An Extra Tribute

-the last year-

I've been with 13 for 14 months. After finishing the Hunger Games and the after films of Peeta and Katniss, I began training. I dedicated all of who I was to it, though I do have to admit that I spent many hours breaking. I'd see clips of Peeta and Katniss on their victory tour or just for the fun of it, as they were the most recent victors. Then, I'd run off to my quarters and cry. And I hate to cry. The only thing that has ever made me cry is the Capitol... and Peeta. I pushed all my emotions down and away so I could be more effective and not hurt so much. Much to my dismay, I put up another front and this time, I think it's more of a guard, a wall, to protect myself. So, I'd be okay with losing the love of my life to her.

If I could just stop thinking about you, I might be okay living without you here with me. Because it hurts, and I don't like to hurt.

I worked my way up to general with this wall and worked in District 8 for about three months, thanks to Coin. But, because we didn't want anyone to know I was alive, I took on a new identity. They called me the Ghost. I got to wear a spectacular outfit too that I still wear around now. The base is a skin-tight black catsuit with a thick, matte material that fits like the training outfit did last year. It has kevlar woven into it, which is a bulletproof fabric made by the people years ago. I have wrist guards that go up to my elbow and fingerless gloves that are leather and allow me to wear my ring. Luckily, it's also black, so it matches the look. I also have several sheathes adorning my legs to hold my knives. My boots are military grade and combat oriented and they go up to my mid calf. They are also black. My mask covers my eyes and suctions to my face so it doesn't fall off in battle. The collar of the jumpsuit is a mock-neck and I have a thick belt holding extra ammo, an automatic grappling hook, and other supplies. Along the sides of the suit there are strokes of white. The color also finds itself on my boots and on my knuckles, as well as being the top color of my armguards, shoulder pads, and mask. It's primarily on my top half to have the effect of floating. At least in the dark. The black part disappears in the dark and leaves only a small ghost-looking figure. Close to my shoulder on my chest I have a black mockingjay pin that disappears in my ballistic breastplate of white and black lines that also fits perfectly. The vest provides extra protection over my vital organs so there's less worry there. Lastly, I've got black shin guards over my legs that start just above where the top of my boot ends. The suit is primarily utilitarian and is made of ballistic material that is easy to work and move in. I think I'll be fine.

To finish the look, they wanted me to dye my hair black to put a white strand in. I said absolutely not. They did manage to get me to put a black strand in my hair though, and dye it a lighter shade of my ashy blonde. By the way, I had to do all of that as they have no idea how to do hair or makeup or any of it. But, they think that I'm going to be an important figure so they wanted it to be done. And they didn't want people to recognize me. But, I said no to any makeup and struggled doing my hair. I don't really know how to do it either, but I've seen it done way more than they have. So, I tried it and it doesn't look too bad. I pull it up into a ponytail, pulling my usual strands out. So, there's just a black line on the side of my head and in my ponytail, but I think it looks cool with my normal waves.

Prior to my switch to 8, I called all the victor's I knew after the Quarter Quell announcement. One call in particular caught me a little off guard.

I hadn't seen or talked to Peeta in 6 months. I didn't watch their victory tour and it's not like they visited 13. But, they told me to call him, so I did. I didn't think it would be a problem but... it's complicated.

"Hello?" I can't believe I'm doing this. My breath catches in my throat. His voice... "Hello?" I swallow my fear, shaking my head.

"Hi!" I say in an overly excited tone. "My name's Bree, from the Capitol! I live on 69th street which is right next to the telephone place and I know a guy who works there and he gave me your number. I'm calling the 24 victors I think are gonna get drawn. Oh! I'm also telling every victor a fun fact. So, did you know that each district has a different bread? So, that's like 24 breads. Or - no, 12 breads. but, there's two tributes for each district so, maybe 24? And then that's like a bread an hour. Oh! So, we can have one bread every hour. Anyways, I'm sorry that this happened to you. I wish you luck." I try to get in the mindset of the girl I'm impersonating. She's not a real person, but if she was, she wouldn't care a thing about if 12 got drawn or not. In fact, she'd want him to be drawn because she bet on him.