I slowly make my way through the crowd of sixteen year olds, avoiding peoples gaze as I push past the peacekeepers. Its as if I move on auto, I let my body do all the walking and I do not think. I don't know where I'm going. I don't have time to figure out, though, because peacekeepers grab me, push me roughly into the back of a dark-windowed car and slam the door. I watch helplessly as the faces of my family pass by me as the car drives toward my death.

I slump on my seat, thinking what I'd done to life to make it end so quickly. No, I tell myself. Don't think of that. You promised Rosemary you would be strong. So you're going to be strong. For her, and for the rest of my family. I straighten up, and think.

Isilee Malianna, my soon-to-be mentor, seems a nice enough person. Intelligent, not so full of herself like Erudanus Danour is. She is the one that will help me, mentor me and give me guidance. I tug on my token, the star necklace, thinking of how I would survive the games.

What are my strengths? I don't know. But I know I am pretty good with plants, and have good aim. I climb trees. Me and Rue used to fly through the trees like birds, hopping from one tree to another. Rue. Rue. Oh, how much I miss her. Her laugh, her sweet voice...I wonder how she would feel, if she knew that I was headed towards the games. Towards my death. Now I know that I have to win. No matter what. For Rue. For Rosemary. For Olive, Willow and Lavender. For my parents. For District 11.

The car jolts to a stop and I am hurled backwards in my seat. You would've thought that tributes would be treated with more respect, but not in District 11. I rub the back of my head resentfully. A peacekeeper thrusts open the door and I step back out into the hot, sultry air. People all around gape at me, mouths wide open as I slowly walk to the stage, my boots crunching on the hard, pebbly ground. Some gasp, as if they recognized my sister in me. I know that the resemblance is striking, because my mother always used say when I was seven that I looked like Rue when she was seven.

As I climb the stairs, its so silent that I swear I could hear a pin drop. The humid air feels like a cage and its just so hot that I'm panting.

I stride to the center of the stage and take my place next to Ryde.

Lovage brakes the silence, by saying enthusiastically, "Well, then. A round of applause for this year's tributes for District 11, Ryde Arvolor and Laurel Arendell!"

A few people applaud eagerly, but most, I notice, just do quiet, unsure little claps, peering at me as if they know me from somewhere.

Lovage smiles pleasantly, as if she imagines they are clapping for her, and chirps, without an ounce of pity, "Ryde and Laurel, you will be escorted to the Justice Building where you can say your goodbyes... go on, now."

Capitol people are just so self-centered.

The plush sofa of one of the rooms in the Justice Building looks warm and comforting. But I refuse to sit in it. For my last hour in District 11, I want to spend it as a normal person of District 11. No riches, no comfortable sofas and fancy little drinks to sip while watching the television. None of that.

I quietly sit cross-legged on the polished wooden floor and stare at the pretty pictures of apple trees and purple flowers adorning the beige walls in disgust while I wait for my first visitors. What else to the people of the Capitol do besides decorating and killing things? Don't they even work? At all? The districts do all the work, and the Capitol just wastes it all. Can't they give a tiny bit of their seemingly endless supply of money to the people who actually need it?

I'm so furious at this Capitol that I don't even notice Rosemary slip in through the door before she kneels in front of me.

Even then, all I do is just stare at Rosemary, and all Rosemary does is stare at me. I look into her golden-brown eyes and surprisingly find determination mirrored in her eyes. She is going to fight, too, in her own way. By staying alive.

"Laurie..." Rosemary says quietly.

I blink, surprised. She has never called me Laurie since she was very little.

"You can win this. I know you can. You are like the girl from District 12, Katniss. You are good with plants. You can climb trees like a squirrel. You have good aim." Rosemary whispers, her voice shaking slightly.

"Yes," I tell her, because I don't know what else to say. I kiss her forehead and say, "I love you. You know that. I will come back for you, and for everyone else, too. I will. No matter what it costs me, I'll be back for my family." I say seriously.

"I know..." Rosemary trails off, and looks up at me.

"Where is mother, father, Willow, Lavender and Olive?" I ask, looking around as if they are hiding behind the curtains or something.

"They...had some trouble...calming Olive down..." Rosemary says hesitantly.

"What! Is he okay? None of this is his fault, and I will come back, I will, he doesn't have to be worried, he won't go hungry, and-" I rant before Rosemary interrupts me saying, "He will be fine. They are on their way here now. Father said that-"

Then the door swings open, to the faces of Lavender, Olive and Willow. They burst into the room, falling into my open arms, and we all topple over in one big heap.

"Laurel!" The twins cried together.

"Laurel!" Olive says, his voice muffled by a pillow that he managed to fall face-first on.

I gently push everyone off me.

"Where's mother and father?" I ask.

"Here." My mother's voice says. I start and turn around. I had forgotten that everyone in the Arendell family, including my parents, have the gift of silent footsteps, therefore making everyone an expert at sneaking around.

My parents come silently to the middle of the room where me and my siblings are now standing.

"Okay. Everyone, I love you. And since I love you, I have to come home. I'll fight with all my strength to come to all of you. Because I love you."

"Lavender, Willow, take care of Rosemary and Olive. They need you. You will have to work a few extra hours since I won't be there, but my friends will help you out. They will come to you, and take some of the burden until I come back."

They look up at me, eyes sparkling with tears.

"Olive. Stay strong. You can sell those little wooden cars that you make at the marketplace. You are smart. Use that knowledge at school, and you might be able to make more inventions."

He clenches his hands into fists and looks down at the floor.

"Rosemary...follow the advice I gave you earlier. Pity gets you nowhere, and what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. So strive."

She gives me a small, determined, smile.

"Mother, Father. I love you, and I appreciate all you did for me, back then. Don't let go on reality if I...don't make it."

My parents nod, because ever since Rue died they haven't been people of many words. In fact, they rarely talk at all. Don't get me wrong, they cared for us when Rue died, did everything like they used to, but I know that there is a small, broken part in them that can never be healed.

I stretch my arms out, indicating a family hug, and without hesitation Rosemary, Lavender and Willow, and my parents hug me back. I think about how much I love my family, and there is no way I can not return home to them, before I realize that Olive is hanging back, his fists clenched tightly at his sides and an expression of frustration on his face.

I pull back, and walk over to Olive.

"Whats wrong?" I ask, confused.

He looks up and bursts out angrily, "Its just not fair! Why, out of all the families, does it have be ours? You and Rue. Gone. Never to come back, ever. Why are we so unlucky? What has our family done? Are we going to lose everyone, one, by one, by one?"

"I just HATE them. I HATE THEM" He screams, fuming.

I look at Olive with shock. He is normally the sweet, lovable, placid yet funny one. And what does he mean by I'm never coming back? I am!

"Shhh. Olive, I am coming back. I am. I will. And when I do, we won't be unlucky. We'll live in the victory village, with all the riches you could want. You could invent whatever you want." I comfort him.

"No. No. You have to come back, you understand? You have to! I just-" Olive begins, interrupted by a peacekeeper opening the door announcing that the visitors have to go now.

"Just a moment." I tell the peacekeeper.

The peacekeeper shakes his head and says in a commanding voice, "Now."

"No! Laurel, you have to come back! Everyone is depending on you because-" Olive says, but the peacekeeper is pushing Olive to the door and he hasn't finished his sentence.

"Go." The peacekeeper orders. Olive stomps on the peacekeeper's boot and manages to get away for a moment before he grabs Olive by the arm and roughly hauls him away, out the door.

"Wait! Just, wait!" I hear Olive scream in the corridor as peacekeepers drag him away. He's shouting my name and I'm shouting his and more peacekeepers are flooding in and pulling my family away.

"Laurel!" Willow cries, and I try to reach her but a peacekeeper has a steel grip on my shoulder and I can't move.

The last I see of my family is Rosemary's wide golden eyes, staring at me, then she turns away with reluctance as she is pulled to the corridor and the door slams behind her.

What a wonderful family parting.

I sit down on the floor and place my head on my knees. Keeping my mind off what happened in the last two hours. I stay in that position for what seems like a long time, thinking about random subjects then drifting off. That is how Aster finds me, curled up on the floor, staring at the polished wood.

I lift my head up and say, confused, "Hi, Aster."

He nods in acknowledgement, and tells me, "Stand up"

I glare at him accusatorially, thinking, I just saw my family getting harassed by peacekeepers! How did you expect to find me?

"Stand up" Aster repeats, emotionless.

I slowly stand up, and ask, "What happened to my family? Are they okay?"

He nods his head and replies, "They are fine. They got let out of the justice building, no problems at all. Tribute's families normally panic, it was nothing out of the usual for the peacekeepers. That's why I was let back in here, but they said only one more visitor, that's it."

I let a long breath, feeling relieved. My family was safe.

"Laurel. I am not here for friendly chat. I am here to tell you how to win. Remember those times we used to practice being a career? After Rue died?" Aster asks me.

Of course I remember. How could I not? The days of hand-to-hand combat, 'knife' throwing, fierce training everyday. Me and Aster, we were best friends, back then. We trained each other, and always had each other's back. I met him a little bit after Rue died. I was determined to never let another member of my family die again. I took extra hours of work, ate less, got extra jobs and sold any materials or equipment that my family didn't desperately need.

One day, after school, when I was literally dragging myself to the field to work for another day of endless slavery, because I had barely slept the night before, I saw a boy my age walking towards me. I had seen him before, at school, and I knew him a bit because I know his elder brother entered the games and never came back. He was like me, in a way. His brother has been one of the main supporters of his family, and now that he is gone he had to take his place.

The boy introduced himself as Aster and shouldered some of my work for me. While we worked we talked a bit, and soon after many days of working the fields, helping each other out, I had got to know Aster. It had turned out that he was secretly training to be a career, because he didn't want to die in the games if he got picked like his brother. He offered to help me train to be a career, because he knew I would want to. To help my family. By making sure that if I ever got picked, I would win. We practiced knife throwing with shards of glass, with fabric tied tightly at one end as the hilt of a knife. Tree climbing, hand-to-hand combat, and everything there is to know about plants. Hunting. We did everything it took to become a Career.

I nod. Now, I am grateful that I took the precautions to train, and even to read the dusty old book that contains lots of information on, basically, surviving.

"Yes," I reply. "I remember."

"When you're in the arena, get a knife. Climb some trees, and gather plants. Those are your strong points. If it comes to it, surprise your enemies with hand-to-hand combat. You're pretty good at that." Aster says.

"Just-just remember what we did in training. Okay?" Aster tells me. He doesn't wait for my reply. He stalks off to the doorway. He pauses, and turns back to me, his mask of no emotion melted.

"Laurel?" Aster asks, his voice breaking. I stare at him, forgetting to speak.

"I'm sorry." Aster says, and presses three fingers of his left hand to his lips, then holds it out to me. The District 12 sign.

"I'm sorry." He repeats, then closes the door softly behind him.

I am close to tears.