I didn't sleep at all last night. I was too frightened to. I will be in the arena in a few hours and that terrifies me. I want to make it out, be the victor of the 74th hunger games, but I think I'm aiming a bit high. My real dream would for the hunger games to miraculously be cancelled. Or that they have decided that a 12 year old is too young to be entered into the games.
Thinking about the games only makes me feel sicker. I get up out of bed, put on some simple cloths and go to the dining room. There is food set out on the table and there are Avox's there.
"Can I help myself" I ask. They node and I help myself to some warm milk and some still warm bread. I sit at the table and start to eat the bread. It is soft inside and melts in my mouth. It's a lot different than my hard, crescent shaped district 11 bread. I help myself to another cup of warm milk and a few more slices of bread. Suddenly someone sits down on the chair next to me, It's Thresh.
"You nervous?" he asks me. I nod my head. We have never really talked before, his voice a deep rumble in the morning light.
"I'll give you some advice if you like" he looks down at me and smiles.
"Yes please" I smile back at him.
"Ok then….you should stick to the trees. You can swing across them just like a monkey…. Don't bother trying to get some weapons at the cornucopia, if you really want to just get things from the outside. The things the others wouldn't pick up themselves." I listen carefully and nod to show that I am listening. He then places his hand into his pocket and brings out a necklace; it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. It's made out of woven grass and it has a wooden star pendant.
"This is for you" he says as he puts around my next, fitting it over my tangle of thick, black hair.
"It will bring you luck" he adds. I stare up at him and he smiles down at me.
"Thank you….thank you so much…..it's beautiful" I say as I hug him tightly. He raps his arms around me and we hug. It's not a hug that is forced it is one that you can relax with, it's comforting.
Our friendly hug is disrupted by a "cough, cough" mine and Thresh's stylists are stood there. We part and I am lead to my room to dress into my outfit for the arena.
I am dressed into some simple tawny coloured trousers with many pockets, a light green cotton shirt, a sturdy brown belt, skin tight socks, soft leather boots with narrow grippy soles, a jacket that has to layers. The inner layer of the jacket made of warm fleecy material, the top layer is a lot thinner made of a nylon material. There are grey reflective strips down the arms and shoulders of the jacket. The hood has little cords on it so that it can be tightened. The jackets are a different colour for each district. Mine is a chocolate brown colour.
After getting dressed we are loaded into a hovercraft where we sit opposite each other. A woman came up and inserted a tracker into my arm. I am one of the first to have it done. My face winced in pain as the tracker was inserted. It was even worse than when they have to take our blood at the reaping. The windows of the hovercraft blackened so we must be getting near the arena.
In another half an hour we are at the arena. We are underground all in our own separate rooms. I am sitting on a bench waiting when a voice calls all the tributes onto their metal plates. I step carefully onto the plate. A plastic tube encircles me. I start to panic as I am lifted up. Suddenly I am in darkness. It's too dark to be just the lights turned off. I can see the sky above me and stare at it to take my mind off the darkness.