Decided to add the Second Chapter because I can't stop writing and a few of you have added this to your favourites! Please leave me some reviews, thanks for reading!
I find my usual room on the train, changing my shirt into something brighter, more suiting to the fashion found in the Capitol while still staying simple enough to show I'm from a District. Not that people aren't aware of that. I'm the most famous Victor there has been for a while, for obvious reasons. My good looks naturally appealed to the people of the Capitol, earning me a fair share of attention and gifts while I was in the Hunger Games, these gifts were necessary for my victory. My thoughts drift to how the people of the Capitol view me as being so desirable, how they are so willing to pay anything to spend some time with me. No. I stop the thoughts again. I have tributes to help, tributes that are relying on me to bring one of them back alive.
I make my way to the dining room cart where I find Mags in conversation with Annie. Mags has got Annie laughing over some joke that I can't hear and I can't help but admire them both for being so positive in such a negative situation. I leave the room without notice, heading to find Zayle so I can get a better idea of his skills and personality.
I find him at the very back of the train, looking out the large windows as we speed through District 4. I feel like I've interrupted some kind of private moment, his goodbye to his home. I turn to leave when I hear him speak "Finnick?"
"Hey Zayle, I was just looking for you so we can go speak with Mags and Annie, start planning strategy?" He looks at me, tears are starting to fill his eyes and I'm starting to feel uncomfortable. This is what Mags is for. Zayle makes a noise, like he's just choking back the tears and says in a voice, barely above a whisper "Just bring one of us home ok?"
I don't know what to say. I think I manage to nod my head. I leave the room, giving him to time to calm down before he joins the rest of us.
I walk back to the dining cart, my head hurting. Both of my tributes seem all wrong for the Games – too soft, too caring. The problem with this is everyone knows not one decent person has ever won the games. I should know that.
I start to quicken my pace, willing my feet to move faster so I can meet my second tribute. I picture her in my head - laughing with Mags, playing nervously with her hair on stage. I need to find out ways I can help bring this girl home. I reach the dining room cart, seeing Volumnia has now joined the pair, and take a seat beside Mags.
"Zayle will be here soon, he's just…" I don't know what to say, He's just crying? Saying goodbye to his district?
"At the toilet." Says Zayle from behind me, he calmed down quicker than I thought. He takes the seat across from me, beside Annie and smiles at her. This time she returns the smile. We all sit and talk about skills and traits that could be useful in the Games and it's clear from the start that the two plan to be allies in the arena. I learn that Zayle is indeed skilled with a spear and net and has practice with knives from gutting fish while Annie is skilled in finding edible plants, making nets and knows more than the basics in first aid. It's a good thing that they are going to be allies then – together they have what it takes to survive in the arena, divided they both won't last long.
Mags soon leaves to go to bed, saying she wants to get an hour or two's sleep before we get to the Capitol. She won't sleep. I think she just wants some time to prepare herself. I don't know any past victor that deals with going back to the Capitol well – it forces us to relive our own time in the Games. I wonder if I should start to do the same – prepare. But I can't physically bring myself to leave the room; I'd rather just keep trying to block out everything about the Capitol. Even now though, I feel the familiar thoughts creeping into my mind, who will I be with tonight? What will they give me in return?
"Finnick?" A voice brings me back. "Are you still with us?" It's Annie. She's turning her head so quickly it's almost comical, looking at me then looking to Volumnia for assistance.
"Sorry, daydreaming." I manage to say. "What were we talking about?" Volumnia rapidly moves the conversation forward, I tune out as she starts going through her schedule again, running through every detail of our lives from now until, well until we die it seems. She asks my opinion at regular intervals, but the most I manage is a nod of the head – I'm too exhausted to use the charm I usually treat her with. All my energy is being used to block out what I'm dreading, but it doesn't seem to be working.
Volumnia starts with a panic when she realises she hasn't scheduled in enough time for prep or training or something else that my mind just can't process right now and she leaves the room with a hurry. Annie and Zayle sit contently talking between themselves, oblivious to the battle going on in my mind as I try to block out the thoughts that have been growing stronger as we get ever closer to the Capitol. The next time I turn to observe the pair Zayle has left and Annie sits on her own, silently watching me.
"Where's Zayle gone?" I ask, somehow managing to keep my voice casual, steady.
"To the bathroom, I think he was starting to get nervous. Though he didn't say that" And she smiles. And I can't help but smile back.
"Are you nervous, Annie?" My voice is now back to normal, the war in my head as calmed slightly, though I still feel its constant presence.
"Not as nervous as you seem Finnick" And with that, she gets up and leaves. I don't know what to make of her parting words but I know I can't just let her exit the conversation after a statement like that so I get up and follow her.
"Annie? ANNIE CRESTA YOU WAIT RIGHT THERE." And I'm running to get this girl, the first time in my life that I, Finnick Odair, have had to run after a girl.
"What?" She smiles sweetly, innocently, but her last statement hints at a hidden depth to this girl.
"What did you mean, back there? Why would I be nervous?" I really want to ask her what she knows and how she knows it but I can't bring myself to say those words.
"I don't know, you just seem nervous. You kept ruffling your hair and your eye…" She pauses. Embarrassed. "It was twitching, and my mother always says she can tell when I'm nervous because of my eye." So she doesn't know anything.
I drop my voice, perhaps lower than necessary, but I can't help but feel like I am being constantly observed when I'm near anything to do with the Capitol. "I just don't like the Capitol much."
"I can understand why." She pats me on the shoulder, and she is gone again. No questions asked, no judgemental tone in her voice. Just genuine sympathy. And that's when I know I have no chance of bringing Annie Cresta back to her family. She is too good for these Games. Kind, caring, sympathetic – every quality that every victor lacks. I'm not saying that we are all evil, but I'm saying that a victor has to be capable of murder. And expecting this girl to murder someone is the equivalent of waiting for a rabbit to take down a lion.
Zayle. He's the one that's coming home. He could kill. He'll probably be good at it after some training. I know I have a good chance at bringing one of them home, my first victor.
Suddenly, the sun streaming through the window is blocked and we are travelling through darkness. My mind goes in to overdrive and this time I can't stop the vomit from rising, I'm running to the toilet trying to hold it for a few seconds longer – no one can see this moment of weakness. Because I know where this darkness stops, where the end of this tunnel leads us to – The Capitol.
