Nothing Personal

District Five Interviews

Once the pair from District Four had sat down, Grace leant over to congratulate them, especially Meridan. She thought they'd done very well, given the obvious issue, and she'd got on well with them in training. Out of everyone there, they were the most genuine, the ones who she couldn't imagine actually killing anyone. She tried to move her thoughts on. She was actually up on stage, and tomorrow she was actually going into the arena...

"Grace Collins, everyone!" Grace stood lightly and tripped to the front. Her mouth had gone dry. Everything that they'd done in interview training had vanished from her head and all she could remember was not to try and sound tough when she wasn't. She couldn't even remember whether she was supposed to speak first, so she sat there awkwardly, trying to find it at the back of her mind but only drawing up a blank.

"Hello," she started nervously, at the same moment that Martina chirped "Hi there!" Martina laughed; Grace blushed. She'd already made a fool of herself and she'd only spoken once. And she knew she'd need sponsors because she was nowhere near tough enough to do without. She felt ready to burst into tears.

"Grace, honey, for a start can I say what a beautiful name you've got," soothed the unfazed Martina, recognizing the girl's discomfort.

"Thanks," Grace whispered back, smoothing her dress. It was better than she'd dared to hope, a kind of shell pink that suited her without making her appear like a child again, beautiful in a soft and gentle way, like Grace herself.

"It's true. And you look absolutely wonderful. I bet Camden is proud of himself!" Everyone knew Camden; he was the vain and pompous stylist who had a habit of going overboard. Luckily for Grace he'd restrained himself this year. She fiddled anxiously with her bracelet, a simple gold chain that had miraculously matched her locket. She didn't know what she was meant to say to that. Her mind was totally blank.

From somewhere, she heard her own voice mutter, "I think he should be. It's a lovely dress."

"It's no trouble, sweetie!" his voice cried from the wings, and everybody laughed. Martina laughed briefly, then motioned for him to hush. She was one of the majority who would quite happily throw Camden into the arena if she had half a chance. He was always disrupting the interviews and putting the interviewees off. She turned back to Grace with a calm, reassuring smile. "Now then, Grace, we all remember your reaping. Was that your brother?"

Grace looked at the floor and bit her lip, nodding. She'd been hoping they wouldn't ask about Peter, because she wouldn't be able to not cry, thinking about how he was all on his own now, no mother, no father, and now no sister. No little Grace to keep his chin up when it all got too much for him. The reaping had been bad enough, but here, where she could see all these people...

She bit her lip and nodded. Martina was used to this kind of reply but pushed on anyway. "And what's his name, honey?"

"Peter. There's just us. My father vanished and my mother died."

People made an 'awww' sound, and a few eyes started to moisten tenderly. Very few people in the Capitol had ever lost a parent as a child, and for them such things were distant, to be heard about on stage or on screen. Still, they could appreciate the sentiment involved.

"That's a real shame, honey," said Martina. Grace couldn't hold back a small sob breaking out from her mouth. Her whole family had left her, one way or another, and all this woman with the mass of black hair could say was that it was a shame? Couldn't she tell how hard it had been? Grace had only been three but she'd had to start work already, shimmying up wind turbines to check on the deadly blades. Peter had been working in the hydroelectric plant; she'd had to carry on working until he could come and fetch her because by the end of the day she could barely walk and didn't know the way home anyway. He'd have to carry her, and he was always shattered as well, and they'd fall asleep without eating the minute they got home, little Grace curled up in her big brother's arms.