hey guys! I didn't even get to ask. how was you Valentine's Day? I hope all of yours was great.

We made it to the 2nd chariot rides! yay only 2 more until the training begins.

Name- Ash Cedar

District- 3

Age-12

People look at me, with interest and curiosity written all throughout their faces. I try to ignore them all but it is impossible, everywhere I am escorted, their eyes seem to follow me.

Back in District 3, I was considered the odd one and as a result I often never had friends. My own parents abandoned me, I wish i knew why but not sure how someone can just leave their own flesh and blood. Then when my parents abandoned me i was sent to live with my god awful Aunt and Uncle, and they ignore me every chance they get. That's just how it is for me; no one likes me enough to stay; which is why I don't have any friends.

I look down at my freshly scrubbed hands. I am amazed to see that skin can even be that clean. Me, I rarely get to wash or take a bath; but when I do wash, its only with a sponge and water. My Aunt and Uncle wash, but they won't even give me soap to use. Sometimes I think that they wish I was dead because I am an unnecessary burden for them. I never understood that though, because what burdens can they possibly have; I make all the meals in the house and I wash the dishes when we eat, they never do anything but drink alcohol and get drunk.

Once I accidently dropped one of the glass plates and it shattered all over the kitchen floor. My uncle was pissed at me and because he drank a lot so he wasn't up to his normal senses. He came over to me and started punching me and beating me up. As if that wasn't enough he got a bat and broke my leg; since then, my leg has never been the same. Eventually my Aunt came in and took the bat away and dragged him to his room, but she still left me there to die. I was bleeding and in pain with a broken leg and she left me there. I had to walk to my room and try to fix my leg up as best as I could. I know that they wouldn't get me a doctor; we had no money for that kind of stuff, so I wrapped it up in some excess rags and a piece of kindling from the fireplace.

No one asked about my leg in school. My teacher saw me, than looked away. I have and always will be neglected by everyone in my district. I often wonder where my parents are, but now I hope they are rotting in a hole somewhere because I have no sympathy for them. Why would I they left me with my drunken Uncle who beats me up.

I snap myself out of my daydream and into reality. At least for a little while here, I won't be neglected. It's true though, since I've been here; everyone has been so nice to me and they even fed me. It was actually nice for once eating a full meal and taking a shower.

A tall man walks in my room and orders everyone out and at that everyone left but me. He smiles at me and comes over and pulls a chair up next to me. A thought runs through my mind and I wonder if he is anything like the freaks that washed me.

"Hey. I'm Caper and I will be your stylist." He holds out his hand and expects me to shake it but I do nothing but sit there. He looks at his hand for a little while as if thinking something along the lines of 'wow. This kid has no manners at all.' and he retracts his hand.

I look at this man and study him. His hair is dyed a light purple color and his eyes are an unnatural blue, but the strangest thing about him is that his personality seems semi normal. Maybe I can trust him, it's not like he can abandon me, and if anything I will be abandoning everyone here. I know I won't live through the games. It would be a miracle if I lived through the blood bath.

I hold out my hand and whisper quietly "Hi, I'm Ash."

At my sudden hospitality, Caper smiles and shakes my hand and laughs "it's nice to meet you Ash. Are you hungry?"

In truth, I haven't even noticed that my stomach was growling especially loud until Caper pointed it out to me. In the beginning I didn't think I would be able to trust Caper, but there is just something about him that makes me think that I can trust him.

He laughed again "I'll take that as a yes. What do you want? You can have anything you desire."

I stare really confused at him and look around. There wasn't any food in this room to pick from. "What are you talking about? What food?" I ask confused.

"We have a button we push for food. If you can think of the food, I am sure they have it." He answered. I tried to think of what I really wanted. I know I wanted it to be something that I never have. Then it hit me; I wanted ice cream. We never had ice cream back home, one because we didn't have a freezer and two because we could never afford it. Usually ice cream was only for the rich people and the poor people could only dream of what it tasted like.

"Can I have strawberry ice cream?" I ask. At that, he presses a few buttons and in a matter of seconds and bowl of pink looking ice cream is on the table. He hands the bowl to me. I stare at it for a little while, unsure whether I want to eat it. If I ate it I might not get another one. I grab the spoon and dig into the ice cream. It was different from what I imagined it to be, I expected it to be more sweet, but it was creamier and soft as it melted in my mouth.

He let me finish my ice cream before I started to get dressed in the chariot outfit. He showed me the costume before I put it on. It was a silvery bluish color shinny looking material with dark shiny black metal twisted into it. It was horrendous and I was appalled by the thought that I was going to have to wear it.

He helped me into the legs of the costume and I slipped it on. He walked around to my back and zippered my back up so that it was more tightly fitting. He slicked back my dark brown hair and put a black metal piece on my head. The weight of the costume was terrible and it was an effort just to walk to our chariot. I walk past the other chariots and see the horses. Each horse was a dark brown color. i was amazed my the size of the horses because i have never seen one before today. In district 3, no one had horses it just wasn't that type of area to have horses as a pet.

I walked onto my chariot and waited for my district partner. I think she said her name was Wyn but I haven't really talked to her. The entire train ride I basically was alone, cooped up in my room. The only time I left my room was when it was dinner time, but I didn't talk to anyone there either. After a few moments Wyn comes and is wearing the same costume. Her looks as bad as mine does and I don't feel as embarrassed by wearing it.

The chariot starts moving and we enter the semicircle and all the districts line up. I look at the crowd and start to feel nervous again. I close my eyes and take deep breathes trying to calm myself. I can tell that Wyn is nervous too, but I don't think she has it as bad as I do. My eyes flutter open and close as I look around.

The crowd is emanating loud cheers and it's impossible to hear myself think. I manage to smile a little, but the fear is sinking even deeper into my stomach. Tomorrow is training and I am going to have to learn something if I want to live, I just hope my leg won't get in the way.

how many days are in August?- 10 points! (15 points for the first person!)

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