My sisters attack me when I walk in the door, grabbing my legs and tugging on my arm.

"You're going in the arena! The arena!" They shout huge smiles on their faces. This day is a day of honor for my family. Having a child go into the arena is huge; having a child come out alive is even bigger. I reach down to pry them off me, but it isn't me that stops them. It's whose coming down the stairs.

They stand up straight next to me, fixing their skirts and smoothing out their hair. I don't change my position, but I do move my bag up so that it is more exposed. He won't know that all my weapons are at the training center.

"Clove," my dad slurs out. His dark brown hair looks like it hasn't been combed or washed in a year or so and he has let his beard grow out. His button down shirt isn't tucked into his possibly beige shorts. His white knee high socks make him look even crazier. I don't react with fear or shudder away, instead I just stand there with my arms crossed, almost daring him.

"From all the ruckus, I hear you got in," he says without any kind of emotion. He reaches out and steadies himself against the banister of the staircase.

"Yep."

"I'm not going to sweeten up for you, even if you are my first born girl. You have no chance. Girls, say goodbye," he takes one hand of the banister and shakes a dirty finger at me.

"They're just using you, making sure that other boy would win. No one really expects you to live in Victor's Village. You don't have an angle." He starts his way down the stairs, stumbling his way down. He keeps both hands on the banister, but his feet are going a million of different ways. You can see his bloodshot eyes from here.

"Look at Enobaria, ripping people's throats out. They want a good show. Knife tossing or whatever you do doesn't mean a thing to them. You wanna win, I just you leave your heart here. Toughen up, the dangers of the arena are too much for you." He keeps insulting me. I inch back a step, shoving my trembling sisters behind me. He reaches over to the basket next to the door and pulls out his umbrella.

I can tell he is going to hit me, us, I don't know. I don't know how he got out of his room. He is hooked up to multiple machines, feeding him morphling. It makes him insane. My hand sneaks up, inching up the door handle, trying to make sure he doesn't notice me. I make it there and twist the door handle, as he still rambles on about my death. He's now murmuring about my skull being smashed in.

The door unlocks and I pull it open. My sisters tumble onto the porch and I jump out with them. I grab the door handle and tug it closed, locking it with the key in my back pocket. I hear the sound of the umbrella slapping hard against the door. I crouch down to the ground, take both of my sisters' hand, and pull them up. I try to make sure that they can't tell my fear, but I'm pretty sure that they could hear my heart beating.

"C'mon. Let's go," I say and we walk off the porch and down the sidewalk. I can still hear the beating of the umbrella against the door. He won't be getting out anytime soon; I've made sure of that. I let them walk in front of me. They hold hands as they walk, trying to control their sobs. To everyone else, we are just a nice normal family. No one knows about the horrors inside the walls.

We first walk to my mom's office. I walk in, my sisters have fallen behind. I don't bother to check in with the assistant and I just walk right without even knocking. I'm only allowed to do this in case of emergency and I've been happy to never have to do this.

"Clove! I understand this is big news about going into the arena, but you must understand I'm at work! But really, I'm so proud of you! You're going to do great," she says, angry at first.

"Mom, that isn't it." I say into her shoulder because I'm wrapped in her hug. She leans back and puts her hands on my shoulders, a confused look.

"Dad's on a rampage. He tried to hit us but we got away," I tell her. I then proceed to tell her about the name calling and his physical condition. Her eyes grow wider with every sentence.

"We can't go back. I promise, everything will be fine. Why don't you go to the grocery store, pick up dinner, and go find somewhere to spend a night? I'll find you somewhere after I finish up and call the peacekeepers," she says. She crosses behind her desk and pulls some money out of her briefcase. She gives my sisters a warm smile and a hug. I take them outside the office and head to the grocery store.

I go to the back and pull out three dishes of beans and rice and three bottles of water. I pay and we leave. I stay outside the store for a minute because I'm really not sure where we should go. My first thought would be to Kayla's house, but I don't think they could take us in for the night, or maybe longer. She has lots of brothers and sisters and her house is already really noisy and cramped. We don't really know anyone else in town, but I can't stay here forever. I start walking.

My feet make my decision for me, leading me the same path I walk every day. I find myself at the back door of the training center. I decide that it would be good for us to stay here. There is lots of room and I don't think Dwayne would mind. Hopefully, he is still here. I push open the door and walk in the empty room. It's dark, so I turn on the light switch and then continue my way over to Dwayne's office.

His door is open just a crack, but I can see a stream of light pouring through. I knock and then let myself in so he doesn't freak out. No one is supposed to be here right now.

"Clove! What are you doing here?" He asks, shuffling some papers around on his desk. He puts the cap on his pen and puts it in the pen holder.

"Can my sister and my mom spend the night here? We won't touch anything," I ask him. He has a confused look.

"Um, yeah, sure. But, why?" He asks. I take a deep breath because I'm going to have to tell him the truth.

"My dad got off his morphing and started insulting me and going insane. We left before we were harmed," I explain to him. He nods, realizing the urgency of the situation.

"Oh, of course. You can stay in the dummy room, should provide some comfort. You know where it is," he tells me. I mouth a thank you to him and then we head off toward the room that is filled with dummies. It might seem creepy, but they don't have eyes, just bullesyes on their vital organs.

I walk over and remove the dummies from their bases that let them stand up straight. I lay them on the floor and then open up the grocery bag. I pass out our dinner and we eat in silence. This is not how I wanted to spend the night, the night that was supposed to be filled with happiness and concentration on the games.

After we are finished, mom comes in and talks to Dwayne for a moment. I think that they are talking about my entrance into the arena, but I also hear a few words exchanged about the family situation and why we are spending the night here.

"You should get some sleep, Clove. It's been a big day for you," she says. I drag one of the dummies over to the corner and try to get some sleep. My mom is telling my sisters a story about a princess and a frog.

I don't get a wink of sleep that night.