"What do you think?" Luna asks me, as she slips on my padded jacket.
"It.. seems warm." Is all I manage to say. After all, I'm a nervous wreck.
"Yeah," She nods, looking away. I guess she doesn't want to have to say goodbye. And neither do I.
We stay there silent, both of us looking of in random directions, before I feel the presence of her arms wrapping around my neck as she pulls me in for a hug. I take in her powdery yet musty smell, exactly what every Capitol citizen smells like.
"Good luck," She whispers into my neck. And just those two words, along with the final realization that today is the day, bring tears to my eyes. I blink them back, determined not to cry, in case I set many other people off.
"Thank you," I say bravely, "And thanks for everything you've done for me. You truly are amazing!"
She pulls away from me, smiling sadly.
"And look after old Caleb, okay? I don't think he's as strong as he looks, well not mentally anyway," She says, looking me deep in the eyes.
"Right, how long left?" I ask her, fixing my leather, sturdy boots and pushing a piece of blonde hair out of my petrified face.
"You have exactly one minute, best get in the tube. Goodbye!" She tells me, as I walk towards the slender tube. As I'm about to step inside it, I start to panic in case I don't fit through. I shout my worries back to Luna, but she just laughs.
"Of course you will! If Haymitch got through it those many years ago, of course you are!" She says, giggling at the fact that's she's just insulted Haymitch. She's not even meant to do that, but I guess nobody will find out.
"Oh, right!" I say, embarrassed at my stupidity. "Bye!" I shout back, but I don't think she can hear me now that I'm starting to rise from the underground. I just wave, watching as she becomes smaller and smaller, further and further away from me, until she finally disappears and I'm all alone. And scared.
Waves of emotion run through me; desperation, scared, isolated, alone. But most of all, abandoned. I don't know why, but I feel like I've just been left to it. Left to my death.
As the tube continues rising, beams of sunlight shine into my face. After hours of the darkness underground, I'm thankful for this little bit of 'natural' sun glistening down on me. It's not natural though, even though I think it is to start, as I remember than everything in this arena is man made.
Suddenly, I'm out of the upwards tunnel, and thrown onto a platform. An icy chill makes me shiver, as I pull my coat tighter around me. As I'm looking around, I see for the first time what the arena for the 74th annual Hunger Games is going to be.
An abandoned city.
I don't have time to look around or locate any of the other tributes, as the timer is slowly ticking away, the number lowering with every second. As it reaches 10 seconds, I spot the place where I am meant to run to collect items; this time it looks like a run down town hall. How strange, I think.
As I see the clock going down from 10 to 5, I start to panic and completely forget most of the advice Haymitch gave me, only yesterday.
Before I know it, other tributes are running off in the direction of the town hall, and I seem to be the only one still on their platform. I try to run, but my legs are all wobbly, and I begin to fall to the ground. But I know I have to try and stay alive.
Sprinting as fast as I can, I reach the entrance of the hall and creep inside, all six senses turned on to their maximum limit. People are screaming, bleeding horrendously from all sorts of knife wounds. I'm scared now. Petrified, even.
Then I feel the presence of someone towering over me from behind. I try to run, but my feet just don't seem to want to move. It's like all the noise around me is suddenly blocked out.
Then I hear a voice from out of nowhere, telling me to run as fast as I can, and hide.
And I do that. I run and run away from the Cornucopia as fast as my little legs will carry me, only stopping to pick up a backpack along the way from one of the already dead tributes. I feel ashamed that I'm pickpocketing one of the dead, but after all it's only a game. And unfortunately, all 24 of us tributes are part of its sicking rules.
His hands are icy cold, and as I touch them to prise his fingers away from the material of the pack, it's makes me shudder. Just looking at his closed eyes makes me sad. How will his family cope with the loss of their beloved son? What even was his name? This, I will never know.
I turn away from him now, slinging the pack over my shoulder and heading along the street in search of a place to hide. Hopefully until this horrendous nightmare is over.
I've been walking for what seems like hours, and my feet are starting to bleed. I take of my shoes cautiously, and walk barefoot for a while.
I haven't seen any of the tributes since the bloodbath at the town hall, yet every time I hear a noise, I hold my breath and freeze. I guess it's just my natural instincts.
I remember something now, about not going in to find items in order to survive, but instead, just run as far away as you can. What Haymitch told me.
I wish I would of took his advice now, I nearly lost my life there. Then again, life is about making mistakes and trying to solve them. Mother used to always tell me this.
When anyone mentions 'Mother' or 'your sister', my eyes start to glaze over and I have to force the tears away. And this time is no exception.
As I walk into what seems to be just a derelict building, I wonder who told me to run. The voice seemed familiar, yet deep and full of desperation, and I can't but a name to the voice.
Exploring this arena seems to be the only thing that can get my mind of home and my family. I even miss Peeta, even though when I was in District 12 I never liked him. Mainly because of his evil mother who used to always kick Buttercup away. Oh, how I miss my beloved Buttercup. And Lady too.
As I delve further into the building, I find out (by all the machinery dotted around) that in fact it's meant to be a unused factory. It's almost like I can feel the machines whirling around, almost touching me as they move so swiftly from side to side. I can almost smell the sweat of the overworked children and adults here, and hear the shouts of the overseer as he screams at them to worker harder, work faster. like they aren't already.
But I know it's either just my imagination at work a bit too hard, or something the Gamemakers have done to make me think like that.
I find a nice secluded spot in one of the corners, and settle down, my backpack next to me.
It's already dark, and the fake glittering moon has come out to play with the black blanket of darkness that covers the sky. Looking out of the window, I see the whole of the arena for thr first time. It's not that immense like it was last year; I bet the Gamemakers did that on purpose so our deaths were quicker.
So far, I've only heard 9 booms of the cannon, and that was just after the bloodbath. That means that nothing has happened since then, and the Gamemakers will be getting bored. This means only one thing; they'll make another disaster, bringing us all together, hoping for more deaths. And that could be at any time.
I can't let that worry me though, and anyway, I need the rest.
Snuggling down into the sheet provided in the pack, I wrap it tightly all the way up to my neck to keep the cold, icy air out of my lungs. I'm hungry, but not ravenous enough to eat my only crackers. I may need them in worse conditions.
My spot on the floor is just out of sight of any passing tributes, so I decide that I am safe. Closing my eyes, my mind goes to rest, and before I know it, I'm fast asleep, dreaming that I'm back home with Katniss and Mother.