rising from the ashes || a hunger games story

chapter twenty-one

willow's pov

before i went to meet with mason, i had to go back to the hospital for one last check. when i fell on the cornucopia, i ended up with a concussion so they just needed to make sure there wasn't anything wrong with my memory.

i was told to keep using the crutches but by the time the actual interview came, i couldn't use them. i would be limping and would need a small amount of help to walk but i wasn't going to use the crutches.

i was led to the same room backstage from before the games. walking into the room, i saw my prep team, mason, and effie. my whole prep team was clapping and cheering and i went to hug effie.

"i missed you so much effie." "i missed you too, my love." i then hugged mason next. "i knew you'd win," he said as we hugged. the dress was a lot simpler than the first interview's dress. it was all black and the gems were formed on it in a way that looked like a belt around my waist.

it was long and dropped all the way down to my feet so my cut and stitches wouldn't show. i had to put on silver heels which i didn't know how i was going to manage with the cut. haymitch helped me put on the heels so i didn't fall.

"try walking a bit," he said. my hands were in his and he stood in front of me. i put some pressure on his hands, most of my body weight on my good leg and very little on my bad one. i used haymitch's arm as support as i tried to walk around.

i walked with a limp and my leg didn't hurt as much as it did before. i had black eyeshadow on with a bit under my eye. i had a bit of glittery silver eyeshadow in the middle of my eyelid blended in with the black along with in my inner eye.

(a/n: see picture above for context)

i had a light pink glossy lipstick on. my hair was left alone. my mother's necklace was taken off of me when i was brought into the hospital so haymitch put it on me. the pearl was back on next to the locket. nothing was in the locket anymore.

the phoenix pin had been hanging on the necklace. it was put through the chain of the necklace. after everything was finished, effie and haymitch helped me walk out of the room so i could get used to walking.

my prep team and mason walked in front of me. we walked towards the area where the line of tributes would be if it were before the games. where the front of the line would be, i can see finn. he's wearing black pants and a black jacket with a gray shirt under his jacket.

the only piece of jewelry he had on was a gold bangle around his wrist. i recognize it as the one effie gave haymitch before the 75th games but then haymitch gave it to finnick, finn's dad. i see finn give me a small smile.

once i'm standing right in front of finn, effie, who's on my left side, wraps my arm around finn's arm so i'm putting pressure on his arm instead of hers. haymitch lets go of my other hand slowly and tells finn, "don't let her fall, she's still having trouble walking."

first the prep teams are introduced. finn's prep team, along with everyone else a part of district 4's team, enters on the other side of the stage. after the prep teams, it's the stylists, then the escorts.

two minutes before haymitch is supposed to go on, i turn to him, "where are my parents?" "back in district 12. you'll see them when you go back." i nod. they probably took the fox with them. they've been taking care of him since finn wasn't in the right mind set and i was asleep most of the time.

then haymtich gets introduce and then us. a minute before we're supposed to go on, i see the guy that led me to the stage for my first interview. "let's go," he says as he puts one of his hands on each of our backs and leads us to the edge of the stage. i can see cedar flickerman tallking to the audience. he's standing in the middle of front of the stage.