Daybreaker: 69th Hunger Games

The train journey.

Tears-stained cheeks were hidden by a faux smile, my mother's cries as I was pulled from the room haunted my thoughts as we made the way to the train station. Pearla sat upfront with the driver, her purple curls bobbing with the bumps in the road, Gimm sat beside me, his blonde curls in his hands, his cocky exterior was no longer, tears stained his shirt. I was going to comfort him but decided against thinking it was best to leave him with his thoughts, so I kept my eyes on the road trying to distract myself from crying again. I recognized the road we travelled down having done it a couple times when I used to drop my father off for his peacekeeper duties. These memories caused tears to form in my eyes, don't drop I repeated over and over again, thoughts spiraled my brain would my father be proud of my decision or would he be disappointed, what about my brother would he be angry, upset, are they watching me from above protecting me from the upcoming harm of the unforeseeable games or have they cursed me to lose due to my sudden decision, I am hoping it is the prior but I will not know until the games have begun, playing with my dress hoping to distract myself from surroundings.

Then my thought drifted to who my mentor would be though only having six victors, the pool was limited. District six had three male victors and three female victors, our first victor was Fiona Scalestone of the twelfth hunger games, she won her games at sixteen using traps. Next up is Alvin Verros who won the 23rd hunger games by poisoning the main water supply killing off the last of the tributes, our third winner is Leona Dale who won the thirty fifth games by exploding the careers cave with grenades she collected from the cornucopia, Conrad St James won the forty seventh hunger games, by using poison darts and killing the other tributes from treetops. Lastly there is Joseph Harrow and Mona Gallagher victors of the fifty sixth and sixtieth hunger games, they both won their games by camouflaging themselves and outlasting the other tributes. Though all the victors won their games in different ways they all have lessons I got to learn to help me win these upcoming games but there is one victor I want above all though they haven't mentored in over a decade, so the likelihood of them returning from retirement is very thin.

The car pulling over snapped me out of my trance, something I need to not make a habit of. "Pearla" I spoke, Pearla turned around curiosity in her green doe-shaped eyes "Do you happen to know who are mentors are this year?" I questioned, a grin spread across her face as she replied, "I do know who they are, I am to collect them once you are settled on the train my dovelie", giving her a nod to show that I understood what she meant and followed her onto the train. The compartment she led us into was quite large compared to what I have seen in the past, all the chairs were coated in a red velvet fabric that looked too soft to touch, a snack counter was situated in the far corner, every kind of sweet treat you could imagine flooded that counter. All this luxury is what any child would dream of experiencing compared to the fate of being a conductor and host on these trains. Relooking over the room I see that Gimm has diverted straight towards the snack counter like a bull in a China shop. I personally wanted to take this once in a lifetime setting in though I suppose that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience capital life before only one of us returns. Pearla approached me "Are you okay dovelie, all of this is for you. I know it's a bit overwhelming but I'm always here if you need a chat okay." giving Pearla a shy smile, she left me to my thoughts.

Eventually, Pearla left Gimm and I to settle, so I took a seat playing with my dress whilst Gimm paced back and forth until he asked "Why did you volunteer Aliana, it's just out of everyone I never expected you to volunteer." it was a good question why did I truly volunteer "I did it to rewrite my story I think, I'm not really sure" I answered though Gimm expression said he was unsatisfied with my response but before he could respond Pearla returned having changed into a shorter purple dress covered in her signature pearls "Introducing your lovely mentors" Pearla exclaimed with a man and woman following behind her. The woman was dressed in an all-black lace dress with her brown hair tied up, the outfit was paired with lace gloves probably to hide the shaking. This woman is Mona, her expression showed that she clearly didn't want to be in attendance but was there anyway. The man next to her had unruly ginger hair and beard, wore a grey two-piece suit and had a scar across his left eye, Conrad had come out of retirement but why, his expression was filled with curiosity further fueling mine.

Conrad was the first to speak out of the two "Volunteer you are with me" he spoke and gestured to the door to leave. Following Conrad into the next compartment a sense of excitement overcame me, the compartment he led me into was smaller than before but had a similar aesthetic as before. "Have you seen the other tributes and reapings yet" he asked, "not yet" I replied "Good grab your notebook, we have some analysing to do" he explained. We spent the next hour or so going over the other tributes, from district one we have two volunteers. The male district Coil is a seventeen-year-old, tall, dark haired and athletic tribute compared to his female counterpart Pea, an eighteen-year-old, petite silver haired and slim tribute. District two also had two volunteers. The male Kuzo, a seventeen-year-old, blonde lanky tribute. The female tribute Gardenia is a sixteen-year-old with half black half blonde hair and was quite tall for her age. District three tributes were both reaped, a dark-haired slim boy named Mercury and a petite stocky girl called Iris, both being fifthteen. District four tributes had one volunteer and one was reaped, the volunteer a brunette petite girl of sixteen called Phoebe and the reaped tribute a curly haired boy of sixteen called Max. A blonde boy of fifthteen called Storm was reaped for five alongside a red headed girl of seventeen called Cassia. A red headed boy of sixteen called Beade was the reaped tribute of district seven partner with a brunette girl of eighteen called Laverene, a volunteer. Ash, a blonde tribute of eighteen from district eight was reaped alongside Skye, a dark hair slim girl of sixteen. District Nine had Pluto a tall, brunette guy of sixteen and Lynx a athletic girl with hair as white as snow who is seventeen years old. The reaped tributes of district ten are both seventeen, a coal haired boy named Rain and a chocolate haired girl named Neive. The fourteen-year-old Reef and the seventeen-year-old Olive were district eleven tributes and lastly from district twelve, the youngest tribute of age thirteen Tyler and his partner Edel aged fifteen.

"Now who is your biggest threat?" asked Conrad, "Any of the careers but specifically Pea, we are similar builds and heights so she will not be the easiest to take down." Conrad seemed pleased with my answer then he replied, "Very good, now who would you ally with?" This question was trickier than the first, as I hadn't considered allying with anyone "If I were to ally with someone, probably Olive or Laverene but I am currently considering being a lone wolf."

Conrad and I spent many hours that evening going over my strengths and weaknesses and what skills I have and what I need to learn from our sessions. Pearla popped in and out with refreshments and answering any questions I had about the capital. My nerves had settled for now but when I went to sleep that night my mother's voice kept replaying in my mind 'you better win', hopefully I will mum, hopefully I will.