I wake up early. I don't know how early, but early enough that Sohalia hasn't come to get me yet. The morning sun streams in the window. I don't like it. It doesn't feel natural, like everything else here. I don't feel like getting up, but I stand up on shaky legs and walk over to the light switch, but on my way I pass the mirror. All I see is the flash of my white face surrounded by complete darkness. My hair blends in with the darkness, and random peices of hair fall over my forehead, giving the illusion that I have cracks on my face. I guess I'll find out what that comment means when I get to the arena. I flip the switch and bask in the artificial light. I love the light. It shows a person's true nature. I collapse back into bed. I don't feel like watching the games today. I don't want to relive Cora's death. Cora. Cora, my beautiful, loving sister. Cora, who's murderer is right down the hall. I could avenge her right now by killing him in his sleep, but that will only cause trouble for me in the games. The gamemakers wouldn't want the killer of one of their victors to win. They want a killer of children to win.
My thoughts drift back to Cora. Cora got killed by the weirdest spear ever. The shaft had zigzagging lines at both ends. The tip, instead of being a regular point, was shaped like a heart. It was pretty ironic, since a heart gives life, and spears kill. Sometimes, when I'm in the dark, I think everything long and skinny is that spear. It's one of the main reasons I'm afraid of the dark. Cora teased me like mad when we were kids.
She pretended like I didn't matter, but I knew she loved me. Well, I hope she did. We used to go for walks and pet the stray cats that lived in the ally by our house. She once took one home, and begged our mother to keep it, but we didn't have the time to take care of an animal. She used to tell me that when she grows up, she's going to build a shelter for all the cats and adopt them all. I guess I have one more thing to do when I win. Build the 'Cora Cat Shelter.'
Sohalia doesn't even need to knock on my door to wake me up. Her shoes on the hardwood floor are enough noise to wake up a drunk. "Up!" she screams. "We need to watch 5 hunger games in one single day, and then we have to strategize! Up! Up! Up!" I'm not even asleep and she's yelling at me.
When I walk in the room, I find that all four arm chairs have been dragged into the center of the room. The glass topped table in front of the TV has a weird selection of food and drinks on it. What is this, movie night? I sit down in the chair that's closest to the center of the TV. As much as I don't, I want the best view possible.
Aiden comes in rubbing his eyes, and sits down in the other center seat. He obviously slept in. If I got yelled at and I was already awake, I can only imagine what he got. Poor boy.
The elevator doors opened up, and Wyatt walks in holding two little white pads and yellow sticks. Without warning, he tosses one to me and the other to Aiden. Then he throws the sticks. It's a notepad and a pencil. "You'll want to take notes." He says, noticing my confusion. I might need it. I won't know until we watch the games.
Sohalia raises the remote but stops herself. "Feel free to help yourself to the food and drinks." she says. What did she think I thought it was there for? Appearances? "Also, you might not remember, or know of, some moments on this."
"Why?" I ask. It's not like I've forgotten five years.
"On the disc release of the games, they mostly follow around the victor, since they won." Oh. That seems right. No one in the Capitol wants to watch a dead kid. They want to drool over living murderers. "Now, watch." It's going to be a long ten hours.
The whole thing is set up like a movie. Sometimes, in school, they would show a video about the history of Panem, or how to correctly spear a fish. It's not like we need to watch a video about that. It just comes to us naturally.
The first ever game is horrible. To show that they weren't joking, the Capitol situated the arena on the side of a volcano. An active volcano. The tributes from that made no alliances except with their District partner. They didn't know how to start, if they should run away or just stay and kill each other, so they all just stood there, looking dazed. And then the volcano erupted, the message clear. Kill or be killed. The blast killed ten innocent children, leaving the other to go mad. The District 1 tributes caught on pretty quickly, and made the games exciting so as not to get another blast. The whole thing lasted only a week. The District 1 male was crowned victor.
The second game was basically a repeat, except for the first official bloodbath at the cornucopia. The arena was a jungle of poisonous plants. No trees to hide behind. The Capitol is using their best ideas first. To make the pain even more unbearable. Tributes only allied with partners, and the District 2 male won, right after drowning his ally. He at least cried for her.
The next game is in the exact same fashion. A swarm of beetles killed off five of the tributes. Another terrible arena, and this one being dominated by District 2. This time the girl tribute won. The next game has a little bit of a switch up in it. The District 11 and 12 tributes all came together to form a four person alliance, a definite first for the Games. It came down to their pack and the District 1 tributes. Needless to say, the strong-armed diamond miner male won. The footage was mostly of the victors, so a lot of the gore wasn't shown. But still... even when all the weaklings came together, they went far. I wonder what would happen in an alliance of strong tributes. I get into a sort of routine. When someone dies, I take a note. When a gamemaker's event happens, I take a note. Alliance, note. Backstab, note.
And finally, Cora's game comes on. The arena was made for her. It came in three layers, a thicket of lush woods that includes the Cornucopia on one end, a rock face at the other, and right in the center, taking up most of the arena, was a giant stretch of ocean. Each area, however, had its own trap of deadly animals. The woods were filled with carnivorous birds. The cliff had vicious rams that would either eat you alive or head butt you right back into the ocean, which was filled to the brim with piranhas. Since Wyatt won that year, he was shown the most. He's purposefully avoiding my gaze. I don't get how Sohalia said there was new footage. It looks all the same to me. About a day through the games, Wyatt discovers the ocean, and being from District 4, he runs in, not knowing the danger. Just as his right kneecap enters the water, the piranhas strike. A piranha jumps out and hits him on his forehead, disorienting him. They pull him by his leg deeper into the water, and just as his waist comes in contact with the water, a hand reaches out and grabs him. Cora. I nearly burst out in tears when I see her. We don't have pictures of her; we could never afford a camera. I thought I could handle to see her again, but I can't. It's just too much. She drags him onto the upper part of the beach, so they're concealed by trees but not in deep enough to get attacked by the birds. "Who is this?" he asks. He can't see because of blood in his eyes.
"Cora Redsea. Now shut up and lie still." She always was bossy. I miss that. Suddenly, the screen freezes on her. Her half smiling face is all over the TV. Sohalia has paused it.
"Isn't that your surname?" she asks. Doesn't she know anything about being subtle?
"Yes. She was my sister." I say with a grim smile. Was my sister.
"Oh." says Sohalia. She doesn't need any more information. She gets the hint that I don't want to talk about it. She hits play, and it continues on with her bandaging up Wyatt. She saved his life, and he took hers away. If only he were in the games with me instead of Aiden. I would murder him.
When it gets to the part where Cora is coming back from getting food, on the night before her death, Wyatt leaves silently. Of course he doesn't want to watch as someone relives their own sister's death that he caused. I look away. I don't need to see it again either. The scene is etched into my mind. It goes like this: Wyatt turns around; spear poised for attack, and then in comes Cora, who gets a loving spear through the neck. The camera will zoom in on her shocked face and then to the spear, then it will switch to the scene where the District 6 boy gets eaten by crows, and then 4 minutes later, both his and Cora's cannon sound. Only it doesn't.
After he turns and spears her, the camera stays on her face for a while, and then switches to his. He's crying. His legs fall beneath him at the same time Cora falls. He keeps... apologizing to her. He does this for three minutes. She only has one minute of life left. If only my mother and father could see this. If only they could watch this next part, and know her dying words.
"Don't let her starve." A second later, her canon fires.
She's talking about me. Her last words were about me. Up until the moment she died, she was thinking about me. I don't want to see the rest of the tape. It's all just going to show her murderer. All I want to do is hurt him. Kick him, punch him, and even slap him. Gouge his eyes out. Anything. Anything to make him pay. But I can't. I know I can't.
I'm in a daze for the rest of the games, but I catch snippets of it. He takes the spear out of Cora's neck, and clears the beach and head for the woods. The remaining four have an all out battle, and two remain. They then go on to have a quick battle, and Wyatt is crowned the victor, and goes onto the hovercraft with the spear still in hand. Nothing new there.
"Did you get a lot of notes?" Sohalia asks. Of course, I took note of almost everything there. Aiden and I both nod. "I'll go get Wyatt; he needs to be here when we discuss your plans in the arena." As much as I don't want him here, it's for the best. Why not ask someone whose played the game?
Wyatt comes in, face void of emotion, and sits down. "So, what do you have in mind for the games? Are you going to be allies, or just play it separate?" he says.
The four person alliance got far in the third games, even though they were weaklings. Districts 1 and 2 are by far the strongest, because of natural advantage. I have to get rid of them quickly.
"I want a six person alliance. Between us, and Districts one and two." I say. "That way we can take them out early, so we don't have any major competition later on. And we won't have to find them, because they'll be right by us." I say. I sound like a killer.
"You didn't think about the downfall. They could realize what you're trying to do, and take you both out. Districts one and two could hate each other for all you know. Plus, for your angle, none of you would be able to be a killer, sly, mean or any of that. It would scare them away." Wyatt says. He's got me there. I didn't think of that part.
"Would it still work?" I ask.
"It might. The good outweighs the bad though. Although for the training session, you will have to show that you can be useful. Don't show your full strength until the private sessions." I forgot about those. I've been too busy planning out my performance in the games that I haven't spent any time on that.
"Are you alright with this?" I ask Aiden. He nods. I knew he wouldn't resist. The little pushover.
"Now, before we go on to discuss the training sessions, I need to know now if you want to be coached individually or together." He says. I don't have anything to hide. Besides, I wouldn't want to be stuck in a room with Wyatt.
"I'm fine with doing it togeth—" I start.
"Separately." So the little pushover has a backbone.