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Haymitch
I dream about her. We are in the arena. That big Career guy that told the others to press all of the buttons on the elevator is there. Maysilee is there. And I'm there. The Career guy sees her and she runs. He chases after her with his spear in his hand. He's got this blood crazy look on his face. He's going for the kill. I sprint after him. There is no way I'm going to let him kill her. There's no way I'm going to let her die. Maysilee runs into a clearing.
"Maysilee, WATCH OUT!" I scream and he throws his spear. She turns and starts to jump behind a rock so it hits her on her side instead of full on in the stomach and she falls over in pain. I run over and stab the Career as he turns and I kill him. The cannon sounds and I run to Maysilee. She is breathing heavily and clutching her side.
"Don't die on me! Don't leave me!" I beg her. I don't know what I would do without her.
"Haymitch… Haymitch… Win this. For me." She whispers. I hear the sound of the cannon, announcing her death.
Everything goes black and when the light comes back, I'm someplace new.
The Games are almost at an end. There is the girl from District One, the boy from District Eleven, Maysilee and myself left. A fight has begun. The girl from one and the boy form eleven are in the middle of a battle. Swords flying, axe throwing, it's a violent fight. I'm sure the Capitol is eating up every second, not daring to let their eyes leave the screen. The boy falls, the girl had got him with her axe on the head. The cannon sounds. He is dead. The hovercraft takes his body and the girl spots me. She starts stomping her way over to me, thinking she can beat me, but I throw my spear and hit her square in the chest. She collapses. She is dead. It's just me and Maysilee now. She drops her knife and looks at me. It's an uncommunicative understanding between us. I can't kill her. And she can't kill me. A hovercraft comes and the ladders drop. Two of them. We both step on one and I grab hers to pull it closer to mine. We embrace the whole way to the Capitol. We are the winners of the Fiftieth Annual Hunger Games.
Later, after the final interviews, we are hand in hand on a train back to District Twelve.
The background fades and the setting shifts.
Again we are in the arena and one of the Careers is after Maysilee. A girl. I don't remember from which district but she is trying to kill Maysilee. I'm about ten yards to Maysilee's left and I'm not going to let that happen. I start running towards her. The girl throws her spear at Maysilee at the same time I throw my knife at her, jump in the way and brace myself to take the spear for Maysilee and save her life.
And I awaken. I'm all sweaty and hot and breathing hard. I look at the clock and it's three fifty-nine in the morning. I get a glass of water and chug it. Wow, who would know that dreams could make you so thirsty. And those dreams seemed so real. I guess it's obvious now. I can't kill Maysilee.
I walk back over to my bed and lay back down. The bed is so wet though. I get up and strip it of its sheets and lay back down and go back to sleep. With more Hunger Games dreams awaiting my return to unconsciousness.
It seems like I have just laid my head on the pillow when I hear a pounding on my door. Well, one thing I know for sure is that it is not Rosale. I get up and answer the door. It's Damon.
"Umm, hi…" I'm trying to figure out why he is here. Sampson is supposed to come and give me my outfit for the arena.
"I want to talk to you. You are going into the arena today and I wanted to give you some last words of advice." He says. I feel like there's more too it though. Like I'm a little kid awaiting my punishment.
"Ok." I respond. He comes inside my room, looks at my stripped bed, then at me with a questioning glance, and sits in a chair.
"So, Haymitch. How did you sleep last night?" Damon asks. I've got this nagging suspicion that he has something on his mind.
"Um, well, I woke up sweating from all of the nightmares I had. The never ended and they seemed so real." I answer, unsure of what I'm supposed to say.
"Well, I slept pretty good. Then, I woke up around midnight and went to go and get a drink, and saw you up." He says. He's still holding something back.
"Oh, that's weird. I don't remember that. Maybe I was sleep walking? Or you were hallucinating?" I try, knowing darn well that it's not going to work.
"Sleep walking with Maysilee? Sleep kissing Maysilee? Nice try, boy." He says. I guess he saw us. We didn't see him though. I wonder where he was. "What did I tell you? I said that at least one of you are going to die soon. And you are just going to make it a lot harder on eachother when that happens. And what do you do? You go and kiss the girl! You just go and kiss her!" He reprimands me.
"I can't- Wait a moment! Why is it such a bad thing that we kissed? Yeah sure I surprised her by kissing her, but she didn't mind! She kissed me back right after that! Twice!" I tell him. I can feel my cheeks going red as I sit here and have Damon lecture me on kissing Maysilee.
"So both of you are being stupid! Do you know what this is going to do to you when she dies? Or to her when you die? Or what if you two are the last ones? They have to have a victor. But they won't allow two victors. Did you think about that? Do you remember when I told you this two days ago? I remember you being there when I said that." He yells at me.
"Damon, there is a two percent chance that I will make it out of here alive. And a two percent chance Maysilee will. The odds of us winning are really low. A ninty-eight percent chance that I will die. That's almost one hundred. So we don't have very long left in our lives, so why not make the best of it?" I shout.
"Because it's going to ruin your game. Both of you. It's been so long since I won the games and I'm the only one who has from District Twelve. We need more victors." He pulls me towards him and whispers in my ear. "For one, to mentor the future tributes, and for two, if there is every any shot at a rebellion we need as many victors as we can get. The people will listen to and trust the victors."
"I'm sixteen for crying out loud! Nobody is going to listen to me!" I whisper back.
"Yes, they will. And to tell you the truth, I'm certain that if anyone from Twelve wins, it's going to be either you or Maysilee. Jared has a big mouth and is going to get his butt kicked. And he's pretty mad at you, so expect him to come after you. But you could take him. And Lucy, has already given up on herself. If I had my bet, she won't last more than a couple days. But you and Maysilee, are going to go far. Unless there is a fluke." He seems confident in us. "Or all of this kissing and the emotions screw you up."
"So your saying when you were in the Games, you didn't have a family you wanted to spend more time with or a girl that you wanted to tell her how you felt?" My question caught him off guard. He had to think about this for a couple of seconds.
"Well…yeah, I did. But it was different. She wasn't a contender in the Games with me." He says, almost indifferently.
"Yeah, and you didn't know if you'd ever see her again. With me, I get to see Maysilee until one of us dies. But at least she now knows how I feel and I won't live the rest of my life regretting it, if I were to win the Games. And to answer your question, if it does come down to the two of us, she's going to win." I am certain about that. I would never be able to go home if I had taken her life or if she had given it up for me. Not just because the while district would hate my guts, but I would never be able to live in a place where she should be. Heck, I might even become a drunk like Damon if that happened. But if it comes down to it, after that dream, I know that I will do anything to protect her.
"Oh good!" He says sarcastically. "Now you've got that off of your chest, can we focus on getting you to survive long enough?"
"Whatever." I say, knowing that nothing I say is going to change his mind on how he feels about us. I just hope he's not doing the 'I told you so thing' if that does happen. 'Cause I will kick his butt.
Damon spends the next twenty minutes drilling me with advice. When Sampson comes, he leaves.
"Good luck, Haymitch. Stay alive." And he walks out the door.
Sampson has me dress in black. Pants, shirt, jacket, boots. He doesn't say much. In fact, all he does say is "Put these on" when he hands me my clothes. Then he escorts me to the roof to get on the hovercraft.
After about a two hour ride, we go to our assigned rooms. I eat the plate of food and drink the water set out for me. Even though I am as nervous as heck, I don't know when my next meal is going to be. They're not called the Hunger Games for nothing.
Soon, I am told to load on the metal plate in the center of the room.
I step on the metal plate. It is going to take me into the arena. Then I will have sixty seconds get a visual on my surroundings before the buzzer goes off and I can get off the plate to endure whatever forms of torture the Gamemakers have planned. If I move before the sixty seconds are up, I will be blown to bits. Not such a bad idea compared to the alternative. But I won't leave the plate early. I'm not going to leave Maysilee alone in the arena. That would devastate her. I wonder if it is against the rules to push other people off their plates… If idiot Career guy is next to me. He's bigger than me though. I'd have to really push hard and catch him by surprise. But the Gamemakers have probably made it so the tributes can't do that. One person could cause the domino effect and all of the tributes would be dead. Except for the one that started the pushing. But they might die, too, who knows. And the Gamemakers wouldn't be happy that the Games only lasted about two minutes.
When I am lifted into the arena, I am amazed.
Maysilee
The next morning I'm awoken early by Jolene.
"Get up! And throw these on!" she snaps at me.
I can tell she is not an early person. I don't let her get to me though, 'cause as I pull on a pair of black jeans along with some black shoes and a black shirt and jacket, I think of kissing Haymitch last night. I felt so elated! He completely took my breath away. My thoughts wonder the letter I wrote him last night. I was planning to give it to Rosale but now I realize I won't be seeing her today as it's the stylists that are getting us ready for the Games and are escorting us to a hovercraft that will take us to the arena.
Panic starts to rush through my body. Jolene orders me to follow her to the roof but before I follow her out the door I run to my desk and pick up the letter and clutch it to my chest. I guess I'll have to resort to giving it to Jolene in the hopes she'll honor my wish and give the letter to someone that will give it to Haymitch for me if he makes it out alive.
Just as I reach the door I start and realize I'm forgetting one last thing. My token. I rush to a table beside my bed and pick up the mockingjay pin. I can't believe I almost forgot about this! I quickly pin it to my shirt as I race out the door.
When I round the doorframe I run smack into someone.
"Ouch! I'm so sorry!" I say. I look at the person I've run into and see that it's Rosale. It's like the fates are aligning everything for me! "Oh, Rosale! I'm so glad to see you!"
"Hello Maysilee! Please watch where you're going dear, you have me quite the headache!" she responds.
"Yes, I'm sorry!" I say urgently. I really need to get to the chase before I run out of time. "Rosale, I wrote a letter to Haymitch in case he is the one that becomes Victor. Will you see to it that he gets it if it is him?" I plead.
"That's quite the odd request but I'll be sure to do it!" Rosale agrees.
"Thank you so much!" I cry. I thrust her the letter and run up the stairs to the roof without looking back.
I'm so relieved that Haymitch will get that letter from me if we wins. Everything worked out perfectly, apart of me thinks that he is destined to be the victor. But that still doesn't mean I won't try my hardest to do well and make it far. After all, something could happen to him, and if so I need to make it back. For the both of us.
I see Jolene impatiently waiting for me by a ladder hanging from a hovercraft.
"Hurry up now! We haven't got all day!"
When I step onto the ladder something makes me go completely still and then I'm lifted up inside the hovercraft. Rosale quickly follows and we are taken to a portion of the craft designated for me as the tributes are no longer allowed to interact before the Games begin.
After thirty minutes I notice that we are starting to move. That must mean we are all aboard. Well all the tributes from district 12 that is. All the districts ride in there own hovercraft. During regular year each tribute has there own, but with 24 extra people this year it must have been decided that less hovercrafts in the air at the same time would be tremendously easier.
Soon into the ride the window are covered so that we can't see where we are headed. The arena is supposed to be a surprise. None of us knows what we are going into in a matter of hours. The unknown terrifies me. The arena could be anything from a desert to a tropical forest. Wherever we are going there's sure to be deadly creatures to could kill us in our sleep. Anything to entertain the Captiol.
In what feels like two hours someone on the hovercraft beckons us out of the room we were assigned. Jolene and I are escorted back to the ladder which leads us to the catacombs underneath the arena were rooms are built for the tributes to occupy right before they head into the arena. Someone else shows up and takes up to my room. There's not much there. A couch and a table with some food and drinks in a tray situated on top are its main contents. There's also a circle of metal in the middle of the room. Jolene tells me that this is where I stand to be lifted into the arena.
I steer clear of the metal circle while I can. It is associated with ***there's a word I can't get to come out of my head that's supposed be here, lol*** in my head.
I sit down on the couch besides Jolene. She ignores me so I just sip some water while I wait. I'm too nervous to eat anything. Man I hope that my family won't have to watch me die. I don't want to let them down. My thoughts turn to despair as I think about my family.
A voice fills the chamber and interrupts my internal depression.
"Tributes, please make your way onto the metal plate in the center of your rooms." It tells me.
So I stand up and step onto the plate. Jolene just watches and doesn't say a word as a glass cylinder lowers itself down encasing me. I'm claustrophobe so this doesn't help my nerves at all.
I close my eyes and with a whoosh the metal plate lifts me up into the arena. I open my eyes and my jaw drops at what I see.