When The Canary Sings

Way Hay, Up She Rises

First Person: Becca Blue: 

*

District Eleven was fun. A lot of fun. My speech was somewhat of a downer, and sounded robotic, but it was written by out-of-touch Effie, so what else was to be expected? I ended up going completely off script and sang the crowd a song that reminded me of them. Of their district.

When I got off the stage, Effie looked whiter than usual. She was already mortified that everywhere she went was heavily guarded with armed soldiers, and she had to ride in a truck, but now she was absolutely humiliated because I went off script.

Haymitch, surprisingly, wasn't too happy about it either, but Chaff was, and so was the district. So, as long as everyone isn't mad at me, I'm fine.

At the party, I learned that Chaff's talent was dancing, so he taught me a few traditional District Eleven dances, which were all fast and upbeat, but somehow I managed to keep up.

In District Ten, it was somewhat similar. Somber speech, then a song that pissed Effie off, and made everyone else happy. One of the Victors, Trotter Barns, even gifted me a banjo to try and play. It was hard at first, but it was similar to a guitar, so I grasped the idea of it pretty fast.

District Nine was hot and humid. When I sang their song, it was hard to breathe by the end of it. The party was painful too, they had me in a nice sundress, but heels as high as heaven. One of the kids gave me a loaf of fresh bread that was better than anything in Twelve, so that made it a tad better.

Eight and Seven were both the same. They didn't have much interest. If anything, Seven was better than Eight because of Johanna Mason who taught me how to down a shot, but before I could try, Haymitch came. Johanna promised a second try. In district Eight, I was instructed by the peacekeepers for no songs, for some reason.

In Six, I got to ride on something called a bus. It was like a huge car, but a smaller train. Five was bright. Really bright. At the dinner and party at the end of the night, there were intricate lights that lit up the floor in thousands of different colors. Some colors I had never even heard of before. In Five and Six, the air smelled like Twelve, smokey and stinging.

But now, the air was salty, and the sun was shining in golden hues that changed everyone's eye color and made them look like glass. The smoke had cleared from the air and the sty was bluer than I've ever seen it, not a single cloud in the sky.

I sat by the window, spacing out. I remembered one of my last conversations with Chip before everything came crumbling down. We said we would go to the beach together. We would swim in the ocean all day, jumping over the waves and collecting shells.

Now, I am here without him. It felt wrong.

I heard the train car open, but I continued to stare out the window. Thinking it was an Avox passing through, or a member of my prep team prattling around, I continued staring out the window, watching as the train chugged through the sea-side towns full of fishermen's dilapidated boats.

"The train's almost outta fuel," Haymitch says, sitting down on a chair across from me. Oh, that's who it was. "We're gonna stay over for the night. Mags and Finnick say we're welcome to stay in one of their houses." Haymitch explains. I hum in response.

Silence overtakes us, and the only sound is Haymitch taking a few sips from his flask. Since I've won, he's almost never drunk, like he used to be.

I can hear Effie fretting over the schedule and making phone calls to let everyone know of our predicament, and how we are 'oh so very sorry.'

"You alive over there?" Haymitch asks, and I feel the train slowly chug to a stop.

I snap out of whatever trance I was in as I see the sparkling ocean in the window. "Just thinking," I say, my eyes going wide with wonder as I stare out at the ocean. I want to go. It's winter, so the water must be freezing, but I still want to go. Haymitch snorts at my answer, but I ignore it. I swing my feet down and immediately feel pins and needles, I wince for a second, but spring up. "Can we go?" I ask excitedly.