9

I am corned. He slowly approaches; his long sword gleaming with fresh blood. There is no way to flee, nowhere to run. I am backed to a wall of rock, my sweaty palms grasping behind me as I face the tribute. "So," Orion grins while he runs his fingers up the blade. "I believe there are only three of us left. You, me, and your sweetheart Haymitch, yes?" I am unable to move. "I could make this easy for you. Just kill you now, and then easily take down Haymitch. I could go home as the victor. Orion Garner: the victor of the 50th Hunger Games." he says. "But I'm not going to make this easy for you. Have a swell time with your honey-bun." And then, Orion does the unthinkable. Blood instantly begins to flow from the gash in his stomach as he collapses to the ground. The sword is implanted in his center, and the bang of a cannon in the distance confirms Orion's suicide. Out of thin air, Haymitch appears. He faces me with solemn eyes. Only one can be victor. Only Haymitch and I are left.

My own scream wakes me up from my nightmare. As my eyes shoot open, I'm blinded by the bright morning light pouring in from the wide window of the suite. "Maysilee? What's going on? Are you okay?" Ezra sputtered with wide eyes in my direction. I had woken her up. I was breathing heavily and tears were streaming down my face.

"A…a nightmare." I replied trying my best to stop crying. No use. Instead I just completely broke down. I sounded like a baby, and I hated myself for it. I buried my palms into my hands. My nightmares always involved myself getting brutally murdered. This dream was on a whole new level of horrifying. Just Haymitch and I left….never in my heart could I kill him. It was just a dream Maysilee….just a dream. I tried to calm myself. "But it's not." I whispered aloud, still my hands in my face. "Just a few days until the nightmare becomes reality."

I felt Ezra place her arm around my shoulder as she took a seat beside me. I nestled my head on her shoulder, and took a deep breath. Ezra said nothing; not like there was much to say. Her expression was calm, and once again my admiration for her bravery rose. "Thank you." I sighed. "I'm fine now." I wiped my eyes and aroused from the mattress, giving Ezra a hand up too. I wrapped my arms around her and gave her a tight hug.

"Let's save that for later." Ezra whispered as she released me.

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"Morning ladies!" Giovanna chirped. Entering the lounge of our penthouse, I quickly scanned the open room for Orion and was relieved to find him nowhere around. Haymitch and Coltrane sat across from each other at the dining table, while Giovanna sat legs crisscrossed on the couch while she watched whatever program the Capitol was airing on the wide-screen television.

"Where's Orion?" I instantly asked suspiciously.

"Your little friend is still sleeping." Coltrane answered sarcastically as he took a sip of coffee. "You want some advice? Here's a recommendation: don't be wasting your training time, you idiot."

"Language!" Giovanna yelled at Coltrane. Coltrane rolled his eyes and took a bite of a breakfast pastry while Haymitch snorted. "But he's right," Giovanna added as she turned to me. "I'm no mentor; I'm just your escort. But you don't want to be getting in fights in training. The Gamemakers are watching everything. They are the ones who are going to evaluate you and give you your training score. You want sponsors? Then you get a high score. You want a high score? Then you use your time wisely so you can show them everything you got."

"Like it really matters for me." Ezra murmured annoyed. "Haymitch, can you toss me a pastry?"

"Heads up," Haymitch called, and then he threw a muffin from across the room towards her. Ezra caught it perfectly in the air, and all jaws dropped.

"What was that?" Giovanna exclaimed.

"What?" Ezra asked casually as she took a bite of the muffin. "I have ears you know. If I ask Haymitch to throw me a pastry and he's approximately 9 meters at 11 o'clock from me, I'm just guessing here, he's going to throw the pastry towards me." she said sarcastically. All jaws just dropped lower.

"Well!" Giovanna finally replied. "That's certainly a skill you can show off during your evaluation!"

Ezra's eyebrows creased. "Yeah, like they're gonna care. They're not gonna pay any attention to me during my evaluation. In fact, I'm sure they've already determined my score: a big fat zero. Oh well." she shrugged.

"Ezra, I want you to work on knife throwing at training today." Coltrane said. "I'll have them attach beepers on the mannequins so you can aim. And Maysilee," I glared wide-eyed at Coltrane. I decided to take more consideration of him. At least he now was finally giving us advice. "No brawls today, you hear? I want you to work on climbing."

"Climbing?" I repeated. "Like trees and stuff? Why?"

"Because that's something everyone always underestimates. If you're running from a tribute and you're weaponless, sometimes there's no place ground level to hide. Having good upper arm-strength to escape up a tree can save your life." Coltrane explained. I nodded gratefully in return. "Haymitch, you're arm-strength is already very strong. You spent a lot at weaponry yesterday. Today you should probably practice simple survival skills. Now, how about you girls join us over here and eat something? You two could use a few pounds."

It was nice to see Coltrane this way; as in not drunk and inconsiderate. I guess our conversation in the elevator yesterday must have had an impact on him. Breakfast was actually pretty pleasant having him this way, and not having Orion at the table either. But one thing was making me uncomfortable….Haymitch was refusing to make eye contact with me. We had kissed. We had wanted to, too. The realization that there was no hope for us completely changed Haymitch. No longer was he joking around and passing me his grins. He hardly spoke all morning, and when he did his tone was serious and expressionless. I missed him. He had had a way of comforting me… he had had a way of clearing my mind of all terrible thoughts. But part of me was happy about his ignoring me, because I knew I couldn't keep thinking of him the way I wanted to. My mind was a complete jumbled mess. As soon as I was excusing myself from breakfast, Orion sauntered into the room. My eyes narrowed on him as he glared with pure hatred. "Come on," I muttered to Ezra. "Let's go get ready." I knew I couldn't be in the same room as Orion with just the few of us there. One remark from him and I no doubt would probably beat the crap out of him again.

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Just as it was yesterday, the dreary training area was packed by the time I got down. Just by skimming the room, I could already tell everybody was much more involved than they were yesterday. Knifes were being thrown with more force, expressions were ten times more serious, and conversations were slim. I looked up and saw Gamemakers were watching intensely from a balcony above. The Games were drawing near. As Coltrane advised, I made my way over to the climbing area, and began rope climbing. Shockingly, I discovered I had a knack for it. I swiftly conquered the rope and made my way to the high ceiling. Now to get down. I progressively released my grip on the rope as I descended. Trying to ignore the burning rope scald I felt on my hands, I finally made it to the floor. "Wow." said a voice from my rear. A Career tribute. The \ girl had short dark hair and looked about my age. I recognized her from her interview: Titania from District 1. She gave me a mordant smirk and clapped her hands. "Maybe you can climb someone to death." Titania laughed at her own lame jest.

"Yes, thank you so much for the good advice. Maybe I'll test that out." I mockingly replied with a false smile. I could've insulted the hell out of her, but I figured I've already made an enemy out of Orion. No need to piss off a strong Career as well. Titania crossed her arms and rolled her eyes before turning her back to join her fellow Careers. I continued to work my arms and climbed up the rope two more times, then moved on to a strange looking rock wall. This required more strategy and careful foot placing to make it up the gravel. After a few failed attempts of falling, I finally managed to make it to the top of the boulder wall. I took the leap of faith and jumped the twenty feet down to the ground, landing on all fours as a cat. "Okay Coltrane." I muttered to myself while squeezing my sore arms. "I'd say that's enough arm work for now." I spent the rest of the day practicing on weaponry techniques and skills like lighting fires and spearing fish. I was the last one to leave the training room that afternoon, and I would have stayed longer if it wasn't for the damn Peacekeepers kicking me out. As the elevator dinged to District 12's floor I was greeted by Giovanna. "There you are! Dinner awaits! Glad to see you didn't get in any fights, yes? You need to eat up! The evaluations are tonight!" she smiled. The District 12 crew was already feasting at the dining table, and I was surprised to see Pindarus, Labelle, and one other stylist guy sitting at the table as well.

"Hello Maysilee." Pindarus smiled at me while extending me a hand across the table as I took a seat. "How has training been going?"

"Uh, good. I think." I replied. "I definitely learned a lot. Hopefully I can get a decent training score."

"That's good." he nodded. "Tomorrow morning after the scores are announced, there will be one more interview. This interview will be your last chance to impress the audience out front. Labelle, Marcellus and I will make sure your outfits will 'wow' the audience." I shook my head as to agree.

"I'm nervous." I admitted to the table." I noticed Orion give me a loathing glare and then look away.

"Don't be." Coltrane said. "Just show them all you got. I heard you're pretty speedy up a rope? Show them that. Throw a few blades; whatever you can do to astound them."

"Okay."

"Now!" Giovanna said interrupting. "Eat! You're going to need the energy."

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The next morning, we were crowded around the lounge of the penthouse watching the wide-screen television. I sat crisscrossed on the floor next to Ezra, while Haymitch, Coltrane, Orion, and Giovanna occupied the couch. Behind them stood Pindarus, Labelle and Marcellus. I thought my evaluation had gone okay. I did as Coltrane suggested and showed the Gamemakers my climbing skills. They seemed impressed, and I even threw a couple knifes. With much anticipation, the screen came to life with the young Caesar Flickerman and the head Gamemaker Lucentio Char. My heart pounded as they began to announce the training scores.

"District 1's Titania: score of10." announced Lucentio. Following her, each Career received scores of either 9 or 10. I noted some other familiar faces. "District 4's Brie: score of 6." Later the end of the announcement was drawing near. My heart was racing. "District 12's Ezra: score of 4." they proclaimed.

"Meh, better than 0." Ezra sighed.

"District 12's Maysilee: score of 7."said Lucentio on the screen. I finally exhaled.

"Way to go, kiddo." Coltrane congratulated patting me on the shoulder.

"District 12's Orion: score of 8. And finally District 12's Haymitch: score of 10." We all clapped for the guys, but Orion turned to Haymitch in disbelief.

"How the hell did you get a 10?" Orion demanded of Haymitch.

"That's classified." Haymitch nonchalantly responded while Orion grunted.

"Well this is just fantastic!" Giovanna exclaimed excitedly while clasping her hands together. "Very good job boys! You too, ladies!"

"Whatever." Orion muttered as he stormed off. His sense of jealousy and self-arrogance was overbearing; a weakness that could easily get him in deep trouble in the Arena with the Careers. After a quick breakfast, Pindarus and his stylists got right to work with preparing us for our last interviews. Pindarus led me to a dressing room.

"What's this?" he asked pulling aside the braid by my ear.

"Oh. I uh…just a braid. I do that often. Just a weird habit." I answered.

"I'm liking it." Pindarus replied. "I think I'll keep your hair down; put in a few of these thin braids. It's definitely your look."

"Alright." I smiled. "I'm trusting you." Two hours later I'm sitting in the lounge in a short ruffled orange dress. My long blond hair is straightened with about a half dozen skinny braids. Once again I'm in high heels, but I at least mastered walking in them. Haymitch is wearing a black suit with silver seams and gold buttons and Orion wears a dark brown ensemble with a silver tie. Ezra has on a light blue dress and simple white flats. Her black hair is tied up in a bun. All in all, we looked nice; not crazy insane. I decided I really liked Pindarus' style. It was quite different from the majority of the Capitol citizens. It was the closest thing to normal, yet styling. Our final interviews that night went by quickly. Much too quickly. Nothing much exciting happened, just more talk with the tributes and their training scores. Before I knew it, the interviews were over.

Tomorrow was the day….

Tomorrow the nightmare was coming true…

I lay in bed that night wide awake. I knew Ezra was awake too of course, but we didn't talk. We could both be dead tomorrow. I tossed and turned, wanting so bad to fall asleep. I wanted to fall asleep and never have to wake up…just drift off into a distant meadow. I got up and left the room. Outside in the dim lounge was Haymitch, standing by the window gazing out at the lit Capitol city. My mind instantly went to the night on the train. Not saying a word, I walked over and joined him. We stood there silently for minutes, just staring out the window.

We turned to each other at the same time, and I looked up into his sparkling eyes. He gently took my hands, and leaned in. My body instantly felt warm as his lips pressed against mine. And this time I refused to pull away. If this was going to be the last time I ever got to kiss Haymitch, then I wanted to enjoy every bit of it. I pulled him closer. He released my palms and moved his hands to my temples. The scared feeling I had was masked by comfort…. by love. "God Maysilee…" Haymitch whispered as he stroked my hair. He lowered me down to the couch. I snuggled into his chest as we lay together. His arms were wrapped around my shoulders. The streams of light from the window mixed in with the dimness of the room were all of a sudden relaxing. My eyes drooped shut and I fell asleep listening to his soft heartbeat. I prayed the beat would never ever stop.

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The worst thing about sleeping is that you don't know you are. Thus you close your eyes and open your eyes what seems like a minute later, even though it has been hours. Time passes too fast. Morning had come, and no longer was I in Haymitchs' arms. I'm lying on a counter in a small white room. Three Peacekeepers surround me. I'm fully dressed: a black tank top, black cargo pants and boots. My hair is still down with the braids from yesterday. "Where am I?" I demand of the Peacekeepers."

"Do not talk." one of them sternly says. A door slides open and the Peacekeepers lead me out of the room. I don't know how I got there. One moment I was sleeping against Haymitch. The next morning I wake up in completely different clothes and in a completely different place. Oh God…no…not now. I was being led into the Games. Down the hall, the Peacekeepers slide open another door, and I see Coltrane waiting inside. Without caring, I ran in a wrapped my arms around him. "I'm not ready." I stuttered as my whole body shook. "Where's Haymitch…and Ezra?" I never got to say goodbye to them. I took my arms off of him and wiped away the tears from my face. "Oh god, I'm not ready."

"You are ready." Coltrane replied. "You're as ready as you're ever going to get. Maysilee- I know just as much about the Arena as you do right now. You're going to get out of the Cornucopia alive, okay? I know you are. You can run- run and grab the first thing you can and then get the hell out of there, you hear me? It's going to a bloodbath, especially with twice the amount of tributes." I took a deep breath and shook my head, trying to be brave. "Here," he said handing me a jacket. "You have to put this on." I slipped it on.

An intercom buzzed on. "1 minute."

I turned to face Coltrane and gave him another hug; I needed to the final comfort of human touch.

"30 seconds."

My legs were wobbling. I let go of him and began to walk to the glass tube that would rise and put me in the unknown Arena.

"20 seconds."

I stood in the tube and it closed around me. Another deep breath. The tube began to rise.

"10 seconds." Here we go.