cringe repair pt 4 circa 2022

Chapter 4

A women Peacekeeper pushes Peeta and me with her gun.

"We're going!" He says. The Peacekeeper keeps pressing on me.

"We get it, alright? Come on, Katniss." His arm encircles me and guides me back into the Justice Building. The Peacekeepers follow at a steady pace or two behind us. The moment we are inside, the doors slam shut and we hear Peacekeepers' boots moving back toward the crowd.

Haymitch, Effie, Portia, and Cinna wait under a static-filled screen that's mounted on the wall, their faces thighs with anxiety.

"What happened?" Effie hurries over.

"We lost the feed after Katniss' beautiful speech, and then Haymitch thought he heard gunfire, and I said it was ridiculous, but who knows? There are lunatics everywhere!"

"Nothing happened, Effie. An old truck backfired." Says Peeta evenly.

Two more shots. The door doesn't muffle the sound. Who was that? Thresh's grandmother? One of Rue's sisters?

"Both of you. With me." Says Haymitch. Peeta and I follow him, leaving the others behind. The Peacekeepers who are stationed around the Justice Building take little interest in our movements now that we are safely inside. We walk into to the room that has been prepared for us. Evening clothes hang on racks against the wall, but we barely even fit in. Haymitch takes the microphones from our chests, stuffs them beneath a couch, and waves us on. We walk into an old room. It's the dome of the Justice Building.

"What happened?" Haymitch asks us. Peeta relates all that occurred in the square. The whistle, the salute, our hesitation, the murder of the old man. "Well, you two didn't make things better yet." He says.

"Did we make it any worse?" I ask.

"Probably a little bit," Haymitch says and a sardonic chuckle.

"We have to do better next time. We have to be formal." I say. We all walk back to our rooms to get ready.

I stand in the shower as long as they let me before I have to come out to be ready. The prep team seems oblivious to the events of the day. They're all excited about the dinner. In the districts, they're talented enough to attend, but in the Capitol, they rarely score an invitation to prestigious parties. Before we leave I catch myself in the mirror. I'm in a pale pink strapless dress that brushes my shoes. My hair is pinned back from my face and falling down my back in showers of ringlets.

Cinna comes up behind me and arranges a shimmering silver wrap around my shoulders. "Like it?"

"It's beautiful. As always."

"Let's see how it looks with a smile," he says gently. It's his reminder that there will be cameras again in a minute. I manage to raise the corners of my lips. "There we go."

When we go downstairs, I can see Effie is out of sorts. Unquestionably, Haymitch hasn't told her about what happened in the square. It doesn't take long to hear about the problem.

Effie runs through the evening's schedule, then tosses it aside. "And then, thank goodness, we can all get on that train and get out of here."

"Is something wrong, Effie?" Asks Cinna.

"I don't like the way we have been treated today. Being stuffed into trucks and barred from the platform. And then, about an hour ago, I decided to take a look around the Justice Building. I'm something of an architectural designer, you know," she says. Despite knowing how rebellious of a phrase that is for Effie to say, her ignorance still ignores me.

"Oh yes, I've heard that," says Portia before the break gets too long. Or before I say something I shouldn't.

"So I was just having a peek around because district ruins will be all the rage this year when two Peacemakers showed up and ordered me back to our quarters. One of them actually poked me with her gun!" Says Effie.

I can't help but think that this is the direct result of Haymitch, Peeta, and me disappearing earlier in the day. It's a little reassuring actually to believe that Haymitch might have been right. The dinners and everything fly by. It's the same thing every time; Speech, dinner, try to sneak out to get away from the cameras.

The only couple that stuck out were District 8, with so many ugly factories that made the air a different color. And District 4 with the beach that Peeta and I briefly snuck away to, claiming we needed to lay down from all of the champagne. The only one that is remarkably different is when we are at the Capitol. There is no one we need to convince there. But we hope to reach someone who hasn't realized it.

We reach the Capitol almost three weeks after the tour started. Cinna has started having to adjust my clothes. I haven't been sleeping as well. Nearly every night I wake Peeta up twice from kicking and screaming. I feel sorry about it since he never wakes me up with nightmares. The day we get to the Capitol he starts acting weird. I've caught him whispering to Haymitch. Haymitch! What could it be about for him not to tell me! We never keep secrets. Apparently, till now.

That night on the stage before the Training Center, we bumble our way through a list of questions. Caesar Flickerman in his midnight blue suit, his hair, eyelids, and lips still dyed in powder blue, flawlessly guides us through the interview. "What are your plans for the future?" Caesar asks.

"Katniss, please stand up," Peeta says. I know I must look like a fool standing with my eyebrows raised. Peeta gets down on one knee and says; "Katniss, I've loved you since kindergarten. You've always been perfect. You are amazing. And most importantly, you put up with me. So I would like to ask you if you'll marry me?"

~K.D. Howell