So it's your lucky day. Annabel is my littlest sister's tribute, and she begged me all day today to write this chapter and post it. And she hasn't annoyed me today...not yet at least...so I figured I might as well give her an early Valentine's day gift.

Happy (Early) Valentines Day! I hope you all found a valentine, my kitten is mine!

To Ride In Style

One Panem, two Panem, three Panem, four Panem.

Counting was a trick that Annabel used to calm her nerves.

Five Panem, six Panem, seven Panem.

It usually helped. But for once, her nerves weren't dissipating.

Eight Panem, nine Panem, ten Panem.

Her stomach was all knotted, her palms were sweating and her heart was probably beating at a million miles per second. If Stephanie was there, then she would tell say "but then you'd be dead, your heart can't beat that fast."

Stephanie was very literal, very smart, and very annoying. But weren't all little sisters?

Annabel never thought she would say it in a million years, but, she missed her little sister. She missed her older sister too. She got along with both of her sisters, being the middle, she could sympathize with both. But Gretchen and Stephanie didn't have the best of relationships. It was probably because there was seven years separating them.

When Annabel was nine, back when her world was still perfect, she went to the zoo with her mom and sisters.

It was a small zoo, hardly any animals, there were more wild squirrels then anything else. And tons of ducks quacking at them, and getting poop everywhere. One didn't realize how much a duck could poop.

There was a small petting zoo in the center, where goats and chickens and a bunch of other domestic animals roamed around free. Without a care in the world. They knew that everyday they would get food, everyday there would be children there willing to play with them. The animals were treated fairly, and Annabel could never understand where there were always protesters around saying "Free the animals." Domesticated animals had no chance of survival in the wild.

Annabel and Gretchen fought about where to go first, because Annabel wanted to go to the petting area and Gretchen wanted to see the reptiles. Annabel had always known her sister was a snake.

Annabel had won the fight, her first victory in a long time. As the middle child, Annabel hardly ever got it her way.

She had a blast in that small enclosure with the animals. There was a small baby goat that was very taken with Annabel. For over an hour Annabel sat down in the dirt and grime and petted the little goat.

The poor animals loved the attention, they head butted each other just to draw the attention of a toddler.

Annabel felt like an animal in the petting zoo. The chariot her cage, the audience were the children bursting with joy wanting to pet her.

Six chariots had already blown through the arena. They had already been cheered for, now it was time for District Seven.

The two girls from the 52nd and 53rd games had had rotten luck. They had been sisters, and had been forced to wear paper dresses, a way to link them together, only to rip them to shreds.

Annabel didn't know the other tributes personally, not yet, but she knew their names. Because they were all human, and everyone deserved to be recognized by their name, not by their District.

Sabine was the District Seven girl, and she did not look happy in the least bit.

Of course, Annabel wouldn't be happy if she were in Sabine's shoes. It reminded her of something her mother used to say whenever Annabel was mad at someone, usually one of her sisters, "walk a mile in her shoes, you might feel differently." Annabel would always respond back "I'd never feel differently, but at least I'll be a mile away with her shoes."

Her mother wasn't around anymore to say stuff like that. Annabel felt a tear threatening to fall from her left eye. She bit her bottom lip to keep the tear back. She was not going to appear weak, not in the launching of the tributes. Annabel needed sponsors, and she wasn't going to get any if she seemed weak and emotional.

She turned her attention back to Sabine and Nolan. There really wasn't much the stylists could do with their industry. But at least Sabine wasn't wearing a paper dress. Instead both of them wore lumberjack outfits, complete with overalls. They both had an ax in their hand, probably fake, and in the middle of the chariot stood a tree with two paper dresses hanging down from the branches. Each dress had a single word stitched on it, a name.

Annabel felt sorry for both of them. But there was nothing she could do about it.

"Does that say Myrrah?" Proctic whispered to Annabel.

Annabel's eyes flashed in anger at the Capitol. Because the other one said Autumn.

The two sisters who had worn the dresses and died at the final four. They were being remembered by having their names on dresses.

"That's a whole new level of cruel," Proctic said.

"It's not right," Annabel agreed.

Sabine must have agreed as well, because right in the middle of the parade, Sabine reached up and grabbed the dresses.

"This is for the Faith sisters," she shouted for all to hear, as she tore up the dreaded dresses.

Annabel knew that somewhere, Autumn and Myrrah Faith were looking down and smiling at Sabine's bravery.

Sabine would not be forgotten anytime soon, and she probably won a few sponsors because of that display.

The District 8 chariot came into view. Their industry was textiles. Annabel was super glad she didn't hail from 8. It must be very boring to sit in a factory and make hats all day.

It gave her a new appreciation for her clothes. She was never one to nit pick, put her older sister Gretchen would judge the stitching of each shirt in the store before she found one that was perfect.

Janette and Melton looked like one big sewing mishap. There were sewing machines drawn on the side of the chariots. Yarn balls, and those little apple things that seamstresses put their pins in. Annabel half expected a cat to come running after them, playing with the yarn balls.

District 9 was next with Seth and Nyx. Seth looked happy, Nyx not so much. There was a look on her face that could only be described as terrified.

Annabel, being a middle child, was very emotional. She could emphasize with almost anyone. And it always made her feel bad that there was nothing she could do to make the world a better place. It was what made her a great listener. She wanted to be a social worker or a psychiatrist when she grew up.

That might not happen now.

But lives were formed on dreams. And it was a dream of hers to grow up and help people. She didn't want to kill her dreams, because that was depressing.

Seth and Nyx were from the world of Food Processing, and their outfits focused on that. Annabel wondered if that was real turkey on Nyx's arm. It made Annabel's mouth water and she found herself craving a delicious sandwich.

There was something to be said about a well made sandwich. Melted cheese between two slices of bread with a warm cup of garlic tomato soup. It made her long for home, for her mother and sisters, the comfort of her father's arms.

She wanted to be a child again, back when the only dangers were the monsters in her closet. She wanted to be five years old again, where she could climb in bed between mommy and daddy and they would whisper that everything would be okay.

District 10, the place where she was born, where she grew up. The place she called home. It was time for her chariot to parade through the audience.

"I wanna go home," little Proctic whimpered. Annabel felt her heart breaking. It wasn't just her who missed home, all the other tributes did too. She wasn't alone, and that thought alone made her feel a tad bit better.

"Me too," she whispered to Proctic, "me too."

She reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze. He tried to give her a reassuring smile, but they both knew that it was fake.

Eleven Panem. Twelve Panem. Thirteen Panem.

Breath. Relax. Smile.

Fourteen Panem. Fifteen Panem.

And within seconds, Annabel and Proctic were in the spot light. The audience was gawking at them. She didn't blame them though, she looked like a giant chicken. She'd stare at herself too.

A chicken off to the slaughter house, that's what she was. About to have her neck broken and then sent off to be turned into a dinner for some rich family in the Capitol.

It seemed like forever, but it had probably only been a minute or two, but their Chariot came to a halt as the next Chariot came into view.

Mallow and Augbrine, the tributes of District 11. The agriculture District.

Most years, their costumes were around the same lines. Fruit and trees and nature stuff.

This year was no different. Mallow was dressed like an apple tree, and Augbrine as an orange tree.

Another thing her mom used to say came to mind. "You can't compare apples and oranges."

But Annabel always challenged that one too. "Yes you can, they're both fruit, they both grown on trees, they both have seeds."

Another tear to blink back as she thought about her mom.

But she was never going to see her mom again. Even if she did win, against all odds. Even if she went home to her family, her mom was always going to be dead.

It had happened so fast. The fire that started in the barn when a cow kicked over a burning lantern. No one could save her mother.

Ten years old and Annabel found herself motherless.

She didn't want to leave Stephanie and Gretchen with one less sister to annoy. But Annabel, ever an optimist, was also a realist.

District 12 was next, and also the last. Most of the time, the best was saved for last. But not in this case. Because really, there was nothing interesting about mining coal. And by the time 12 trickled into the arena, most of the audience was already bored and ready to go home and party.

Annabel was ready to go home and see her family. But she knew that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. So she just wanted to take a boiling hot bath with bubbles. She wanted to pretend that she was home, and everything was hunky dory.

The Chariot rides were over. Annabel and Proctic disembarked and were escorted back to the building.

"Get a good nights sleep, training begins tomorrow," their escort said as she bid them farewell.

Annabel knew what a good nights sleep was. It was a comfortable bed in a familiar room with snores from her younger sister in the bed next to hers.

She wasn't going to get much sleep tonight.

It seemed impossible.

Yet her eyes closed the minute her head hit the pillow and she woke up to a knock on her door.

Training day.

To ride in style, one needed sunglasses.

Trivia Question: Right, so last chapter, Amira said something along the lines of dethroning and beheading, and I just realized I used almost the same line in Fear, which tribute in Fear said,

"It's on Princess, time to dethrone and behead you." I just plagerized myself without knowing it...ahahahaha!

Previous Trivia Answer: Virus said "more like an explosion gone wrong."

Reviews are appreciated.

~*Misty*~