Chapter 4: Finnick
"Hello, hello there. Oh my god, look at myself, how do people even stand looking at me?"
Finnick desperately wanted to tell President Snow that he had always looked that way, but decided to keep his mouth shut.
"Now, Ellen and Finnick." President Snow surveyed us carefully. "You will be entering the Hunger Games. If you don't know, the Hunger Games is-"
I kind of zoned out after that. Who could blame me, when I had spent my entire life learning about the games?
"-Your train will leave in five minutes."
"What?" I said. "What about our families? Don't we get to say goodbye to them?"
"Ah." He said, tapping his chin. "Yes. Well, about that, I have decided to start a new rule. If your family/friends do not volunteer for you, they clearly do not love you. Therefore, I believe there is no need in seeing them."
Ellen and I stood with our mouths open.
"But I don't have any other family besides my parents! They weren't able to volunteer for me."
President Snow grinned at me evilly. "Feisty little one, aren't you? Now, tell me Finnick, do you have any friends?"
"Yes, I do! They're just not stupid enough to volunteer for this bloodbath!" That was true. I had many friends, (Yes, that includes girls) and we always talked about how stupid this whole idea was.
President Snow looked at his watch as if nothing had happened. "Well, off with that matter, you don't want to miss your train now, do you?"
Actually, I would personally adore missing the train, but I nodded anyway. I closed my eyes and pictured my parents. My mother, with her beautiful features and long, flowing brown hair. My father, who was handsome beyond words, and the smartest person I have ever known. And I was leaving them just because of that stupid President. Leaving them, maybe forever.
Almost certainly forever.
When we got to the train station, President Snow said he had to leave us for "Important matters" and that we will be accompanied by one of his servants instead.
By "Important matters," he probably meant either spying on teenage girls while they get dressed, repainting his white van, or killing people. I decided not to dwell on all of the completely wonderful things he could be doing right now.
As I boarded the train, I looked out the window. Luckily, we did not have the longest way to go, the Capitol is right past District 1, and since we were District 4, it would take around an hour and a half. The people from Camp Half Blood had to take a plane just to get here.
Isn't that nice: Plummet toward your death on a first class seat plane ride.
As I was thinking all of this, we were passing District 3's large computer screens, District 2's intricate masonry work, and District 1's tall, gold mansions, glittering in the sunlight.
District 12 is still the poorest district. I could only imagine how hard it would be to pass District 1, with all their jewels and money. I shot the people of District 1 dirty looks as the train passed by. They shot them right back at me.
Finally, we were called in for lunch. I had never had such delicious food in my entire life. There was mountains of lamb chops, steak, chicken, tofu, potatoes, fruit, vegetables, rice, anything you could think of; they had it.
My family is one of the poorest in District 4. Every day after school, I have to go immediately to the lake where I can only hope for fish. On a good day, I would come home with two flounder, or maybe a monk fish or two. On a bad day, I would only catch around 10 shrimp, and we would be very hungry the entire night. Sometimes when me or someone in my family got sick, we would not be able to vomit,, because there was nothing to come up. I know, it's disgusting, but it's actually very painful, gagging a lot.
I ate until there was almost nothing on the table. I looked up and found the capital girl who had escorted us here, clearing her throat.
"Hello. My name is Francesca, and I work for President Snow. I would like to tell you what you will be experiencing in the next couple of days." She paused, and wiped her face with her napkin. "First, you will be sent with you mentor, to learn about your strengths. Next, you will go through training, and you will also be ranked, from the scores 0-12. Finally, you will be polished up-" She looked at Ellen when she said this. "Interviewed, and the next day, you will enter the arena. Are we clear?" She ended with, taking a deep breath. I nodded.
"Thank you. Now, off to bed please, you've had a long day."
As if we could ever sleep with the thought that we will be murdered in a couple of days.