My family and I spent as much time as possible in District 12 before it was time to return to the Capitol. If it wasn't for work we would have stayed longer but both my parents had classes to teach and business' to run. The train ride back to the Capitol was better then the trip to 12. No one tried to kill me this time around which was a relief.
The word about my attacker was that she had been scheduled to carry out her setence of death this morning. As the duty of the ruler of Panem we had to watch it to make sure everything went in order to the protocol. The sentencing was recorded live and from the trains tv room we watched the red headed woman die.
I held my beautiful daughter in my arms and watched her eyes flicker open from her nap. I still couldn't believe that I had a family of my own, that I was happily married. The first moment I knew I was a contender in the games I felt like I would make it. The second time I ended I felt like my life would end in the arena. Yet here I sat holding a sacrade vessel that was half me and half my love. In the arms of my husband sat our son, half his father half me. Life seemed perfect.
I wouldn't even have to worry about their futures because they didn't have to worry about going into the games like I had to. We had 30+ years to not have to worry about the games. 30+ years to truly live without fear.
The door slid back and there stood my mother and father, beaming brightly.
"How are you doing today?" My mother asked.
Of course she would ask me this since the incident at Mayor Madges. I was seriously put out when I found out that my best friends father had erased every and any memory of her existence. I looked across the room at the large portrait of Lia, her mother and her father that I had been fortunate enought to scavange from Madges garbage before I left.
"I'm fine mom." I replied serenely.
"That's good because once we arrive in the Capitol you have a hearing with the disciplinary board." She replied.
I sighed. "Of course Madge wasn't blood for me destroying her dinner." I stopped myself before I could continue on, that was meant to have been a personal thought not an outspoken comment. "Mom, how did she even become the monster she is. I specifically recall you talking about Madge as if she was a family friend when I was a kid." I added.
"She was a family friend until she tried to get me to tear Gale and Bailey apart." My mother replied.
"Why would she even think you would do such things?" I asked in disbelief. "You and Gale were best friends for the longest time."
"She promised to make his family rich and when he denied her offer she asked me to step in, she promised me immunity for my children when it game time for them to be in the games."
"She can't do that, even if she did and the Capitol found out the entire family would have been slaughtered."
My mother nodded her head. "I know this and so did she but she was willing to risk it all for his heart. When Lia showed up in the second half of the games I knew it was Madge's doing. Lia was the only thing that kept him tied down, without her in the way Madge had a clear path to Gale." she finished.
Suddenly the hatred I had for the woman sky rocketed, it threatened to over take me but I knew that if I did anything in spite of this situation and new found news I would have to answer for it. I couldn't do anything that put me at risk of leaving my children motherless.
"Mom, how do you handle your anger?" I asked curiously.
My mother was hardly ever angered or upset, what was her secret?
She looked at my husband and smiled before returning her gaze to me. "I don't do anything different then I normally do." she answered apparently amused.
I rose my eyebrows at her. That wasn't exactly a helpful answer.
"I hunt." She smirked. "Your father paints and bakes, you.... attack people." she ended in a laugh.
"Mom-" I whined "I'm being serious, what do I do?"
"Use the gift you inherited from me." my mother replied.
"What gift?" I pouted like a young child.
"The gift I biologically inherited from him, singing."
That's right, I could sing and I was really good at it. My grandfather was said to have an amazing voice and my mother an even better one, but from the word of others I sang the best. My voice made not only the birds stop to listen but the people around me as well.
"I can sing." I replied.
My mother placed her hand briefly on my shoulder and gave me a reassuring squeeze. "That you can."
The doors to the room opened again and in came Cinna, he looked right at me and I could already tell he was stressed. "It's time to get you into your outfit for the hearing." He spoke in a monotone.
I handed my daughter off to my mother and left the room with Cinna. We walked silently down the hall and into the room he used for dressing me and my family in. The moment he closed the door he moved me into a sitting position on a stool before a mirror.
First he did my hair and then my light make up before he brought me to my feet again. He went into the closet and I could hear him rifling for an outfit that seemed to be deep in the back. When he turned around my eyes widened.
The last time I saw an outfit of this sort it was being worn by the man being sentenced to death, that man was the president, or atleast used to be. I decided to not panic or let my mind think of such things. It was impossible, I did nothing to deserve anything more than a whipping at the most.
"Do you know what is going to happen at the hearing?" I asked Cinna.
He looked at me and slightly shook his head. "I am only given instructions but I wish you the best."
Once I was fully dressed I could feel the train start to slow down. I immeadiately wrapped my arms around Cinna and held on for dear life.
"I'm scared." I whispered to him.
He hugged me and then put a slight bit of distance between us. "It's okay to be scared." He replied before he led me from the room.
We casually walked down the hall back towards the tv room but were stopped by the commotion that grabbed my attention as we slid into the station at the Capitol. There were several peace keepers waiting there. Only peace keepers.
The moment the train stopped I looked to Cinna, fear was flooding my body and I knew he saw it. When the doors slid open everything seemed to come at me in slow motion. The peace keepers closest to me grabbed my arms and tried to drag me from the train.
I began screaming only to draw my family from the tv room.
"What is going on Jackson!" My mother shouted as she cradled my daughter.
My father who was very protective of his family was at my side in seconds demanding answers. "Let my daughter go!" He said numerous times, literally shouting in the peace keepers faces. Only when the hit him with their batons did he quiet down, but only because he was knocked unconscious.
I finally gave up the struggled and went with them. I was half dragged half carried through the station and thrust into a car that took me to the hearing.
I soon found myself standing in a room with one small table and a short bald man sitting at the head. He looked right at me and shook his head in disapproval as he looked down at the screen before him. He flicked through several things before he pressed a red button.
The doors behind me opened and in came a large man holding a whip. I felt my inside cringe, I was going to be beat. Just as I predicted I was being shackled in the center of the room, my body bare as the day I was born.
The first crack was sounded and I felt the pain instantaneously. Tears quickly filled my eyes and then overflowed. Crack. I could feel the warmth spreading across the spot on my back where I was whipped. Crack. Crack. Crack. The final crack couldn't have came any sooner then it did.
The old man that was sitting at the table came to stand before me with the screen in his hands and began reading me what was on it.
"Do you understand the reason you have been sentenced to the whip?" He asked me.
I nodded my head.
"And do you also understand that any time in the future if the laws have changed to fit it that your punishment will be rematched as we see it fit?" he added.
I nodded my head once more.
"You may be released after you have been cleaned up." The man finished.
Both the old man and the man with the whip left me to my own. I hung there, still shackled waiting. When the door opened I saw Cinna. When he saw me his eyes widened slightly for a fraction of a second before they returned to their normal size.
He came over to me and unshackled me before he put a robe around me. We then headed to an adjoining room where he helped me clean up and then redressed me. Once I was picture perfect again we headed from the building to go home.
"Aloe" My father spoke as I entered the house. My father was now sporting a black eye that was covered in a medicinal wrap.
"I'm fine." I whispered as I went in for a hug. I wanted to keep my whipping a secret and was doing well until my father embraced me a little bit too rough. I winced terribly and gave myself away.
One of the Avoxes that worked in the house came forth with a silver platter. This was how our mail was brought to us once it was delivered. On the platter was one single letter in a formal envelope. The envelope itself had a seal that was the symbol for the capitol.
I reached for the letter and stared at the envelope it was addressed to both my husband and I. What could it possible be? Using my fingernail I opened the envelope and removed the parchment. Unfolding the letter I began to read it.
This is a notice of the overturn for the Immunity law.
Every singleton ages 12-18 in the District of the Capitol and those 1 through 12 are subject to being placed in the pool with the other possible tributes.
Meloma D Vorati
Capitol Official
I looked up from the letter and everything before me seemed to crumble. This mean one thing, my babies futures were no longer safe. Their future after age 12 was no longer certain. They would be in the drawing when they turned 12. Having two parents and two grandparents having been in the games and survived would the odds be in their favor?
THIS IS THE END OF THIS BOOK.
If it gets enough attention I may continue on with another series in the childrens POV.