Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games, this is just a depiction from a different prospective.
"Come on Robin, we don't want to be late for the Interrogation!" Lilith screams from the outside of my bedroom, I groan but get ready.
The time is late afternoon, I slept for so long last night it wasn't exactly heaven to wake up. I find the training uniform and quickly put it on. Today is the last day to show it my all, the last day to make my time there show improvement. All I have left after this is the interviews, then the Games. This entire time I thought this might be a dream, just a fake world that I can wake up and this is a bad dream. I am clearly wrong now, this is just to real. When I am fully dressed and ready to go I leave my room and make a beeline to the elevator. Erebus is already there, waiting for me with a worried look. He then notices me and he lights up, I am glad somebody gives me a second look even in this time.
"Nervous?" He asks me as he hits the button for the training center.
"Of course, I am human aren't I?" He chuckles a little bit and looks down.
"Seriously though, are you." He begins to sound more serious.
"Less than you are right now, what is wrong?" I ask, putting my hand on his shoulder as the elevator appears.
"I just want my score good enough for at least 1 person to notice, in the good way." He replies, and we walk into the elevator.
"If you mope around for yourself, I assure they don't like that. Think openly about life, even if it is just for a little while."I say back, and we arrive at the training center.
This time we take a seat where it says 'District 5' instead of go right into training. The Careers are practically hollering for all the tributes to arrive. We notice that both tributes from 8 aren't here, they must be in their room oversleeping. But when they finally arrive their hair is messy, eyes are alert, and wonder if they are late, which they are. The Careers bad mouth them that a Peacekeeper has to escort both from 2 to a room. The Gamemakers obviously don't care and just proceed with the tributes, all of them besides the tributes from 2.
District 1 goes and I don't even think they care about the tributes from 2, just themselves, like always. When the male from 1 comes back out he pumps his hands up in the air for the heck of it. Same for the girl from 1 comes back, claps and shouts of her name follow behind her, wearing her devilish smile. After them I just drown it out and it is just me and my thoughts. What will I show them? Maybe my survival techniques, throw a sickle in there. I debate about this until Erebus is called in, and give him a slight thumbs up as he goes inside. The sounds from the training center seem to be wising sounds of ax, and eventually a loud ax is lodged into the board. A few claps here and there, then he emerges from the room, and he gives me a slight smile as he gets on the elevator.
I stand up, take a deep breath, then walk into the room. The Training Center is filled with its usually amount of weapons, but most of them aren't in the right place. The Careers probably used every weapon they could. The throwing axes look different, Erebus must have left them in their place and didn't put them back. The sickles are untouched and I am probably the only person who knows how to use one. Before I was entered into the Games my father had a sickle from decades ago.
His family moved from District 11 to District 5 in the beginning of the Dark Days, the only thing they brought with them was a few sickles and some stolen plants. They hitched a train that was transported to District 11 for the rebels, when they got off at District 5 they were lucky. It exploded 3 hours later in District 4, there were no survivors. After that they hid in the District and changed their names. Most of the family was under the ago of 20 so when the Hunger Games began, only 4 remained. The other 3 died off in an earthquake that conflicted the District around the time of the 13th Hunger Games. Then only one left was Vail Stride, she married a man like her, red headed, green eyed, and kinda pale. So the sickle is the only thing my parents want me to know from my past.
"Robin, you will now present your chosen skill." That draws me back to reality, and away from my flashback.
I head over to the survival section of the training center to show the Gamemakers my swimming skills. Luckily, Olivia told me our uniforms are water resistant so I don't need to change in front of them. I just plunge into the water and do several laps, some backwards, front with my eyes closed. I even find out a function on a hologram for some obstacles of the swimming course. I breeze through it without much difficulty, then dry off and go to the sickle station.
I set it up with a landscape of a forest, and program in 5 tributes. I take a silver sickle from the display then press enter. What was the training center, has now turned into a dense forest, I am in the clearing of it. 4 tributes appear from the trees and jump down gracefully. They all have projectile weapons when they land and ready to fire, so glad this is a hologram. Luckily, I have a quick brain and dart around, then bring my sickle to the back of the tribute's neck, bring them close to me, then slit their throat. A tribute launches their spear towards me and I use the dead tribute as shield. The spear gets lodged into his stomach, and I drop the body and stab my sickle into his chest. It isn't the correct way to kill somebody with a sickle, but in the Games anything goes. The other 2 tributes have throwing knives. They are on either side of me and, simultaneously, throw knives at me. I duck down and they land in their stomachs. I take this as a chance and slit their throats with the sickle.
The forest evaporates back into the training center. I turn my head to the Gamemakers, and I see the Head Gamemaker smiling. I did something right for myself, now I just got to prove it in the arena.
"Thanks Robin, you may go." The Head Gamemaker says and he presses a button that opens up the gate for the boy from 6.
I leave the Training Center as the boy from 6's name is called. He turns around to find his allies, his District Partner and the girl from 11, and the boy from 11 gives him a death stare. I don't know the conflict between them, and I sure don't want to know. The elevator comes down and I get on. The tributes from 2 weren't there after the tributes from 1, so I am guessing their score will be like a 4. The elevator shots up to my floor and I get off.
"Finally you two are back! How was it?" Lilith asks adding another layer of makeup.
"Good I guess, we just need to wait for the rest to go." I reply.
"The tributes from 2 were disqualified from the interrogation today." Erebus adds in, and Lilith gasps.
"Really?! Oh my, why I never. I am going to tell your stylists, they are smoking on the balcony." Lilith squeaks and hurries over to the balcony.
"Smoking? Disgusting, I think I just lost all respect for them. Actually I am going to go over there." I quickly get up and head over to the balcony.
It is a ark night with the glowing full moon outside, and a slight cold breeze slips by. Lilith is just leaving when I march in front of Reins and Erebus's stylist. They are smoking and look out at the beautiful sky. Nothing the Capitol can do to change the stars, that is the only thing I have left to think of home. But that isn't the thing I came out here for.
"What do you think you are doing?" I pronounce behind them, and Reins jumps.
"Don't scare me like that!" Reins shouts.
"Wouldn't want to give you heart attack, since that cigarette will do it for you!" Smoking is the most annoying thing, only few people in my District smoke since we are the anti-smoking District. The Districts that are used to it would be 1, 2, and 8.
"Why are you so tense, here have a cigarette." She offers a pack to me and I literally throw it off the building.
"I am going into the Hunger Games, why would I want something to kill me before I have to fight for my life! Okay- Reins listen to me, when the Games start, you will stop smoking. If I win, you will stop smoking forever, you hear me!" I am making her feel uncomfortable, but I don't care. I don't want people that care for me die. Not until I die.
"You know what? I will. I have been trying for a while and it just pulls me back in. I will attend addiction programs, now let's go watch the scores." She drops her cigarette on the street then we all go to the living room for the scores.
I sit next to Erebus on the couch and we watch as the numbers fly by. The Careers got their signature 10's and 9's, but the tributes from 2 got a 0. Watt and Olivia both get 6's, not bad for them. Then I see Erebus's face on the screen, and Caesar Flickerman click a button and a number flies in front of his face. He scored a 7, and we all clap. He smiles widely at it then we watch as they feature my face on the screen. Caesar clicks the button, and a number appears in front of my face.
10.
The room erupts with screams of joy, especially from me. I first question why the score was so high but I realize that I was the only one who used a sickle and knew how to swim, besides District 4. Lilith gets out a bottle of champagne for our stylists so Erebus and I just go to our rooms, we don't talk, we are to happy about our scores. He is smiling that he got a 7, and I am glowing with excitement over my 10. When I get into my room, I undress into the nightgown then fall asleep. Bliss and Peace, they finally came together for me.
Sorry for not updating for a while, I just got back from Florida. I am glad to be back though, and Florida was nice but Texas is my home. Also, that smoking part of the story, that kinda came out of nowhere. Smoking is bad so I just wanted to state how bad it was. And if someone you love near you smokes, tell them to quit, you don't want to lose them. That can be your good dead for the day :D. Thank for reading, review on the story if you like it, and remember. CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IS ALWAYS HELPFUL!
May the odds be ever in your favor.
