Seducing the Careers

Mom

I step out of the train and see Beetee sitting there, waiting for me.

"Nice to see you, old man" I say as I walk up to him.

He laughs and checks his cuff. "Only 25 minutes late, Toni" he says.

"Yeah well, blame the train, not me" I say, going in for a quick hug.

"Well, let's get going. They miss you back home" he says. I smile.

As much as I liked the fresh air in 7, nothing says home like factory smoke in the air.

"I forgot. What'd you tell 'em? About what I've been doing" I ask him as we begin our walk back.

"Just that the Capitol fan favorite had to have an extra long tour" he says. I nod.

"You alright?" he asks, giving me a small nudge.

"Yeah. Better than I was" I answer.

"So you and uh, Johanna huh?" he brings up, after a second of awkward silence.

"What about that" he teases, making me shove him.

"Shut up" I say, trying and failing not to smile.

After some light banter, we get back home. It reminds me of when I first came home after the games. And how scared I was to knock on that door.

The fear's gone now, as I rush to knock on the door, which opens nearly immediately.

"Finally!" my mother exclaims, pulling me into a hug.

The rest of my family comes soon after, and we have a good reunion.

I send Beetee home and focus on what little time I had left with my family.

"How was the Capitol?" my brother asks.

"Oh, um. It was alright. I mean it was fun, but nothing beats home" I respond with a smile.

"That's the right answer" my dad jokes, making us all laugh.

After a while of catching up, I head to my room for the night.

The room had been untouched. True, I only lived here for a few months and I've only been gone a few more, but it seemed to be the room of someone else. It was clean yet held a sort of dark ambiance. An assortment of drawings of Clove rested on the room's desk.

It seemed like so long ago that I drew them. They, like the room, seemed to be from another person.

I admired the pictures on my desk and smiled as I remembered a time before the Games.

Learning to shoot knives with Clove and staying up all night with her. It felt like a lifetime ago.

I wipe my tears as I reach for my bag and pull out my drawing of Johanna. I pick up the drawings of Clove and put them in the drawer of my desk. Where all safe things went when I couldn't bear to look anymore.

"Glad to see you moving on" I hear the soft voice of my mother, who walked in and eyed Johanna's picture.

"Oh yeah. Johanna lived with me over the summer. I was gonna give it to her but I forgot" I tell her.

"This 'Johanna' is a past victor, right? She was allowed to accompany you on your extra big tour?" my mom asks, suspiciously.

"Uh, yeah?" I say, slowly.

My mother simply sighs. "You can fool those boys. But a mother always knows" she says, sitting down next to me.

"What are you talking about, mom?" I say, trying to keep my voice unwavering.

"What really happened? This past summer" she asks, gently.

I chuckle at my mom's genius intuition as I wipe some small tears out of my eyes.

And just like that, I told her everything. About what happened to me. And about Johanna. I got to rant, cry, and talk about love with my mom. Just like we used to.

We ended up falling asleep together. Never have I felt so safe yet so open and vulnerable, spending the night in my mother's arms.

I woke up next to her, not wanting to leave for the Capitol again in a few hours.

"Mommy" I say, seeing she was just barely awake.

"Mmhm?" she asks, peacefully.

"Can you not tell Nate and Dad. They don't need to know" I say, softly.

"Okay, Toni. Whatever you'd like" she responds.