daylight

chapter three. . . wishin' on a wishing star

THE MELLARKS WERE ONE OF THE FEW FAMILIES RICH ENOUGH TO AFFORD A TELEVISION IN DISTRICT TWELVE. This meant that Thalia could watch her best friend being broadcast live to everyone in Panem. Her heart ached at the way the tributes poured out of a truck and into the dirty, old animal enclosure. It wasn't until her eyes spotted a certain rainbow dress, did Thalia's mood perked up; she sighed in relief knowing that Lucy Gray was safe and sound. . . for now. However, relief turned to jealousy as she watched a blonde boy in a red uniform take Lucy Gray's hand and walk her towards the camera—parading her for the Capitol.

"Well, that's something you don't see every day. They're holding hands," the host announced, gesturing for the cameraman to get a closer shot. He shoved the microphone between the bars, trying to get a response from the boy and Lucy Gray, "Who are you, sir? What are you doing in the cage here?" Lucy Gray smiled at the camera, clinging onto the boy.

"Hi. How do you do? My name is Coriolanus Snow, and this is my tribute: Lucy Gray Baird from District 12," he introduced. Thalia scoffed, even his name sounded pretentious. Coriolanus Snow. However, the bitter resentment slowly resided as she watched Lucy Gray bend down to talk to the children and let them play with her dress. Lucy Gray had always been good with kids.

"Oh. And who might you be?" she asked, standing up to finally greet the host.

He looked taken aback, "You don't know who I am?" Thalia snorted, leaning against the wall, arms crossed with a smirk. "Don't laugh. Not everyone has televisions out in the districts," he snapped at his cameraman. "I'm Lucretius "Lucky" Flickerman. But more enticingly, who are you, Lucy From District 12?"

Thalia scoffed, sitting down in front of the TV, suddenly enticed to watch now that she knew she could see her best friend, "Oh. It's Lucy Gray. And I'm not actually from 12. No, my people are Covey, we're like a family. We're musicians by trade and we travel from place to place as the fancy takes us," Thalia smiled at the loving way Lucy Gray reminisced about her family. The blonde's heart sank when Lucy Gray's face fell, "At least we used to. Before the Peacekeepers rounded us up," Thalia's eyes flickered to the boy next to her, Coriolanus, and watched his reaction. He seemed uncaring as if he thought that was the right thing.

"I see. But now you're District 12," Flickerman asked, seemingly ignoring what Lucy Gray had just said.

"If you say so," she replied, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly. However, Thalia could read her best friend's expression better than anyone's and could tell how much it hurt Lucy Gray to be diminished like that.

"Yes. Your dress is far from grey and it seems to be a big hit with the children," he looked to the camera again, flourishing his hand to show the dress. Thalia moved closer to the tv, to get a better look. She thought about reaching and touching her face but shook her head—internally cringing at how weird that would be.

"Oh, it is? Well, the Covey love colour, me more so than most. But this dress was my mama's so it's extra special to me," she fidgeted with the necklace that Thalia gave her, warming the blonde's heart. In turn, Thalia began twirling Lucy Gray's ring around her finger, thinking about how excited she was to give it back to her. Even now, when they were thousands of miles apart, they still found a way to be connected.

The camera panned back to Lucky for a minute. "Mmm-hmm. And she's in District 12?"

"Well, only her bones, darling. Only her pearly white bones," everyone seemed a bit shocked to hear her say that. It seemed Lucky Flickerman had been taken aback by Lucy Gray for the third time in this interview. Coriolanus' eyes flickered to Lucy Gray, smirking as she said it. Thalia felt disgusted, here he was ogling at her while she talked about her dead mama, and Thalia could only reach out and touch a screen.