#selfpar

The room was cold. The air was still, and each breath was audible. There were only six people in the courtroom; the judge, sitting on his great carved throne, the counsel, each picking at some small imperfection on their body, and her. She was definitely alone in this bench-lined hell. Perhaps this was her punishment. Her penance. To sit among the uninterested few, awaiting her imminent judgment. The letter had come as a surprise, to be sure. She knew a trial was coming, but to have it on the day of the Reaping was not something she had suspected. In fact, she had been dreading making an appearance on that platform in front of the highly trained students of the District One Academy. But, miraculously, she was here. There was no jury, which she took to mean that one was not necessary. She had all but confessed in the final minutes of her Games, so why waste people’s time? They knew she was guilty; they might as well have locked her up the minute they put the crown on her head. But for some reason, someone had insisted on this charade. No one wanted to be in this room. Her lawyer had not presented any evidence to her defense, and the judge seemed to be reading under his large wooden desk. But even more suspicious, the prosecutor had left five minutes into the trial. He had said something about her Games in a bored tone, and then left. This was barely a trial. Amy heard a buzz coming from the bench at the front of the room. The judge pulled his interface from inside his robes. Green and purple lights flickered on the small pane of glass, and he nodded somberly and stood. Her lawyer nodded to her, signalling her to stand as well. “Well, that’s it, then. For official reasons, I need to state this aloud. So, in the case of District One vs Amethyst Alkali for the murder of Jade Alkali, the people finds the defendant… ‘Not Guilty.’” Amethyst’s eyes widened. She coughed and spluttered everywhere, her hands shaking. She looked to her lawyer for answers, but he was already halfway out of the courtroom. The judge was moving around the awkward curve in the bench to get into his chambers in the back. Amethyst stood, dumbfounded, in the middle of an empty room. Tears streamed down her face as the silence reverberated around her. “No..I..” “Ms. Alkali, I’m sure you have questions.” She whipped around to the grand oak doors that marked the official entrance to the courtroom. President Snow stood framed in the main aisle, a simpering smile splitting his visage. “Amethyst, you were a god among insects in that Arena. I will not have such talents wasted in a prison cell. Instead, you will work for me. I’m sure you have thought about it; I recognized your potential when you were young, and now the time has come.” He placed a rose in her shaking hands. “I am afraid you missed the Reaping. You’ll need to hurry back to the Capitol to meet the Tributes; I’m sure they will be true contenders in the Games.” He smiled, his sickly sweet smell permeating the air around her. “We will discuss the terms of your...innocence...when you get back.”