I am awake but not trying to be. The Hunger Games are today and I can't stop thinking about it. The Game is my obstacle in life, and I am determined to overcome it. I am lying in bed and staring at the ceiling planning my death. I look over my shoulder and see my clock. The time is 10:25. I know that Cecelia picked Titus as her tribute but I don't want to hear their plan again. The first, and last, time I heard them I almost broke down. I just can't hear them again so I decided to skip their plan. Even if he is the one that lost sleep on the most important night of our lives. I push myself up and go to the dresser and put on a jeans and a yellow shirt with a 8 logo on it. When I fell the soft fabric touch my skin I hope it is not the last time I will feel something like that again. I am now wearing the clothes and I see my token is missing. I search the room high and low and still don't find it. I am now stressing but I think in my head Titus. Then I walk out of the room and find Titus leaving his room. He nods at me and see a slight glimmer of light as the sun's rays bounce off my token in his hand. I speed walk towards him and snatch the item from his hand. He looks at me embarrassed and mad.
" You know if you can easily get stolen from you might try to be more alert." I say as I smile a devilish smile at him.
" I just found it I was meaning to give it to you." He lies, I know that was on my bedside table near my bed.
" Whatever, so how are you feeling?" He questions.
" Nervous how about you?" I ask him.
" Well nervous but also kind of glad. I just want this to be over with since the past days were torture." I who would say glad to fight to the death unless you are a Career, which he is now that I remember that.
I just give him a confused look and see Cecelia, Jewel, and Velvet all in a line right next to each other. Velvet and Jewel both look sad which is slightly reassuring but Cecelia looks happy. She is either happy because I might die or because Titus might win. As Titus heads over to talk to Cecelia I go to Jewel and Velvet and give each of them a hug. I never felt so scared in my life before, but Velvet and Jewel kept me going. Even though they never really did anything they were there when I needed it, that is what I appreciate.
" Velvet, Jewel I will miss you both so much. Will you be watching me?" I ask while tears form in my eyes.
" Yes we will every step of the way." Jewel says choking up with sadness.
" You know Dawn nobody from your District has treated me this well, most of them despise me." Velvet manages to say through her tears.
" Goodbye, I won't forget you." I whisper and then Cecelia pushed me toward the elevator.
I manage to get inside the elevator when Cecelia pushes the button. I turn around and watch as the doors shut and we fly up to the top of the building. Titus and Cecelia remain quiet but I know they picked favorites. When we are going up we stop at 9 and pick up Willow and her tribute partner.
" Willow are you afraid?" I ask her
" Not really I am a pretty positive person, but yes I am scared but not like mind boggling scared." She answers.
I don't know how she does it, be positive in this time. 23 of us are being sent off to our deaths and she is still managing a smile the whole way. While Fiona is funny Zach is a more serious person so Willow is the balance between us. I don't care if I win just as long as Willow does. She deserves it way more than anyone here. She lost her parents in the Hunger Games when her mom got pregnant and gave birth to her, it was the same day she was reaped at 17. Willow lacked a mother since her birth, her mom died in the Games and placed 8th but died by Tracker Jackers. Her dad was her father for only a year when he was reaped at 18. Her father though placed 10th, he only lived that long because of the sponsors he got from the 'dad' role. He died by the girl from 5, who sadly won. As the years went by she was an orphan in the local orphanage, which turned out to be a child labor factory of bread. She left the orphanage at 12 and lived with her friend's family for 3 years until she was reaped. So the question still lingers in my mind 'How is she always happy?'
When I come back from La-La-Land we arrive at the ceiling with a gigantic hovercraft in front of us. I am starting to shake as I walk and I don't know how to stop it. Willow, Titus, and I wait as the ladder falls down letting us get into the hovercraft. Titus and Willow are climbing the ladder when I turn around and look at Cecelia.
" Cecelia."
" Yeah."
" Burn in hell."
Her jaw drops and I climb the ladder and flip her off before I am fully in the hovercraft. The walls, ceiling, and floor is pure stainless steel. They have windows but they are tinted so we don't know what the arena looks like. A female peacekeeper guides me to my seat and then asks for my hand.
" Give me your arm." She states.
" What is that?" I ask
" Its your tracker." She says as she pushes the syringe down making a light and beeping noise as it enters my arm.
It takes 5 minutes to get everybody with a tracker and final checks. After they make sure everything is safe we are flying. I try to look out the tinted windows but can't see anything but darkness. I am sitting right between the girl from 6 and the guy from 12. As it takes a while to get to the arena the Careers talk loudly about the bloodbath. They mention the weapons frequently and is pretty much a competition to kill the most tributes for them. I don't get why they have to win. I don't know why they train at the special academies. But I just brush it off because I will likely never end for them.
It takes a long time to get to the catacombs but we are then escorted to separate Launch Rooms in an under ground facility. I am escorted to the middle room and I can't even think because I am so stressed. As I enter the room I see Jewel wearing a green dress covered in sparkles and her hair is dyed green with some blue flakes, also her eyelashes and longer and a darker shade of green than the rest. The Capitol never stops amazing me with their style. I see she is carrying a hanger with a long black cover covering the uniform for the arena. She drops the clothes on the silver table and walks towards me and hugs me.
" Don't be scared." She says to me in a hushed whisper.
" I will try not to be scared but I can't promise anything." She giggles but then releases me.
" Just come back to us, Velvet and I really liked you here. We don't want you to die in there, even if we are Capitol citizens." That reassures me and I smile at her.
" Thanks." I say barely audible because I am on the verge of tears.
She walks back to the clothes that are being covered and she zips it down revealing the outfit. The outfit is composed of dimple tawny pants, evergreen plain shirt with a silky fiber, sturdy brown belt, and a thin hooded black jacket that falls to thighs.
" The jacket reflects body heat so I will guess it will have some cold nights." Jewel states.
She then hands me the boots that are soft leather and narrow flexible rubber soles, good for running. The boots are not big leather boots more like a ankle high which is over the white skintight socks.
When I am done putting the clothes on Jewel asks it feels comfortable. I walk and run in a circle and then sway my arms about. I nod and she grins a little bit.
" Okay so that is all unless you want to eat." I nod and shove my face with rolls, and other kinds of food in my mouth.
" Oh I almost forgot." Jewel says as she digs through he pocket.
In her hand appears my District token, they took it from me on the hovercraft and never returned it. She hands me it and I enclose it in my hand. This is the little piece of my home I have left with me. I put it around my neck and tears start to form in my eyes. I start thinking of my family and friends back home anticipating my arrival when the podiums arise from the ground. I blink them away and wait until the voice calls me.
Nervousness turns to fear as I am process what might happen in the matter of minutes. I could be dead in 5 minutes and nobody would remember my name, just a name on a long list. I can't process my surroundings and I want to run. I want to break through the door run to the hovercraft and go home. When I die my remains will be shipped to my family, that is when I will truly be with them.
A pleasant female voice announces that it is time for launch. I start grabbing Jewel's hand for stability because I can't walk right. She directs me the the tube and positions me correctly as my face drains of blood.
" Say hi to me when you come back okay." She says to me.
I nod and wait for the metal plate to arise. I look at her the entire time until the late goes upward. I was standing but now I am on my knees trying to push the plate down, to reconnect with Jewel. It is a lost cause as her face disappears and darkness engulfs me with no light. I start slowing my breathing and calm down. All I can think about is what people in my District are waiting for me to arise. I fix my hair so that it falls down on my shoulders and some on my back. I am in the darkness for what seems like fifteen seconds as the plate pushes me out of the cylinder ,into the arena.
I finally escape the darkness of the underground cylinder to reveal the cornucopia directly in front of me. The sun blinds my vision for a moment but after that I can see the arena. Then I hear the legendary announcer, Claudius Templesmith, as his voice booms through the arena echoing around me.
" Ladies and gentlemen, let the Sixty-seventh Hunger Games begin!"
I finally get the chance to see the arena for what it is. There is a waterfall to my left and either a cliff or a downward slope to my right. Directly in front of me is the mouth of the cornucopia and the remaining area of the arena is an autumn forest with multi-colored leaves like yellow, orange, and red. Being from District 8 I know absolutely nothing about nature so any arena that is not a polluted factory would ultimately kill me. We are on a flat, open stretch of ground like a plain creating a circular area with no trees that makes up the cornucopia area.
There are weapons of all sorts on the ground filling inside the golden cornucopia. For the Hunger Games they provide water, food, medicine, and weapons to trick the tributes into going in the bloodbath. I am about to shrug off the cornucopia and head to the woods when at the corner of my eye I see a perfect set of throwing knives for the taking. I need them because if I don't go for it now I will never get them again. I look around and searching for tributes eyeing the throwing knives but, nobody looks at them. A sound of a cannon jolts me almost making me fall of the podium myself. I look around and blood and guts strewn everywhere. I knew who killed themselves, it was the guy from 12. When I was sitting next to him on the hovercraft he was going slightly insane. He was needing to move around so he was twitching. I guess the Games can have so much power over a person it changes them before it even starts.
After the hovercraft cleans his remains up I look up at the cornucopia and see a golden circle surrounding the amount of seconds we have until the Games begin. I have 10 seconds left.
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
I sprint off the pedestal and run as fast a I can towards the knives. I reach the cornucopia before everybody else and I grab the knives and examine them. They are stainless steel metal for the blade and black handles all in a row, you can put them on the inside of your jacket and hide it there. Before I am able to put them away I see a person behind me in the metal of the blade. I dart around knife in my hand and launch it in their direction. The knife lands in the heart of the boy from 7, he falls quickly almost cracking his head on the ground. I steal my knife back and keep it in hand. When I look back around the bloodbath has begun. Tributes dying one by one as I reach for a green pack. I am about to take the pack when Titus is trying to get the same one as me. Our eyes lock for a second, but that second is over. I headbutt him and he falls to the ground. I grab the pack and swing it around my back and run towards the forest. I almost make it to the forest but a knife lands in my thigh, causing blood to trickle down my leg. I turn around and see Tucker with a long sword. He is stepping towards me stomping in my direction. I am about to let him kill me when Eva steps in.
" Let me take it from here." She says.
She has an evil grin when she stares at me. Tucker walks away and sprints toward the guy from 11. She carries the evil grin until he leaves then she stops. I am confused but I realize she is not trying to kill me. She gestures to the forest and I run towards it with me supplies, but I turn around and mouth the words ' Thank you.' She nod and goes back to the cornucopia.
I run until I can't feel my feet moving anymore. I then hear the cannons of the dead tributes, 11 cannons in total. The Capitol got what they wanted, blood. I see that night falls and I quietly check my stuff before the daylight disappears. In my pack I have a full bottle of water, 4 iodine drops, a bag of apples in a miniature freezer, dried steak, crackers, some rope, coals, a first-aid kit, and a sleeping bag. I am glad I got that pack because it contained great supplies. I then get a flashback of the bloodbath. I killed the guy from 7, I headbutted my District partner, and one of the Careers let me live. I feel my leg and pain surges through me as I touch my wound. I don't know what to use on the wound but I can tell from past Hunger Games, this wound is like nothing compared to others. I apply some ointment and add bandage as I put all my stuff back in the pack and continue walking.
I set up camp under a huge tree with a large pile of leaves so it provides cover for me. I am about to go into my sleeping bag but the anthem plays. Both from 3,5,7, boy from 9, boy from 10 or Zach, both from 11, and 12. I have survived the first day of the Games, sadly Zach didn't. I snuggle into my sleeping bag and think of where Willow and Fiona are. I surround myself in leaves to camouflage myself, I guess. A series of questions go through me. What does my family think right now? How are they taking it? Will they forgive me if I win? My eyes get heavy and I decide to get some sleep for the first night in the Games. My vision goes dark and I feel tired so I shut my eyes and let the hours fly by.