Child Of The Mockingjay

Chapter Three

CHAPTER THREE

            The soft leather couch facing the large screen was filled with Districts 12 team. Effie, Ma, Me, Pa, Cinna, Aaron Ruebee, Jay, and the prep teams. 

            Ma seemed disappointed that I wouldn’t have her old prep team, Venia, Octavia and Flavius. Instead, I was appointed a team by President Snow himself. Allegedly a gift, though they were probably part of his intelligence to spy on us.

            President Snow was just as cold as his name suggests and although I had never met him personally, I had heard he reeked of blood and roses. He had been president when my parents were younger. He was not a fair ruler, but apparently the Capitol hadn’t found a more suitable leader so far. Doing the maths, I was astounded that he hadn’t retired yet. Or died.      Oksana was next to Jay on the far right. She had dyed all of the hair on her head -- eyebrows and eyelashes, too -- a white so bright it almost hurt. Her skin was too pale as well, and with white contacts over her eyes, she gave the idea that she was a ghost. White fabric drifted down to her ankles, draped over her shoulders in a waterfall of cotton. Her white hair was cropped short in a pixie cut, framing her milky bony face. 

            Eraliam contrasted wildly next to Oksana. His large, plump frame completely covered with a rainbow of material, a mosaic of coloured fabrics clung skin tight to his body in ways that wasn’t appropriate. Every movement sent a ripple under the fabric, and I could see Effie purposely avoiding eye contact with him. Only his long, thick hair stood out from the clingy costume. It looked like he had been dunked into a large pot of rainbow paint upside down and left to dry. 

            Emilia wore a somewhat simple costume, simple by Capitol standards at least. She had a light, blue dress printed with leaves onto the fabric. It surpassed her thigh and went right up to her jaw line. Her hair was dyed a spring green which glittered and her skin was an odd yellow. Sparkling silver covered her eyelashes and lips. Silver tattoos encircled her face, vines wrapping around her eyes and cheeks. She had fake wings attached to her back, metallic blue. The only creepy thing about her was she had had antennae surgically attached to her forehead. That I didn’t get, it couldn’t have been a fashion thing. She was giving off an impression of a flutterfly.

            I shuddered, her costume reminded me too much of an encounter I had at home with a flutterfly. 

            The flutterfly is too beautiful to ignore, I have to catch it. Lissa won’t mind, I’ll be right back.

             Lissa and I were eight at the time, and we were playing in the meadow, next to the fence. She was my best friend, a very pretty thing. She was the daughter of the last head peacekeeper, her father had been executed when we were six. We met at his funeral, Ma had been good friends with him.  A flutterfly is one of the many Capitol muttations, but instead of giving terror, they only gave pleasure. A flutterfly gave off the most wonderful scent.

            I follow it into the freshly bloomed buttercups, the flowers brushing against my thighs. I giggle, it tickles. I lose sight of the flutterfly for a moment. Come here little flutterfly, Sienna will catch you! A metallic blue catches my eye, and I continue to track it.

            On and on, I walk. Until my little legs are exhausted

            “Gotcha!” I yell as my hands cup the flutterfly.

            I whiff my hands. I sigh out loud, it smells so good. “Lissa, Lissa! Guess what I found! Ma! Pa! Look, I caught a flutterfly!” My eyes search the clearing. No Lissa. No Pa, no Ma. Where did they go?