First Impressions

The soft rumbling of the train wakes me up from my sleep. An Avox is standing across the room waiting to assist me. I don't like it when they are around because I feel bad. I cannot believe people are servants because they want freedom. I have the urge to talk to them, at least say thank you or acknowledge their existence, but Effie already got mad at me for doing that. Whenever I see them, I think of their tongues being pulled out. It must be so painful. They wear all red as though they arecovered in blood. She hands me clean clothes. I nod my head, I'm not sure if that is appropriate, but I do it anyways. She leaves the room.

I go to the shower. The water is warm. It covers me like a wool blanket. I'm amazed by the fact that the water on a train is hotter than the water in a house. We usually have to put water under a stove to get it warm, but here I only have to touch a button. I wonder what the capital people do with all this extra time they get from only needing to touch buttons to get things. I bet they just touch more buttons and get more stuff.

I miss seeing all the fields fly by as we glided through Panem, now we are getting into the mountains and there is not much to see in a tunnel.

There is a knock on the door and Effie's voice rings through the wood, "Prim, breakfast is ready, and we would love you to join!"

"In a minute," I yell to her. I can hear her gasp a little by my response and her shoes bang against the floor, finally leaving the car.

I looked at the bright clothes the Avox gave me. I threw them on the ground and got my dress. I wanted to be comfortable and not feel restrained in Capitol clothing. I looked at myself in the mirror. I didn't know what to do with my hair. My mom or Katniss always braided it. I brushed through it and let it be. I went out to the hallway and headed to the dining car. Goosebumps rose on my arms. The hall was cold and my skin was still warm from the shower.

I heard Haymitch talking to Peeta, "if this is true, it would change every…" He stopped when I walked into the room.

"What's wrong?" I asked them.

"Nothing," Effie smiled, "Come, darling, sit down and have something to eat!"

I knew something was up. I stared at Peeta to get some answers, but he avoided my eyes.

I sat down next to Effie and violently grabbed the spoon. I devoured the soup, making a bashing noise with every spoonful to show my anger. I hated secrets more than anything else. Secrets led to lies, which led to betrayal. I wanted to scream, but Effie was already filling the air with her annoying high pitched voice. She was angry with me too. She said I was unladylike. I wanted to shout at her too. I wasn't going to be living long, so I have the right to eat my soup which ever way I want. She thought all of this was exciting, but she wasn't the one who was going to die in a matter of days. She was going to drink a cup of tea while watching us die on a silver screen. I never was this frustrated before. I never get this mad. The only time I was truly mad before this was when Katniss was going to kill my cat, Buttercup.

"Excuse me," I stood up and left the room. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I ran into my room and slammed the door.

I pressed my face hard against the pillow and screamed. My fists were clenched and my yelling turned into cries. The pillow was getting wet from my tears, so I turned it around to the dry side. I really wanted to go home. Although this bed is like a cloud, I miss Katniss right next to me. I will never see her again and that is what hurts the most.

A few knocks on my door and I am awake. This is the day I go to the Capitol.

"Wake up, Prim," Effie chirps. She opens the door and looks at me, almost with disappointment. I don't know if it's my messy hair or the fact that I, the scrawny child, was her tribute.

"Come on, lets get your hair fixed," I guess it's the hair this time, "Avox! Come fix this!" she points to me.

The Avox nods and goes to a drawer. She picks up a fancy brush. Her hands gently take the braids out and the brush massages my scalp as she goes through it. Her gentleness reminds me of mother. She always put my hair in braids every morning. On special occasions, she put ribbons at the end of them. I wanted to cry again, but Effie was standing right in front of me and I didn't want her to go crazy.

We walked out of the room and I saw the people. I don't even know if they are people. I knew they were different, but I didn't expect this. Some of them have different colored skin, some are as blue as my dress. They wear clothes like Effie's; I'm not very surprised by that. They smile widely almost to show off their bright teeth. We went to the room we first were in. Peeta and Haymitch are there.

"You ready, kiddo?" Haymitch says, "don't be nervous. They just want to see your face. They ain't going to hurt you." He laughed.

I gave him a fake smile and nodded. I hid my shaking hands behind me. The trains slowed down to a halt. The door immediately opened and the yelling was deafening. I plugged my ears, but Effie yanked my arm, "do not be impolite! These people love you! Smile and show them that you feel the same!"

But I don't.

I was walking down the stairs and the fresh air hit me. It smelled very clean, but nothing like the lovely air in the forests. They are yelling my name and Peeta's. I don't understand why people have come to see me. I am not a career or anything special.

Quickly we are taken away into a building. They make us go into this small metal room and it goes up and down. When the doors open, we are on another floor. A group of people in white clothing come forward.

"This is your prep team, Prim," Effie said, "They will get you tidied up for the games."

They pulled me towards a shower head and had me fully exposed. Thankfully there was a curtain surrounding. They scrubbed everywhere, even the bottom of my feet. My skin was turning red and it started to hurt. I wanted to tell them to stop, but I was scared. After that, they put me down on a hard bed and took all the hair off my body except for the top of my head. It hurt for a few seconds after every time they pulled off the hair. They started using a metal pincher and started attacking my eyebrows. I was afraid they plucked them all off, but when I looked in the mirror, they were still there. I laid their still waiting for them to stop. I really wanted to leave.

Once they finished, they lead me to a completely white room with nothing but two chairs. They told me to wait a few minutes.

A man came into the room. He had very curly hair and piercings that ran along his ears. He kind of looked like a cat to me. He seemed calmer than the other people here. He wasn't superficial like the rest of them. For some reason, I trusted him.

"Hello, Primrose, I'm Cinna, your stylist," he kneels down to my height and looked into my eyes with sincerity, "I am terribly sorry that you are here. You are a very brave young lady and I want that to show in the Parade," he stared at me for a few seconds,"you have beautiful eyes. Blue isn't very common in district twelve, is it?" He moves back and sits in the chair beside me.

"No, I am..was the only one in my class with blue eyes," I tell him.

"I think they will look fantastic with your outfit," he smiled.

"What is it going to look like?" I imagined my outfit to be like the coal miner uniform. They always end up doing that.

"I'm not going to dress you up as a your district. You are much more than that. You are passion. You are life. You are fire," he was very fanatical.

"What do you have in mind?" I asked.

"I cannot give you all the details, but I hope are not afraid of flames," he smiled.

"What? Are you setting me on fire?" I started to panic inside.

"No! Just wait and you'll see," he left me at that and walked away.

I sat there for a few minutes. I started swaying my legs back and forth cause me feet didn't touch the ground.

Effie finally came into collect me, "come on, darling, we are heading up to the pent house!"

I got up and dragged my feet behind her. I wanted to talk to Cinna longer. He seemed to be the only person that understood me. He treats me as an equal, as though I'm not anyone special. He's honest and that's very refreshing.