Chapter 21:
I toss and turn in my bed, not able to fall asleep. Tomorrow is the day the Games start. I finally just sit up and check the time, it's 11:37 P.M. I get up and go to the food slot in the wall. I order a glass of water. It is here in less than ten seconds. I am probably not the only tribute who is up right now. I think of all my competition, my allies and my arena.
My competition. Well should I worry about my allies? Of course they are competition, but they also decided to trust me and I trust them. Outside of my alliance I can think of a couple kids that are extremely dangerous. There is the other District Ones, Brance, and most of District Seven. Well I try thinking of everyone because I can't underestimate anyone. That seems to happen a lot to District Two tributes. They always just assume that they are better than everyone else. I won't be one of them. I refuse to.
So I think of other kids. There is all of District Four that I haven't seem to notice. They all act worthless. I am guessing they won't have a victor this year. Of course I might be wrong about that, but I am not going to die from a District Four tribute. I despise all of them. All I can think of when I see one of them is dead fish. I will make them dead fish. Then there is of course the other kids from my district, but would they kill me? I haven't seen that happen often, but I know it has. Onyx of course is my main fear. She could kill me more ways than the Games have ever seen. I know that Pinner and Easton can only use a sword or spear and that's all. I am pretty sure that those two are in an alliance with Bellthoria, but I can't confirm that. I know that I have the largest alliance.
Arena. Just that word scares me. The thought that I have no control over it scares me even more. I think of past arenas in the past couple of years. Last year was a confusing arena. There wasn't a floor, there was a bunch of tractors wheels put together and if you feel through it looked like you feel forever. Of course you didn't fall forever. Some twenty feet below there was a second floor that was filled with so many mutations that most of the tributes that fell dead within half an hour of being down there. Only one tribute managed to stay on the top level. She was a District Six girl. She was amazing. She did flips and tricks all over the top level. She won it too because the other tributes fell and a mutations killed them all crowning her victor.
Then there was the year before that. It was Krisslin's year. I remember that is was a fairy tale year, I think they made it like that hoping an outlining district would win, but clearly that was not the case. The arena almost looked magical because there was five or six castles and magical creatures like fairies, unicorns, trolls and tiny dragons. It turned out that the fairies and dragons ate humans and the trolls were poisonous if you ate them and the unicorns would trample people. That was probably the oddest arena I ever saw.
The year before those was interesting also. All the weapons were farming weapons. Instantly that gave the farming districts a push to victory. District Two lost both tributes at the Cornucopia, same with District One. That left only District Four careers, but they died pretty fast too. It came down to a huge District Eleven boy and a ruthless District Ten girl. The girl reminded me of myself. She was muscular, about my height, and the same hair color and length. Well the District Eleven boy finally won after he used a drill to the girls eyes. He was just as ruthless as she was.
There was the one arena that scared everyone. They used the same exact arena as the year before, but all the tributes that died in the first one were now vicious ghosts. Nine tributes killed themselves because the ghosts taunted them so much. I remember one girl who went insane because of the District One girl tribute ghost. She was in the middle of a clearing nibbling on her fingertips. The ghost crept up and scream "BOO!" The girl broke her own jaw because she yanked her hands down so hard. She ended up slitting her wrists. I had nightmares about that arena for months along with almost everyone I knew. The victor ended killing himself a month after he won. He didn't even go on the tour.
There was this other arena that I just barely remember that is was just one big open field. It looks like a football or soccer field. That was a fast Game. Another was where the Gamemaker decided that it would be fun to randomly freeze everything in less than ten minutes. More tributes died in the freeze than at the Cornucopia. It left only three kids alive. The kids who did survive were barely alive when the big fight happened. It crowned a District Eight girl as victor because she jabbed the other two with a sword.
These arena's for the past couple years have been pretty scary and I remember the Gamemaker said, "...have watched some of the best Gamemakers at work..." and she is meaning the men and women who created those arenas. I don't think such a pretty girl would do that to me would she? Well I guess she doesn't know me. She maybe knows my name and my face, but nothing else.
Finally I feel my eyelids gaining weight. I slowly drift off and peacefully. I sleepily promise to myself that I will not die tomorrow even if it will be the hardest thing I have ever done. But I will not die. Then tiredness completely takes over my body and courses through me. I am suddenly sleeping.
I wake to light seeping through the blinds. Odd that no one came in to wake me. Suddenly my insides fill with dread. I never wanted to wake up. The Games are today and there is no chance that they won't be. I nervously get up and leave my room. I slid my way to the dining area and find it empty except for the plates that are promptly placed on the table.
Why is no one here? It can't be that early or anything. Suddenly Drianna opens the door and walks out of the kitchen. I scare her and but she gives me a cheerful smile. She doesn't seem confused at all but she gives me a concerned glance after I just stand there for a moment. She grabs a napkin out of her left pocket and a pen out of her right pocket. Her pen wobbles up a down as she writes. She hands me the napkin.
In neat small handwriting it says, "Is everything okay, Kliss? Why are you up already? Don't you know you can sleep in on the day of Games?"
"Oh I am sorry, I just woke up and wondered why no one came and woke me up," I tell her in a groggy voice. "When do the Games start again?" She flashes a six and another six. "12 okay. What time is it now?" She looks at her watch. She shows me nine fingers. I nod and sit down at the chair I usually sit at. Drianna is writing away again.
"Are you nervous? I am sure I will see you again." It is the same small handwriting.
"Well I am and thanks. I am not as nervous as I thought I would be though. I think I am just ready to get started," I tell her and she nods in agreement. I start getting myself food and the elevator dings and Starla walks out of it. She seems surprised by my presence.
"I see you are up," She says in a disappointed voice. This is the first time I have seen her since I threw that knife at her chair.
"Yeah I just woke up early I guess," I say back dryly.
"Well that is okay," She says in a cold tone. She is turning her nose up at me. She walks down the hall and goes into Nightly's room. She comes out then about a minute later, Nightly drags himself out and down the hall. He gives us all a tired nod.
We all quietly eat and get up. Nightly goes and puts some better clothes on. He looks extremely tired. He must have gotten no sleep last night. No surprise though. I barely got any. Maybe a couple hours which is still better than nothing.
"What do we do now?" I ask Starla. She gives me an odd glance then suddenly she breaks into smile.
"Kliss I am sorry about before. I know you were just mad at us. It was wrong, I know," this surprises me. Starla walks up to me and wraps her arm around me. I give a hug back, but it doesn't mean anything.
"We just have to wait for Caraway to come and scoop you up. She and Verlo will be talking to you about what you do," She explains this to me briefly. About a minute after she explained that to me Caraway entered the floor and picked me up. We don't talk much. She takes me to a room that is near our normal dressing room. When she opens the door all I see is Verlo sitting in a chair. He throws a knife at me.