Caged | The Hunger Games AU ✓

ii. monorail

two - monorail

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instantly, all color drains from my face. i away on my feet for a dreadful moment, my head swirling with bewilderment that makes me dizzy. then i steel myself. i force my eyes to stay focused even through my turning vision. i fight my tiny bit of soup to stay down. if i show any shred of emotion, it'll be used against me, so my face stays carefully blank though it's the exact opposite of how i feel on the inside.

"do you know how small of a chance there is of you getting picked?" roy had said. sure. right.

"thalia forkshire?" effie repeats, still with that wide smile on her face. "there must be a thalia forkshire here."

i realize i have taken too long to respond - my first mistake. i take a deep breath and emerge through the crowd, letting the peacekeepers guide me to the stage. i climb the steps and lock eyes with peeta and katniss as i do so. they both look like they're going to be sick.

i make my way to the left of effie, standing by the bowl of girls' names. it is then when i find roy in the crowd. his face is crestfallen, his expression crushed. his shoulders sag and i feel tears rise in my eyes. i have not cried in a long time. i will not cry now.

"any volunteers?" effie asks. as expected, there is absolutely nothing but crushing silence that pierces my heart. unlike primrose everdeen, i don't have an older sister to take my place, or even a friend, for that matter. most people probably don't even know who i am. "no? well, then, moving on..."

i clasp my hands together so tightly that my fingers hurt. my brain struggles to comprehend that this is real, real, real, and as i move my hands behind my back, i crush the skin of my wrist between my thumb and index finger in a pinch. the only outward sign of my pain is a cringe that flashes across my face for an instant. this isn't some sort of terribly realistic dream. this is reality.

"and now for the gentlemen." effie reaches into the bowl with the boys' names in it and my stomach twists in knots. what if it's roy? what if i have to fight against my own brother?

i am relieved when it's not his name that is called.

"matthias rutcher."

but my hope diminishes when i see who comes up to the stage. it's the boy from the woods this morning; the one who had given me the rabbit. my insides do a flop and i force my eyes away from him.

"ladies and gentlemen," effie says cheerfully after matthias stands on the opposite side of her, "our tributes from district twelve!"

no one applauds us, but it doesn't surprise me in the least. then we are forced to shake hands, and the moment his skin touches mine i am pushed into the reality that this boy might die. i am holding his hand. our skin is touching. our blood is pumping. and in a matter of weeks, he may be dead. i may be dead.

we are lead into the justice building — the mayor's house — and given rooms to stay in. i perch hesitantly on the feather bed (which, not to mention, is ten times more comfortable than mine at home) and stare at the wall, twiddling my thumbs and letting my mind race. can i survive? will i survive? how will i survive?

my mind flashes back to every hunger games i have ever seen. what tactics did the tributes use? what worked? which ones were ineffective?

the arena could be anything from a dry desert to an arctic circle. and i don't know what i prefer more.

the door opens and my head jerks to the door, but it's just madge, the mayor's daughter. she's nice, i suppose, but i never talk to her. she is around roy's age if i remember correctly. she would be more friendly with him than she is with me since they have class together.