Day 33: Attacked "And Verina Calder's coronation dress seems to have already sparked a bit of a Capitol trend giving her stylist Deremone Travys Capitol-wide recognition. The combination of sand and sea displayed in the stunning gown has encouraged a wave -no pun intended- of gorgeous District 4 themed ocean clothing." a Capitolian woman on the large screen in the dining area says, reporting the daily news. Deremone blushes at the mention of his name, picking at his food. "Congratulations Deremone, you deserve it." Drubidia says softly, due to the amount of tension at our mealtimes as of late. Ever since my interview with Caesar and the coronation and even now on the train back home, it is hard for a once cohesive unit of people to hold consistent conversation. Suddenly, the train jerks forward and then backwards as it starts to stop at a rapid rate, emiting loud squealing noises. Because I was leaning forward on my elbows, my head hits my water glass spilling it all over myself and Deremone. The rest of the glasses fly off of the edge of the table as well as the plates of food that nobody had grabbed to hold in place. Even our chairs slid and glass and china broke. Deremone gripped my shoulder to hold onto me but this action caused my chair to fall out from underneath me and I slid along the hard wood floor and hit the wall headfirst. Once the train had halted completely, I laid on the ground, curled up into a ball. "Oh my god, Verina are you all right?" Deremone asks, looking at me in surprise. Just at that moment two sounds begin. Two sounds that I am incredibly familiar with. One is normal, natural and seems to occur bidaily and the other I haven't heard in awhile. The first sound is the one of Drubidia's nervous whimpering tears, where her emotions overwhelm her and she doesn't know what else to do. The second is the soft, low chuckle of Finnick Odair. Deremone's face turns dark and he glares at Finnick. For the first time, Deremone isn't supporting Finnick unwaveringly and now the look on his face shows not only anger but disgust. "Deremone," Mags says softly as she moved to pick up plates off of the ground. "You guys," I whisper, hissing in pain. "You guys, can we focus on the problem at hand?" "What problem?" Deremone snaps. "The train." Drubidia whimpers. "It's stopped." "I don't see wh-" Deremone is interrupted by the compartment door smashing open and a dozen Peacekeepers flood the area in which we were seated at the dining table. Their guns are up and I cower against the wall, trying to shield myself from any impending danger. Mags' face is full of worry and she takes two steps backward, her hands full of plates. "Hey!" Finnick shouts as he is snatched up by his arm like a rag doll. "Finnick!" Drubidia gasps as Finnick struggles against the Peacekeepers grips on him. The sounds of china crashing to the ground erupt as Mags drops the stack of plates she had in her hands and the Peacekeepers begin to kick china out of their way. A medium-height Peacekeeper shoves Deremone down onto the ground where he hits his head on the hard wood floor and is out cold. Trying not to be noticed, I scramble over to Deremone and pull him out of harms way and underneath the table so that he doesn't get hit by the ruthless and random kicking of the broken plates and bowls on the ground. "I am appalled!" Drubidia yells, throwing a fork at the back of a Peacekeeper. "This behavior is appalling!" "Drubidia-" I choke out before a hand grips my throat and I'm taken back into the arena. I gasp wildly for breath and Onyx Jacquard's smirk deepens with a deadly expression. "I knew there was something more to you. I just had this feeling you would lose your humanity and be a force to be reckoned with." he says, gritting his teeth and lifting me in the air by my throat. The feeling burns and I can't breathe and it's head reels from lack of oxygen. The only tangible images I can see are Onyx's dirty, smug face and my hallucinations of Finnick's disappointed gaze, the jungle in the background. I am back in the Games. "Screaming can't get you anywhere. Screaming won't get you back to District Four." Onyx says menacingly. "You will never be Verina, Victor of the Hunger Games. You won't mentor alongside the Capitol's golden boy." "No!" I scream, blindly kicking at the Peacekeeper in front of me. "No!" "Let go of her!" Drubidia squeals. "Let go!" "Stop it!" Finnick screams as three Peacekeepers pin him against the wall with his hands behind his back. "Who sent you?!" Drubidia demands. "President Snow." a dark, deep voice rings out. And everyone is silent. Everyone stops fighting.