Chapter 4- Dreaming

That night Sparrow collapsed on to her bed, utterly exhausted from the events of the day. The shock had worn off considerably and she was finally beginning to understand how real everything was. She had eaten dinner that night with Everest, their District's escort, and their District's victor Blight who had won seven years previously during the 39th Games. He had talked to them for almost two hours about his own Games and how they should prepare for theirs. Her mind was still spinning from all of the survival and weapon tips he had given them. She only hoped she could remember everything he had told them when it counted.

Tomorrow they would be arriving in the Capitol where they would be escorted to the Training Center and the torture would really begin. As silly as it was, she was most afraid for the interviews. She had never been that great in front of people and the idea of being interrogated in front of the entirety of Panem caused her stomach to feel as though it was trying to escape her body.

The idea of meeting the rest of the tributes was also very worrisome. They had watched the Reapings that night and there was certainly some competition to be had. The Careers looked tough and brutal just like always and some other Districts had some surprises this year. The boy from Six, Jal, looked tough and on edge, his eyes darting from side to side as he stood on stage. The girl from Nine who was named Kaalyn looked strong, powerful, and remarkably well fed. Sparrow figured she must come from a richer part of District Nine.

Then there were those who were in the middle of the pack like her. These were who she wanted to seek out as allies. District Five's female tribute Jacy and District Ten's boy who was named Salton looked good to her. Strong enough and smart enough to make it through the bloodbath but not vicious enough to mercilessly kill. Then there was the female tribute from District Three, Lea. Sparrow didn't know what to make of her. She was very young, only thirteen years old, and yet she had a clever look about her. When Sparrow first saw her at the Reaping she was reminded of her brother Lichen. The look in her eyes told Sparrow that she knew much more than a child of her age should.

Sparrow turned over in bed, her thoughts racing. She knew she would never get to sleep at this rate. She sighed and images of her family and home flashed through her mind. She choked back a sob and pushed these pictures from her mind, knowing that she really would be up all night if she allowed herself to linger on her most painful thoughts.

About an hour later, Sparrow fell into a fitful sleep from pure exhaustion but even in her dreams she was not safe. She opened her eyes to a field of golden plants, perhaps the grain that she knew District Nine specialized in. She rolled on to her back and looked up at a cloudless sky filled with sunshine. She had no idea where she was but she had a feeling that this place was not as peaceful as it looked. She sat up cautiously and looked around, seeing no other sign of human life nearby. She scanned the horizon and saw a forest that so closely resembled her home and immediately began running towards it. She wrapped her arms around a trunk of a tree and tears began falling freely from her face as she thought of memories in Seven. Suddenly she heard a loud crack nearby and turned to see a male walking towards her with a spear in his hand.

"Why hello there, aren't you a pretty thing. It is very brave of you to wander here alone," he sneered at her, twirling his spear idly.

She began backing away, panic seizing her as she realized she had no means of defending herself and knew that she had no chance of outrunning him. "St… stay away from me," she stuttered.

"Oh it's so cute how afraid of me you are. It will make killing you that much more fun," he grinned, showing jagged teeth.

Sparrow turned and fled deeper into the forest, hoping to lose him among the underbrush. She around to see if he was following her and when she turned to face forward again she was suddenly in a large warehouse of some sort that had mirrors everywhere.

She stopped running and stared around, seeing her scared face reflected many times over. Suddenly, her heart stopped as she saw another reflection of a man over her shoulder. She had nowhere to run because mirrors surrounded her at every turn. She was trapped! The male stared at her with glittering eyes and lunged forward, grabbing her by her throat and lifting her into the air.

"Please," she spluttered, attempting to kick him so that he would drop her. "Why are you doing this?"

"Don't you see angel? You need to die so that I can live. It's simply human nature. The circle of life, if you will," up close she could see more clearly that his eyes were pure black. No iris or pupil was in sight.

She screamed as he threw her to the ground and began scrabbling backward in a futile attempt to get away. Her back hit a mirror and the man lunged forward with his spear, grinning maniacally. The last thing Sparrow remembered was his spear going straight into her chest and seeing her panicked reflection as her blood spattered the mirror.

She woke up screaming and crying, pawing frantically at her chest to make sure there was in fact no spear sticking out of it. She threw her blankets off and climbed out of bed shaking so hard she could barely stand.

She sank to the floor against her bed and pulled her knees to her chest. She rocked back and forth in fear as she remembered what she had experienced in her dream. Never in her life had she had a nightmare as vivid and as horrible as that. She felt as if her very psyche had been shredded to bits and it hadn't even been real.

She almost screamed aloud again when she realized the true irony of her dream. In a little over a week, that dream would become very, very real.

A/N: Hey guys hoped you liked this chapter! Finally some action, even if it was only in a dream :p. Please review!