Janice Senn's P.O.V. (D3)
I wince as Gemma, a member of my prep team, pulls a comb through my long dark hair, while Jonas paints my nails and Flora applies a silky, pleasant-smelling cream to my skin. They've been at this for quite some time now and I'm starting to get impatient with them. I just want all of the preparatory stuff overwith so I can see what my stylist has put together for me to wear. Then I can see Harper again, which is what I'm looking forward to doing the most. It's too bad that we're going to be forced to watch that recap video though. It's basically going to be a four-hour long movie of the Games and the important events we were involved in compiled together. It's going to be like living it all over again, and I'm worried about what it'll do to Harper, since he's become extremely sensitive on the topic. If only there was no sound, maybe he could go to sleep, but no, they seem to purposely turn up the audio so high that it practically busts your eardrums.
I sigh aloud.
"Whatever's the matter, dearest?" Gemma questions.
"Oh, nothing...it's just, do we really need to go to this thing? It's the last thing I want to do at the moment," I complain with a frown.
"It won't be too bad," Gemma waves a hand dismissively, as if I sounded crazy for not wanting to go.
"It would be boring to me too if I already did all of it," Jonas comments, obviously thinking that I didn't want to go because I think it would be boring. But how wrong he is... I don't bother saying what my real thoughts on it are. I just go back to waiting for them to finish their work.
When my prep team is done, I go to my room, where my stylist is waiting with a dark plastic bag hanging from a hanger. I'm sure my prescribed get-up for tonight is under the bag. She smiles and tears the bag off the hanger, proudly revealing a cream-colored knee-length dress that's splashed with a delicate, violet flower pattern.
"Ta-da!" she exclaims daintily, bringing the dress to me with a sweeping flair in her stride.
I accept the garment and immediately head for the bathroom. I never liked how the stylists made you get dressed right in front of them, but my stylist (Mildred Mistletoe) respects my privacy, which I am grateful for.
After slipping into the dress, I step back out into my room, where Mildred gives me a bright smile as she spins a full-length mirror around so I can see. I raise my eyebrows at my appearance.
The dress is quite form-fitting around the waist, but it flares out slightly from my hips on down. The sleeves reach to my elbows, and it has a wide opening around my neck. Gemma has done my hair up in an elegant-yet-simple up-do, leaving a few stray strands around my ears. I hadn't even noticed the tiny, violet flowers she sprinkled in it until now, but they go along with my nails, makeup and the dress perfectly.
"Final touches!" Mildred cuts in with a pair of pearl earrings and matching necklace. To finish it off, she hands me some simple sandals. She steps back to inspect, nodding approvingly, "I think that does it. You look lovely, dear."
"Thank you..." I say out of politeness, starting to feel nervous about the next hour.
"There's nothing to be worried about, dear," Mildred flicks one of my free strands of hair and looks me straight in the face, "You already know what's going to happen, so I don't understand why you're so nervous. Wouldn't you find it entertaining to watch what the other tributes were doing? And wouldn't you want to see you and Harper win all over again?"
You mean watch us almost die again. And no, I don't want to know what the other tributes were doing. They were killing eachother, which isn't what I want to see. Besides, most of the video will be focused on Harper and me anyways.
Just like with my prep team, I don't bother explaining why I don't want to go. If they're to ignorant to know why, then I'm not going to be the person to tell them.
"Well, off we go!" I didn't even notice Ilya standing in the doorway until she spoke up. She guides me out of the room and into the elevator.
•*•*•
I can hear the thunderous applause from above as my platform slowly rises to the stage. Julius Flickerman is laughing at something he said that I must've missed. He's already introduced all of our escorts, stylists, and mentors, etc...I'm too nervous to hear much anyways. I wring my hands to keep them from shaking. All of the commotion from above causes me to shudder.
"Now, the moment you've all been waiting for...I'm proud to present your two Victors of the sixth Quarter Quell...Janice Senn and Harper Coyle, everybody!" Julius's voice booms on the stage. I find myself on the stage now, bright spotlights flashing on me from every angle, as the massive crowd goes wild. My heart is beating so fast that I start to feel light-headed. I'm frozen as I stand there, staring at the ocean of cheering citizens. Everything seems to go quiet for a moment, but I can still hear my heart betting in my head.
I'm going to pass out!
"...Janice. Janice! Snap out of it!" suddenly, the cheering is loud again and I realize that I'm being held up with two arms. I look up to see Harper's concerned face, "You okay?"
I nod, regaining my stance, "Yes, I'm fine...just a little nervous."
"Aww, there's nothing to be worried about Janice!" Julius breaks in, showing us to a seat. Someone returns Harper's crutches to him as we walk over. I look him up and down to see what his stylist gave him to wear. It's just a simple grey suit, but there's intricate embroidery on the sleeves of the jacket. I smile when I notice that his tie has been noticeably loosened and his hair hair has been messed up. Obviously Harper didn't really like what his stylists did to it.
I stifle a laugh as we sit down on a sofa beside Julius. The crowd grows quiet as the lights dim and I can hear an echoing rumble as everyone sits down in sync, facing the massive screen.
I take a deep breath as the screen flickers to life. The program commences with a recap of the Reapings. I face-palm when I watch pass out on the stage, and the crowd laughs. Then I notice that there's two other screens that have Harper's and my faces on them, so everyone can see our reactions to the video. This makes me even more uncomfortable, because now I won't know how to keep myself composed. For some reason, I feel like I'm supposed to show no emotion whatsoever.
When the Reapings finish, it cuts to the Bloodbath, mostly focusing on Harper and myself. Harper glances at me and holds back a smirk when I fall off my pedestal. I nudge him with my elbow, because I don't want him to be teasing me in front of the entirety of Panem.
The Bloodbath continues with Harper sprinting off his pedestal, straight for the cornucopia. He fights off a tribute for two packs and a trident before taking off towards my pedestal, shouting for Steve, who is trying to lift me up while also holding a mace and sword. Steve...
The first few days fly by quickly, focusing mainly on the Careers, us, and the deaths that took place in that time. Then we reach day four, when Harper almost died from that infection. I give Harper a sideways glance and see him noticeably cringing. At least he doesn't seem to mind what other people will think about his reactions.
The day right after that is what makes me tense up. The day Steve died. They play the whole recording of his fight with Sabrina and her alliance, switching to a different clip immediately after he gets impaled with Sabrina's sword. I clench my fists, hating the Capitol for making us watch this. It doesn't help that they have cameras trained on our faces to make us feel obliged to watch it. This is sick.
Harper's finger grazes my hand and I loosen my fists. The next scene shows Harper and I hugging during the Death Toll on day five.
Then it shows the clip of Harper driving his trident through Sabrina's back and throwing her against the tree. There's so much blood and screaming that I almost can't watch. Even Harper shifts in his seat beside me. I can tell that this was the point where his kills started to bother him.
Next comes day seven, when that bird-mutt attacked me and Harper dislocated his shoulder. I still don't know how he was able to become so calm when I fixed it.
Day eight focuses on the other tributes, mainly Kara Windfield. We watch her kill off Dylan, and I almost cry when he proposes to Emma just before he dies. I hadn't realized they were so close. Literally the saddest engagement ever. Then it switches to that afternoon, when she kills Fynn in the most gruesome way possible. She makes sure to carve her signature into his face as well, which makes me think of when she did it to Myx Averice. Kara sure was an evil little girl. At least she didn't give us too much trouble. I can't wait to see how Ace ended her.
Day nine starts off with me seeing the ghost of Steve before passing out and Harper catches me. Turns out I wasn't the only one seeing ghosts, because later that day, Ace Dawford also had an apparition and Kara Windfield did too. Wesley and Emma also came upon Harper and myself, and I watch intensely as they approach the house. The door opens slightly and Harper cursed before tackling Wesley out too the street. That fight was over quickly, with Harper stabbing an arrow into Wesley's shoulder before receiving enough knocks to the head from Emma to make him blackout. I look over to see Harper cringing at the screen again. He never told me what actually happened in that fight.
Day ten brought the deaths of Elsa Stane and Emma Orton. Kara performed her signature kill on Elsa, fleeing before Ace could reach her. And Emma was another one of Harper's kills...one of the kills he regrets the most... Harper actually looks away when the recording shows a close-up clip of him plunging the trident into Emma's side. I bite my lip, wishing they hadn't shown that part.
Day eleven was when thing started to get intense. It starts off with Ace killing Wesley, while almost getting killed himself. Watching it almost makes me feel bad for Ace because of the beating he got from Wesley. Right after that, the clip of Harper's and my small encounter with Kara is shown. But then, Kara ends up searching for Ace instead. This is the part I've been waiting for.
The fight is intense. Kara and Ace certainly created some thrilling entertainment for the Capitol that day. Ace surprises me with the clever trick he played on Kara by collapsing to take her off guard. I can see that Kara had thought she had won at that point as she starts dragging him to a building. But that's when he trips her and plunges her own knife into her leg and chest. Is it bad that I actually feel satisfied from what I just saw? Kara was such an awful person for what she did to those tributes. But the fact that Ace took her down, and his technique he used makes me realize what a rare tribute he was. He was clever, calculating, skilled, and determined, even a bit protective. The protective part makes me think of Harper.
I feel myself relaxing, and almost content when the next scene is projected. It's Harper and me sitting on the porch swing, staring up at the sky and finally telling each other how thankful we are for one another. I wonder what the viewers thought of that. I frown when I fall asleep in the recording, but Harper didn't notice. He keeps talking. I lean forward, listening intently.
"Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll stand by you all the way, Janice," the screen shows a close-up of Harper as he continues talking, "Don't worry about a thing...you're the one that's going home. I'll make sure of it, know that." He pauses and looks at my face, realizing I'm asleep. The audience behind us audibly "awws". I turn around and see Harper smile at me in embarrassment.
I sit back as the crowd goes solemn. Then I look up at the screen, feeling Harper's hand slowly find mine. It's the last day... I bite my lip, wishing I could just not watch, but I'll still be able to hear everything anyways. The screen projects just a few short clips of Ace walking and Harper and I eating strawberries, before immediately showing the final fight. Instead of just showing random parts of the fight, like they did for most of them, the entire recording of the battle is presented. They did that on purpose...
My heart starts pounding in my chest as I watch the screen with wide eyes. I watch myself tackle Ace and fight with him before Harper joins the fight. Ace throws the card in my stomach, but I remember not even realizing it was there until a few moments later. I just stood there, clutching my stomach as Harper starts pummeling Ace with punches. Then Harper saw me collapse to the ground. I didn't know what was happening after that, but now I can see everything. I see Ace throw Harper against the building and stab a card into his side. Then Harper punches Ace in the face and gets to his trident. But then Ace stomps down on Harper's knee. I flinch as the camera shows another close-up of Harper's knee bending inwards roughly. The speakers actually start to crackle from how loud the snap of the bone was and Harper's scream. His screaming makes my heart pump rapidly and I feel like I'm going to pass out again, but I feel my hand being squeezed so hard that Harper's hand is actually shaking. I hadn't even noticed Harper was holding his breath until he let's it out loudly when we see him drive his trident into Ace's chest. The blood pours onto Harper's back as he falls forward and Ace's canon goes off. I hate this. I hate all of this. I want to leave!
I bite down on my lip so hard I think it'll start bleeding as I continue watching Harper drag himself over to me. Everything after that seems to take an eternity. There's blood everywhere and we're crying as we spill out the truth to each other. But it hurts me now to see how much Harper wanted me to win. I can't imagine how it would've been if I wasn't here too right now. At this point, I don't care what the world thinks about my reaction as I let tears stream from my eyes, wrecking my makeup. I feel so mad that I had to watch this that my ears are ringing by the time it shows Harper and I close our eyes. It shows our bloody hands together before the screen turns black and a canon blast echoes through the speakers. The sound triggers unwanted memories that I was just forced to relive.
The lights turn on, and I can hear the sound of the anthem and the crowd cheering again, but Harper and I are frozen in our seats, eyes staring wide at the now blank screen. I slowly turn my head to face Harper as Julius stands up and starts saying things to the crowd. Harper looks back at me for a second, before shaking his head and looking away.
My ears are still buzzing from the loud speakers when I stand up. Everything immediately starts spinning and I find myself on the floor, looking up at the ceiling. Then it all goes black...
~~~~~
Hayall!! What's good in da neighborhood? Sorry I didn't update again yesterday like I said I would, but his was a really long chapter and I spent a lot of time rereading parts and putting it all together, so please let me know if I got the time or day of something wrong! I mean it! If you noticed something I missed, PLEASE don't be afraid to point it out. I love you guys.
Before I go, I thought I'd tell you that there's only going to be one last chapter for this book. Sad. BUT! The next book is prepped and ready to get rolling! I have the cover, title, and some of the plot already worked out, so I'm excited for that! I'll give you more details when I post the next chapter.
(Unedited version)
~MK