Modern Day Hunger Games

Horses and Makeovers

Everybody is looking at me like I'm crazy.

"You do realize you could come in here at anytime and ask for any random food?" Heather says looking at me while raising one eyebrow.

"God dammit!" I say while face-palming.

"That was probably a good thing." Petar says through a mouthful of pancake.

"How so?" I say looking at him skeptically.

"Because you probably would never leave and the people here would be exhausted and you don't leave neither do they." He says.

"Is that fat joke?" I say jokingly.

"Yes." Heather says with a partially serious face. She and Aaliyah suddenly burst into laughter.

"You people suck." I say sitting down at one table.

"..." A brown haired avox clears her throat from the door way.

"Oh, hi. Can I have something different. I don't like the food that's here." I say.

She nods and exits the room.

A couple minutes later she comes back with a plate of assorted fruits like, pineapples, watermelòn, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and grapes.

"Thank you!" I say taking the plate from her grasp.

She smiled and walk out.

~Half an Hour Later~

We've all finally finished our food. Now we're just sitting around watching the news.

8:44.

I look at the navy blue clock on the wall in the corner of the room.

"Around what time will we get there?" I ask no specific person.

"We should get there around 1:30pm." Aaliyah pipes up.

"Cool, can't wait to see my competition in person." I say enthusiastically.

"Well, enjoy the rest of the train ride. I know you don't want to think about it but the hunger games are inevitable. You'll have to go sooner or later." Aaliyah says with a solemn look on her face.

"I know... I think it's just better to live in the present than worry about the future." I say sadly.

"What do you mean?" Petar adds.

"I mean, I don't want to think about never seeing my mom or my best friend Chelsea, ever going back to school, hang out outside the Justice Building." I say quietly.

"Don't worry. It'll be Ok." Heather says thoughtfully.

"Will it really?" I ask, my voice cracking from sadness.

"Probably not, but you still have a chance of 1 in 24, so there is a little bit of hope." Heather says sympathetically.

"Yeah, Ok." I say getting up and running out of the lounge into the hallway that leads to my room.

I almost go into my room.

Wait. That'll probably be the first place they'll look for  me.

I run past my room to the end of the hallway, where I run through the door that leads to the dining room.

I walk into the dining room, which is looking immaculate like usual. I look for a place to hide. I see a small door. It looks like a janitorial closet.