Chapter 1

Frozen Liars

I dream of being in the middle of a meadow, people approaching from every direction. I count them, 24. Their faces are blank, their clothes are torn apart, and there's blood spilling from injuries all over their bodies. I can see that some are armed, with spears, arrows, knives and swords. They keep moving forward, towards me, mumbling some words I can't understand. I try to run, but I can't, my body is frozen. I try to scream, but instead a maniacal laughter escapes my lips. This makes them walk a little bit faster. I try keeping the desperation to myself, they don't like being laugh at. They are closer now, I can hear their mumbling more clear now, they are saying "Please". The word echoes in my head, the fear growing inside my body. Less than five steps and they'll be able to touch me. I press my lips tightly, trying not to scream again. But, I can't. Another laugh escapes my lips, and they fall to the ground. They are dead. I killed them.

I wake up screaming, covered in sweat and shaking. This sort of dreams have been waking me up half through my sleep since they made the announcement. I try to think they are not a bad thing, that they mean that I'm still a caring human. But, I know that's not an absolute truth, because I am closer to turning that dream, no... That nightmare into a reality. I have no other choice. It's for a greater good, I must remind myself of this. It is, it really is. I look towards the white ceiling, and take a deep breath. Inhaling some courage and motivation, and exhaling hard, as if by doing so my troubles will go away. Not that they'll ever will.

I stand up, and walk towards the bathroom. I put my hands in the sink, water running through my fingers, flowing carelessly, I clean my face, refreshing it with the coldness of the water. I open my eyes and see myself in the mirror. Damn this nightmares are taking all the energy out of me. I look paler than I normally do, and that's a lot. My black hair is all messy, I must have moved frantically in my sleep, while I tried to escape of them. I move my hand through my hair, trying to look presentable. I cant appear so ruined in front of the crowds. I must give them what they want after all. I frown to my reflection. Remembering that it's all an act, that I must be one more actor to this show, a director making a cameo appearance in his movie. My dark brown eyes drift away from the mirror, I can't stand my own reflection. The sight of myself sickens me, the weight of everything I've done and will do keeps attempting to crush me constantly. It's for a greater good, I whisper.

I get out of my room and walk firmly, and elegantly, as I've trained myself to do. I reach the glass door that opens itself to reveal the white roses lined up, as well as the glass ceiling filling the room with light, the strong smell is burning my lungs slowly, it makes me nauseous. This is how he smells. And there he is of course, walking at the end of the room. He waves at me in his dark suit, white hair and the white rose sticking out of his lapel. He doesn't need it here though, I'm sure the other thousand roses can cover the smell of that. I walk towards him, smiling cooly. Raising my face a little bit higher, standing a little bit taller. Arrogance spilling all over my face. He smiles back at me.

"You left early yesterday", he turns to the side, looking at the roses.

"Indeed. However, to excuse myself from such an early departure, I must say I came up with a way to fix one of my previous ideas. I'm sure it will be worth the inconvenience", I say smoothly. Lies escape my mouth so easily it scares me sometimes, excuses aren't at all hard for me. I guess I'm already used to them.

"I'm sure I won't be disappointed, Wallace", he says while looking at me straight into the eyes.

"I must go now, there's an interview I must attend", I hold his gaze while I speak and then turn around, walking towards the exit. If I don't leave this room soon, I might faint or vomit or scream. Or all of them at the same time.

"Very well, just remember not to let the fame fog your vision", I hear him say as I walk through the door.

I step into the red carpet, walking through the white corridors covered with pieces of art. Paintings, sculptures and other decorations I wish I had the time to appreciate. I turn around in several corners, left, right, left. Until I reach the elevator. I push the button to the level 0. Where the interview will be held. I hate interviews, and why wouldn't I? They are lying practices to me. That's all I do in them, lie. Pretend to be someone I'm not, betraying with each word everything I believe is right.

I take a deep breath, and the door opens itself. Hundreds of camera flashes blind my vision, but I put on a wide smile. And walk forward, peace keepers maintain the crowds to the sides, clearing a path for me. I give the reporters smiles, a wink every now and then, and some nods, they love me. Or at least, they love the idea of the me I show them.

The doors of the room at the end the floor open and after I enter, two guards close them. The noise of the reporters gets shut down as they do.

As soon as I look at my surroundings, I raise and eyebrow. What is she doing here? The blonde hostess of yesterday's party is sitting in the middle of the room, wearing a dark blue strapless dress. Once again, barely covering what must be covered. Her hair is arranged in a complicated braid that falls to her side. She's smiling at Xiusis Turpin, the interviewer. His capitolish style blinding my eyes, his yellow suit and pink hair accompany his dark skin which is covered by piercings. I've seen him even more extravagant than this, he used to have a stylized beard, not as stylized as that guy called Seneca, but still it had some peculiar design to shape it.

I turn my eyes away from them, observing the room. I've seen it a thousand times, especially on the last few weeks. It has a white marble floor, as well as white walls, the one in front of me has another door, while the rest of the room is partially covered by windows. Xiusis' crew is moving across the room in their colorful shiny uniforms. The cameras pointing toward the center of the room. But, I know that already so there's no need to look at it. I want to keep my eyes as far from her as possible. Either way I know she - they are sitting in a red velvet couch with a huge golden logo of panem covering the wall on the back.

The voices of the people in the room get louder, breaking me away from the daze of my thoughts and announcing me that the current interview is over. I find myself tapping my foot across the floor, as if I'm impatient. I just remembered that I should look as if I'm too cool and important to be waiting. She stands from the couch, smiling and later kissing Xiusis on both cheeks, before she starts walking to the other door in the room. The one that goes to the street instead of the building, and to my luck the one farther away from my current position. I move my eyes from her to him. Xiusis is now looking at me, wide smile in his face, golden teeth reflecting the light. I walk towards him.

"Sorry for the long wait, but I couldn't miss that interview", he says 'that' as if it was obvious how important it was to get some words out of that girl.

"I don't see why would that interview be so especial to make me wait" I say dryly. Mocking the emphasis he used before.

"It isn't as important as yours of course! After all, what is more important than interviewing you the day of the reapings?", he says smoothly, while motioning me to walk towards the couch.

"Who is her?" I can't help but ask as I walk towards the focus of the cameras. I've always been curious and that's probably one of the things I have the hardest time hiding.

"Oh so there's something that Ace Duncan doesn't know!" he says and I give him such a cold look, he swallows hard and continues: "That beauty is Nina Crowe, a very influential figure between the richest people of the Capitol and the one in charge of hosting the meetings between the sponsors and the mentors". I frown. I should manage this information, more if it has something to do with the Games.

We are now sitting on the velvet couch, Xiusis' crew making some arrangements to him. Moving his tie to the left, giving him wine and combing his eyebrows. I keep wondering why I didn't know about who Nina was, but I know the answer. I never went to socialite events, and I didn't mind to pay attention to the mentors or the sponsors. The mentors are former victors, but if they aren't in the Arena they don't really call my attention. Though I'm thankful for them, they -or at least some of them, try their best to save their tributes. They know what it feels like to be one after all. But, the sponsors... Their job is less noble, less caring. Of course they want their chosen tribute to win, why wouldn't they? For them, it's their money what's on stake, not the life of the other 23 tributes.

Xiusis clears his throat, and I am back to the reality. The interview is about to start. The camera man starts counting. 3. I take a deep breath. 2. I straighten myself in the couch, while giving a half smile and looking at the camera arrogantly. And, 1, we are live.

"People from Panem, on this very special day, I Xiusis Turpin bring you the best interviews, with the trendiest people in the Capitol, and the best coverage from the Hunger Games! To my left, a well known figure to all of us, Ace Duncan, the 63rd Annual Hunger Games Head Gamemaker!".

A/N: I still need more tributes so keep on submitting!

The blog is on my profile!