the ruler [THE HUNGER GAMES]¹

Eleven.

MACE awakes me as an unusually warm winter sun beats through his window. We are alone in his bedroom, both Cadel and Koa likely up and getting ready for school. He sits on a very small portion of the bed since I've managed to take up almost all of it overnight, but he's smiling. "Morning sleepy. We've got to go, school starts in half an hour."

So I've slept well past dawn, since school starts at eight thirty. Oh well, Persephone will just have to wait for me. We won't be leaving for the Capitol until later today anyway. I rub the sleep from my eyes and get out of Mace's bed. He's already in his uniform, pressed black trousers and a blue-and-white checked shirt with our schools logo on the chest pocket. Compared to him I look like a wreck. Creased up shirt five sizes too big for me and the cotton shorts that have ridden up my legs. Walking through the village in this get up will surely draw some attention, but I have no other option.

Maces mother gives me a warm tea with some syrup in it to take on my way home and also an old pair of slippers that she claims to never wear. I'm reminded of how I'm always in their debt even though they are much worse off than me. I make a mental note to return both things and also bring some fresh produce from the grocer when I get back from the Capitol.

"With what's happened I really don't want to go to the Capitol," I murmur to Mace as we leave his home. The snow has melted significantly over the past few days, but it'll be sure to return soon. Winter is far from over.

"It'll be good to get away for a few days. A no-good offender who has probably attacked people before? They'll forget about him in no time. Better for you to be out of the district whilst it's still fresh though," Mace says. Kids and their parents hurry to school around us and the usual hustle and bustle of the main town gets under way for the day. I'm starting to hope that the crime scene has already been shifted from view when we make a turn onto Victory Road, but what I see is much worse. Multiple fully-armoured peacekeepers protect the taped off grass patch where the man's body must still lie under a small tent, and the senior investigative officer from the District is writing a statement from a triumphant looking girl a few years older than me. A small crowd has formed because things like this usually go unnoticed. Killers roam in the night and with no family to claim the victims, they can live like the rest of us. Bodies undiscovered and left in the barren lands between villages. The only satisfaction I can give myself is that there is now one less out there to prey on innocent lives.

"Fawn!" A familiar voice gasps, and then I hear the clicking of my prep teams shoes as they all rush over to me. Persephone is dressed and ready, but the other three are parading all sorts of Capitol nightwear. Vispania even still wears her rollers in her hair. "We were so worried about you! What with you not coming home and nobody having seen you since the banquet. What are you wearing?" Persephone gushes, holding onto my cold arms as she takes in my appearance.

"I'm sorry," I give the most childlike smile I can muster, "it was late when I left and I hate walking down this road alone so I bunked at Mace's. I'm really sorry, I got so drunk I threw up all over the dress. Mace's mother is cleaning it up for me."