Status: Hiatus

From the Capitol

The Party

I stand in one of the upstairs rooms, looking at myself in the mirror admiring the dress that my mother has chosen for the party, my party, tonight. I can hear the scurrying of feet coming up the stairs. After a few moments, Reese bursts into the room, humming to herself. I look at her expectantly.

“Mother wants you downstairs. She wants your opinion on the decorations.”

“Alright” I say.

I brush past her, expecting for her to follow, but she doesn’t.

“Aren’t you coming too?”

“No, no. I think I’ll stay up here.”

It’s odd of her, but I don’t question it. I rush down the stairs and walk down the hall until I come to the ballroom. When I walk in, I am amazed at what I see. The room is adorned in more colors than I thought existed. The chandeliers hanging from the high ceilings seem to shine even brighter than usual, and there are tables upon tables of food against the far wall. It is better than I could have imagined. All of my friends will be green with envy.

“Mother, you’ve really outdone yourself this time. It’s absolutely fantastic!”

“Well I’m glad you like it” she said as she walked to my side, admiring it with me. “I have superb taste.”

I nod my head.

“So you approve?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Alright then. Let’s get back upstairs. The guests will be arriving in a few hours and we have to get you ready.”

We begin to walk back to the stairs.

“Have you thought about who you might want to sponsor this year?”

“Well the girl from District 12, Katniss I think it was, caught my eye. I was thinking about sponsoring her.”

She looks at me with wide eyes, obviously caught off guard.

“What? They only have one champion! And have you seen him? Drunk as a skunk! What an excuse for a human being!”

She laughs humorlessly. We walk in silence until we come to the door of the room upstairs.

“But of course it’s your decision, your money. Choose whomever you wish. Perhaps they’ll get lucky this year, hmm?”

“Yes, maybe.”

I open the door and am surprised to find, not only Reese, but one of her friends from school as well. They are talking excitedly about something, using their hands as they speak. They stop though as soon as they see we are here.

“Oh, hello Sela, Mother. We were just talking about…” she trails off.

“Right” I mutter. “Well why don’t you two go downstairs and look at the decorations?”

They both run from the room. I turn to my mother who is smiling after them.

“Now I know why she wanted to stay up here instead of looking at the decorations with me. They’re probably scheming some way to talk themselves into the party. Of course, with you it’s never very hard” I tell her.

“I would have to agree with you on that.”

I walk over to the closet, looking at the shoes.

“How about these?”

I look at the heels that she has picked out.

“Are these new?”

I have never seen these before. She smiles and nods.

“Mother, you shouldn’t have done that. There are plenty of shoes here already.”

“Consider them your birthday present from me.”

“Thank you” I whisper as I give her a quick hug.

I pull the shoes on and let my mother start working on my hair. By the time she is finished, guests have already started arriving.

“I’m going downstairs now. I want you to come down in exactly four minutes, okay?”

“Yes, I understand you perfectly.”

She squeezes my shoulders before walking out the door, leaving me to wait by myself. I watch the clock eagerly. It feels as if it has been hours before it is time to go downstairs and join the party. When I reach the bottom of the stairs, I am greeted by a large group of my friends. Everyone else is already in the ballroom. I give them all hugs before they follow me down the hall. As I make my way through the crowd, I realize that I don’t even know half the people here. I don’t really care, but I can’t help but wonder who they are and if they were even invited. My friends begin to wander off one by one and I am left alone. The music is loud and hurts my ears, but it is still wonderful. I arrive at the food tables, only to find Reese and her friend from earlier, each holding the clear liquid used so you can eat as much as you want. I’m actually not even sure what’s in it. I cross my arms.

“Reese? What are you two doing?”

They both look like deer in headlights. I smile.

“Well at least go to the bathroom if you’re going to drink that. We wouldn’t want a mess right here, would we?”

They both shake their heads and run in the opposite direction. I spend the rest of the night
dancing with the strangers that fill my house, eating, drinking the clear and foul liquid, and then eating some more. This is, by far, the best birthday I have ever had. It’s early morning when the last of the guests leave and I barely make it to the couch before I pass out from exhaustion.
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polyvore
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