Short chapter only because I hated writing this part. I'm not good with the mushy stuff. I had to listen to sad songs to write this so Hallelujah just added about 15 more plays to it.

To oursolemnhour49: Yeah I know what you mean about that. It's mostly filler and helps me make sure I'm keeping with the storyline too. Hopefully when the games actually begin, that will stop. And the 'go Steelers' thing made me laugh. I see we are football enemies!

Back to back chapters! Lucky ducklings! Or tortured ducklings. Depends on how you look at it. And as always, reviews are appreciated. You don't have to talk about this story. Just tell me how your day went or something so I know you're at least reading this.

Later that evening I went to bed dreading the next day. Tomorrow the games would begin. Luckily I fell asleep with little trouble much to my surprise. I sunk into my sheets effortlessly and was out like a light. Every little worry I had had was because of tomorrow and I couldn't really have care less.

The next morning I aroused before everyone else. I walked to the dining room and ran into Harkens. I realized he had been coming to wake me and take me to the Launch Room (also known as the Stockyard) to prepare me for the games.

"Time to go," he whispered sadly, almost as if he didn't want me to go. I forced a smile for his benefit though I felt nothing but numbness on the inside. It was a cold feeling and I hated it.

I fingered my wooden necklace as Harkens led me down the halls and outside, where the hovercrafts waited for me and the other tributes. I grabbed a ladder, immediately glued to rungs. I didn't mind. I didn't care.

When I was finally lifted into the hovercraft, a lady dressed in a long flowing white coat approached me. I ignored her.

"This will only hurt for a minute," she assured me and jabbed a needle into my arm, releasing a tracker that would stay with me until I died, be that in the games or in the Victors' Village. I felt nothing as the needle inserted the chip underneath my skin. The numbness was still racing through my body.

The lack of sensation, the deadness, was terrifying me.

I was released and led to an extravagant breakfast laid out on a large table, nicer than any other meal I had been served in the Capitol thus far. Thresh and my mentors along with Harkens had already arrived. I took my seat and began to shovel food down my throat but I couldn't swallow any of it. I excused myself and found a bathroom. I threw up for ten or so minutes straight, tears streaming down my face. I vomited until I was only retching.

I lied on the cold linoleum floor in the fetal position, my body racked with convulsions, crying silently. I felt ill, from tension or an actual sickness, I wasn't sure. I assumed it was the former.

After some time, Seeder knocked on the door, informing it was time to leave. Reluctantly, I lifted myself from the floor and roughly wiped my eyes with the palm of my hand. I waited until I heard Seeder's footsteps fade down the hallway.

I unlocked the door and glanced at my reflection in the mirror. My eyes were red and puffy and I took in the fact that this could be the last time I would ever see myself. I didn't want to remember myself that way, so I shamefully looked away from the mirror and I headed down the hall.

I knew this room, I've walked this floor. I memorized everything in this cold and broken world, the last I would see of it outside of the arena. The truth was hard to swallow.

Seeder and Chaff were sitting, waiting for me. When Seeder saw me, she stood abruptly and ran to me, locking me in a tight a hug. I clung to her, feeling tears well up in my eyes. After a minute, she let go and kissed my forehead. Chaff embraced me and for once I wasn't intimidated by his presences, only reassured by it.

"Good luck, little girl," he whispered in my ear. "Just survive. Remember that." I nodded and left the hovercraft and entered the Stockyard.

Fantasia was silent for once as she dressed me for the games. She handed me a green blouse and a thin black jacket, tawny pants and soft leather boots. I didn't bother with a changing room. I wanted company and I knew Fantasia wouldn't mind.

Once dressed, I extended my arms from my sides. "How do I look?" I asked with a thin smile. She always liked clothing. The question was meant for her, to help ease the sorrow in the air. It did quite the opposite. She burst into to tears and it was sad to watch. She hugged me, still sobbing. My shoulder was wet now. It was odd comforting her when I was going to be dying. It was a distraction, though, and I attempted to sooth her.

She stopped bawling and was only weeping quietly to herself. She released me and led me to the metal plate on the ground. She smiled and that was the last thing I saw before shooting up the cylinder and into the dark, stuffy air. I stayed in there for about twenty seconds, give or take. I closed my eyes, waiting for the torment to be over.

When I sensed the heat of sun on my skin and the brightness I could see even from behind my eyelids, I opened my eyes. I saw a forest in front of me and a large field located down a steep hill behind me, along with a lake to my left.

Then I heard the voice that confirmed that my worst nightmare had commenced.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games begin!"

The games start next chapter! Sounds like fun... to write. Not actually the dying part... I'll just shut up.