| T o W h e r e Y o u A r e |

chapter i

Shock. It's the one and only sign that lets me know that I haven't passed out from a lack of breathing. It incased my body and locked my feet in place. I hardly felt Tiger Lily push me forward and I hardly felt myself giving into her commands and following the Peacekeepers up to the stage where Roxanne waited. Her smile was far too happy, far too jocular, given the circumstances. The queezing in my stomach only grew stronger.

I massaged my knuckles, but every part of my being had gone numb. I sat tensely as the crowd of District 4 clapped for my "honor and bravery in representing District 4 in the 59th Annual Hunger Games," despising every one of them. While half of the crowd cheered just to go along with the crowd, it still left a bitter taste in my mouth, for death shouldn't be treated as a reward and cause a celebration. The other half of District 4 was clapping because it meant that their child had, once again, escaped another Reaping, making feel even more sullen.

And I barely heard Roxanne's five inch heels parade to the other side of the stage. Her hand swooped around the top of the glass globe, much like a hawk searching for its prey, and it dived in for one, and only one, slip of paper.

"Ashton Draycott," Roxanne recited, but it came out as nothing but a string of blurs and rings in my ears, barely audible under excess noise. But I knew that name; I knew it far too well. I raised my down-casted eyes to the tall, lean figure of Ashton Draycott, making his way up to the stage with a neutral expression. Was he scared? Hard to say, but probably not. Boys like him thrived on adrenaline, on danger. But still, it was hard to tell.

We were required to shake hands, the crowd clapped one last time, and then we were ushered – or more like shoved – from the stage to the Justice building, and into separate chambers were we would await saying goodbye to friends and family. I paced around the room, eyeing the bookshelves, the intricate pattern on the ceiling, trying to put thoughts that didn't have to do with the present into my mind. Many times had I been in the Justice building, but never into the chambers, for they were reserved for the Tributes and only the Tributes.

My father would surely be coming to see me any minute, and that only left me with a couple moments to devise a speech. What could I say to the man? Don't worry, you'll be fine without me? That was the nice way of putting it.

As if on cue, the door was opened and Peacekeepers said, "Take your time, sir."

I turned my back from the door and scowled; if it was any other person, they would have growled a gruff, "Three minutes," and slammed the door behind him.

There was a long, awkward pause, and I knew my father was racking his brains to find something to say to his daughter who, by the looks of it, probably wouldn't be coming out of the arena. Sure, I was already unnaturally small, but my bones were unnaturally thin which, sure, provided speed, but not much strength.

"I'm sorry this happened." His voice came out in barely a whisper, but I knew it was all he couple manage at the present time.

"Don't be," I responded, turning from the open window overlooking the town square to my father, an aging man that shared my green eyes and blond colored hair. "It's not your fault this happened."

He started forward, slowly at first, but then embraced me in his wide arms, his peppermint-tinted breath exhaling on my neck, which had always annoyed me, but I didn't say anything.

"Don't worry about me," I said, rubbing his back. "It's you you'll have to look out for."

"But I'm not the one entering at arena," he protested.

"But if I don't come back, you can't leave the girls to fend for themselves. They need you," I pursued.

He insisted, "You'll be coming back, AnnaSophia."

I wanted to tell him that he was wrong, that even though I was part of the Career Tributes, I was tiny and didn't have much aptitude for survival without the aid of others. But again, I didn't say anything, but merely nodded. "Then when I'm gone," I continued, "you have to watch out for them."

He nodded solemnly. "It's just whenever I think of the Games, I remember her mother and how she gave her life to them – "

I shook my head and silenced him, for I didn't want to think about my long-dead mother in our last moments together.

"Are Violet and Lavona going to come by?" I inquired.

"Of course, but I figured you would want some time alone with them."

I nodded. "Thank you."

My father embraced me one last time and when we broke away, he opened my hand and placed a pendant in it, enclosing my fingers around it. "It's your token," he said. "I already ran it by the Peacekeepers, and they think you'll be eligible to use it, but once you're in the Capitol it'll have to be approved again."

He kissed the top of my hand and parted for the door, only turning back one more time as a melancholy expression passed over his face. He ducked his face from my view, but I had already his churlish look. Even if he wanted to believe, he knew there was a good chance I wouldn't be coming back.

Saying goodbye to my two younger sisters was heart breaking, but kept the tears from the public eye, for if Violet and Lavona saw my despair, they would truly see there was no chance I would be making it back. Hope would be lost, deception would be spared.

Soon after, the Peacekeepers came back into the chamber and rushed me out and into a car that would take me to District 4's train station. People were paved all along the sides of the roads, cheering and waving to their newest Tributes. While it made me feel sick with a throbbing headache, Ashton was enjoying the scene and even smiling and waving to the crowd, which pursued them even further.

"Must you do that?" I demanded, rubbing my fingers to my temples when the screaming and jeering was becoming deafening.

"Do what?" he sneered.

"You're only influencing them to continue."

He didn't bother responding to me, but rater to the crowd. I wasn't surprised.

Roxanne took a separate cab to the station, but she was already there, waiting under a sea blue umbrella when we arrived, for an outbreak of a light drizzle began the moment we stepped out of our car. Every way I looked, a camera flashed, their owners screaming at us to smile. I dodged their gaze and hurried after Roxanne and Ashton into the long train, consisting of many compartments.

"It's crazy, isn't it?" Roxanne said once we were out of the rain and into the shelter of a Capitol transporter. "I think things are shaping out to be a great Games this year!"

I turned away and stared out the window as the train departed from the station and we were launched around two hundred miles per hour towards the Capitol. As much as I want to like Roxanne and get along with her, I couldn't bring myself to do it. She was just like the citizens of the Capitol, who dominate in power over the rest of us and summon us forth to take part in their, and only their, games.

"Can you show me to my cabin?" I asked gruffly, not wishing to be in the room with either of them for much longer. Roxanne looked slightly taken back at my surliness, but nevertheless, she led me to another compartment, down the hall, and to a separate room.

"I hope it's to your liking," she said softly before closing the door behind me, leaving me all by myself with no other company but myself.

The room was, in all honesty, beautiful, but it was expected, seeing that was made for the Capitol and their personal uses. The walls, flushed in a deep red, made the shape of a pentagon and the carpet was a cremey white. The bed was draped in plush comforters and pillows and laid against an angled wall. A crystal chandelier shed golden light into the room and there a couple circular windows against the far wall. I pushed aside the curtains, but due to a lack of sunlight and the fact that we now skimming through a patch of greenery, no extra light was provided. I stared longingly out the window as I left behind the ruins of my life in District 4.