A Game Of Justice ✭ Cato Hadley

Five - Two Of A Kind

The District Thirteen mess hall buzzes with the energy of a thousand conversations, the clatter of plastic trays, and the occasional burst of laughter as every citizen sits down for lunchtime – the hour between twelve noon and one in the afternoon where the chefs serve the slop that they call food. Today, a Thursday, each receives a small bowl of rusty orange bean, tomato and onion soup, served with two slices of bread – plain not buttered and without any spreads – and a large jug of water to be shared amongst the group at each table. A jug of water that Clio gets to herself in the corner of the hall considering no one dares to sit with her; only her four allocated guards who are forced to spend their time with her – though they get their own meals which are much higher in protein. She spends each mealtime in the corner, scanning the room with her eyes and watching Finnick pretend nothing is wrong; watching Beetee getting used to his new wheels; watching Haymitch struggle without his daily whiskey; and watching Katniss' tall idiotic friend whine to anyone who will listen. Why he's sat the victor's table, fuck knows, Clio thinks to herself.

The woman fiddles with the edge of the plastic lunch tray that reminds her of the meals they would serve in the Academy food hall before everyone was sent up to the dorms before curfew. Fiddles as much as she can with the chains taut against her wrists that have her moving her head down towards her food instead of bringing her cutlery up to her mouth. Her plastic cutlery, given that she's only allowed a plastic spoon. Not even a plastic knife is allowed within two feet of the District Two victor, as instructed by President Coin and relayed by the guard in charge of her daily activities. Breakfast alone. Workout in her room alone. Lunch alone. Workout in her room alone, again. Dinner alone. Attempt to read a book, alone. Sleep, on her back without any movement in her arms or legs, alone. District Thirteen is inherently boring and she takes a deep breath, sipping her water and trying to ignore the glares of the citizens who hate her and only serve to make her feel conspicuously out of place.

A few minutes later, when she finally has a decent sized spoonful of spoon at an angle that she can reach, a teenage girl approaches her table. Her medium brown hair is pushed out of her face with a dark grey bandana tied at the nape of her neck, a perfect match to the shade of the jumpsuits that everyone in this district has to wear. Her dark brown eyes have scanned the hall for those of her mother's just seconds previously, but when she couldn't find them anywhere, she decided to come and join the only table in the corner where she'd have room to sit comfortably. Her expression is curious as she looks at the victor holding a spoon out in front of her before the young girl sets her tray down on the long table and slides into the chair opposite her.

"For fuck's sake." Clio groans when the soup slips from the spoon back into the bowl, and she looks up at the girl opposite. "Can I help you?"

"Nope." Reef shrugs, pushing her bottom lip out slightly into a pout as she butters her slices of bread with the small cube of butter resting on the smallest portion of her tray with a metal knife that Clio looks at with jealousy.

"Then why are you sitting here?"

"I needed somewhere to sit." The teenager's voice is nonchalant as she helps herself to her soup, ignoring the confused expressions of Clio's guards. "Can't find my mum."

"Alright... " Clio dismisses, returning to loading up her tiny plastic teaspoon with more soup. But everytime her mouth comes within inches of the cutlery, the teenager moves and the table jostles, sending the liquid sliding from the spoon; much to Clio's annoyance. She tuts and looks up at her. "Can you stop that?"

"Stop what?" The girl asks through a mouthful of bread.

"Shaking the fucking table!" She bites back, and the guards pull on her chains to stop her from leaping over the table. She scowls at them. "Stop pulling me about. I'm not gonna attack her, she's a kid."