CHAPTER FIVE
❝Freak Show❞
— • —
"Where did the sun go?!" Eric's voice woke me from my rest. All the district four representatives were in the lounge car doing what will soon become a luxury for me, resting. I must have nodded off to sleep as when I woke the light outside the train was gone.
"Don't worry it's just a tunnel," Dolly giggled halfway through applying another layer of blue powder to her face.
"That means that we are in a mountain doesn't it?" My question was laced with sleep.
"Of course Alice," Millie replied, "You really didn't expect the Capitol to be out in the middle of grassland did you? Being in the middle of the mountains helps aid their protection."
A chill travelled down my spine. The very thought of being in a small tunnel in the bottom of tall and heavy mountains scared me. The idea of being buried under all the earth was like a fisher's worst nightmare.
We sat in silence for another minute or two, just staring out at the endless black. Our eyes had just become adjusted to the light that we all flinched when the train shot out of the mountains and into the Capitol itself.
"Alice come look!" Eric beckoned me to join him at the window. I joined him when the train slowed to a stop. In front of me lay a scene that I never thought could be real. The place in front may only be a train station but it felt like another world. It was a world where Dolly looked normal. "Reminds me of a coral reef don't you think?" He asks me when the train stops fully.
"If coral reef translates to circus then we have a deal," I laughed at my reply as I watch the ridiculous looking people outside. They were waving at us, cheering our names and some even held flags with the district four seal on them. A few individuals caught my eye when I waved at the thousands before me. A lady who looked like she was dressed in a cloud, a boy close to the platform edge with rainbow hair and a curious looking old woman who reminded me of a dragon. It was a freak show in the Capitol and I was one of the 24 new toys at the freaks disposal.
"Oh come along you two. We have people to see and places to be!" Dolly sung from behind us. She had to drag us away from the window and push us off the train before either Eric or myself snapped back to the reality of where we were. Peacekeepers ushered us through the crowd and to a car with heavily tinted windows. The ride in the car was short and when we got to the destination Eric, Dolly and I parted ways with Millie and Aiden. The three of us remaining entered a steel building shaped like a box. It was ugly but obviously held a purpose.
"Beauty time," Dolly giggled, pushing Eric and myself through the doors of the box. The inside was sterile and a cool grey just like the outside. The bare décor made it easy to pick out what would soon become our prep teams. They were a bundle of sunshine among the doom and gloom. "I'll leave you in the hands of these lovelies." Dolly gestured to the six faces before us. Dolly then directed her speech to the prep teams, "Remember, beauty base zero." Dolly then left us alone in the building. Two rugged district kids with six freaks.
"Alice! Alice! Alice!" Three of the faces each came running towards me, yipping my name like puppies.
"We get the privilege of beautifying you," The short, plump lady giggled, taking my hand in the process.
"Great," I mouthed. The plump one then pulled me towards a corridor. I flicked my head around to find an amused expression plastered on Eric's face.
"Good luck," He mouthed before I was dragged around a corner.
• • •
The three enthusiastic prep team members sat at me in wonder for a few moments. They were just studying my face and it was making me uncomfortable. I wanted to break the silence but I did not know how until I realised that I did not know their names. "Um I don't think we have been properly introduced," I addressed the three curious faces before me.
"I am so sorry about that sweetie!" The man gasped. He was purple themed; Violet hair, lilac eyes, royal purple lips and different shades for the clothes. "I'm Myron."
"Agatha"
"Roxana"
Agatha was tall and slender with a long white braid that reached past her waist. Her skin was almost as pale as her hair that made her red lips and big pale green eyes stand out. Her clothing was also on the pale side of things. It was a figure hugging dress that touched the ground. Roxana was the short plump lady who had welcomed me. She had bright pink curls that reached her shoulders and her skin was a shad of orange. Her eyes were yellow along with most of her clothes. She was the scariest of the three yet seemed the friendliest.
"What's beauty base zero?" I ask after we exchange pleasantries. Each gives me a strange look before Agatha answers.
"It's where we make you look natural but with makeup. Make you look more appealing on screen.
"We won't have to do much" Myron clapped, "You are already pretty but when we clean you up you will be heart stopping."
Over the next hour the prep team poked me, waxed me, filed me, cut me, and built me back up again. They were a friendly bunch and were good representatives of the Capitol. Their small talk about my life and their life bored me so I let them do their thing. I zoned out when they waxed all my body hair from me, being in a daze made it hurt less. It was only when I heard an argument between Myron and Roxana that I came back to reality.
"Keep her hair as it is Roxana," Myron growled at her.
"Gingers can't hide as well when it comes to the arena" Roxana hissed back at him. I peered towards the pair to see that Roxana held some sort of brown sludge in her hand.
"She will be unforgettable with her hair. Everyone knows her from the reaping due to her hair. Don't take that away from her," Myron had a point. It was a point that I stood strong with.
Roxana hesitated for a few moments before looking in my direction. She must have seen my bewildered expression as she hastily placed the brow sludge on the bench and shrugged, "I guess you're right."
After that little tiff Myron and Roxana did not talk. They were really petty when it came to social lives. My prep team painted my face with makeup. I was a sensation that I had never experienced before. They also made my nails look nice which was also another first. When they were finished the three of them stepped away and gasped. At first I thought I must have looked bad but then I looked in the mirror and gasped as well. The girl looking back at me was Alice but at the same time she was not. She was groomed, ready for stage two of the new her.
"Oh why can't I look like you?" Agatha asked. "So naturally pretty."
"Thank you... I guess," I was not used to many people telling me that I'm pretty. It made me feel awkward. "So where now?" I asked the trio.
"Hunter," They replied in unison.
— • —
At first I thought Hunter was an actual hunter, like they were taking me to practise killing things. But no. Hunter was my stylist and as soon as I saw her I liked her immediately. Hunter was tall, an inch taller than I was. Her skin was covered in large freckles and her hair was red. Not the vivid ginger like I was. It was darker, more auburn and fell in long ringlets to her waist. She looked like she could have come from the districts until I noticed her face. Hunter had black tattoos on her face. On the sides of her temples and into her forehead there were vines laced in with flowers and birds at the ends. I always thought tattoos were garish but they suited Hunter, made her stand out even more in a crowd.
"Nice to meet you Alice," Hunter smiled. She looked straight at me with her strange eyes; the colour was not blue, green, or grey. It was a mixture of both, it was intriguing.
"Hunter", I nodded, "So you're my stylist?"
"Spot on," She laughed, "The prep team did a nice job, just right." She reached out to me and ran a finger through my hair. I noticed that her nails were long and painted to look like waves in an ocean. She then pulled her hand away, "Costume time," she giggled, leading me to a chair.
"Save me the suffering and just give me the giant fish costume," I groaned. Ever since I could remember district four were either pink fish, clear jellyfish or even a shrimp. The tributes always looked like oversized dinner.
"I'm new to this district," Hunter laughed, sitting down opposite me, "I want to be more creative."
"What do you mean?" I had an image run through my head of Eric and I dressed up as mermaids, the fictional creature of the sea.
"Being an oversize plush toy of a food or object is so mainstream. I was going for something eye popping," a sly grin formed on her face causing her tattoos to crease a bit. "Where do both you and Eric spend most of your time?"
"The ocean," I reply automatically.
Hunter looked please that I said ocean and not land. Though she probably would still dress me up in whatever she has planned no matter what I do. "You," Hunter stated, "You will become the ocean my dear Alice."