A.N. Chapter 2! Yay! Please review! And enjoy ;)
After saying goodbye to my parents, I was led to the train station in a daze. Perhaps it hadn't hit me. Maybe I hadn't realized that this was goodbye, because right now I wasn't feeling pain or sorrow like I should be. I was just numb.
I remembered to wave and smile at the people at the station, and even threw a few winks for good measure. I knew I needed to get sponsors if I wanted to stay alive, and this might help me with that.
Once on the train, I was led to the dining car, where Lucia and Cora were waiting for me. Lucia was happily eating, and seemed rather quiet, which I thought was strange. She seemed very talkative. Maybe she wasn't as annoying as I had made her out to be.
Cora still seemed pale and nervous, and she was still shaking slightly. I felt rather sorry for her. She was a scrawny girl, with not much muscle. She was also pretty short. Neither of those things worked in her favor.
I sat down beside her and she threw me a scared look. I suppose I was her potential murderer…
It was strange to think like that. Sure, I had accepted the fact that I might die in that arena. But I hadn't thought much about the fact that whether or not I died, I would become a murderer. I would kill people. Children. People my age maybe, even younger. It was sickening to think about.
It was also strange to think that Cora was 2 years older than me. She seemed so frail and breakable and scared, while I was tall and strong. I know I look older than fourteen, but she looks like 12. I felt bad to even think it, but I was sure Cora wouldn't last long in that arena. So at least I would be spared from killing her.
When I sat down, Lucia immediately began chatting with me. It must have been Cora that was keeping her quiet. Lucia must have felt bad for her, and didn't want to overwhelm her. That was also surprisingly nice of her. It was funny that I had made the snap judgment of her, that she was annoying and vain, and yet I hadn't even exchanged more than 2 sentences with her. I suppose the same thing could go for me. I'm sure many people judged me to be arrogant, thought I found myself better than everyone else, and yet that couldn't be farther from the truth.
I promised myself that I would try not to judge people too quickly in the games, as that decision could prove deadly. Lucia continued to chatter at me in that squeaky voice while Cora and I ate quietly. I wonder where the mentors are…shouldn't they be on the train?
After our meal, Lucia directed us to our rooms. Cora immediately went into her room, shutting the door behind her. Lucia frowned after her. "So rude." She snapped, glaring at the door. "I tried talking to her before you got her, asking her simple things like if she liked the food, and she simply ignored me! And her table manners!" Lucia gasped, as if she was absolutely scandalized. "Just dreadful." She smiled at me. "Your table manners are fabulous, however! And you are not nearly as rude as that girl. Hmph." With that, Lucia walked away, probably back to her room to fix her makeup again.
I walked to my room, and immediately went over to the shower. I turned it on and experimented with a couple of different knobs, and when hot water shot out I immediately relaxed. I was probably in the shower for about an hour, just relaxing and trying not to think about what was to come.
When I finally shut off the water and got out, I threw on some underwear and just collapsed on the bed, falling asleep right away.
I had never had really vivid dreams, before. And I usually didn't remember them when I work up. But for some reason, that night, for the first time ever, I had a vivid, realistic, dream. Well, I suppose you could call it a nightmare.
I was on a boat in the middle of the ocean, this old rowboat. It was storming, and it was a bad storm at that. The sky was completely black, it was raining, no wait, hailing. The waves were huge, and my old rowboat was being tossed all around.
I looked around me, and suddenly there was a fin sticking up in the water. Then two, three, four, five…they just kept coming until I was surrounded.
Sharks. We had been warned about them while I was growing up, but in all my time fishing I had only seen a couple.
These sharks were different though. Because when I poked one with my oar, it sat up and it was a kid, someone my age. I think it might have been someone from my school…
I realized I was right as all around me, the sharks surfaced and turned out to be people from school, some people I knew and some I didn't. However, instead of high fiving and encouraging me, these people were trying to convince me to drown myself.
"Come on, just do it!" shouted John.
"You're not going to survive long anyways!" said Adrian with a mean smirk.
"Just jump in! Come on!" yelled Crest.
I covered my ears to try to block out their yelling, but suddenly they were holding onto my boat, grabbing it, trying to topple it, trying to grab me and pull me in.
Hands reaching…reaching for me…hands trying to grab me…hands pulling me in…
And then I was in the water, and it was dark and cold, and suddenly I couldn't swim. I couldn't surface. And I couldn't breathe. I put my hands around my neck, and I was choking…dying…drowning…
I woke up to cold water on my face, and an unrecognizable man standing in front of me. He was youngish, maybe in his mid to early 30s.
"Come on, kid. Get up." The guy said, dropping his bucket. I realized then that he had spilled a bucket of cold water on me.
"Why did you do that? You could have just shaken me." I said angrily, glaring at the man as I got out from under my covers.
He laughed. "Yeah, but that was more fun. See you in the dining car." And with that, the man just walked out of my room, leaving the bucket lying on the floor.
"Jerk." I mumbled, wiping my face and going in search of clothing. I found a pair of clean clothes lying on the little dresser, and took those into the bathroom to change. I looked at myself in the mirror and ran a hand through my hair, exiting the bathroom.
I entered the dining car to find Cora, Lucia, the man from my room, and an old woman sitting around the table, eating and chatting.
"OH, Finnick!" Lucia grinned, getting out of her chair to come greet me. Today, her little rhinestones were all green; a shade that looked similar to my eyes…but it was probably just coincidence. "You have to meet your new mentors!" She waved at the newcomers. The old lady smiled welcomingly, but the man just stared at me.
"This is Mags," she pointed to the old woman, who grinned at me. "And this is Dylan." She pointed to the man, who smirked. I glared at him and sat down next to Mags.
She smiled warmly, and piled food onto my plate. "You want to eat up," she said quietly. "You want have much food in the arena." I returned her warm friendly smile and thanked her, quickly digging into all of the food.
I had never had a lack of food, but this food was so much fancier and flavorful than what we had back home. All of these new things I had never had before, or even heard of! I found myself trying almost everything.
Mags had talked to me a little; she seemed nice, and very knowledgeable. I decided that if we got to pick which mentor we wanted, I would definitely pick Mags. She actually seemed like she wanted to try to keep us alive, while Dylan seemed completely uncaring.
After we ate, we all gathered in a little sitting area to watch the recaps of the other reapings. I tried to make mental notes of all of the tributes for later. I needed to start strategizing, and for that I needed to get to know my competition and who to look out for.
Shimmer and Clos from district 1. Shimmer didn't look like the typical career. She was sort of tall but not muscular, and her clothes were very girly, she didn't look like much of a fighter. She also didn't look nearly as proud as Clos at being chosen, in fact, she almost looked bored. Clos was huge-I liked to think I was pretty muscular, but Clos was probably three times as big as me. He was a pretty scary looking dude too, with this mean scowl. He would be someone to watch out for.
Slate and Alana from district 2. Alana looked tougher than Shimmer, as she was bigger and stronger looking, but while Shimmer looked disinterested Alana looked actually a little scared. That showed weakness, so she might be the weak link in the Career pack's armor. Of course, I could-if I wanted- join the career path. But I wasn't sure what I wanted yet, so I would need to think about it more. As for Slate, he looked pretty tough, but he also looked pretty dumb. He started walking the wrong way towards the entrance of the stage, and nearly walked off the wrong way too.
Dayta and Bugg from district 3. Bugg looked really scared, and weak, probably an easy kill. Dayta looked a little more in control of the situation, and she looked very smart. She had this clever little glint in her eyes, and I knew she would be someone to watch out for.
They showed our reaping, and I noticed how strong I looked. I was surprised, since I had felt like passing out. But I had kept my brave face on, and I looked nonchalant and relaxed, smiling and waving. Then there was Cora, poor Cora, who looked absolutely terrified. I'm sure the other tributes were immediately passing her off as weak, and an easy kill. I mean, even I had passed her off as that.
Via and Isaac from district 5. Nothing seemed particularly interesting about these two, as both hid their emotions well. That could either mean they were brave, or smarter than they seemed. I would watch out for the two. Although, neither were especially well built, so if it came down to a physical fight, they would be nothing to worry about.
Ford and Martie from district 6. I could write them both off as easy kills. Nothing stood out to me about either of them, they both just looked scared; shaking and white.
Barker and Ashli from district 7. Ashli didn't seem like anything to concern myself about, but Barker was pretty big. He had some big muscles, almost as big as Slate from district 2. I might have to watch him. He must be pretty strong, as he probably got that muscle from cutting and lifting heavy wood.
Calico and Tex from district 8. Like with district 6, I immediately knew they would be nothing to worry about. The people I wanted to make notes about were the careers and people like Barker. Little twigs from the poorer districts didn't concern me as much.
Maze and Zea from district 9. Nothing special. Eve and Penton from district 10. Nothing to note. Soy and Till from district 11 didn't look like anything special, but the girl, Till, looked pretty determined. I could keep an eye on her. Nelly and Tom from district 12. Weak, hungry, and easy.
When the reapings were over and I had compiled my list of those to watch out for, the five of us decided to talk about the reapings and strategies for when we were inside the arena. Mags and Dylan were giving us advice, although it was mostly Mags with Dylan occasionally commenting on something.
She told us that if we decide to join with the careers, we need to be careful, because they are quick to betray, and we definitely have to leave by the time it gets down to the final 8, because that is when the careers turn on one another.
She told us to make sure we stay hydrated, so that means find water. She told us to be careful of what we eat, and to make sure that we check out the plants station at the training center. She also said we should check out some of the other survival stations and not just focus on the weapons, as tributes often die of dehydration, hunger, and the cold, and poisonous plants.
I took in everything she said and made mental notes, sometimes asking questions. Cora continued to just sit on the sofa, her arms crossed around herself, staring at the wall. I wasn't even sure she was listening to Mags, which made me mad. This was valuable advice! What she was telling us could mean the difference between life and death.
I opened my mouth to say something to her, but then thought better of it and shut it. If she wanted to die, let her. There wasn't anything I could do to make her want to stay alive, even if I tried to help her, I couldn't. So I continued to listen to Mags, because I wasn't going to let the fact that my district partner wanted to die keep me from coming home.
When we arrived at the capital, I was completely overwhelmed. Everything was so big, and shiny, and there were all of these tall buildings. I looked out the window as we pulled up to the station, and tried to keep the look of amazement off of my face.
There were tons of reporters out on the station, and they were taking pictures and shouting. I heard a lot of them shouting my name, so I grinned at them and waved.
"Come along, dear! We must be off!" Lucia chirped, her voice even higher pitched than usual. She must be excited to be home. It was so weird to think that these people called this land of luxury and wealth and excess home…
We got off the train to a swarm of photographers and reporters. They were all calling things out, and the cameras were flashing, and I could hear my name being repeated over and over again…
"Finnick, look over here!"
"Smile for the camera, Finnick!"
"What do you have to say about being chosen, Finnick?"
"Finnick, are you excited to be in the capital?"
"Finnick!"
"Finnick!"
"Finnick!"
"Finnick?" I snapped to attention as I realized that Mags had placed a hand on my shoulder. I had been standing and smiling at the cameras, and the rest of our group was leaving the station.
"Sorry Mags." I said, smiling at her as she led me out of the station.
She returned my grin. "That's alright. I understand that all of the cameras and attention can be overwhelming, but you will have to get used to it. Especially if you want to win these games." She leaned in closer to me, and her voice turned to a whisper. "One of the tricks to getting sponsors is being camera friendly. I have noticed that you already seem to have this advantage. Keep smiling and waving at the crowd, wink, blow kisses, and be charming. The people of the Capital eat that stuff up, and sponsors can mean the difference between life and death in the arena." She patted my arm, and we caught up to the other three.
Lucia seemed to be lecturing Dylan about taking better care of his hair, which she claimed was greasy, and the color dull. He didn't seem to be taking it too well, as they were both exchanging mean remarks.
"At least I'm not dressing like a fourteen year old boy's eyes!" He snapped, and Lucia flushed, looking at me embarrassedly.
I knew the shade of green looked familiar. However, Lucia didn't seem too bad, so I decided to spare her some embarrassment and pretend I didn't hear Dylan.
I struck up a conversation with Cora, and pretended not to notice Lucia's relief. Cora, however, was hard to converse with.
It wasn't that she was unfriendly, necessarily, but she didn't exactly encourage talking, since she wouldn't say a word. I tried to talk to her, about the arena and training and our mentors, but she just stood in silence, looking at the ground, as if she were off in her own little world.
Eventually I huffed, and gave up trying to talk to her. I instead turned to Mags, and asked her for some more survival tips, which she gladly gave.
It seemed like just a little while later that it was time for the Opening Ceremonies.
I was led to a room with three girls, each dressed in that strange Capital fashion, and each seemed to be a different color.
They introduced themselves to me one at a time, each giggling and whispering to the others about how handsome I was.
"I'm Freya," said the first girl, winking at me with a giggle. Her clothes were neon green, and so bright the colors almost hurt my eyes.
"I'm Anthea," said the second one, smiling shyly, whose hair and outfit were a hot pink color.
"I'm Leda." Said the third, whose outfit seemed to be made out of gold, and whose hair was dyed to match.
I suppose the girls didn't look that much alike, but their clothes were so similar they looked like triplets. I couldn't even tell what color their hair or eyes really were. Capital people were so fake.
The three girls introduced told me they were my prep team, and led me to another room where they quickly undressed me.
I felt awkward standing there; completely naked in front of three giggling girls, but I guess I didn't really have much of a choice. They circled around me, examining me, and I tried to cover my most private parts. The girls seemed to giggle even harder at that.
The first one, Freya, told me that my stylist would be coming soon.
Sure enough, about five minutes later a short pudgy little man with spiked up purple hair and a blue sparkly suit that reminded me of Lucia.
"Hello, hello, hello!" He said cheerily, bustling into the room. "My name is Menelaus, and I am your stylist!"
Like my prep team, my stylist also circled me, sizing up my body. He looked at me through critical eyes, yet I got the feeling he liked what he saw.
"Well," he said, clapping, when he finished my inspection. "This will be much easier than I thought. I think we should go a different route than I was first planning…Girls, it looks like you won't need to do much to this handsome young man." He threw me a wink, but I found it more disturbing than encouraging.
"Come along." Menelaus said, clapping his hands and turning. The girls gave me a robe to put on, and the four of us followed him.
"Girls, I want you to do the usual preparation, but don't do anything to that gorgeous hair except wash it. I will direct you how to style it when I bring the clothes. Hurry along now! I will see you later, handsome." Menelaus said to me, before turning and hurrying down the hallway.
My prep team led me to another room, and immediately began my "preparation". And let me tell you, after this, I'm not sure how much worse the Hunger Games could be. When they waxed my legs, I found myself wishing that they would just throw me in the arena already.
When the three girls finally finished "preparing" me, something that seemed to take an eternity, they brought me to meet my stylist again, who would be waiting with my clothes.
I felt so strange- I had been scrubbed down, plucked, waxed, sprayed with perfume, and washed until my entire body was practically sparkling. I couldn't smell the sea on myself anymore, and while they may find that a good thing, I found it disconcerting. I loved the smell of the ocean, and no matter how many baths or showers we took, the people of District 4 always seemed to smell a bit like it. However, these people had washed all of it out of me. I smelled like one of them now- sickeningly sweet and utterly fake.
"Oh, Finnick my boy!" Menelaus said, hurrying over to me excitedly. "Look how good you look! With my costume, you are going to be absolutely fabulous!"
He went back to the table to get my outfit for the Opening Ceremony. He held it out proudly. "What do you think?" Menelaus asked proudly.
I stared at it. It was just shiny teal shorts, that I suppose were supposed to be the color of the sea. However, they were so tight and small, they didn't hide much.
"Isn't it perfect? There was more to it, but after I saw your gorgeous muscles I knew that we couldn't cover them.
I simply stared at the tiny bit of fabric, which I suppose he took as approval. "Fabulous! Now, girls, why don't you get started…" I zoned out of his babble, as the four of them worked on getting my outfit ready. Of course, it didn't really deserve to be called an outfit…
I ended up with my hair done so it looked perfectly windswept, my entire body coated in this shimmery stuff that matched my shorts, a net thrown over my chest and attached to the shorts, and some white rhinestones attached to my chest. I guess that was a fad here or something…
I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to be. A wave? Water? Whatever it was, I suppose it wasn't as bad as it could be. I had seen some people from our district dressed up pretty ridiculously for these things.
There was this one time that they were both supposed to be sea horses, but no one knew what sea horses looked like (not even the stylist), so nobody could tell what they were supposed to be. Then this other time the tributes were supposed to be sea urchins, so they had huge purple balls around them and their hair was spiked up (sort of like my stylist). It was hilarious; the guy had knocked the girl out of the carriage with his bulbous costume.
People from our district were also often dressed up as all kinds of fish. So, I guess I was lucky I didn't look too ridiculous. I may have felt uncomfortable, but at least the Capital people would love it, and I really needed to get sponsors. Mags told me I shouldn't have too hard of a time, but if I wanted to get out of that arena alive I would need to do everything in my power to get as many sponsors as possible.
When it was finally time for the Ceremony, I was led by my chattering prep team to the chariot Cora and I would be riding on. The three girls were all assuring me that I looked absolutely fabulous, and how the people of the Capitol would love me. They also told me they would be rooting for me. According to Leda, the girl in gold, I could "totally win! I mean, look at you! You are so big and strong, and handsome."
While the support was encouraging, the girls reminded me of the people from my school back home. They were ok company, and their attention was nice, but they still didn't know me or care about me that much. To them I was just a pretty face.
I met Cora at the chariot, and when I saw her standing in the outfit that made me look so good, I felt sorry for her. She too had a tiny outfit on that barely covered anything, and her hair windswept didn't look nearly as good as mine did. I was sort of angry at the stylists, for this outfit was clearly supposed to make me look good, so it didn't accentuate Cora's features as well. She was wearing shimmery light makeup to match the kind all over our bodies, but it made her look sort of washed out.
When she saw me, a flash of resentment flashed across Cora's face, before it returned to her usual look of no expression. I realized then how hard this must be for her. I mean, getting sponsors was hard enough without someone like me to compete against. I wasn't trying to be cocky, it was just the truth. Having me as the other tribute from our district would mean even less of a chance for Cora to get sponsors, as they would probably go to me. I felt horrible. Even if I didn't kill her, I could cause this girl's death. Like Mags said, sponsors could mean the difference between life and death.
I smiled warmly at Cora when I caught her eye, and she looked back at me for a minute. I tried to convey with my eyes how sorry I was, how guilty I felt, and how I wished there was another way. But even though I felt sorry for her, this was a fight to the death, and only one person could come out alive. And I was determined to make sure that it was me.
With that, our carriage started rolling. I stared straight ahead, and stuck my most charming smile on my face. I could do this. I would do this. I can make it out alive. I will make it out alive.
As our carriage came into the light, and my eyes adjusted to all of the flashing lights, I waved, and smiled, and blew kisses, and winked. I was as charming as I could be, because I was determined to make it out of this alive.
I heard people screaming my name and I waved. I saw myself on the big screen and I winked. I blew kisses to the ladies, and I kept a smile on my face. Nearly everyone was chanting my name.
Finnick.
Finnick.
Finnick.
I continued to smile. I kept blowing kisses. I kept waving. I kept winking.
I can do this.