The 64th Annual Hunger Games

Chapter Two

As I was being shoved in to the building I caught a last glimpse of everyone, my mother crying, Finnick and Annie hugging, the peacekeepers acting as if nothing's wrong. I feel dead on the inside. Almost nothing could make me what to live right now. The two of us are separated in to two rooms and are left alone for a bit.

An hour passes and the door opens forcefully. Two peacekeepers are standing there and then my mother comes running in. At first she says nothing, but after a bit of hugging she speaks calm and slow.

"Can you just promise me something?"

"What?" I asked.

"I have no idea how you must be feeling, but can you please just promise me you'll try? You're all I have left. Your father would-" She was cut off by the peacekeepers who then quickly proceed to take her out of the room. I think it was because she mentioned my father, but that dosn't matter now. Now I'm alone and I don't know what to do. I still feel like I shouldn't even try. There's no use. Twelve year-olds almost never win, and I'm nothing special.

The bright colored woman comes in the room and I see Key beside her. "Hello Asher! I haven't had the chance to properly introduce myself yet! My name is Din!" She said as she sticks out her hand to shake. Her name didn't seem to fit her outrageous looks and I didn't like the way she put emphasis on every other world and at the end of a sentence. I shook her hand and we walked through a hallway that took us to the train station. The train was already here and left promptly after we had boarded. According to Din the tributes from districts twelve through five are already on board, but we are prohibited from meeting with them.

"I'm going to introduce you two to your mentors!" Din said as she trotted of. This left Key and I in an awkward silence. We have almost nothing at all in common, looks, age, personality. She took me by surprise when she started a conversation.

"So what happened to your father?" She asked.

This took me by surprise so I hesitated to respond. "I'm not supposed to talk about it..." I said shyly.

"Well, I'm sorry." I don't know why I was shocked at her response. I guess I didn't think she'd be sympathetic. Before I can say anything two strange figures walk in. One was a large, darker skinned, man and the other was an older lady who had a very calm facial expression. The man ignores me and takes Key into the other room on the same cart. The older lady sits beside me and just stares at me for a bit. Finally I decide to make the best of a terrible situation and introduce myself.

"Uh, hello! My names Asher." I said while holding out my hand. She waited for a bit, but then shook my hand and responded.

"I know about your father."

"How do you know him?"

"I was his mentor too. My name is Mags. When he died I was there, but the peacekeepers didn't kill me because at the time I was the only mentor. I'm really sorry, but I'm here to help you win."

"Thank you, but winning means trying, and that's more than I want to do right now."

"Well I'm gonna help you win whether you want me to or not. Your father wouldn't want you to give up before you've started."

"How would I ever beat all of those older tributes who have trained for longer than I have!" Being from a career district I'm not completely helpless. I've done some basic training for two years now.

"You don't need to be bigger or stronger to win. You have something most other tributes won't have. You are likable! You have a story! Play that to the audience!"

We talked for about hour. I kind of like her. She was really nice and seemed to understand how I felt. I'm still unconfident that I will win, but at least now I will try, for Mags and my mother.

Only a few hours later we arrive at the Capitol. I didn't realize how fast the train was going. I look out the window and wave at the exotic city and people. They all look very strange and I think to myself that Din probably fits in with these people creatures. Despite looking completely different, and still wearing my district four clothes, they seem to wave back and look excited. The train stops and all of the tributes exit the train. This is the first time the tributes get to see each other, but the mentors seem to be trying to keep them from conversing. All of them look intimidating. I do spot a younger girl, about my size, who appears to be from district seven. I'm glad that I'm not the smallest here, though I know I've got to be the youngest.

We are brought in to this room where our stylists all come in to make us look good in the eyes of the Capitol. Though it's supposed to be private there are only some curtains between all of the tributes. I try to just relax, but I'm not used to being pampered like this. It's weird. My treatment dosn't last long, unlike some of the older tributes and the girls. After awhile I'm brought to a private room where I am supposed to meet with someone about a costume to wear during the opening ceremonies. Everything seems to be happening so fast. It's hard to believe it's still my birthday.

Soon my stylist comes in to the room. She is fairly short and has bright orange hair. She looks like any one of the Capitol people I saw on the train. I try to avoid conversing, because she's awfully rude. She introduced herself as Ada then proceeded to insult me. She started with talking about how I was "too scrawny" then talked about how I would look far too short standing next to Key. As she continued to talk I noticed she had a bit of a different accent from the others, but still pronounced things funny. She then left mumbling something I didn't understand then came back in about an hour with what appeared to just be a blue suit. I put them on and walked out of the room to the group of stylists and Key wearing a blue dress to match me. Looking at myself in the mirror I was actually quite surprised at how normal I looked. The suit and her dress kind of had a metallically look to them that made them shine in the light, but other than that the two of us looked really plain, which is good.

That night all of the tributes were brought to a large building in the Capitol and we had about an hour to ourselves before the opening ceremonies began. More importantly, this is the first time all twenty-four tributes are allowed to actually talk. My actions tonight could very well decide whether I die or not. I complain about being tired and Ada makes me take some sort of pill that gives me some energy. I walk towards the large group of tributes and look around. First I see Key's bright blue dress and that she is talking to some older people who I'm going to just assume are careers. I kind of guessed that Key would form an alliance with them, but for some reason I still hoped that she'd stick with me so that I could have someone to protect me. I realize how stupid that was and I know I need to defend myself. The next person I notice is the district seven girl from earlier, wearing some sort of tree textured dress. I feel like if I'm gonna talk to someone, she is a good place to start. Before I have a chance to walk over there she starts walking towards me.

"Everyone seems to be talking, so act like I said something funny and laugh." She whispers to me. I'm a little confused, but I put on a good fake laugh and look like I'm having fun. I guess it worked cause we have the attention of some of the tributes who are standing alone.

"Okay, good. Now we look like we know what we're doing. Hi I'm Ceffa!" She says quietly and then laughs a bit loud again and proceeds to hug me.

"Um, I'm Asher, and I'm a little confused."

"If we look social, sponsors will like us and we can throw some tributes off guard." I hadn't even noticed how many other people were in this building. It makes sense that they could be sponsors and they're probably watching us. We continue to talk for the remainder of the time and we become as good of friends as you can be when you've known someone for an hour. We are interrupted by the announcement over the speaker saying that the ceremony will start in five minutes and our mentors come to take us to our places.

When the two of us are standing on our chariot, Key nudges me.

"We saw you talking to that district seven girl."

"Who's 'we'?"

"The careers and I. You didn't think I volunteered to hang out with the district twelve kids and die in the bloodbath, did you?" She says sarcastically, "Anyway, the careers talked and we decided that we would let you be in an alliance with us, but you can't go conversing with weaklings like that!"

I said that I would consider it, but I know that if I joined them I'd end up with a spear through my heart.