Straight to Hell ▹The Hunger Games

FOUR

Shortly after what Winona considered to be the most extravagant breakfast in the world she was escorted to the Remake Center, where she met her prep team. Pocan, the man responsible for washing her hair and scrubbing her body was nothing if not an idiot. All he did was yammer on and on about how lovely her hair was and complain about the female tribute from last year. Apparently, she squirmed too much for his liking. If Winona remembered correctly, she was a deaf-mute who was the first one to die in the bloodbath. She couldn't hear the starting cannon go off and by the time she realized what was going on, there was a sword in her chest.

Winona wished she remembered her name.

The one upside of Pocan was that he did all the talking for her and never bothered to ask her questions, loving the sound of his voice. Once he had finished washing, drying, and trimming her hair until it was softer than it had ever been before, she moved to Helvia, whose job was hair removal.

For over an hour, she lay spread eagle on a cold metal table as Helvia and Pocan smeared hot wax over her entire body, ripping any hair they could see off. It didn't matter where it was from; leg, stomach, lip, pubic. It was all removed without mercy.

"My God," Helvia muttered as she tossed aside a piece of wax. "Why is it that the ones from District Twelve are so hairy? Do they even know what hygiene is?"

Winona reopened the wound on her tongue.

"Why couldn't we have gotten One or Two?" Pocan complained. "They're barely any work. Natural beauties! I bet Jules and her team are already done."

Helvia closed the wax warmer and pulled out a pair of tweezers, making a joke about detail work. Winona didn't laugh, just stiffened her lower lip as they plucked away.

Once they were done, she was passed on to Vel, who sent Winona a kind smile and got to work filing her nails.

"You'll have to excuse those two," Vel muttered as he set the file down and reached for a bottle of something clear. "They mean well, but they aren't the brightest people I've met."

Winona snorted.

"Yeah," She agreed. "I figured that when Pocan was shocked I had no idea what hair products I've been using."

Vel smiled and moved to a different bottle, which glittered in the lights of the prep room, a beautiful rainbow shade. For a second Winona wanted to snatch it from his hands and inspect it closer, watch the colors change and glow in the bottle. Most of life in Seam was black and grey, the only color coming from the faded blue dresses the younger schoolgirls wore and the grass that sprouted through the fence. She'd never seen the blues and greens in the bottle before and she wanted to keep it for herself. Wanted to take it back to Twelve and show them what they were missing out on; what had been kept from them.

He unscrewed the cap and began brushing the liquid onto her fingernails, humming in satisfaction of the color.

"I know it must seem quite understated," He began as he moved to the next hand. "But you'll understand when you see the costume Osa has waiting for you."

"No," Winona interrupted, swallowing down the lump in her throat and blinking back tears that she didn't understand the origin. "It's beautiful. I've never seen anything like it."

Vel looked at her with poorly masked pity and Winona was surprised to find that she wasn't angry about it. Pity was better than disgust. Pity meant he saw her for what she was. A terrified child sent off to die for his entertainment.

He closed the bottle and moved to her face, grabbing a brush and a small vial of powder that glowed just like the polish on her nails. She closed her eyes and he gently brushed the powder over her eyes and down to her cheekbones. He moved to her neck and collarbones next, brushing the same powder along the bones. It was smart, highlighting the spots that showed malnutrition, making it all seem natural and intentional. One last brush over her cupid bow and he was done, capping the vial and looking at her with a satisfied smile.