I am awoken by a pair of small, dainty hands shaking me to get me into the world of the conscious. I wake up thinking this could be any day, Mother could be waking me up to get me to start getting the sacks of flour.

Then I remembered what day it was.

I started to feel sick, so I ran into the bathroom and vomited up dinner. I felt a little better afterwards, requesting a glass of water, but a glass of water wouldn't fix my problem.

Nothing could. Unless there was a time machine, Effie could have moved her hand slightly to the right and picked someone else to face their imminent deaths.

But no, she had to pick my name out of that cursed reaping ball.

I am given a simple pair of pants and a shirt to put on, and Portia leads me to a hovercraft. There is a ladder coming down, so I place my arms and legs on, expecting to have to climb it and soon find that I can't move them. Some sort of electrical current is holding me to the ladder.

The ladder is lifted up and a lady with a sharp-looking needle comes over to me and informs me that she will be injecting a tracker into my arm. She slides the needle under my skin and injects something. The needle hurts, but today I will be tough. I will be strong.

I will be a career.

The ladder's current releases me and I am able to move again. An Avox escorts Portia and I to a room filled with breakfast foods and despite still being nauseous, I eat as much as I can hold. "Do you want anything else? You'll need your strength," says Portia. I shake my head for fear that if I open my mouth I will vomit again. Portia hands me a glass of water and we sit on a lounge. A voice tells me to enter the glass tube that is placed at the end of the room.

Portia and I hug and say our goodbyes, her saying she hopes I come back. I say I'll try.

I enter the tube and the door slides shut. I play with my token for a bit while the countdown begins. 5. 5 seconds and I will be in the arena. 4. 4 seconds and I will have a chance to get Katniss to win these games. 3. 3 seconds and I'll see everything. 2. 'Everything' meaning the place that I will die. 1. 1 second to be free before being put to my death.

My plate starts to rise and I feel uneasy. What if the careers kill me before I save Katniss from them?

My plate has fully risen and I can see everything. I can see Toby on my right and the boy from eight on my left.

Then I hear his voice. The legendary Claudius Templesmith. His voice rings out.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let the 74th Hunger Games begin!"

A/N: I know, I know, I'm awful. School started this week and my teachers have been loading me with homework. I'll try to write on the weekends so you can get a couple of updates, but yeah, work's going to be pretty slow.

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