Alyssa of Nine (Reimagining the Hunger Games)

Chapter Five: The Capitol

Eventually, I have been shown to my own private car where there was a very luxurious looking bed and my own bathroom in the smaller adjoining room. I decide to take a shower, since I felt like I could really use one before dinner, as well as a change of clothes. Jeremy was right about something, in comparison with the finery the Capitolites and even the victors wear, these are just rags. Once I undress and step into the shower I see not just a tap to turn for cold or warm water. There are at least twenty or so different buttons to push.

I decide to press a bright green button for fun and I am suddenly sprayed with not just warm water, but there is a foamy light green soap in it with a scent like green apples. So I lather up my hair and scrub every inch of me as much as I can. Then I press the rinse button and a spray of warm water washes away all the soap. After that, I press a white button and what feels like a very light, almost invisible lotion with a very coconutty fragrance is sprayed very gently and lightly from tiny openings all around the shower walls, and a silver button, when pressed, detangles and dries my hair so thoroughly that when I touch it is so silky smooth that I don't even need to brush it.

I decide to wear the most comfortable looking black skinny pants that I can find in my wardrobe and an equally comfortable looking golden yellow short-sleeved top. Then I return to the dining and lounge car and take my seat at the table with Jeremy, Henrietta, and Noah.

And in a few minutes the servers come in and place several dishes of food down on the table. There's glazed baked ham and bacon- wrapped grilled steaks for meat, but there's also fillets of what may be salmon or trout in a creamy dill sauce, there's also a fluffy white grain which I happen to know is rice, coming from District Nine. I was just never allowed any of this particular grain for myself before. It appears to have scrambled eggs, bits of pork, peas, and green onions in it to give it some flavor. And there are some kind of crispy fried rolls with a garlicky vegetable meat filling and a sweet and sour orange sauce.

For vegetables, there's fluffy mashed potatoes with green onions in them,
mashed sweet potatoes, buttery corn on the cob, buttered peas, green beans in a light roasted red pepper sauce, and a large bowl of garden salad.

I realize fully only now how hungry I am, and not wanting to miss anything, I decide to try a bit of everything, being careful not to take too much of the richest foods on the table. Much of which will likely end up going to waste and there would be enough leftovers to feed many starving families in poverty back home.

There's always more than enough of everything in the Capitol, more than most of them even know what to do with, if this is an indication of what to expect. What do they even do with their time while they wait eagerly for every Hunger Games? Party? Dance? Drink? Gamble? The districts in contrast basically get the shaft, especially the poorest ones.

And I begin to wonder to myself what would happen if any or even all of the districts, just got fed up with doing all the dirty work. Fed up with all the pain and suffering and bitter losses they are forced to endure to keep the Capitol in comfort and prosperity with precious little to gain in return. Fed up with the Hunger Games, of sending their children off to be killed, of the lack of other freedoms, and human rights.

It would be one hell of an uprising, as Mace would say. It would probably be Snow's worst nightmare.

Jeremy and I tuck into our food (Noah appears to have a real meat tooth, while Henrietta has only taken a bit of the fish with some carrots and salad on the side without dressing ("It's for my waistline.") She tells us.

And for a while, we just sit quietly as we work our way through our dinner, which turns out to be every bit as delicious as it all looks. Christ, if Cassandra, Nathan and Mace could see me now! But then I begin to feel a twinge of homesickness. But I tell myself, stop it Alyssa. You can't afford the luxury of homesickness or to fall to pieces now. You must stay at the top of your game if you want to survive and make it back home.