Tribute

5.

After a while I get out and dry off, leaving my hair in the intricate braid that my mother did and not even bothering to put on anything other than my dress. I walk into the bedroom and I jump as I see that someone is waiting there for me. Mags. She sits at the end of my bed, with her hands in her lap and her eyes focused on a particular spot on the wall across the bed. I don't speak, and she doesn't seem to notice me, so I cough, and this finally draws her gaze to me. She stares at me, and I get the sense that she is waiting for me to say something, so I oblige, "Did Finnick send you in here to get me to apologize?" She just shakes her head, "I'll talk to him about that later." I just hum at her words, crossing my arms and leaning on the doorway, "Then why are you here?" I ask.

She pauses at that, but it isn't long before she gives me an answer, "I wanted to see how you were doing with everything." 

"Everything?" I question.

 Again, she nods, "With the reaping and all," She adds. 

I just scoff, "Well other than the fact that I was ripped from my family and friends by force and now I'm on my way to be slaughtered like an animal... I'm just peachy." 

She stares at me, and I look away from her, "Look I don't mean to be rude but could you please go? I want to be alone," I mutter, but I know she heard me despite my soft tone. She doesn't move however, she just sits there, and she continues to stare at me. Her eyes analyze me with so much focus despite her old age, and after she just stares at me for what feels like hours, she finally speaks, "Believe it or not young lady, I still remember what it is like to be a tribute." She looks down at her hands, "I remember the fear, the pain, all of it... And I will not lie and tell you that the arena isn't as bad as it seems, because it is. It is every bit as horrible as you could possibly imagine, but worse."

I narrow my eyes at her, "Why are you telling me this?" 

"Because it's my job to keep you alive." She stands up and walks over to me, stopping in front of me and gripping my shoulders in her hands. I look up from the ground and I focus instead on her face, and I am met by the most serious pair of eyes I have ever seen, "I can't keep you alive if you go into that arena with a false sense of safety. I need you to be prepared for whatever you may face in there, which knowing the gamemakers, could be anything lethal or dangerous. Over the coming weeks, Finnick and I are going to coach you, we are going to mold you into someone that the others can be scared of," She gives me a determined look, "Now the most important thing that you need to know is this; get people to like you." She tilts my chin up with her hand.

I take this all in, and after a moment I give her a shaky nod. She seems pleased enough with this answer, so she steps away, and she gives me a warm smile, "You should get some rest. We will arrive at the Capitol tomorrow, and I need you to be sharp." She turns and the door slides open for her, she gives me a final nod and then she walks through the door, leaving me alone in the room once again. Why would Mags come here to check on me and warn me about the horrors of the arena? Is that even allowed? If it's not, then she just took a risk for me.  

In that moment I decide that out of my two mentors, I like Mags the best. I can still hear her words of advice echo in my head as I stand in the empty room. 'Get people to like you.'  How am I supposed to do that? I've never been good at making people like me. I could count the number of people that I like on one hand, I can barely stand to look at a Capitol citizen, and now I'm supposed to get them to like me? Yeah right, like that will ever happen. But I promised my parents that I would do everything I can to return home to them, so I will have to try.