"Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to present the victor of the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen! I give you - a tribute of District Twelve!"
I move my eyes from Cato's body to the Jabberjays that brought us here. I see their beaks move as they join the shrill of the crowd; the Capitol is buzzing with excitement.
A hovercraft materializes overhead and a ladder drops down. I place both feet on the bottom rung and feel the electric current freeze me in place. Since I was looking down, I watch Cato's body being picked up by a separate hovercraft. The door opens and then closes behind me, cutting me off from the Arena. I slump to the ground, crying in relief. An indiscernible amount of time later, I feel a small jab in my neck and my world goes black.
My routine for the next few days was to wake up to eat a sparse meal and then get knocked back out time after time.
I traversed this period with a light state of mind, uncertain of when I would finally be allowed to stay awake. Finally, one day I wake up with no tubes in my arm and no food waiting. In my meals place was a garish outfit: a tribute's uniform. Even though I know I'm safe I can't help the feeling of panic that returns to my soul.
As I start having flashbacks, Venia, Flavius and Octavia, my prep team, enters and soothes me with their words of kindness and appreciation. Their excitement washes over me and I quickly forget about the unattractive object they're putting me in. Not long after they entered, I've been changed and they're walking me out the door and down the hall. When I look away from the floor and my prep team, I look straight to the end and there I see Cinna, Haymitch, and Effie. I smile happily and as tears run down my cheeks, I run down the hall, launching an arm each around Cinna and Haymitch. They both briefly return the hug, and I let go once I realize my actions.
"Sorry, I just I guess I never really thought I'd ever see you two again." I turn to Effie and hug her gently, "and you too Effie."
Haymitch gives a sad smile while Effie looks at me an arm's length away smiling her brightest smile, "go on with Cinna. He has to get you ready for the big show!" and she turns me around to push me into his awaiting arms.
Cinna leads me and my prep team to a waiting elevator that takes us to the lobby of the Training Centre. We walk across the training floor to the tribute elevator and ride up to the twelfth floor. As we pass each floor I'm reminded of all the tributes who will never come back; of the ones I killed.
The whole way up Venia, Flavius and Octavia can't stop talking. They're so excited to have me back. Once we get to the twelfth floor I am swept into the dining room to get a real meal. They still monitor my portions, but when I ask for seconds they let me have an extra bun, "we don't want it coming back up on stage" was all they said. It was understandable so I let it go.
Once I finished eating I was quickly ushered back to my room, and Cinna left; I assume to get my garment for tonight. The door closes and my prep team quickly gets to work, first by examining my new body, which had apparently been polished and all flaws removed. When I look at myself in the mirror all I can see is a hollow girl, skinnier than when she entered the arena. They put me in the shower and then worked on my hair, nails, and makeup afterwards. The entire time they just talk amongst themselves, which works for me. I put in a word here or there, just enough to keep comfortable with my voice.
Cinna enters shortly after they've finished with me, carrying a normal yellow dress. I smile and ask, "finally given up on the whole 'girl on fire' thing?"
Cinna winks back, " why don't you tell me?" He gently slips the fabric over my head, and I relish in the feeling of something other than my tribute costume. As he's fitting it to me and doing it up, I notice the extra padding, obviously in place to hide how skinny I got. Cinna sees my sad almost distressed look and smiles at me, " Haymitch refused to let them alter you physically, so this was the compromise."
As I go to look at myself in the mirror, Cinna covers my eyes, "you can't forget the shoes!" He turns me to him and I open my eyes to his infectious smile. I smile as well while Venia helps me into a pair of short black heels.
When I turn around and look at my reflection I see that I am still the girl on fire. Every movement of the sheer fabric brings a soft warm glow to the dress. This is simply candlelight, something everyone needs. I smile in response, glad to see I hadn't lost my title. The dress has a dropped waist and the hem falls just above my knees. It shows off the womanly figure that the padding accentuated. I looked grown up and ready for the world. I looked how I should feel, how others expected me to feel.
We take the elevator back to the level where we trained. As customary, I, the victor, and my support team will rise from below the stage. First up is the prep team, followed by the escort, the stylist, the mentor, and then the victor.
I can hear the crowd rumbling, but when the anthem booms out the Capitol grows silent. Caesar Flickerman proceeds to greet the audience and they break into applause as my prep team is presented. Effie is introduced next, Haymitch's appearance brings a round of stomping that continues for a ridiculous amount of time before Caesar manages to rein them in again. Then, it's me.
I wave at the crowd, smiling in what I hope is gratitude and happiness. After a few minutes, Caeser calls me over, "please, Katniss, have a seat!"
I turn and smile at him, letting my dress curl around me and settle back down before I take my seat on the victor's chair. Once I'm settled and I look comfortable, Caesar announces the start of the show. The highlights of the Hunger Games, condensed into three hours. I had to watch all the tributes die again, and watch myself kill two of them. I had to lose Peeta all over again. I try to figure out how I should react, over the years some victors have looked triumphant and some stunned. I figured I would be safe as long as I didn't look distraught, or cry.
The highlights this year started as a romance story featuring some bloodshed. The first half hour was a summary of the reaping, the chariot ride, our training scores and our interviews; then the Arena started. There's detailed coverage of the first bloodbath, and then the filmmakers start to alternate between me, Peeta, and tributes dying. As I watched Peeta with the Careers I started to see what the Capitol always did; how he misled the Careers about me, stayed awake all night under the tracker jacker tree, fought Cato to let me go and even while he lay dying in the mudbank, he whispered my name in his sleep.
I see how heartless I look, aside from my singing to Rue, until we were told that two tributes from the same District could win. That's when the story picks up heartily. As I save him, nurse him, tease him and go to the feast for his medicine, I could see why the audience loved us. Then they show Foxface's death before Peeta's. A view of me standing there, collapsing to the ground with heart-wrenching sobs. The audience sighs as a whole, and tears fall down my face. This elicits a more drastic reply from the audience as some try to console me from their seats. I dry my face and hope my makeup held up decently. I held myself together after that, and as they show mine and Cato's fight I can't help but feel slightly proud.
Shortly after the announcement of my winning the games, the anthem starts to play and everyone in the hall rises as President Snow walks in, followed by a little girl holding a cushion with a crown. He walks over to me smiling and places the crown on my head. Much bowing and cheering follow, and once my arm feels as if it's about to fall off from so much use, Caeser Flickerman closes the show by reminding everyone to tune in tomorrow for the final interview. As if Panem had a choice.
Haymitch then whisks me away to the president's mansion for the Victory Banquet, where we have little time to eat in between photos with our sponsors. Face after face goes by, each increasingly more intoxicated than the last.
By the time I make it back up to my floor the sun is already rising, and as I head to my room Haymitch reminds me, "you're on air at two, get some sleep." And my door closes behind me.
Effie wakes me in the morning, alerting me that this is another "big, big, big day!" She gives me all of five minutes to eat before my prep team descends. All I get to say amidst their chatting is a "the crowd loved you!" and it was unnecessary for me to speak for the next few hours. When Cinna comes in he shoos them away and helps me into a black sequined dress. It is tight around the bodice but comfortable and flowing around my legs. It's floor length and the shoulders were large and pointy, reminding me of obsidian daggers. As I look in the mirror once my shoes are on, I notice the sequins reflect in oranges, yellows and reds, keeping my theme as 'the girl on fire.'
The interview takes place down the hall in the sitting room, as I enter I see the victor's chair has been moved here. Only a few cameras are here to record this, so I was free of a live audience.
Caesar Flickerman gives me a warm hug as I walk to the chair. When he let's go we both sit down and he makes some signal. A cameraman starts counting down, and then we're live across Panem. Caeser is wonderful, teasing, joking, getting choked up at the appropriate times. He thankfully leaves the subject of Peeta alone till the end, when he asks how I'm doing without him.
"To be honest Caeser, it's hard. I had just gotten used to him being there. I had never been in love before, and now I don't want to be out of love. I'm just glad I'll soon be with my family so I can get the support and love I need." As I rattle something off that I didn't even truly understand until it was said, I choke up and a couple tears run free. Caeser reaches over and dabs them away with a handkerchief.
"Alright, I think I tortured you enough, girl on fire. To all our viewers, Katniss Everdeen! Victor of the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games, and a tribute of District 12!" I smile at Caesar as he closes the broadcast, and shake his hand one last time before Haymitch leads me back to my room to pack. It was time to get on the train and head home. Back to my family, and Gale.