𝐆𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐆𝐎𝐑𝐄 ▸ HUNGER GAMES [ 1 ]

FOUR

"Maybe he did it to protect you! Maybe he's so in love with you that he can't bare to watch you go into the arena alone!" She exclaims dramatically, fake swooning back onto the couch as she collapses into flowery giggles. The idea is ridiculous and silly but completely Loren. It's the kind of last memory I would want to have of my sister, if it was going to be just that.

We spend the remainder of our time together joking like we always do, until Loren unclasps a pendant from her throat and holds it out to me. "I want you to wear it, as your token."

Loren has not taken this necklace off since we were children. It was a gift from our grandmother before she died, and my sister's prized possession. To take it into the arena with me is an honour I never expected to be given the chance of.

I refasten the small silver chain around my neck, the diamond-shaped charm tucking into the top of my dress. "Well, you know it'll get back to you, one way or another." I joke. It's the kind of thing Loren would normally chuckle at, but perhaps making such comments today is in bad taste.

My sister doesn't acknowledge it, she just pulls me into a tight hug and mutters into my ear. "Good luck Clove. And remember, he might be cute, but he's still not immune to a knife in the back." 

° ° ° ° °

It is only a short distance from the Justice Building in the centre of 2 to the main station. I travel by car with Tallulah and the Peacekeepers, etching the scenes of home into my mind.

The Reaping crowd in the Market Square will have dispersed by now, but with no school today, the kids are playing out on the streets in droves. Young boys and girls kick balls up and down the dirt roads, swirling up dust into the mid-morning air, and a pair of older children are battling with wooden swords in their front yard. It seems like only yesterday that was Loren and me.

The sudden thought of my sister brings the threat of a tear to my eye and I turn my gaze away from the duellists, instead waving at an old man rocking on a chair in his porch. He smiles back, one beefy hand returning the gesture.

Our car meets Hadley's at the station. When he steps out of the vehicle, I notice a dark bruise forming on his cheek which I'm certain wasn't there when we shook hands on stage. It would not surprise me if Byatt Cole, the originally reaped male, decided to confront him about volunteering. The Academy boys tend to get pretty riled up when boundaries are overstepped, and what Hadley did today was definitely that.

It doesn't matter that he is from the most successful Hunger Games family in Panem, he still volunteered for a kid who wanted that spot in the arena. Amongst the youth of 2, something like that is practically a crime. The cruel theft of a chance at glory.

Hadley and I still refuse to make eye contact, even more now on his part it seems. It is hard to believe that this is the same boy I have shared a friendly rivalry with since I was thirteen years old. Suddenly, all the silly comments, the mocking, the constant bid to one-up each other, seems like child's play. Naïve and stupid. A mere fantasy.

The cameras are trained on us as we follow Tallulah up into the Capitol train waiting at the station, a squad of Peacekeepers surrounding us until we are safely inside the doors. They close at my heels with a sickening hiss-click of finality, and I feel the train begin to jolt beneath my feet.