The First Annual Hunger Games (Book 1)

8. Nothing Else

The ticks of the clock seem to grow louder with each tribute that leaves. None of their private sessions have been very long, fifteen minutes at the most. Still that twenty kids in front of me.

I doze for a little between District 5 and 8, but the rest of the time we all sit in quiet. When everyone had been here there had been some talking, like at that lunch the other day. Then people started distancing themselves from other people, even the other tributes from their districts. Roxen and I haven't said a word to each other since last night, we've shared an occasional glance though.

They call, Skene, the boy from 10 and my palms get sweaty. I go through what I'm going to do over and over in my head. I rub my hand against my pants.

"Hey," Theta, the girl from 12 says. "Don't be nervous about this part. It's tomorrow that's worrying me."

I laugh. "Honestly, the whole thing is freaking me out."

"Aldera Clearwater, 11." I take a deep breath and stand.

"Good luck," Roxen says.

"You too." I nod at the girl from 12 and exit the room.

It's weird seeing the training room so empty. I go first to the survival section and show the gamemakers how quickly I can identify edible and nonedible plants. They seem slightly impressed, but mainly bored. I move to the knife throwing station. I'm not incredible, but I can hit a target that's not moving too quickly and I can probably hurt them pretty badly. Next I go to a climbing station and climb all the way to the top in a matter of seconds, this seems to interest them. After that I pick up an axe, they have a machine that measures force, I take the axe and swing it as hard as I can. The meter rises on the scale to about three-fourths of the way up. I'm not sure how good this is, I can't tell from their expressions.

"Thank you." I bow to them and exit the room. There's some clapping but I don't see how many actually do it.

I go back to floor 11 to wait. Tullis and Rye are eating and they gesture for me to sit with them. I only eat a little, the nervous winning out. Roxen comes in a few minutes later and sits across from me, not eating much either.

"So how do you think you did?" Tullis asks.

Roxen shrugs. "It's hard to know. We probably did alright, just like everyone else."

Rye looks at her watch. "They'll be announcing them soon." She gets up and we follow her into the room with the tv. We sit down as the anthem begins.

Tiberius shows up on the screen in a light purple suit. "Hello Panem! Tonight we will be announcing the scores that the tributes have earned in their private sessions with the gamemakers! Ha ha! Let's take a look!" He fades to one side of the screen and the pictures of tributes start showing up, along with the score they earned. The scores are mainly between four and seven. Charm from 3 gets a two, Delphi from 4 gets an eight, Kestrel gets a nine. Other than that there's nothing outstanding.

They announce Roxen's before me. "Roxen Seafall with an eight."

"That's good." Rye gives him a nod of approval.

"Aldera Clearwater with an eight." I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Wow, both of you did good." Rye gets up and we do too. "I know you're not going to be able to sleep, but you have to try. It will be a lot harder to sleep in the arena."

"Goodnight you two." Tullis gives each of us a hug. "I might not see you tomorrow, so," she takes a breath, "goodbye." She smiles, but I see a tear quickly stream down her face. She spins around quickly. I feel bad for not liking her, she's never done this before, she didn't know what she was really getting into.

"I'll see you in the morning." Rye leaves to her room.

Roxen extends his hand. "Good luck tomorrow, Clearwater."

I nod and shake his hand. "You too." He begins toward his room. "Are we still on for that truce?" My breathing quickens.

He looks back at me. "You bet."

Talon's in my room, a box of tissues next to him. I came prepared this time.

I chuckle. "Thanks, but I don't think I'll need them tonight." I sit on the bed next to him.

He sets the tissues aside. Congrats on the eight.

"I didn't expect to do that well."

A lot of the best things are unexpected. He smiles. Like you. He contemplates something while staring at me then he leans toward me, bringing his hand up to tilt my chin towards his. He softly presses his lips against mine. Just like last night, he wraps his arms around me. I put my arms around his neck. The kiss remains gentle, because we know what's coming tomorrow.

The sound of the door bursting open jerks us apart. Two peacekeepers rush in, grabbing Talon by his arms. His eyes are full of the fear of an animal being dragged to slaughter, and that's exactly where they'll take him.

"No!" I scream and try to pull them off him. "Stop! Please!" One of them shoves me away and onto the floor. When I get up again they're out the bedroom door. And Rye is standing there.

She stops me. She stops me from going after him. She holds her arms around me, but not like he did. She's restraining me, he was comforting me.

I sink to the floor when I can't see him anymore. I know I'm making noise, I'm saying something, but I don't know what. And the tears come and the tissue box is lying on the floor, stepped on. Rye takes me to my bed. It's only after she's gone and it's dark and there's nothing else that I understand my words.

"My fault. My fault. My fault."