Chapter one
Johannas POV:
I wake with a sudden start, gasping for air and unable to scream ,although I want to. Beads of sweat are gathering on my forehead and lip, I reluctantly take a sip of water from the cup on my nightstand. While my right hand is preoccupied with the glass of water my other hand searches on the other side of the bed for someone to comfort me. No ones there stupid I tell myself and I know this is true but it doesn't stop me from waking up in the middle of the night screaming, searching time and time again for someone there to comfort me ,but then I realize that it's useless ,considering that anyone I care about whom I wish could be here to lull me back into sleep is dead...and it's all my fault.
I try to fall asleep again, which is out of character for me, I normally stay up after the first nightmare jolts me awake untill i can see the first rays of light peeking through the blinds of my new apartment. I hate it here, it's so different from my old home in the victors village of district 7. I've moved nearly clear across to the other side of my fairly large district into what to me seems like a new planet. It's quiet here...too quiet, if there's one thing I hate it's silence. In the victors village I could here the comforting sounds of nature, the rustling of the winds blowing through the surrounding coniferous trees, the hoot of an owl, even the cry of a distant timber wolf and it was somewhat soothing, but here...here it is just to painfully peaceful. I am finally overcome by sleep, a good thing considering that tomorrow I must head off to district 12 to celebrate the anniversary of the revolution of the districts with Katniss, Peeta, Annie and all the others whose names I can't bring to mind in my drowsy stupor.
I wake up early ,about 4:30ish, after I'm awakened by yet another nightmare. Oh well I think, I wasn't packed any way...better late than never. I clumsily stuff an assortment of clothing, toiletries, and my axe into a large duffel bag. I know my axe will probably be of no use on this trip but it's a precious piece of home, one of which I refuse to leave behind. Once I'm packed I glance at the clock, it's still early so I decide to go for a walk in the woods. The woods are far from my new apartment but they are my only escape from being a "victor", being surrounded by the smell of pine and earth remind me of the days before i became a tribute...before I became a lethal killer capable of murder. I stop for a while and just hum quietly to myself, an old tune my mother would use to put me and my younger brother to sleep, it comforts me and I go on in this manner for quite a while before I remember the time, I still have a good two hours before the train departs but it's a long walk from the woods back to my too large, painfully silent, empty apartment.
Gales POV:
I get up early,not because I have too but because my mental alarm clock from rising early to hunt, work in the mines, or more recently to head to the training center for troops in district 2 have made it nearly impossible for me not to do so. Today is a "special" day, it is the day before the day the day which President Snow was killed...defeated by the 12 districts which he and a barbaric, rich Capitol had mistreated and underestimated for so long. I try to disregard today as just another day but that couldn't be further from the truth, even in district 2, the most supportive, loyal district to the Capitol, people have hung decorations and are merrily singing songs...celebrating the day the districts claimed their independence-No this day could never become just another simple day and the festivities haven't even yet reached their peak yet, today is just the day before...tomorrow the true celebration begins.