"Hello?" I say, politely answering the door. When I saw who it was, I knew I had to invite her inside. "Is there anything I can help you with?" She stepped inside, silently, and gave me a look that let me know this was something serious. Her face was, expressionless.
"Miss Black, could we take a seat somewhere?" She kindly asks, "It's just, you may need to sit down once you've heard this."
"Yes, sure." I smile, "Would you like anything to drink?"
She doesn't respond, so I don't pester her. If she doesn't respond then she obviously doesn't want anything.
I guide her into the dining room, where we both sit at the table, facing each other. President Fifio takes my hand, and tells me to stay calm.
"What I'm about to tell you, most definitely will make up upset." She says, still holding my hands.
"I feel like you're going to tell me that my mother has died, or something." I joke, not taking this seriously.
"Aria, as president of District 12, I have meetings with people from the Captitol, and with the President himself," she says, her voice starting to shake. This is where I start to take this whole thing, seriously. "The President wants the Hunger Games to return."
After that sentence my whole body shut down. I couldn't speak, I couldn't move. She was still holding my hands, noticing they were cold.
"I'm sorry Aria, because one of your old family members were a Victor, you will be in the reaping." She pauses for a breath, "Only people who had victors in their family before are being reaped."
My alarm clock wakes me up, as I forgot to turn it off the night before. I think to myself, "I will be reaped, that's just me luck." The news I heard yesterday afternoon, still has it's affects on me today. Which is obvious because the reaping is tomorrow. But, I don't understand after my ancestors got rid of the Hunger Games, a hundred years ago, why bring it back? Panem is a peaceful place without it, families are going to be torn apart now.
My stomach is in knots. I take some tablets to sooth the pain, and dial my mother's phone number. "Have you heard the news?" I ask her, before she gets to say 'hello'.
"Yes honey, it was broadcasted all over the news last evening." She says, her voice, croaky.
"How is Daniel handling it?" I ask, knowing the answer already. It's kind of okay for my mum, she has nothing to do with it. If she had, President Gina would've said something. (Districts 12 presidents name.)
"He's fine." She replies.
"I didn't watch the news last night, do you know of any rules?" I ask, needing to know.
"Two tributes from each district, male and female. Plus, there's only a limited amount of time to collect things from the Cornucopia, before it blows apart, and the arena is kind of like a mix. There are four different parts, jungle, desert, volcano and ocean. The ocean has island you cam swim across onto for camps and such." She explains, "One more thing, each section has it's own element of danger. I presume y you can guess those?"
"Probably mama, tell Dan I said good luck for tomorrow, and I've got to go. Housework and a family to attend to. Bye" I say, she says her goodbyes and hang the phone up.
"Mummy," cries Valeria. "Dinner time!"
She's right, it was just past six, it was time for her dinner, bath and bed. So I make her some, pasta with cheese and crisps baked on top for a few minutes. Her favourite meal, I thought it would be nice considering I may never see her again. I head into the kitchen, wash all the pots and pans I used, put my husband's dinner in the oven, ready for when he comes home from work. When I return to the dining room, Valeria is finished, so I take her out of her high-chair and carry her upstairs into the bathroom. I run the bath, she likes her baths with no cold water. She loves being at a high body temperature. When the bath is half way full, I turn the tap off, strip Valeria from her clothes and help her into her bath. I know she wants me to leave so she can play, but I refuse. I sit and watch her play with her bubbles and bath toys. After about fifteen minutes of watching her mess around, my husband opens to front door and calls up the stairs, "I'm home."
After about an hour of reading Valeria her stories for bed, I can finally relax in the bath on my own. Hot, and filled with bubbles. My husband, Nick decides to come and sit with me, accepted he sits on the toilet, with the seat down.
"How are you coping?" He asks,
"You know, the reaping tomorrow. I'm scared." I say, sighing.
"Who isn't? Baby, you know how to hunt. I'm sure you can get through this." He stands up walks towards my bath and kisses my lips, soft and gently.
"But the capitol has not said anything about the 'last five bonus', what if they're isn't one? And I have to be first..."
"That bonus just lets the last five people live, they still are eliminated, just given surgery as soon as they've been lifted out of the arena, you probably won't even need it." He sooths.
Once I'm out of the bath, and in my bed, Nick holds me. "Once more, it may be our last." Meaning, the dirty. So, I agree. This may be our last.
