Nico was going to burn. He knew it. The heat was everywhere, and his eyes. His eyes hurt so badly. His parent's screams had been silenced long ago by the heat, by the raging flames that he could feel but couldn't see with his eyes squeezed closed. He coughed weakly, feeling the smoke searing his lungs. No one was coming; no one cared. He was only five, but he knew that no one liked him, no one liked his family. Nico began to crawl, dragging himself in a direction that seemed to be slightly cooler. He managed to wedge himself in what felt like the refrigerator before passing out.
~12 Years Later~
I stood in the sea of boys. According to Tom I stuck out like a sore thumb with my black aviator jacket. I didn't really care though. I let out a long breath. I really hate this. I thought, shifting slightly. It was boring. I didn't particularly care about the people who would get Reaped; why should I? They certainly didn't care about me. The only one I'd care about leaving was Tom. I yawned as the video played and the resulting speech came. Finally, the girl tribute was about to be chosen.
"Adrienne Holverson!" The name was shouted out. I furrowed my brow, trying to remember who she was. Finally a memory of a sarcastic voice came to mind. I smirked. I certainly didn't care about her. Then it was time for the boys. Good, then I can go home and make a sandwich. I was in the midst of figuring out what I wanted on my sandwich; turkey or ham, when I heard someone calling my name. I assumed it was Tom, yelling at me for doping off and listened for him to yell at me again. Then I realized that there were still people around me, in fact they were parted in a line leading to the stage. Oh crap. I thought as realization dawned.
"Nico? Where are you Nico?" The Reaper's voice rang out. I slowly, woodenly made my way to the stage, instinct somehow guiding me up the steps. Once there, a hand was placed on my shoulder.
"Nico! It is such a good day when we have two fine young people such as yourselves willing to be in the Games!" Her cheery, somewhat whiny voice grated on my ears. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. She stopped for a moment, no doubt waiting for a response.
"Well, shake hands." She commanded. I immediately stuck out my hand, not wanting to have to cover up me searching for her hand somehow. I didn't particularly feel like it today. She took my hand, shaking it firmly with a cool hand. I listened intently and could hear her heartbeat. It was calm, not racing like I had heard others in the past years. After two shakes, she let go of my hand and both of us turned to face the crowd.
"Ladies and gentlemen, your tributes!" The lady shouted. I winced, her voice played havoc with my ears. I mean, my ears are hypersensitive, but this was just plain ridiculous. I started when someone laid a hand on my shoulder: I hadn't heard them coming behind me. I relaxed though, when I remembered what happened next. The tributes got carted off to some back room where they said goodbye to close friends and family. I figured I would be spending an hour in a room by myself. There wasn't anyone who would come say goodbye to me. I sat down on a chair that was rather hard and leaned my head back with my eyes closed. A nap would be good to get ready for all the acting I was about to do. Then I heard footsteps coming down the corridor before the door squeaked open.
"Hey Nico." Tom's serious voice cut through the air. I faced towards where his voice came from.
"Hey." I greeted. I heard a rustle and figured there was another chair in the room.
"How you doing?" I asked. He snorted.
"Why are you asking me that? You're the one who could die soon." He said wryly.
"You mean, will die soon." I said with a grim smile. He sighed.
"That sense of humor is really morbid." I shrugged.
"Eh, you'll live. Even if I don't." I said with a real smile this time. I could hear him shake his head.
"Seriously, that's not something to joke about." He said sternly. I shrugged with a sigh, then leaned back in my seat.
"Crap, what have I gotten into?" I asked, everything suddenly hitting me. Tom moved next to me.
"Hey man, you're gonna get through this." He said seriously. I shook my head.
"Thanks for that, but I doubt it." I said, then cocked my head towards the door.
"Hey, sounds like your escorts are here." I said. He sighed and pulled me up out of the chair into a hug.
"Stay out of everyone's way, and put that mind of yours to work. I'm sure you can figure out some stuff there." He said before releasing me. He was standing by the door when the Peacekeepers marched in.
"Time to go." One of them said. I listened to their footsteps fading away and settled back to wait some more. He was the only person who would come see me, nobody else liked me. After probably an hour, during which I dozed off and on, I heard footsteps coming down the hall once more.
"Time to go." The Peacekeeper growled. I stood and followed his footsteps, careful to give visual cues as well. Tom always said it was creepy when I didn't, because my eyes looked dead. So I made sure to look around and blink. Soon we were joined by two other people. I assumed the person walking next to me was Adrienne. She didn't seem to want to talk, so I kept my mouth shut. I hope they have food on this train ride. I was so engrossed in my thoughts of food that I almost didn't notice when our escorts stopped and had to turn a little to make sure I didn't run into them.
"Welcome to your new home." A woman's voice was saying. Her voice was chirpy, but not as high as the Reaper's. That was good, since I was going to be on a long train ride with her. I absently wondered what Adrienne's voice sounded like. She hadn't spoken to me yet. I followed her in the train and heard a small intake of breath, so I assumed it was pretty impressive. I widened my eyes and tried to make myself look shocked, then looked in Adrienne's direction. This could be interesting. I heard the door schwoop closed behind us before the woman spoke again.
"I'm going to go find Mac, you two can get to know each other!" She said cheerfully before leaving with another schwoop of a door. I just stood there, not wanting to trip over anything like an idiot. It wasn't until she moved and sat down that I did the same, having heard her hand brush against what I hoped was a chair. I put my hand out and ran it over the back of the chair as though admiring it. In truth, I was trying to figure out where the front was so I could sit down. I plopped down on the heavily cushioned seat with a sigh.
"So, how are you doing?" I questioned, then almost face-palmed. You idiot, she just got Reaped! She's not doing well! Thankfully I was spared her answer by two people walking in the door.
"I can't believe you were planning on being late, again!" The woman was back apparently.
"I'm always late." Came a somewhat amused voice. I immediately liked this guy. He seemed to have a decent sense of humor, unlike most people. I was assuming that these two were our mentors, but I still didn't know their names. It wasn't like I kept track, or had anything to go by other than voices. And heartbeats, but those were all pretty much the same.
"So, who are you?" I questioned.
"I am your mentor, Mac." The guy said.
"And I'm Adrienne's mentor, Maggie." The girl said. I nodded.
"Cool." I said. Mac coughed.
"So, I wasn't at the Reaping, I got lost on the road of life, so you're going to have to introduce yourself to me." He said. I'm sure there was an innocent smile in there somewhere and I returned it.
"I'm Nico." I said. I hadn't used my last name since my parents died, hoping people would forget who they were. It hadn't worked so far, but it was worth a shot.
"I'm Adrienne Holverson." She speaks! I had been wondering. Of course, I'm sure she was wondering the same.
"So tell me, Mac." I started and heard everyone take a deep breath. "Are there any turkey sandwiches on this train? 'Cause I've been wanting one for awhile." At that, Mac gave a short laugh.
"I like you kid, you're funny." He said.
"There's a giant table of food right over there. What are you, blind?" Adrienne said. I bit back a sarcastic comment and shrugged.
"Well, I couldn't see if there were any sandwiches." I muttered. I could feel her stare; it was creepy.
"You do realize that you just got reaped to go to the Hunger Games, right?" She questioned. I nodded.
"Yeah, but just because they're called the Hunger Games doesn't mean we have go hungry, does it?" I threw back. She sighed.
"You are an idiot." I shrugged. I'd been called worse and didn't really care. I knew I was smart, and that was all I needed to know.
"So, you kids want to eat?" Mac's voice sounded out. It sounded odd, like he had just figured something out and was laughing about it. I was willing to bet that he was grinning. However, I was too busy concentrating on following Adrienne to the table to notice. It wasn't until I sat down that I realized something; I had no way to find the silverware without groping. Whenever I was with Tom, he'd subtly tap below where the fork was so that I could find it, and it didn't matter at home.
"Do you need something Nico?" Maggie's voice cut into my thoughts. I shook my head.
"No, I'm alright." I said, with a smile. I started inching my hand over the table, hoping everyone was listening to Mac's story and not paying any attention to me. Water glass, better remember where that is, plate, napkin, aha! Knife! And here's the fork. I then tried to look as though I was trying to decide what to eat.
"So, what's good?" I asked in what I hoped was a friendly tone. Apparently it worked since I heard something slap down on my plate.
"Try that, it's pretty good." Mac said. Again with the weird tone. I smiled.
"Thanks!" I grabbed my fork and started eating. Whatever it was, was better than what I usually ate. I generally just grabbed stuff and put it in the microwave, hoping it would turn out ok. Occasionally it did. When it didn't, Tom would take me out.
It didn't take long for us to get to the Capital, and when we did the screaming crowds nearly burst my eardrums.
"Why can't they cheer quieter?" I grumbled, trying to hear the sound of Adrienne's footsteps ahead of me. Dang she walked quietly. When someone's hand came down on my shoulder, I jumped a mile high.
"Warn a person, will ya?" I fumed.
"Heh, don't worry kid, your secret's safe with me. I'll help you out." Mac's voice said softly enough that only I could hear him. I froze and only made it inside because he pushed me. The only thought running through my head was What the hell just happened?