“Apparently there’s been some malfunction,” Kiosko admits to me and Pine. She checks her reflection one more time in her handheld mirror, and smoothes down her bright purple hair before turning back to us.
“What kind of malfunction?” Pine asks, warily.
“They haven’t revealed it. Something about a black-out,” Kiosko answers.
I think back to the time when Fawn and I were in the house and all the power went out. We had to go outside and cook the turkey we had purchased from the Seam from a fire. My father brought out his make-shift drums and patted a melodic beat. He and my mother sang together that night. Some of the neighbors had drifted over with their musical ware and joined in. It was the best black-out District 8 had ever seen. I smiled quietly to myself and Pine looked at me, knowing exactly what I was thinking about.
Kiosko rolled her eyes at us and led me to my room, Jasper taking Pine. I grabbed the remote and snuggled into the plush bed as Kiosko rifled through my mini-fridge. She emerged moments later with the carbonated drink I had thrown out earlier.
“Can I have this?” she asked, hopefully.
“Take them all,” I shrugged, settling on a channel about house buying. I loved looking at the decorating styles and how Capitol people detested things that I would kill for. Not literally, but you know what I mean.
“Thanks, Lilac,” Kiosko smiled, leaving with my stock of fizzy water.
¤¤¤
“Oh this is so exciting!” Edmund squealed, running his manicured fingernails over my naked body. He looked me up and down, and I felt extremely uncomfortable under his penetrating gaze.
He started my preparation for death by waxing me from neck to toe. My body was entirely red, but Edmund assured me it would be alright in an hour. Next, he rubbed a cream over my body and grabbed some huge earphones. “What are you putting those on for?” I asked.
“You’ll see,” Edmund giggled, rubbing his leafy green skin. Seconds later, I discovered what he meant. The cream started bubbling, boiling my insides. I screamed for all that I was worth. Soon, my skin started changing color. From red, to yellow to green to blue and settling for its normal color.
All the time I shrieked. It hurt like hell. Every single cell in my body felt as if it was being smashed to smithereens, chopped up, and eaten alive. After about half an hour of excessive screaming, Edmund finally took his headphones off.
“What the hell was that?!” I shrieked wishing I could lash out at him. Unfortunately, the cuffs on my wrists and ankles were metal this time, so I couldn’t break free of them.
“That’s Reproduf. Alligator cream.” He answered, pulling down my headboard and replacing it with a bin full of warm water. He squirted something into his hands and massaged it into my scalp.
“Why would you put alligator cream on me?” I demanded, furious once again at my stylist.
“It helps you survive. Arrows will break your flesh, but they won’t leave permanent damage. Neither will darts or throwing knives. Machetes, axes and any other weapon forced into your skin by hand will, but you’re safe from the long-distance weapons,” Edmund answered, rinsing out my hair after putting a few more products in it.
“Isn’t that illegal?” I asked, worriedly.
“Oh no, it never mentioned alligator cream in the conduct,” He answered, removing the water and replacing the headboard yet again with a glass box. He fit it around my head and pressed a button. A bunch of air shot through the box, drying out my hair. Less than a minute later, Edmund’s pure white eyes were raking over my body yet again.
