Child Of The Mockingjay

Chapter Six

CHAPTER SIX

            My mother had always told me to be proud of my actions. Yeah, I bet she hadn’t seen this coming.

            Cameras had trailed my every move from the moment we had entered the city’s gates. Of course, being the only tribute in view had made me the celebrity of the cameras eyes. Even behind the solid metal doors, the audiences of the Capitol still had their ways of making me lose all privacy privileges. Since me name was drawn from the reaping balls, everything personal was either made public or hidden deeply away where no-one could ever reach it again.

            They had caught the whole thing. I watched the screen plastered onto the wall of the Viewing Hall. Me; drunkenly falling onto the platform and dragging myself towards the only support I could see, with my thin arms out on my sides as I desperately tried to hold my balance.

            Luckily, the general public wouldn’t see the tape, only due to the fact that Pa had many friends in the Capitol. I was only too thrilled at this information, because it would surely save me from losing sponsors over one incident. Though I was sure it would make the Districts favour me.

            I relived it as we watched it, the acidic taste travel up through my throat and into my mouth, before finally exerting it from my lips. As I watched the off-green colour cover and soak into the deep blue silks of the most powerful man in the country. As I glanced up to discover a devil-may-care – another olde saying from the ancients, weren’t they strange? – smile spread over his mouth, a smile which didn’t reach his eyes; twitching with infuriation.

            Of course, they didn’t notice that on the film. Instead, they only saw his forgiving, crinkled face playfully chastising a sick child. That was how he played his cards, pretending to be a thoughtful olde man while he savaged his subjects, both externally and internally.

            He was like a poison. Firstly, he destroyed you on the inside, seeping his way through everything you hold dear, contaminating your insides, your heart. Slowly killing off everything you needed to live, making life unbearable. You hadn’t known he was there until he started to physically damage you. Until he threatened your life. Until he threw you into the pits where only the odds are not entirely in your favour.

            Aaron hadn’t joined us in the Viewing Hall. I had heard that he was still with the medics as he had something like a blood transfusion or something like that done. He had the best doctors in all of Panem attending to him, so I had little to worry.

            The Viewing Hall was a new improvement to the Mansion, where all of the Tributes would gather together each night to watch the film from the previous day. It was the first time we had all seen our opposition in person.

            The careers of 1,2 and 4 were ordinarily active, whispering and gossiping about the only thing they knew how: killing. They spoke exceptionally loud, trying to psyche us. It seemed it worked on the male from 3, as he had paled sickeningly. It hadn’t surprised me that he was the first to cave to the madness seeing as he was seated directly between them.

            I had to ignore them when they started on me. My parents, my District and my recent display of prosperity were targeted, which I could handle. It was only when they began to harass my little brother did I have to stop listening, as I would have surely started a fight, even if I was against the law, even if it was against the constraints of the Peace Keepers.

            My brother was dearest to me. I was the one he came to when the mockery from his peers ‘came too much. He was too shy to make any friends, too sweet to live up to the family name. Coming from such a family had never been easy, even for me, as they all expected far too much.