lover/fighter - Finnick Odair

Chapter 2 - Her

She is exhausted, as she is every day she works. And Rhea Lafey is always working. But she doesn't complain because her work is her life's purpose. She gladly sacrifices her sleep for it, and who needs such a thing as free time? Rhea certainly doesn't, she has more important things to do.

Apart from that, she wouldn't know what else to do with her time. A few minutes to read a good book for a change would certainly be appealing, but that's it.

She has absolutely no desire to go out, not in this city, surrounded by these people. No, Rhea hates the Capitol. She wouldn't go so far as to spell this thought out loud. Considering the state of constant surveillance here in the Capitol, where not only the walls have eyes and ears, it probably wouldn't even take one day for the peacekeepers to show up at her doorstep and to take her away for rebellious acts against the Capitol. And the subsequent fate would not be hard to predict.

Rhea has had enough contact with the Avoxes to know better than to risk her freedom and her voice on a whim. She has not fought for such a future. And she still has much to say.

Her life also tells the story of the Capitol, the one that lies in the shadow of the gigantic skyscrapers. For when the people of Panem think of the Capitol, what they see is an image of abundant life, wealth and extravagance. The image of a city overloaded with pomp and luxury, gaudy clothes, expensive jewelry, a party every 10 meters.

When you think of a typical Capiolite, you think of someone who lives in a large mansion, with servants taking care of his every move, dressed in the finest fabrics and living each day without a care in the world. For some, this may as well be true.

But what most people forget about is the fact that in order to live this life, a whole army of other people have to work hard so that the privileged ones don't have to.

There is a flip side to the Capitol, and that is where Rhea Lafey comes from. Once you get to see it, you realize that this part of the Capitol is not so different from the rest of the districts. What you find there are people who work hard to make ends meet. People on whose backs the Capitol is built. The city is like a living organism and these people are the blood that keeps the heart beating and the whole body alive.

There in this double world live the chefs who cook the noble dishes for the elite of the Capitol, as well as those who serve them, the drivers who take them from one soiree to the next, the people who make sure that electricity and water are running, who serve them when they want to live out their consumerist frenzy in the shopping district, and the list would not end.

Rhea is very aware of all this, after all, she has done many of these jobs herself at one time or another. Sometimes several at the same time. Waitress, saleswoman, driver, bartender, take your pick...

The road to where she is now has been arduous, but worth the effort, and Rhea likes to work hard for her goals. The endless hours in various low-paying jobs, the sleep deprivation, the frugality because she set aside a portion of each paycheck for her future.

This doggedness is what eventually got her this far. That and her attentiveness. She has always had the ability to recognize more than others, to perceive things that are not visible to anyone else. She has always liked to observe people, because for her they are like open books.

And exactly for this reason, she is one of the best in her profession. Her profession, which she will have been doing for exactly one year on the day after tomorrow. Rhea Lafey is 21 years old and a doctor at the Capitol. For someone who started out as a nobody, that's pretty much the highest position you can reach. And she has achieved it, despite poor starting conditions and in record time. A fact that fills her with pride.