Define Limits

I had an hour. One hour to spend with my family and friends before I would probably never see them again. There were probably a bunch of people wanting to wish me luck, which got on my nerves because the more people, the more they would divide my hour, and the less I would get with the people who mattered.

I ran my light pink nails along the velvet chair, deciding to get comfortable. I took my pink shoes off, deciding to go barefoot and let my feet be tickled by the soft carpet. I took a deep breath, not wanting to cry. I had actually used the little makeup I had, stuff from the capitol, and I didn't want it ruined.

My dad came in first, which I figured was because Leather was already on the train. I guessed he would mentor Brendon and Spark would be in charge of me. My dad just stared at me for a minute, I wasn't sure why so my aquamarine eyes danced in confusion. Then I was engulfed in a hug.

"I'm so sorry your in this Lace, but Brendon will take care of you and I know you can win, your a strong girl." he whispered to me, then quickly pulled away.

I nodded, quickly wiping my eyes, checking to make sure they were still dry.

"Any advice?" I asked him, wondering what more to ask. I had asked him this many times, and he had always answered the same way. But I figured the room was bugged, and thats why he whispered to me. I needed to be shocked, like I wasn't planning on being reaped, training was technically not aloud.

"Your fast, run. And you're obviously in the careers, so find a way to lead them. And your pretty, use that too. I'm going to guess your ok with a sword, like me. Or a knife like your brother." He said honestly, which was different then his usual answer.

I thought back to when I was 12, watching Leather in the final 5, he was fighting off one of the other careers, I think the one from 2, and he was losing for a minute. I was in tears again and I asked my dad what to do if I ever get reaped. He looked at me real hard. "Win, but if you do be careful. Because if your not, you will wish you died." And that kind of stuck with me, I heard Victor's had it hard. My dad always had nightmares and I was never aloud to watch his games. I guess he has had it hard, he watched his son almost die on TV and now me.

I nodded, taking note of everything biting my pink lip. "Daddy, how did it feel when you heard you won?" I asked him, carefully choosing my words. What I was asking was if he regretted winning.

He sighed, running his hands through his hair, which you could tell was starting to gray. He wasn't by any means old, he just seemed stressed all of the time. "I felt like my life was about to do a 180."

I nodded, his life changed alright, but I couldn't make out in his face if he was glad or not. I was about to press further before the Peacekeeper signaled it was time for him to leave.

I hugged me once more, before pulling away and standing to leave. "Love you Lace, come home.'' he said to me, before walking out the door.

"Love you too" I called out, hoping he heard me. I bit my lip harder, figuring I was cutting it but I wasn't about to start crying right now. I just thought that that could've been the last time I would talk to him.

Liam and a few of the other boys came in next, and I laughed a bit more as they tried to encourage me. They had already visited Brendon, who seemed not as nervous as me. I wasn't surprised, he was always the daring one. I liked to define limits, he pushed them.

"He's got something for you" Flect said to me, which made me scrunch my eyebrows in confusion.

Liam nodded, "Brendon."

"He bought you a token, he said he'd give it to you on the train" Dare explained to me, because the other too weren't .

"Does he have one?" I asked, feeling like an awful girlfriend because I hadn't gotten him one, but in my defence I didn't think he was going into the games. Ok I knew he said he was going to, I just hoped he wouldn't.

All three shook their heads, "No." Liam said, "But you don't have to have one."

I made up my mind, I would think of something, maybe I could give it to him when we got into the capitol.

Then the girls came, Gllisten and Diamond and Sheer came first, then more came. The peacekeepers only let them come in groups of three. They gossiped, and talked strategy for the games. Telling me how lucky I was, to be pretty, to have Brendon, to be reaped. I wanted to laugh at them, but I didn't.

Lithe came. We didn't talk as much as we should've. Mainly she talked about him. Shafe. The boy who she killed to win the games. And I talked of Brendon, who wanted to have the same fate. We sighed, in out pity party of love both knowing there were no happy endings. The only way Brendon and I would end up together was if we both ended up dead.

Then after Lithe left I realized it had been an hour, mainly because no one else came.

Then me and Brendon were ushered into separate cars, which was odd because tributes were always driven together from the Justice Building to the train station. I guessed because of the reporters, they would want a shot of us embracing or something at the station. It was annoying, because I didn't want our relationship to be broadcasted to everyone, but if it was what would keep us alive...then I was going to be the most love-struck 16 year old this games had ever seen. It was my last few weeks with Brendon anyways, I needed time...which wasn't on my side today. Stupid time.