I awake to hear a banging on my door. Then I realise I'm still on the train. I must have fallen asleep, I'm still wearing my clothes. Rubbing my eyes sleepily, I open the door slowly to see Haymitch standing there crossly. I think he might be drunk, like he always is. How he is supposed to mentor us, I don't know.

"Prim," he says, and I can tell for certain he is drunk. "We're getting off. Get your stuff." He stumbles back down the train and almost falls over as it stops. So do I, but I regain myself quickly and follow him. As the train doors open, Haymitch smirks, and I wonder why. I quickly realise as I am unprepared for the sheer amount of people crammed into the station. I gasp, and follow Haymitch and Effie as they walk to where we are headed, ignoring the crowd. I am aware of Peeta behind me, I think he almost wants to hold my hand and shield me from the unfamiliarity. I may only be twelve, but I vow to myself that I will never let him take Katniss' place as my protector. Only Katniss can hold my hand and hug me tight and stop me from being afraid.

Thinking of my sister like this brings up the overwhelming grief again. I cannot afford to cry or appear weak, so I forcefully push my family from my mind. I hate the Capitol, I hate the games. They turn us into monsters. I cannot even let myself think of my old home. I think I have changed more in the last day than ever in my whole life. Now I will probably not even see the rest of it.

I allow myself to be absorbed in the bright, loud, strangeness of the Capitol. It stops me thinking about anything else. The people here are so very different with their bright hair and tattooed skin and piercings everywhere. The clothes they wear are strange and colourful, colour like that never can be seen back in 12. It makes my head hurt to see the tall, glass buildings and the flashing city lights, green and red and blue blinking from signs and lamp-posts at every turn. Of course, I do not see too much of the city, thank goodness. We get on what Haymitch calls a shit way to travel. I think it is wonderful, it is fast and warm and quiet. We arrive suddenly at where we had been heading, and I am glad. It had been very quiet during the journey; my thoughts had threatened to overwhelm me again.

The place we arrive at is a large building where all the tributes will be staying and all the training and styling and all other games preparations would be going on. I thought the building was large at first, now I see that it is huge. As district 12, we will be staying on the top floor. The penthouse, Effie calls it. I don't think she wants to be with us, I think she would rather be with one of the other, better districts. I can hardly blame her.

The top floor is huge in itself. It is a million times cleaner and more equipped than my home. I have to stop myself, I have to stop thinking of home. Haymitch tells me to go to my room and change before dinner, that the wardrobe is full. Intrigued, I go to my room and open the wardrobe. He's right. There are more clothes in here than I can ever remember wearing in my life; dresses of all colours, shirts and t-shirts and hoodies in every style, pattern and print you could ever imagine, trousers of all lengths and designs. It seems to go on forever, so I choose the first t-shirt and first pair of trousers I can grab hold of. The t-shirt is green with a swirling grey butterfly, the trousers cover my knees and are deep purple with glittering stitches. They are lovely, and it does not take me long to change.

I head to the large dining table after I change, dinner had been set out and there is more food tha I could ever have thought possible to have. We had a lot of food on the train, but that was nothing compared to this. It also seemed like I would have to talk to everyone, something I still wanted to avoid. As I scooped some of the steaming meat onto my plate, Haymitch started asking Peeta about his tactics.

"So Peeta, what'r your strengths? You gotta be good at something." Peeta's eyebrows scrunch up; he is thinking hard.

"I guess I'll be good at camouflage... I was good at decorating cake. Also I think I'm strong, flour isn't light. But I can't use a knife other than to cook, and a sword or spear... I couldn't use either of them." Haymitch laughs, and takes a gulp of wine.

"You'll not be able to camouflage someone to death! And unless you get some big stones, chucking flour ain't gonna be any use either. What'r you gonna learn first in the training school?" The conversation continues like this, and I stop listening. I have eaten a lot already, and I think that I might actually be sick. Especially as I am just waiting for Haymitch to ask me about my skills. I have none. Well, none other than being able to heal, but in a fight I would be useless. And then Effie says something to me, which surprises me.

"Primrose, you haven't said much. Are you okay love?" I am startled by her concern, and unable to think I answer truthfully.

"No. I'm scared." She smiles kindly at me.

"I'm sure if you get a good sleep tonight, you'll feel fine in the morning. You'll meet your stylist and prep team tomorrow!" she says chirpily in that irritating Capitol accent. It is really starting to annoy me.

As we finish dinner, it is getting late. I know that I will go to bed after, but I am not sure that Effie is right. I'm not sure if tomorrow or any day will get better. I think it will get worse. And to make me worry more, or perhaps reassure me, the first and last thing Haymitch says to me before I sneak off to my room is "Prim. Hang onto scared. Scared'll keep you alive longer."

I fall asleep quickly, and dream of the colour red. Red for blood. Red for anger. Red for fear.


Thank you for reading! Please review! I'd love to know how I'm doing so far! =D