Haymitch's Story

JoannaReads

-Chapter 3-

After about an hour, Jeggy comes and takes me out of my room. I walk with the escort, and we take Maysilee from where she is staying. She has tears in her eyes. This will make the others think less of her. I step next to her and whisper in her ear, "You should put on a strong face, Maysilee. You don't want them to think you can't handle it." She gives me a look of gratitude, and I see her contort her face into a confident expression.

After we pick the other two tributes up, we head for the train. I have only ever seen it on television, and up close the vehicle is one hundred times larger than I ever imagined. As we step in through the grand doors, the four of us look around. We have never seen such luxury before. Wall after wall is covered in trinkets and pictures of past victors in intricate frames. But I think the thing that catches all everyone's eyes is the food. The tables are filled with it. Most of it I've never seen before. There are little pink, yellow, and orange puffs full of cream, chocolate pudding, and some savory looking sausages. There is such a variety of food, I am sure my eyes are bulging.

"Fabulous, isn't it? Oh, and it tastes so, too. Try it, go ahead, no need to be shy!"

I stride over to one of the tables and stuff some of the sausage into my mouth. The others follow. It tastes amazing. When I am full enough, I take a seat and look out the window. After another hour, it starts getting dark outside. An avox walks up and offers me a glass of champagne. I have never tried it before, it's too fancy for District 12, and as I bring it to my lips and take a sip, a happy feeling rushes over me. I ask for another one, but Jeggy stops me.

"No, no. That is no way to make a first impression on your mentor. Drunk just wont do. Now, the lady will come inside in about ten minutes. I suggest you prepare some first questions for her."

I think about what I would like to ask her and come up with virtually nothing. I'm sure the other kids will be able to think of something. After all, we are going to be sharing this mentor among the four of us.

When she walks in she's not exactly what I expected. She's old. I would say maybe sixty, and she looks kind of crazy. There are bags under her eyes, she can barely walk, and I cant help the thoughts that are coming to my head. There is no hope that this lady is going to be able to mentor one person in this room. Much less all of us.

Maysilee takes the first step."Hi, I'm Maysilee. Nice to meet you."

The lady smiles and nods her head, "Greta" she says.

"So you're our mentor? Is this a joke?," Alison sneers.

"Yes, I'm your mentor.," She says mimicking Alison's distasteful tone, "and unfortunately sweetie this isn't a joke no matter how badly you wish it were, so why don't you grow up and keep your thoughts to yourself."

Alison is shocked. Her mouth is agape. Everyone else is just plain speechless. Alison gets up, and exits the room, slamming the door on her way out.

"Tonight, each of you are going to be given a DVD of the Reaping. You will see the other tributes getting picked. During this time I would like you to take notes on who you think will be your strongest and weakest competitors, but remember not to underestimate anyone. You will also be given a video of Hunger Games. Watch the techniques the past victors have used, remember them. Now if anyone has any questions before I go to sleep, please ask."

A question finally pops into my head. "Where do we find food?," I ask.

"Son, what is your name?," she asks.

"Haymitch," I reply.

"Well Haymitch that is an excellent question. You can find food in the Cornucopia of course, but that might not work out, considering you aren't a career. So I suppose it just really depends on what your arena is. If it's a dry place you'll have to focus more on finding cactus plants and water. If it's a more humid area, focus on hunting and searching for fresh roots. I assume you know how to hunt and gather?," she asks.

I nod my head.

"Good, any other questions?"

No one says anything, so she says goodnight and goes to her room.

When it's time to go to sleep and I walk into my room, I see more luxury. It's gigantic. It is probably bigger than my entire house. I look at the grand bed and see two videos on the covers. One labeled "REAPING" and the other says "PAST HUNGER GAMES" on the covers on it. I see a television and put the reaping disk into the box beneath it. Might as well see who I'm going up against first.

The video turns on and zooms in on District One. I see the boys getting reaped. One is fourteen and has an extremely confident face on, seems like he has something of an ego; I'll watch out for him, Dennis Varatino. Then the other boy, he's fifteen but looks slightly less egotistical. He has an almost melancholy face on. I remember not to underestimate anyone, and I consider him and remember his name- Zack Tolworthy. Then the girls. First, an eighteen year old girl gets reaped, Jannisa Lavenny. She looks pretty excited about it, but almost immediately a seventeen year old girl shouts "I VOLUNTEER!" from the crowd. Her name is Chrystal Templeman. She looks not only excited,but cruel, as if she could kill everyone in the crowd, right then and there. Then a twelve year old girl gets chosen, and she looks quite worried. She probably wasn't planning on getting picked until she was older and had more training. Then a girl yells "I volunteer" and there is visible relief on her face. The girl that volunteered is Jannisa. Interesting.

The scene switches to District Two. The two boys are Grom Javingsbee and Lumen Fallingswith. They are both volunteers. The girls, Lemmy Talter and Stellar Marousus, both look bored, as if this were no big deal.

In District Three, there only seems to be one of kid to watch out for, Hitch Einstien. The rest are just some meek looking young adults.

In District Four there are no volunteers, which surprises me. But all of the kids look fierce and strong, especially one girl – Shelly Nerro.

In Districts Five, Six, Seven, and Eight, no one seems capable of much damage.

Then, in District Nine, there is a guy that looks like he is able to take on an army, I add him to my list of caution.

Districts Ten and Eleven each bring forth one person to be feared. Pat Jelulo, who is rather tall and muscular, and Lucky Dolinth, a small but alarming looking girl who looks to be about fifteen years old.

Then it's time to watch my own district. You see Maysilee and Alison. Both with very different attitudes as they walk up to the stage. Then poor little Martin, and me. I look shocked at first but then you see my face harden into an emotionless mask as I take my place on stage next to the others.

I turn the television off and close the lights. I can't help but wonder if I even have a chance of getting back home.