Aftersun 𖤓 peeta mellark

iv. flashbacks

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iv. flashbacks

          FOLLOWING THE TRIBUTE PARADE, Effie leads the district twelve team up to their penthouse through the elevator. The entire time she rambled on about how much good publicity Katniss and Peeta's hand holding and eye catching costumes would bring as Haymitch rolled his eyes. Avonlea couldn't blame her for her excitement though. District twelve never got any recognition, this was probably a dream come true for Effie. 

The elevator doors opened and everyone enters the large living room which was accompanied by the colourful dining room. Avonlea watches as Peeta and Katniss' eyes light up, the same way her's would've when she first saw district four's level for the first time. Effie gives a quick tour of the rest of the penthouse, making sure to point out the bar for Haymitch and Avonlea, before she leads everyone to their rooms.

When Avonlea walked into her designated bedroom, she realised everything, down to the curtains and carpet, was an exact mimic of the room she was given when she was a tribute. The blue furniture and wooden decor was out of place among the green and silver colour pallet of the rest of the penthouse but she knew that didn't matter. Snow had done this for some sick reason, probably to catch her off guard and make her upset. She didn't let it bother her though and instead tried to find comfort in the familiarity. 

Walking in the bathroom, she was not surprised to find that everything was also the same as her previous room. One thing Avonlea knew about President Snow is that everything he did had an underlying purpose, this was only one of the many wicked plans she did not want to know about. Instead of allowing herself to continue wondering Snow's potential reasoning, she turned on the shower and slipped off her dress which was just starting to dig into her armpits.

As she rubbed off Xanthos' signature shimmery body lotion, she had flashbacks to her first night in the Capitol. She had scrubbed herself dry while removing the same glitter from her skin. She had brushed out piles of her hair while trying to wash out every last trace of hairspray on her scalp, hating the feeling of her hair being so firm. As she dried her hair with a towel and walked to sit on the edge of her bed, she remembers how bothered she was by the feeling of the silk sheets against her newly smooth legs. Now, she had come accustomed to that feeling and found herself getting annoyed by a single prickly hair on her leg.

One thing she never got used to was the infrastructure in the Capitol. Everything was so luxurious and delicately built. The buildings in the Capitol looked like they could withstand anything while the poorly built homes in her district were destroyed by natural disasters on a yearly basis. 

She couldn't fall asleep while watching the lights of the Capitol outside her window, it made her feel too homesick. She reaches for a control on her beside table and after scrolling through a few options she settles on a view of the beach at night. Back home, the beach is like her safe place. Whenever she felt like everything was getting too much for her she'd run off and sit at the shoreline and allow herself to calm down by watching the waves slowly creep up the sand until her feet were submerged by the water. 

She allows herself a moment to watch the curling waves of the ocean. She found herself in sort of a trance as she looked at the glistening moon's reflection on the sea. She could almost smell the fresh salty air of the beach and feel the wet sand beneath her feet. Without looking away from the view, she reaches back and attempts to place the remote on her bedside table but knocks something onto the ground in the process. The soft thump of the object landing on the carpet was enough to break Avonlea's daze.