Songs & Seas | Hunger Games

XII.

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MARIA STOOD IN FRONT OF HER BATHROOM SINK with a bottle of dark brown hair dye and tears cascading down her face. It had been six months since her games. Six months since anyone has seen her aside from Rhett. Six months without her grandmother. The cameras were arriving today along with Devina to get her ready for her victory tour.

Her dark roots had grown in and the blonde of the games was fading out. She knew she needed to dye her hair back to its brown before their train came in. If she didn't they'd just dye it back to blonde. Taking a breath she split her hair into two sections and began to apply the dye from roots to tip.

She had moved into her home in the victor's village about 2 months ago. Up until that, she'd been staying with Rhett. She hasn't gone back to her grandmother's home since their visit to get her things. So it was sitting empty. She hadn't even left the victor's village in 6 months. Rhett would come by twice sometimes even three times a day. He'd bring her food and try to convince her to return to civilization. But no she stayed in her house drinking tea and reading the book her grandmother left her.

Looking down at the clock she washed the hair dye out and quickly blew it out dry. Although she now looked like herself before the games the girl staring back at her was a stranger. Still, the dark brown was a comfort. The blonde girl in the games was the naive Maria Covey. She much preferred being the dark-haired Maria Rose.

"Maria!" She could hear Rhett call out as he shut the front door. They were always doing this walking into each other's houses like they lived in both. They sort of did.

"Up here!" Maria shouted back from her place in the bathroom. She could hear his loud boots echo up the creaky stairs until she turned to see him leaning in the doorway of her bathroom with a lit cigarette in his mouth.

"You dyed your hair," he comments blankly. His tone doesn't indicate whether or not he believes her decision to be a good idea or not.

"Always the observant one," she speaks dryly rolling her eyes. "Blonde isn't me."

Rhett chuckled at that. "No, it certainly isn't. Dark suits you."

"Had to do it before they get here." She didn't need to specify who 'they' were.

"It's almost noon they'll be arriving soon." Rhett sighed looking down at his feet.

"It just never ends does it?"

"No," Rhett replied instantly. "It gets easier though. You're a fresh face they'll be all up on you for a good couple years but once you get older they phase you out."

"Can we just skip to that," Maria says with a weak smile.

Silence took over the pair of them. She could tell Rhett had something to say but he was remaining quiet. It didn't take too long before he scrounged up the courage.

"How are your nightmares?" He asked sensitively. He knew how her nightmares were. She would come over to his house in the middle of the night and sleep in his spare bedroom.

He always let her. Maria was only a fourteen-year-old girl. The only family she had was dead and she was all alone in that house. When she first brought up the idea of moving into her District established house he was insistent that she stay with him. His games were nearly twenty years ago and he still gets nightmares. So he knows what's like when it's all fresh in your mind.

"Frequent," Maria replied stoically.

"You know you can-"

"Always move in with you," Maria finished his sentence. "I don't want to be a burden. Without my Gram I'm going to be alone anyways I might as well get used to it now."