many of these tributes. I wrote special speeches for district four and seven, and let Ali prepare the rest. One good thing on this tour is that I will have all the food I want again. I head downstairs at the knock of the door. Ali and Mindalia are here. I open the door slowly and Ali just walks in. I smile oddly and Mindalia comes in as well.

"Welcome to District Ten." I say.

Mindalia reaches up to plug her nose and Ali assures her she'll get used to the stench. May and Rosie charge down the stairs.

"This is Rosie and May."

Now the older boys run in from around the corner.

"Here's Anders." I point at the blonde boy, resembling me.

"And this is Bale." I point to the other, who inherited my dad's brown hair, but my mother's blue eyes.

Rosie hides behind May, I understand why. Capitol citizens are not only freaky, but creepy too. Reed knocks on the door now, and she is followed by the prep team. My parents come down the stairs, hopefully they can save us from the awkwardness. Within five minutes I am upstairs in the bathroom, being plucked and pricked with a bunch of fancy tools. Rishank is working on the back of my head, making a complicated bun with braids weaving in and out of it. Blangius is painting my nails white, and Crendalia is waxing all my hairs. In just an hour, I will go outside in the Victor's Village where there will be some cameras and a giant TV screen with Ceasar on it. As the time goes on, I continue to feel less and less like myself. I am wearing a yellow dress, similar to the one I wore for the reaping, except fancier. On the bottom of the dress which hangs above my knees is a dark grey strip. I walk down the stairs and find my siblings fancied up as well.

"Y'all look nice!" I wrap my arms around my dad, hugs from him are scarce, but easy to get.

"Ali said we can be on TV too!" Rosie says with a big smile on her face.

Ali walks into the room, "Yes, Ceasar mentioned he wanted to talk with your sisters and brothers."

I nod and walk across the room to the couch where May is. She is wearing a violet dress, similar to mine, but without the grey strip on the bottom. Rosie's dress is exactly the same, but red.

"Cameras rolling in one minute!" Ali shouts loudly, even though we're in the same room.

The seven of us walk outside, and the pink lady positions us. May is on my left, and Rosie is between us, but ahead of us. I hold Drew on my right hip, and the twins are in front of him.

"Smiles on!" Ali says, tilting my chin. "Five, four, three, two, one."

Ceasar bursts onto the screen. "And now, live from District Ten, The Victor of The Sixty-Second Annual Hunger Games, Faith Trullen are her siblings."

I wave with my left hand, not wanting to drop my little brother on national television.

"Hi Ceasar!" I say.

"Faith, how are you?"

I smile, "I am great! It's good to be back in ten with my family."

Ceasar laughs for no apparent reason, at least to me.

"Introduce me to these beautiful little faces!"

I start with May, one of the prettiest girls I know, and end with Drew, an unusually calm toddler.

"And you won for them?" Ceasar asks.

I nod and wrap my arm around May's shoulder.

"May, your sister signed up for tesserae for you and your family." Ceasar says quietly. "What did you feel, relief or guilt?"

May replies immediately. "Guilt, for sure. Even more now, because I know she'd do it again and again for us."

I lean my head against hers. Ceasar makes some remark that I don't fully catch.

"This question is for you Rosie."

The little girl smiles.

"What's your favorite thing about Faith?"

She ponders this for a while.

"She's always happy. Even when she goes to school, even when she helps Mom with work."

Ceasar nods, "You have an amazing sister. Now, Drew, why do you love your sister?"

The little boy answers quietly, "She loves me."

I can practically hear the Capitol sighing.

"How adorable! Isn't this just adorable!?"" Ceasar shouts, "I have time for only a few more questions. So this is for you boys, Anders and Bale."

The twins stand there patiently, waiting for Ceasar to finish.

"What is your favorite memory with Faith?"

Hmm.... I guess I don't know this question for myself even.

"One summer, we went for a ride down by the river. We laughed the whole time, it was an awesome day." Anders answer spews out and Bale follows.

"Faith was coming home from school one day when she saw a puppy on the side of the road. She scooped it up and brought it home to us. We lost the dog, some peacekeepers shot it a year ago, but yeah."

Oh, I should've known that. Bale loved that dog. We called him Stub because he was such a stubborn pup.

"Well, that's all we have time for now. Faith, I will see you in a week or two when you arrive here at the Capitol. Bye children!"

We wave at Ceasar on the screen, and he is soon replaced with darkness.