ʗɧɑǷƮɛƦ 3 - Ʈɧɛ ƮƦɑɪℕ Ʀɪɖɛ Ʈօ Ʈɧɛ ʗɑǷɪƮօƖ W e rode to the train station in a chic black car. It was beautiful inside with black and ivory leather seats and the windows were tinted from the inside, giving the world a black and white colouring. Effie sat in the middle at the back seat with me on her right side and Peeta on her left. Haymich sat in front drinking from a small silver flask occasionally next to the chauffer. It was awfully silent all the way until the car stopped at the train station where numerous cameramen were taking our pictures and filming our faces as we got out of the car. I tried to make my facial expression as blank and emotionless as possible to hide my actual weak self. I looked over at Peeta, who was trying to do the same thing, but his red puffy eyes gave his game away. It must be the same for me as well, as the faces of camera men and women were softening, obviously thinking that we were just another pair of outline district tributes who were going to probably die within the first twenty four hours of the Games, if that. I was relieved when Effie ushered the camera folk away to let us get onto the train that would take us to the Capitol. She then showed us to our rooms for the journey and told us we had exactly two hours to get ready until dinner would be served. When Effie finally left us both to go into our rooms, I locked the door firmly so nobody could come in. I pushed my back to the door and slid down it until I was sitting down on the beautiful cream carpets of the room. I shoved off my shoes and socks and dug my feet and hands into the warm, fluffy carpet. I let tears that had been waiting for what felt like years slide down my cheeks. The longer I cried, the less and less tears came out. I didn't know how long I'd been sitting there, but my tears had finally stopped. I got up slowly, and peeled off my reaping dress and undid my two side French braids and found my way into the shower. There were so many buttons in the shower, over a hundred for sure, all that did different things. I pressed a random button and a peach smelling liquid came out of the shower head. I scrubbed it into my hair and the smell became stronger. It smelt beautiful. I pressed another button on the other side of the panel and a unfamiliar smell surrounded me. It was a sweet, distinct smell that I hadn't smelt before but was lovely in all manners. I washed my body with this scent, and climbed out of the shower onto a black panel. The black panel began to blow hot air as soon as I touched it and blew my hair and body dry. I felt no need for a towel after the unusual experience of being drying in this manner. I left the bathroom and closed the door shut. It felt odd being naked in a room I'd only been in for an hour so I quickly found which drawer held all the clothes and quickly chose a blue frock that was decorated with lace daisies. The materiel of the dress was classier than anything I'd ever seen, let alone got to wear. It was the most beautiful piece of clothing I'd ever seen. I looked over at my pile of clothes that I'd left strewn on the floor and saw the silver bracelet. I ran over to it quickly and clasped it onto my wrist, feeling much warmer and more homely as soon as it was safely on. I picked up my clothes and folded them and placed them onto my bed as neatly as I could. Mother had always shown me how to keep my clothes neat and as little creased as possible, but I guess that didn't matter now. I wouldn't be able to fold someone neatly with as little creases to death in the Games, would I? A sharp double knock at the door startles me until I remember that Effie told me dinner would be in two hours. It must have been two hours already. I opened the door to a waitress with flaming red hair. The waitress did not say anything to me, but just led me to where the dining room was on the train. "Oh, there you are, darling. How are you finding your room? It's just lovely isn't it? Anyway, dear, sit. Sit, come on, sit here!" her high-shrilled voice cut right through me as I sat down next to her in the seat she was pointing to. I looked at the table which was full to the brim of food. Food that I'd never seen before, food I'd had many times at home, food that I'd seen but not be able to afford and I'd never had any other drinks other than water or goats milk, so all of the strangely coloured liquids other than the water on the table were foreign to me. I gingerly tucked in to the food, releasing that these next few days would be my last few meals, so I had no need to hold back. After a long silence, Effie perked up, "Well, at least you two have decent manners. The pair last year ate everything with their hands, like complete savages or animals!" she gave a shudder at the thought. "It completely upset my digestion." I frowned at Effie's remark. I racked my brain to the couple last year. A sixteen year old girl and the other a seventeen year old boy. They were both from the Seam like my family and had probably never had a full meal in their lives. My mother, however, taught Katniss and I how to use knives and forks at meal times nicely, and I'd always stuck to the rule of the knives and forks. I felt sorry for the two last year, they didn't have a chance at all and they both knew it. I felt suddenly defensive for them and how ill it was of Effie to speak of the dead. I look over at Peeta who seems to be thinking the same thoughts as I was and began to use his hands to eat the rest of his food, obviously to hurt Effie in some sort of way. I decided against it – as much as I would of loved to of joined Peeta, I would of felt much to terribly rude to of done that, but with some foods, I decided to eat with my fingers, and I licked them afterwards and Effie gave a look of pure disgust at us both. I smiled to myself. When Effie, Peeta and I had finished dinner, Haymich finally arrived. He was carrying around a small class that had a thin brown liquid in with ice. I knew it was some kind of alcoholic beverage as when took the empty seat next to me I smelt the same smell my mother used in ointments that contained alcohol to clean the cuts and burns for her healing. I finally got a chance to have a good look at Haymich. He looked rough, with his beard that hadn't been cut for a week, his clothes creased and crinkled and his fingernails had a layer of black dirt that showed he hadn't showered for at least a week and a half. He didn't smell of anything but alcohol, though. He didn't seem to care he had missed dinner at all, he just wanted to refill his small silver flask I'd seen earlier in the car on the way to the train station. Effie huffed at the sight of him but decided to carry on with her business and us. "Right, ok, we should probably watch the re-caps of the reapings so you get to see the other tributes." She stammered out. She was obviously uncomfortable by Haymich's drunken presence, but Haymich seem unaware of Effie's uneasiness and just followed us through to the living room part of the train. The television switched itself on and the Capitols seal and anthem played out in the room. I watched intensely at the screen, studying each and every tribute – not to size them up or see who my murder might be, just because I wanted to know a little bit about the people who would be dying beside me. A tall, slim blonde girl volunteered first from District 1. She had blue orbs for eyes and her lips were pursed together in a sneaky smile, as if she so proud to be standing where she was, going to where she was going to. A thin but muscly boy volunteered with her from District 1, who looked just as sneaky and happy as his partner. They were both eighteen, and looked slightly lethal. The two tributes from District 2 were just about the same lethalness, but the girl who volunteered had brown hair and was quiet short, almost as short as me and the boy was very, very tall and bulky with muscles. He had blonde, spikey hair and I remembered his name to be 'Cato'. District 3, 4,5 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10s tributes were all forgettable. They were all reaped and looked terrified – all apart from the girl from 5, who had light ginger hair and very distinguished facial features. She reminded me of a fox. I never caught her name because I was too busy studying her emotionless, heavy in thought face so I named her Foxface. She looked scary, but a nice, clever sort of scary. Not a District 1 and 2 scary. District 11's tributes stood out to me. The boy who was reaped looked just as muscly and huge as Cato from District 2. He was black, and his eyes were yellow and his face looked as if he was ready to rip apart every Peacekeeper and cameramen there. His name was Tresh. The girl who was reaped must of only been twelve years old. She had lighter brown skin, more satiny brown compared to the boy next to her. She looked tiny against him, but didn't look scared at all. She looked as if she was trying to do what I did, and stay strong until the cameras were away. Nobody volunteered for her. I almost cried at seeing her go off to her death. Our reapings came on the screen and I was forced to relive through what happened with Katniss and I. It made me realise how I'd never get to actually see her or hug her again. The tears that threatened to hit me before had surely hit me now and I was being engulfed in soft, silent sobs. Peeta turned to me and put his arm over my shoulder to comfort me. It was strange at first, but I knew he just wanted to make me feel a bit better and a little bit less alone so I hugged him back while his reaping was shown. He looked scared and vulnerable just like most of the other districts. Effie starts talking about her wig looks funny in the lighting of District 12 and the cameras, but I could barely listen. Haymich was oblivious to the goings on and decided to stand up and leave, but not before leaving a huge pile of vomit on the wooden floor of the living room cart. He smiled at what he had spew up before tripping over in his walk to the door and crawling out, leaving a vomit trail. Effie totted off after seeing Haymich throw up, calling for Capitol staff to clear the disgusting mess up. The look of disgrace on her face was darker and deeper than ever as she told us to go back to our compartments and by tomorrow afternoon, we'd be in the Capitol and we needed to at least look decent for the cameras at the train station there. Peeta stood up and offered me his hand to help me up. I followed him back to my room where he opened the door for me. "No wonder we've never had a chance at all at these games, with him as a mentor. I bet he never even talks to the tributes some years," Peeta sighed as she leaned against my doorframe. I looked at him sadly, knowing that this statement was probably true. "And the fact that we're weak and tiny against the District 1 and 2 tributes," I pointed out. They were all I had been thinking about mostly, apart from Katniss and the little girl from District 11. Peeta nodded back at me. "Well, goodnight, Prim. I hope you're okay. I know it was a bit upsetting to see that all again." He patted my shoulder as he left and I shouted goodnight down the hall where he was walking to his room, causing him to look back and grin at me. I was right about my presumptions that he was a nice boy because his father was. Peeta was indeed a very lovely person. It was going to be awful to see him die. Hopefully he wouldn't die. Hopefully he could make it this year. If only Haymich would help us just a little bit. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This one's pretty long You're welcome
ʗɧɑǷƮɛƦ 4 - A͜ƦƦɪѵɪℕց A͜Ʈ Ʈɧɛ ʗɑǷɪƮօƖ I woke up late in the morning feeling very rested. Best soak up all of this lovely feeling while it's here, I thought, not like I'm going to get a chance to feel it again. I turned over in the wonderfully comfortable bed, but the thought has disturbed all feelings of peace that I woke up with. I sat up slowly in my bed wondering what the Capitol would look like when we finally arrived there. I bet the streets would be permanently clean and there would be several colours on the pavements alone. I wondered if all the people would look as eccentric as Effie, or whether Effie was just very overboard eccentric because she was more famous than other Capitol citizens. I didn't even know if that's how it worked over there. I didn't know anything. I looked in the closet for today's choice of clothes and picked out a deep orange dress, one that reminded me of the sunset. I matched it with a flat pair of plain royal blue shoes and a royal blue leather belt and my token bracelet. I then began to proceed to do my hair in two French braids when the waitress maid woman with the fiery red hair burst into my room. I turned around abruptly excepting her to say sorry and she excepted I would have been down at breakfast already, but she said nothing. She stood there looking slightly startled waiting for me to talk. After ten seconds of the awkward quietness, I couldn't bear it anymore. "Erm," I said. "Sorry, I'm supposed to be at breakfast? Did Effie send you?" She shook her head in response and just when I thought she was about to talk, Effie pushed past her and placed her hands on her hips, "There you are, Primrose! Breakfast is ready. Your half an hour late." "Why wouldn't she tell me that?" I pointed towards the waitress maid woman. "She only takes orders. She doesn't talk to tributes or us. She just takes orders." She told me. I was about to ask another question but Effie began to literally push me out of my room towards breakfast, leaving the fiery red haired woman to tidy up the little mess that I had made that morning. "Now, I've finished breakfast and I'm going to be speaking to your stylists on the phone today before we reach the Capitol. If I were you, I would take this opportunity to talk to Haymich about the Games." And she totted off down a corridor, her wig wiggling away with her. In the dining room where breakfast was being served, I sat next in the only empty seat next to Peeta. He passed me a strange brown liquid. It was a satiny brown that reminded me of the little girl in District 11's skin. I began to wonder how she was, if she was coping with it all. I wanted to meet her so badly, talk to her, ask her if she was okay. She looked so sweet and innocent, I wish she had never been reaped. I wonder how her family are. I wonder how my family are. "It's nice." Said Peeta, interrupting my thoughts completely. "They call it hot chocolate." Chocolate. I've only had chocolate a few times, which is more to say than a lot of people in District 12 I suppose. I got two squares of the beautiful stuff from my family, Gale and his family and Greasy Sae on my birthday. They had all saved up for it and got two squares of the rare beautiful stuff, for me on my 12th birthday. My 12th birthday – my first reaping year. I'd had it two or three other times too, but in tiny quantities, like the little chocolate pieces in the cookies Mr. Mellark gave me a few days ago and last year when it Katniss' friends birthday, Madge Undersee (the mayors daughter). She was given a whole bar of chocolate for her birthday, and she gave Katniss a piece at school. I was with Katniss at the time and she decided to give me some too. She was always a lovely girl, was Madge. That's another person I'll miss when I'm dead. I took a little sip of the hot chocolate and my insides turned gooey and my taste buds exploded. I let out a very loud 'mmmmm' and Peeta chuckled at me. I watched him get bread roll from the basket of them that was placed in the middle of the table and rip a piece off and dip it in his hot chocolate. I copied him and it tasted even better. He chuckled again. Haymich then got up out of his seat and headed over to the drinks that must have been laid out especially for him and opened the door, when Peeta's voice perked up. "Where are you going?" he questioned. He stopped where he was and didn't turn around to face Peeta. "To my room." "Don't you think you should talk to us? About our plan in the Games? Advice and how to get sponsors and stuff?" he asked. "Don't you think you should give me a break? Most of you are so… eager." Haymich said drunkenly. Peeta stood up and began to walk over to Haymich, and tried to grab his drink, which led to him giving him a sturdy punch. Sure, he was drunk, but he gave a good drunken punch, because Peeta was out cold. Immediately, the inner healer inside me reached for my napkin and the ice dispenser. I wrapped up a bundle of ice and placed it on Peeta's face where the blow was. Peeta hadn't come to yet, but I could hopefully make the bruise show less, or not at all even with this fast of a treatment. I didn't even realise Haymich was pushing me off him. He took my homemade ice pack off me and said "No. Let it show." "Why?" I asked. Haymich sat back down at the table, reaching for a scone and the butter. "Having a fight before the actual Games may make him look tough in front of the other tributes." He explained abruptly. I didn't question this, as I had no knowledge of what was good in the Games and what wasn't, whereas Haymich had won this thing once and mentored ever since. He was sure to know what he was doing, even if he was an alcoholic. I sat back down at the table and we both waited for Peeta to come to. It didn't take long, only a few minutes. He stood up almost immediately when he came to and winced at the pain. He tried to reach for some ice to put on his bruise but Haymich told him the same thing he told me a few minutes ago. "So, did I actually get a fighter this year?" he looked at Peeta closely. Peeta's face didn't change as Haymich studied it closely. "Stand up." He ordered Peeta. Sure enough, he began to study his physique as intently as he did his face. I studied his physique whilst Haymich did also and noticed he had more muscles than I thought. "Not too bad. Almost even nice. Once the stylist gets a hold of you, you might just scrub up okay." "Thanks." Peeta said gruffly, not knowing whether it was a compliment or not. Haymich's face turned towards me and told me to stand up as well, even though we both knew there wasn't going to be much hope for me. Not as much as Peeta. Nowhere near as much as the children from District 1 and 2. Haymich sighed. He must get kids like me every year. Weak. No hope. Basically a walking corpse right now. Neither of us knew what to say and I began to gain an understanding of why Haymich must be such a no hope in mentoring, because we were no hopes. He just didn't want to tell us that. "It's okay. I know." I told Haymich quietly. Haymich's look softened on me as he exhaled. I smelt the alcohol fumes on his breath and almost felt sick. He turned his gaze back to Peeta who was looking at us with a puzzled expression, obviously not working out both of our thoughts yet. "Here's the deal kid," he said to Peeta. "I'll stay sober enough to help you train and give you advice for these Games, as long as you do everything I say." Peeta hesitated at first, although I didn't know why. I thought the deal was very fair. Haymich obviously had a drinking problem and if he was willing to put hope into Peeta, he obviously thought he could get far. Haymich must know these Games so well. "Alright." Peeta agreed. "So what can you do? What skills do you have?" Haymich asked. "I don't know. I guess I'm good at camouflage – I am good at painting and decorating and things, so I guess that can help with camouflage." He began. "And I'm strong, too, I think. I can carry over 100 pounds." Haymich nodded in approval and began to eat his scone at last after applying a thick layer of jam. "We can work with that. And you, sweetheart? Do you have any hidden skills your keeping quiet?" I heard the doubt running deep in his voice and I shook my head firmly and began to pour myself another hot chocolate. Having all these talks of tactics and skills in the Games just made me realise my death even more and more and more. "She's lying. She's a gatherer. I've seen her with her sister picking berries from the forest. She's always telling her sister which ones you can eat and that you can't," he told Haymich. "And she's amazing at healing. She can make a medicine out of almost any plant!" Why was Peeta saying all this? What help was any of this going to be? "It's not like I can heal someone to death, really, Peeta?" the words spew out of my mouth before I even had a chance to interpret them into something more kinder. I was shocked by how cold the words came out and the look on Peeta's face just shocked me even more how awful and nasty I must of sounded to him. "I'm sorry." I quickly apologised. "Don't be. She's right, Peeta. The gathering may help with some food and the healing may help if you get small cuts, too, but it won't be much help in the arena. Sorry, sweetheart." Haymich told me. It was nothing I didn't know already. I looked back down at my hot chocolate and kept on dipping pieces of bread in. I tried to focus on the tastiness of the chocolate sinking into the sweet bread instead of Haymich and Peeta's conversation of tactics, but I couldn't zone out. I was just about to excuse myself when the whole train went completely dark. We'd entered a tunnel, and that could only mean one thing – we were just entering the Capitols train station. Light flooded through little windows in the tunnel as we got closer to train station platform, showing us glimpses of the Capitol at a time. Peeta and I slowly creepy up to the window on the train looking out at the tiny peeks the tunnel windows were offering us of views of the Capitol. Even though what I was seeing wasn't even half of the Capitol, it was stunningly beautiful and so huge. It was clean-looking like I'd expected and there were different colours around but they were mostly pastel colours. It made the city look even sweeter, even though I knew that at its heart was the centre of evil. President Snow and the Gamemakers. The people that did this to me and my family. To Peeta and his family. To all the other innocent districts tributes and their families. All of a sudden light flooded the whole of the train and Peeta and I were faced with hundreds of colourful and eccentric looking faces. I was wrong about Effie only being eccentric looking because she was slightly more famous. All of those people were strange looking. One woman I saw had her hair pinned upwards as tall as it would go and it was coloured gold with a pattern of paint splatter in ten different colours. It dawned on me on how this must be normal to them, and how inhuman we must look towards them. Maybe that's how they feel so comfortable watching us die because we aren't normal humans to them. The train stopped with a halt while the Capitol people were applauding us and shouting and laughing. I was blinded by so many camera flashes when I got off the train that I could barely see the Capitol people anymore, but I could hear them screaming "District 12!" or "Tributes! More!". Peeta was waving at them and smiling so I began to as well. I waved and smiled and waved and smiled until we were had to go into another car to ride to our hotel where we would be spending the next five and a half days until the Games. Five and a half days. Five and a half days to live. Five and a half days left until I die.