The anthem blared and rattled the whole whole room. The twenty-four tributes lined up, all dressed in formal wear against a stage. The live audience applauded, and Caesar Flickerman walked out on stage.
"Welcome! Welcome! Tonight, on this very stage, the tributes of the seventy-first annual Hunger Games, will line up, and for twenty three of them, address us, for the last time. Who will survive, who will make it out alive, and what are they wearing?" The audience erupted into laughter. Caesar Flickerman was one of the biggest names in Panem. Every year, he dyed his eyelids, lips, and hair a different color. This year, it was a pale yellowish brown, the color of ginger roots. He wore his signature dark blue suit with twinkling lights embedded in it. It reminded me of the stars above Seven. One by one, we walked out, and Caesar asked us questions, and we entertained them. The girl from Two, whose name is apparently Poreclain was arrogant, and cocky. The boy from Five played it sly, and the girl from Six, Vespa talked about her intuition and survival skills. Then it was Catax's turn. He walked on stage.
"Catax Ivory!" announced Caesar, "Now, Catax, you got a Six, can you give us an idea what happened there?"
He answered in a small voice. "I don't think I'm supposed to talk about it, but I can tell you the skills I showed in there were a big sign of my indpendence in this whole thing." He was actually pretty smart, he used a lot of big words, and was pretty witty, he got the audience laughing once or twice. The three minute timer went off, and it was my turn. On my way up the stairs, I tripped on my long, origami style green dress, and my dark brown shoes when Atlas made eye contact and winked at me.
"Whoa!" Caesar started laughing. He helped me up, and walked me to the chair.
"Hello Caesar," I said. Cry, Johanna, cry. The tears started.
"Oh no! Oh, Johanna, you poor thing, what is the matter?" Caesar said. I tried to come up with a sad, weak response, I needed sponsors, and they wouldn't sponsor just anyone.
"I just...I just know I'll die first! I don't want to die Caesar!" I bawled into his shoulder. From the audience I hear sighs of sadness. I look out, and Atlas pretends to wipe away a tear, and Blight rolls his eyes. "I doubt I'll get sponsors, but if I go into the Conrnucopia, I'll die," Reel 'em in Johanna, I thought to myself.
"No, no, no! Honey, we just will not have that," Caesar said to me. "We'll sponsor her right folks?" They all cheered. I was pathetic, and they ate it up like that mushroom broth. "Now, Johanna, on the bright side, have you made an friends while you were here?" I glanced around, looking at Mille, Atlas, and Blight.
"Yeah, a few," I said.
"And your family, what are their thoughts?" Caesar asked. I have to admit he did a really good job of acting intrigued.
"Well, my sister is really upset, but I'll fight to get home to her, and my dad, I cried aliitle, but these were real. "Well I just miss him a lot, and, um, his wedding ring is my token," I moved the ring around on my finger. I imagined him in Seven, eyes fixed to the screen everytime I was on it. People are probably covering his shifts. "Dad, I love you," I said to the camera. The crowd erupted in applause and inhuman sounds of sorrow. I barely heard the three minute timer ring. I walked back to my chair, and sat through ten more interviews. Both from Ten had garbled, rough speech, and didn't seem to intelligent, but they made up for it with ruthlessness. If I lived in the Capitol, I'd bet on one of them.
After the interviews, Velorum took me aside and wished me good luck. "I know you'll do so good Johanna!" He smiled a flamboyant smile. "Blight told me your plan, and it worked, I cried through your whole interview." He swished off down the hallway, green pants waving in the air.
"Goodbye, Velorum," I mumbled.