The third chapter! Is everyone else as excited as I am? No? Okay... Haha, just kidding.

If my copy of the Hunger Games is correct, they should be re watching the chariot rides and going to group training. Hmm, good fun! :)

This chapter was made listening to Iwillbot, an awesome pianist on youtube, check him out, and Joe Hisiaishi's Asian Dream Song.

ENJOY!

And I found something that I'm sure any tribute can relate to: http: / www. youtube. com/ watch?v= H82QHi UvY5E& feature= related just take out those spaces.

I've been listening to that song the whole time I've been writing this so I can get a feel of the emotions people would definitely have if they were in the Arena.

"Haymitch! It's time to watch the Chariot Rides!" Annalise called from the hall. I groaned and stepped out of the room that would be mine for now and walked down the hall. The Training Center was elegant, with priceless paintings decorating the wooden walls. There were some plants hanging from the ceiling, and the there was also some potted plants sitting on the blue carpet. The people in the Capitol had tried so hard for me to find this place beautiful, I did, but I wish that I didn't.

I find the other tributes, our stylists, Ailia, and Annalise all together. The tributes are all sitting on the couch, with an empty space next to Maysilee that I'm guessing is for me. Everyone else is gathered around the couch, and leaning against the arm cushions. Maysilee spotted me and patted the spot next to her with a smile on her face. I don't want to sit and I don't want to watch. I ignore her invitation and make my way to behind everyone else.

I find a lone arm chair sitting next to a window. I take a seat and growl when I sink low into the cushion. I fight my way back out and cross my arms, staring at the backs of the others. I can't help but be jealous of Annalise. She lived. She's a survivor. I'm going to die; I'm going to become a toy for the Capitol to play with. The capitol insignia appear on the screen, and I can hear the music from the chariot rides begin.

"Aaah!" I hear from pretty much all of them. I'm guessing that the chariots for District 1 had come out, and they were all ensnared by its beauty. I can't even see the T.V., but I don't need to. I remember the Chariot Rides perfectly, and I don't need any more reminders of my coming demise. Maysilee turned to the side and gestured from Micah to the T.V., a smile on her face. Micah nods and laughs at something she has said, but I couldn't quite hear. I envy them.

I admit that I was never that good at making conversation, and that I wasn't always that nice. Maysilee on the other hand, had always been very talkative and kind from what I've seen of her during school. Micah had always been kind, but fragile. They didn't change at all from what I've seen, they're still nice, and they're still chattering away. That's where I get jealous. I have changed because of this game. What little kindness and conversation skills I had inside of me had fizzled as soon as I set foot on that train. What would Deirdre think? She'd be angry that I was bad mouthing all of those 'kind' people, but I just can't help but be a jerk to them. They're all eagerly awaiting my death, and the other tributes want me dead as well, including nice little Maysilee.

Annalise breaks away from the small crowd and comes to sit across from me, at another plush arm chair. She smiles at me, and I, out of habit, don't return it. I think that the smiling issue may just be the only thing that hasn't changed because of the games. She holds her hands on her lap and gives me another large smile.

"So, how're you doing Haymitch?" Annalise asked. I feel horrible. I know I'm going to die, and that I'll never get to live out my life. I'll never have a family, and I'll never see my home again.

"I'm fine," I say back to her. She chuckles and wipes her hand across her face. She smiles at me again.

"I don't buy that Haymitch," She said back to me. I was hoping that I would be a better liar, but I guess that my lack of skill in that department show just how little chance I have at surviving the Hunger Games. I shrug.

"That's the truth."

"It's the games isn't it?" She said that more like a statement than a question. I don't say anything, so Annalise continues.

"The games change everyone Haymitch. The only difference between you and the others is that you choose to show everyone how you're no longer the sweet boy from District 12, but a rude, arrogant, jerk. Do you know what I'm saying?" She asked me. I looked into her eyes, willing myself not to show that I think- no, that I know she is right. When I looked into her eyes, I saw something there, something I didn't spot before. If you looked deep into Annalise's eyes, you could see her own Hunger Games replaying over and over, in a non-stop cycle. I now know that even someone strong like Annalise can't hide that they're being haunted be their past.

"I can see it in your eyes," I said to her. Her smile quickly faded, and I wished that I had said something else. I had unknowingly quoted her closest ally in the arena. Her ally broke off the alliance to go his own way. Her ally had gotten killed not even five minutes later. Annalise ran to him as fast as she could, and she got there in his last moments. Her ally asked if she was scared, and Annalise had told him no, and that she was going to be strong. The last thing her ally said was, "I can see it in your eyes."

Annalise stood up and rubbed her eyes. I stood up with her and grabbed her arm.

"I-I'm sorry! I shouldn't have said that!" I pleaded. I didn't want her to be sad; I didn't want her memories of the arena to be worse. She shook her arm out of my grip and walked out of the room. The other people stared at me, and I couldn't take it. I left both because I wanted to comfort her, and because I couldn't stand the accusing looks on their faces. I followed the noise of sniffling, and breaths being caught in the throat. I find the door leading to her room slightly ajar, and that the source of the noises was indeed that room.

I push open the door and I see her sitting on against her bed, with her legs drawn into herself and her face buried into her arms. She didn't react when I entered her room, but instead kept on crying. I inched into the dark room, and closed the door behind me. I turned on the lights and made my way towards Annalise. I turned my back against the bed, and slowly slumped to sit next to her. I scooted closer and placed an arm around her shoulder.

She buried her head into my shoulder, and cried her eyes out. I had been in this situation before, and I know not to say a word. I rubbed her back with my hand, making circular motions. I couldn't tell whether or not she was trying to say words or not, but either way, I didn't understand.

Soon enough, she had fallen asleep. I grabbed her torso and her legs, and slowly lifted her up as to not wake her. I place her on the bed. I walked to the other side and pulled down the covers of her bed. Then I lifted the sheets on the other side also and slid her in.

Annalise looked troubled, but I didn't want to wake her from whatever place she is dreaming about. I closed the light in her room and quietly slipped out of her room. I came face to face with Maysilee. She had her hands on her hips and an eyebrow raised.

"What did you say to her?" She asked me.

"'I can see it in your eyes,'" I told Maysilee. Her eyes widened and her lips formed an 'O'.

"Why would you say that?" She asked almost frantically. I walked away, knowing that Maysilee would follow.

"I didn't even remember that her ally had said it," I said back. Maysilee scoffed and stopped me in my tracks by putting out her arm.

"Ryker wasn't just her ally, Haymitch. She loved him! L-O-V-E-D him!" She said while making hand motions that I didn't understand. Ugh, I think it's a girl thing.

"I didn't know that! If I did I wouldn't have said it!" I nearly shouted at her, almost losing every shred of patience I've had. She smiled at me, and somehow wasn't affected by my obvious irritation.

"I know you wouldn't have Haymitch. I know you're actually a nice person, it's just that, well, you've been sort of a jerk lately," She said the last bit in a whisper. Oh great, another 'You're a sweet kid but you're acting like a jerk because you're going to die,' comment. I laugh at all of the "compliments" that I've been collecting.

"It's not something to laugh at Haymitch," She said to me. I could tell she wasn't serious at all because a smile was tugging at her lips. She stuck out her hand and I took it, giving it one quick shake.

"Learn a lot while we train, Maysilee," I tell her after letting go of her small hand. She nods.

"The same goes for you Haymitch."

The next morning I make it a priority to get up before Ailia can get to me. The only way to accomplish that was to get at 4 in the morning. Ew. The hours went by slowly, and by 7 o'clock I had decided to go sit in the shower. The bathroom was well decorated, and had a well stocked compartment of towels. The shower door was glass, but it was frosted. There were hundreds of buttons; maybe there were more than that. I turned the water on as hot as it could go, and stepped in. The water was scalding, for the first minute that is. The water had been just as I wanted it to be until, until the Capitol changed the temperature. The temperature meter had lowered itself, and when I attempted to change it back to the highest it can be, but whenever I got it up one digit, it would decrease to the lukewarm temperature.

I grumbled and kicked the small puddles on the floor of the shower. I turned to the panel which held the buttons that did god knows what. I pressed a random button and a stream of pink lotion like substance flew into my face. Along with that came robotic arms with sponges on the ends of them that rubbed the pink stuff into my skin. All I could do was stand and loathe the people in the Capitol, who obviously got everything easy and never had a taste of a hard-working life. They didn't know the kind of life where you had to do things for yourself, and you have to work for the things you want.

The sponges had rubbed it all into me, and left me with no desire to touch their showers. I climbed out and was suddenly assaulted by a blast of hot air. It took a second to realize that the blast was coming from below me out of a vent I hadn't noticed before. The blast was powerful and made my curls stand straight up.

The blasts of air stopped and my body was no longer dripping with water, and even my hair has been blasted dry. I walked out of the bathroom and saw that a green shirt that hugged my body and a pair of simple jeans were now sitting on the made bed. It must be those silent servants. I put on the clothes and walk to the mirror.

The reflection I saw in the mirror looked just like the Haymitch that I know is me, the one from District 12. The black curls are still as crazy as ever, and my grey eyes still had that gleam about them. I don't feel like the old Haymitch though. I feel like a shiny new toy for the Capitol to play with. I've found myself hating more and more things and people since I've been reaped, but I guess that anyone who was chosen to fight to the death would hate a lot of things. Inside I felt like a black hole, a rotten one at that.

I lean on the table that was below the mirror for support while I fiddled with the wrist strap of the green shirt I was to wear. I hear a click, and I dismiss it. Then the arm and comb came out of a hole in the table. The arm traveled towards my hair and started to comb furiously at my hair. It pulled out the large knots that not even the blasts of air could untangle. I grabbed my head as a particularly large knot was pretty much ripped out of my head. The arm retracts, and I see a large clump of hair between the teeth of the comb. The arm and comb disappear, leaving me rubbing my head. The one upside is that my hair seems somewhat tamer.

I leave the room and see that the other tributes are now up and eating breakfast. I sit down between Annalise and Maysilee. The silent servants bring me a dish stacked sky high with food.

"Why don't you talk?" I ask the girl. She looks at me, and doesn't say anything.

"It's rude to not answer when someone asks you a question," I say again. She still doesn't say anything. I open my mouth when Annalise elbows me. I look at her and she was subtly shaking her head. The girl leaves and Annalise begins her explanation.

"She's an Avox. She had her tongue cut out as a punishment from the Capitol," I don't say anything, but instead choose to eat. I stuff sausages into my mouth and down it with orange juice. The one thing that's good about the Capitol is their food. I was starting to forget the horrors of their bathroom and enjoy the day. Then Ailia walks in and ruins the mood. She gave a smile and looked at a clipboard and silver watch. Ailia looked closer to normal today, opting to have her hair in two low pigtails.

"We have group training in half an hour," She said to the air. She took a seat next to Micah and gave her a large smile that Micah didn't return. Ailia had her food delivered by the Avox and began taking small bites of egg. She places her clipboard on the table and saw that there's no schedule on clipped to the board, but only a blank piece of paper with doodles littering the page. I snort and Ailia looks at me before sliding the clip board off of the table.

Many bites later, Ailia stands up, as do I, knowing that it's almost time to go to training. The others stand up also, and Annalise clears her throat to make an announcement.

"While you're training in groups, don't show off, and don't seem too bad either. Seem average. That's your best bet," She says. I nod. I won't be good at anything anyway, because I've had no experience with any of them.

Ailia walks us to the elevator and presses a button. The elevator arrives almost immediately. The doors opened and lovely music poured out from the elevator. No one moved an inch, none of us wanted to go down their.

Ailia put her hands on my shoulder and gave me a surprisingly powerful shove. I tumbled over my feet and fell to the floor. The others followed soon after. Ailia stepped in with us and did her best to avoid stepping on us. She pressed the button and we arrived at the ground floor almost instantly.

Before we even got the chance to untangle ourselves from each other, the doors opened. The 44 other tributes stared at us as we untangled each other and slowly stood up. Ailia gave me another large smile and gave me a pat on the back.

I cleared my throat, and composed myself. I put on an arrogant smile and got ready for the worst time of my life.

So? How was it? I didn't want to put any of the training for the Games in this chapter, because, well, I just didn't want to. I swear it'll be training filled next chapter, but I'm not going to have the private sessions, and the chapter after that will probably be training for how they'll appear in the interview. And we all know that Haymitch was, arrogant.

Love it? Hate it? Critisim? Leave it in a review so I can hear about it, cuz any kind of review makes me happy! :)