Chapter 4: Introductions

I spun around and tried to see out of the window of the train door. I could see people, homes, stores, and the glint of the distant sea, but in a few seconds the train was going too fast for me to make any of it out, and it all became a blur. I turned slowly to face Jack. His eyes expressed a deep sorrow, and it nearly brought me to tears. He slowly walked up to me and put one arm around my shoulders. "Come on," he whispered in my ear as he led me around a corner and into the closest car, which happened to be the dining car.

What I saw next took my breath away. Never in my life had I seen such splendor, such luxury. The room was beautiful. It was spacious, and a crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling. Soft, plush carpet lined the car from wall to wall. And there was food everywhere. Meats, fruits of every color, pastries, little tiny muffin-looking things, cookies, and pitchers filled to their brims with colorful liquids.

At the large ornately set table in the middle of the room, there was seated none other than Grandis Edenthaw. He had just taken a bite of what looked like a large jelly roll when we stepped in. He took one look at us and immediately jumped up and rushed over to us, saying everything from "Congratulations!" and "How lucky you two kids are!" to "You two are absolutely adorable!" Jack and I just kind of stood there, not knowing what to do. After a minute, Grandis took a step back, sighed, and whispered, "You are going to be perfect." What I assumed was a smile spread across his face, but it just looked like a grimace to me. I can't imagine the number of surgeries he's had done, I thought to myself. He seemed to be waiting for something, so I attempted a small grin. He then burst into a fit of giggles and pinched my cheek before happily returning to his jelly roll at the table. When we didn't follow immediately, he called to us, and rather loudly at that, "Come, have something to eat! You must be absolutely starving!" I just turned and looked at Jack, who in turn looked back at me. He shrugged, and we both stepped toward the table, with his arm still around my shoulders, and rather tightly at that. Not that I minded.

"Please, help yourselves!" Grandis said as he spread his arms wide. "Take anything you'd like. Enjoy it while you can!" I found his comment repulsive. Enjoy it while you can... We're going to our deaths, and that's what you say? I thought. Jack somehow could tell what I was thinking and squeezed me tighter, as if he were telling me to hold my tongue. I sighed, and unhappily sat down at one of the chairs that was by the table. Jack quickly sat next to me, and shifted his arm so that it went from draped around my shoulders to under the table, where he held my hand tightly. I interlaced my small fingers into his strong ones and held on for all it was worth.

Grandis was oblivious to us, and simply continued to eat his jelly roll. After a moment, he clapped his hands twice. A boy who looked no older than seventeen stepped into the room. He was dressed in all red, and he didn't make eye contact with any of us. Grandis simply pointed to his half empty glass that sat at his right hand, said, "More," and the boy quickly filled it with whatever Grandis had been drinking. He took a sip from his now full glass before telling the boy, "Give them whatever they want. They're the tributes." The boy glanced at us before stepping quickly to our side. He waited there patiently.

"Go on, tell the Avox what you want," Grandis told us when we didn't respond. I had no idea what an Avox was. The word was as foreign to me as Grandis Edenthaw himself was to Jack and I. I skimmed over the table, and not really seeing anything that I could recognize, pointed to a tall pitcher of dark liquid. "What is that?" I asked the Avox. The Avox's eyes grew a little wider, then softened, but he said nothing. Grandis, on the other hand, began to laugh hysterically. "Silly, you know Avoxes can't talk! They're mutes!" He must have been able to see the confusion on my face, because he then added, "They've had their tongues cut so they can't speak. Don't you know this already?"

I was appalled. My mouth dropped open slightly in surprise, and I felt the blood drain from my face. I was so shocked that I forgot what it was that I wanted. The Avox boy didn't miss a beat though. He slowly poured me a tall glass of the drink and set it at my right hand. I looked up at his face. He had the look of an innocent child. It broke my heart when I saw him look back at me. His eyes were a soft gray, and he smiled softly at me before he straightened up to wait on Jack. I could see Jack out of the corner of my eye-his jaw was clenched, his brow furrowed, and his eyes were drilling the plate in front of him with a hard glare. He then looked up at Grandis and muttered, "Nothing for me, thank you."

Jack and I picked at our meals in silence, but Grandis talked incessantly about how great the Capitol was, and how it was 'a pity we wouldn't be able to truly enjoy it, since we were only going to be here for such a short amount of time'. The second he finished, Jack pushed his chair back and left the car through the sliding glass door behind us. Grandis clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Didn't even excuse himself from the table," he muttered as he dabbed at the corner of his mouth with a silk napkin. Disgusted, I pushed my chair back and left the car too. As I closed the door behind me, I heard Grandis remark to himself, "What a lack of table manners! No wonder they say the ones who live in the districts have barbaric tendencies!" Look who's talking, I thought to myself.

I found Jack a while later after I had pretty much walked the length of the entire train. He was sitting on the floor of the last car and staring out of the windows, which encased the whole car. The car was entirely made of glass, and I could see everything around us. The tracks running beneath my feet, the amber grass as far as the eye could see, and the blue cloudless sky above. What looked like a two-by-four lay at his feet, broken in two. He must have heard me coming, because he turned to face me when I opened the door. He greeted me with a grim smile and stood to his feet. That's when I noticed he was covered in sweat, and he was breathing heavily. His hands were bleeding, too.

"What were you doing?" I asked as I closed the distance between us in a couple of quick steps and took his bloody hands in mine. "Your hands-!" "Are fine," he said as he whipped his hands away and spun around. "I'm not going to die, not yet anyway." His shoulders dropped a little and his arms hung slightly limp. Suddenly, he picked up a large table that sat to his right and threw it with all of his strength at the glass wall. The noise of Jack's scream, shattering china and the snapping of the wooden table assaulted my ears, and I jumped back. The glass wasn't even scratched. In clear exhaustion, Jack fell to his knees. I didn't move a muscle. He took a couple of haggard breaths before speaking again. When he did, his voice sounded broken and weak. "I can't get you out of here. I've tried everything." His shoulders slumped down, dejected. "I-I can't protect you..." His voice is so soft that I have to strain to hear him. I didn't know what to do. Never in my life had I seen Jack like this, so broken and distraught, so I did the only thing I could do: I slowly sat down beside him, and I wrapped my arms around him like we used to do when we were little. He rested his head on my shoulder, and I could feel his body shake from exhaustion. "It's okay," I whispered in his ear, "It's all going to be okay." Jack laughed, a sickening, hopeless laugh, and replied, "You sure about that?" No, I thought in my mind, I'm not.

Jack was fast asleep on my lap within a few short minutes, and as I smoothed his sweaty hair, I finally could attempt to process what the heck was going on. I was still reeling from the fact that Grandis Edenthaw called my name this morning, called my best friend's name, and put us both on a train that was bound for the bloodbath called the Hunger Games. It occurred to me then that there were twenty two other kids in the same boat as Jack and I, and they were just as confused and just as scared. They were probably all asking the same question I was, which was why? The Districts lost the war, that's bad enough, now the Capitol feels the need to put salt in our wounds and kill our children? What does that solve? Or, better yet, what does it prove? That you're stronger and more powerful? That you can do anything and get away with it?

All of these things were flying through my terrified mind when the door opened behind me. Startled, I turned to face the person. It was the avox from earlier. He took one look at the room, then his eyes rested on Jack and I. A look of sad understanding passed over his face, and he quietly walked over to me and knelt down in front of me. He tentatively cupped my face in his hands and got really close to me, so that his face was inches from mine. He looked into my eyes and held my gaze for a moment before mouthing these words: Bravery. It comes from in here. He taps my chest with his forefinger, right where my wildly beating heart lay. I believe in you. Teary-eyed, I smiled. "Thank you," I whispered. The avox smiled back, and he leans forward and kisses me on my forehead. He then stands to his feet and walks out of the room, without so much as a backward glance.

I watched the sun set that evening in silence. As the brilliant reds, purples, and golds filled the glass train car, I closed my eyes and let the light warm my skin. I imagined that Jack and I were anywhere but where we were, anywhere but on this road to certain death.

That was the last moment of peace that I was ever to have, before my life shattered to pieces before my eyes.

Please review! Thanks!

Harley