~ I'm Sorry

Chapter 3

I awoke, no nightmares. Today was the day we would reach the capitol. The day its residents could finally feast their eyes on its fresh tributes. I felt sick when I first heard the capitols cheers. I had never been any good with people, never really wanted too. As long as i had my family i was happy. The train came to a smooth stop. Me, Finnick and Eve were escorted to a long, metallic black car filled with fancy drinks and mouth-watering food. "How long until we get there?" I asked the driver. "about two hours. Traffics high. People everywhere. They wait all year for this." He said.

About an hour in the trip I decided on resting my head and trying to make up for the sleep I lost last night. Eve was already out. I lay my head back expecting a quick trip to nothingness when I felt something heavy on my shoulder. Eves arm that she had been resting her head on had gave way and left her head on my shoulder. Her long, luscious brown head of hair draped over my arm. I didn't wake her. I pushed her hair from her face and examined it. Her eyes were twinging, she was probably having a bad dream. I didn't wake her. Instead i cradled her head and adjusted my shoulder so her head sat comfortably. Her eyes stopped moving and her body became limp, i lay down my head and went to sleep. For the first time since my name was called at the reaping I was relaxed.

We were woken by Finnick and escorted to the 4th floor of a large building. "Throw your bags in a room then come to the dining room and we'll discuss how everything works." He said. I threw my bags into a room and hustled my way to the dining room where Eve was already sitting with Finnick. "Tomorrows the tribute parade, you dress in something related to your district and ride in on a chariot and since we're district 4 its almost always related to fish." Costumes? Really? Ill be sure to add humiliation to the list of feelings the capitol has made me feel. "After that there's 3 days of training, you'll be scored at the end but we'll talk about that later. Then, its go time." Finnick added. When your ready we'll go down and meet the stylist that will be designing your costume.

Finnick walked us to the door then left without saying a word. Me and Eve walked through the door and were greeted by an old man "Welcome Cooper, Eve. My name is Calico and I'm your stylist this year!" he said with much enthusiasm. "Great so what kind of fish are we going to be this time! Snapper!, Trout! " i tried to match his enthusiasm. Eve chuckled as Calico snarled. Calico opened a wardrobe and retrieved two bright blue, sparkly dresses. They had shiny scale-like pieces of fabric all over them and at the bottom was curled to symbolise a fish tail. "These will be your garments for the parade." He said. "But, they're Dresses, I'm not a woman." I replied. Calico didn't say anything, he just gave me an evil smirk. We tried them on and went back up stairs. We had ascended the stairs and were walking down the hallway when the door to our room flew open. An ugly looking red headed women with messed up hair stumbled out holding her high heels. Eve poked her head in the door and her eyes widened. A shirt-less Finnick stood there panting. I decided not to question him. "Hey tributes, how was it." He said. Eve was still in a daze, I nudged her and she regained her focus. "yeah great, cool, awesome, fine..." She said. "Finnick, put your shirt back on before we all drown in Eves drool." I said. He put his shirt back on and invited us for dinner. Dinner was quiet no one really had anything to say. I thought about questioning Finnick on the ugly lady but i decided to just stay out of it. I went to bed straight after.

I got out of bed not looking forward to the tribute parade at all. We all headed downstairs to retrieve our costumes from Calico. He handed them over and gave our next instructions. "Head to the chariot room and get on the 4th chariot. You'll then go out one by one and the president will make his speech. Don't fuck this up, its the one chance to get noticed." I assumed he was talking about sponsors. I had seen sponsors save lives in other games. They send needed items to the tribute they think has the biggest chance of winning. The better the item, the more it costs. I couldn't care less, there was nothing i was going to get noticed for, the only things i was good at were aquatics and being able to beat the shit out of stationary targets. Eve and I got changed and laughed at how ridiculous we both looked. I helped Eve on to the chariot then got myself up. A man with a headset gave the first chariot the wave to go, then the second, the third, now us. The chariot jerked as we took off but became smooth. I felt sick again when i heard the thousands of people cheering for us. When all the chariots came to the end of their path the president came out and gave his speech. I didn't listen. Whatever that evil man had to say i didn't want to hear. His speech finished and the chariots were taken out. Me and Eve went upstairs and wasted the rest of the day away talking and eating.