weeping willow // sejanus plinth

03

Chapter Three: Weeping Willow

Willow

"Is the crying thing an act?" Sejanus' sudden question catches me a little off guard. We've been discussing what I should and shouldn't say in my interview tomorrow morning.

He says that I should pick a character to play and stick to it.

"Not really. I'm a sensitive person. I cry easily, but I am playing it up a little." I drag a makeup wipe down my tear-stained cheeks.

I'm standing in front of the bathroom mirror, trying to undo what the prep team did to me. Sejanus is sitting on the floor next to an old heater that is probably a fire hazard. Winter came early this year; I can feel the cold seeping through these thin walls.

Sejanus scribbles something in his notebook. "To make people underestimate you? That's a good strategy. You won't be targeted until late in the game." I watch him through the bathroom mirror every few minutes, just admiring him. He taps his pen against his lips in thought.

I wash my face one last time, getting the remainder of my makeup off. "Thanks. I'm just doing what my dad told me to." I shrug.

He pauses as if debating if he should say what is on his mind. He twists his pen around nervously. "Who do you live with back at home in four? Is it just you and your father?"

My heart clenches from thinking about my dad. He's probably working himself to death right now. "Yeah, it's just us. My mom died during the war. She got sick and we didn't have any medicine."

I don't remember my mother that much. I was very young when she died, and all I have is a picture. The one thing I do remember is her smile. She had one of those bright, contagious, beautiful smiles.

Sejanus stops twirling his pen. "I'm sorry," he mutters. He always has that look in his eye—a look of indescribable sadness and guilt. This whole mentoring thing seems to weigh on him heavily.

"Sejanus?" I call out for him, making eye contact through the mirror. The way he looks at me sends a shiver down my spine. He stares as if he would do anything for me like he has some grave sin to atone for.

He gives me his undivided attention, waiting for me to continue.

I take a deep breath before turning around to face him. "Y'know, you don't have to feel so bad about me dying. I know it might happen. Everyone knows when we stand there in those lines, waiting for a name to be called. There's nothing you can do about it." It's sad but true. Every kid in the districts knows this is a possibility.

He looks even more distraught than he usually does. "That's what bothers me! That there is nothing I can do about it. This is so wrong. These people are heartless," he exclaims.

In the absurdity of it all, I laugh. These people. Sejanus is these people. He is Capitol folk, but he doesn't act like it.

"What's funny?" Sejanus questions, looking offended.

I shrug. It really isn't funny. "You're just... not at all what I thought you'd be."

-

"Up next, we have our one and only Weeping Willow from District Four, Willow Fairlock!"