Sorry for the short chapter, I just thought that the end was a good place to leave off. Thanks for reading! Yeah...
I line up in the section for the sixteens. They all look terrified. Some are fanning their faces, others with anxious expressions. One has even fainted. No one is used to this. After all, it's the very first Hunger Games in the Capitol. Soon, a girl of about nineteen climbs up onstage and begins reading something about how the districts rebelled against the oppressive Capitol. I don't even need to hear her speak before I know who she is.
Katniss Everdeen, the Mockingjay.
This is the girl who ran the revolution. She gave hope to the Districts, and was the only person to ever come out of the arena as one of two victors. The second of the pair, Peeta Mellark, is there with her. He has a serious expression on his face, and he sits in a chair some way back next to two older men. Once she finishes the long speech, she briskly walks over to a glass bowl and sticks her hand in it. I wait with baited breath as she draws it out of the bowl. Painfully slow. The tension has mounted. My hands are shaking, and I can hardly breathe. I'm not nervous. I can't be. I must breathe. But I can't as she walks back to the podium and calls out a name. I couldn't even hear her, but somewhere deep down I know, as my heart beats twice as fast, my palms sweat, and there's a shake in my step. Before I know it, I'm up on that stage, because I'm the one she has called. It's my turn to go into these games. The fact is unbearable. Apparently, she's called the male tribute too, because I look over and I see the one person I never hoped to see. Quite possibly my worst enemy. The male tribute this year is unfortunately him, Travis Aison. He helped me, but I hate him for it. I think back to the first time I ever saw him, about a year ago. It was also the first time my father ever harmed me. I don't even remember what I had done wrong, but there I was, and in his fit of rage, the blow came. He's often like this, and he goes in and out of these fits. And I simply stood there, shaking, with tears streaming from my eyes. It was quite embarrassing, then, to have a boy about my age, one that I had seen around school but never talked to, walk out from behind a tree and start to hug me. Hug me. Honestly. He was watching the whole time. But he just sat down next to me and held me, a complete stranger, and told me to talk. About everything. I found it quite ridiculous, but in my damaged state, I did. I confessed everything I had ever known, ever feared, ever hoped, to someone I had spoken but one word to. Soon after, I realized what I had done, I ran. I ran from the fact that I felt something, anything at all. I ran from the fact that maybe, just maybe, I had a friend. That someone was there for me to trust, to love. It's all confusing. Everything is a mess, and a tangled web I can't decipher. But now is not the time. By now, it's time to go. I expect to get onto the car that will take us to the Capitol, but instead I am directed to another building. Oh, yes, I forgot. I have to see my family now.
I sit down on the plush chair and wait. And wait. Soon an hour has passed and I am still alone. Someone comes in and I look away. It's Katniss Everdeen. What does she want?
"Cladia." she whispers. I blink and stare and the ground. "Cladia," she says again. "Don't you have any visitors? Any family?"
This time, I do not hesitate. I stand up, and my voice shakes as I reply, "No. There is no one I love anymore."