Carmen POV
I awaken from my slumber. It is my last reaping today. If I get out alive. I turn and toss to realize that Crystal isn't beside me. She's my twin. This year is the Capitol's Quarter Quell and they have asked for only Girls to be reaped. However, all the families with girls attending the reaping would get more food. Also, there could be two victors this year. This is one thing that the Capitol has shown sympathy too.
In my family, it's three girls. Crystal, Clarissa and I. Clarissa works at he apothecary shop with my mother and she's 21. We used to have a brother. His name was Clifford. He was reaped and died in the games two years ago. That is one thing I'll never stop hating the Capitol for.
Ever since then, Crystal and I had been working and training for the Games in secret. It was just in case we were reaped. That way, we would survive the games.
However, Crystal and I still had to take tesserae to allow our family to survive. So in this games, the amount of slips our names were on were very large. The odds were definitely not in our favour.
I eat some strawberries and go take a shower before putting on a cotton dress that is as white as snow. It flutters down my legs and is very beautiful. Crystal is dressed in something similiar, only it's pink. We wear some flats of our dress colour and go attend the reaping.
As usual, they show us the video to remind us of the dark days and the rebellion. After that, a woman that is clearly from the Capitol walks up the stage and scrambles her hand in the big jar of names.
Please, please not me. I think. Before I can wish Crystal luck, I hear the name.
"Crystal Lart!"
"CRYSTAL! CRYSTAL! NO! YOU CAN'T TAKE HER! YOU CAN'T!" I scream.
From where I stand, I can see Crystal walking up to the stage with her trembling hands and jelly-like legs, ever so slowly.
"Next!" The woman says. I think her name was Effie Trinket. I'm not really sure.
"Carmen Lart!"
My eyes widen the size of ping-pong balls. Crystal and I are going to the games. Together.
I step up, ever so nervously. Adrenaline is rushing through me and I'm so nervous. I'm going to die. I'm going to die with Crystal.
Finally, we are ushered to the Justice Building to say our last goodbyes. My mother comes in first to wish us the best of luck.
"Crystal and Carmen, I know you can do it. You have both trained hard for this. Do Clifford proud!" My mother says before Peacekeepers bring her out.
"Yes,Mum! We won't let our brother down!" Crystal and I reply in unison.
Next, Lily,Crystal and my best friend, spills into the room. She hugs us and gives me something.
"It's a strawberry." I say.
"Yes! If you miss home, eat it, will you Carmen? I know that you love strawberries! And for Crystal, the baker asks you to take this Chocolate-Chip cookie. He knows you love them. He wanted to give you this and wishes both of you the best of luck!"Lily replies while passing us the presents.
My tears are welling up as I blink them away. Finally, Clarissa comes in and the torrent of tears start rushing down. She wipes them away before saying.
"We've been healers for life. Mum was a healer. She's the daughter of Katniss Everdeen! We can do this! Both of you know the edible plants and can fight well! Now, wipe away your tears! The train will be coming to bring you to the Capitol! Take it as a trip! And two victors are allowed this year! Don't-"
Before she can finish, peacekeepers bring her away.
Just then, our mentors start streaming in. Two of them are our grandparents-Katniss and Peeta. They are about 50 now but they are still as knowledgable as ever. Another is a younger girl that won about two years back. Her name is Lexi. She was in my brother's games. She's about 19.
"Listen up, both of you! Wipe the tears up! Cameras are everywhere!" Lexi shrieks at us. She's being serious.
We step out only to see blinding flashes of light from cameras everywhere. That is certain as we are the tributes. We are the ones that are celebrities overnight for our blood. Unless we become a victor.
We finally get into the train and I start crying.
"Crystal, I can't do this. I don't want to kill. I don't want to have to kill to win." I splutter out in between my sobs
"Carmen, we can't. Tell you what. We'll be desirable to sponsors. We'll get good training scores. We'll be an alliance. Only you and me. And we'll be victors." Crystal replies. She was always the positive one.
"Alright. Any advice?" I ask my mentors.
"Stay alive." Peeta replies. I stifle a laugh because that's what Haymitch, who is around 80, said to Katniss during her games.
We chat before I ask for some quiet time with Crystal.
"Crystal, do you really think we can win? We're from District 12! Not 1,2 or 4! We aren't Careers!" I explain to her.
"Carmen! This year is a different year! This year, District 12 will be a Career District with the tributes! We are already careers! We've trained! We're fed! We can do this!" Crystal enthusiastically replies.
Just then, I hear faint sounds of footsteps. Usually, people can't hear this but my training has payed off with sharp vision and hearing.
I turn to see Katniss treading closer to us. She stops and gives us a sly smile.
"I wanted to eavesdrop. Sorry." She said.
"It's fine. But why are you here?" Crystal asks.
"Peeta wants to ask what weapons are you good at using?" Katniss replies.
"Knives. Bow and Arrows. And I'm okay with a spear." I answer.
"Spears and knives." Crystal replies.
"How about weak weapons?" Katniss continues to ask.
"That's a little hard. Probably axes. And maybe tridents. But the one that I cannot really use is swords." I tell Katniss.
"I can't do archery. Or whips. But for me, swords are okay." Crystal replies.
Katniss nods and walks away to allow us some silence.
"Crystal, what if we were to actually win. For Clifford. You've seen the interviews. We could say that!" I tell Crystal.
Crystal nods and we start talking about our weaknesses, strengths, likings, dislikings. But really, most of the time, we decide to talk to Peeta about strategies in the arena. It's the Quarter Quell. It's different.
Just as Effie decides to chase us off to dinner, I switch on the television and see that there is a live and mandatory broadcasting. We watch it in silence.
President Snow is in his mansion and announcing the rest of the Quarter Quell.
"This year, the Districts have given me 24 girls. But there is always a twist. The Capitol will give the Hunger Games a twist! This year,24 boys from the age of 12 to 18 will be reaped from the Capitol. Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favor!" President Snow announces.
Then, he gets a big bowl filled with each Capitol citizen's name which are male from the age of 12 to 18. He starts announcing the names to the camera. Out of the 24, I hear one that sounds very familiar. Lux Trinket.
"That's my nephew. He's turning 18 today." Effie says in a hushed tone. She is obviously flustered as she refuses to say anything throughout dinner. An avox brings us out dinner which is a lamb stew with plums and delicacies that are much too expensive for even a lifetime worth of savings can afford. It's delicious though. I can't complain.
After dinner, we reach the Capitol. Effie seems to have brightened up as she rushes us to our styling. There,thousands of complains are made about Crystal and my looks by our prep team. They are Flair,Ort and Res. Res is a very altered Capitol lady with a light pink toned skin and lot of gold tattoos around her body and face. Flair, however, is "tinted" a light pea green and has magenta hair with matching eyebrows. The one that looks the most normal is still Ort. She only has pink highlights in his hair and maybe a few tattoos around her body. They do a dark, smokey look for my makeup. After waxing, plucking and "making me look normal" words from Flair, Crystal and I finally are sent to each of our stylists. Mine is Serena. She looks normal with only a hint of silver eyeliner near her brown eyes.
"I'm Serena, Cinna's daughter." She tells me.
She dresses me up into a dress that flows down to the ground. Then, she puts black dust that represents the coal on me and finally presses a button to make the dress flame up. From afar, it really looks like flames on coal.
Finally, she adds a coal necklace that looks burning hot on my neck and tells me it's done. It looks stunning compared to what I usually watch on the television.
As I step into the chariot, I see that Crystal looks similar to me. Probably because we are twins and we are both of the same gender. As the chariot rolls out, I hear Serena tell us to smile and look up high to the crowds.
People are gasping as they see us. We are dark, beautiful and probably "desirable for the sponsors". I hear our names being chanted with many eyes staring straight to my soul. It is gorgeous.
As our chariot stops, President Snow thanks the Districts for their children and gives a really long speech. Crystal's eyes are fixated on him while I'm not really listening but thinking how Crystal and I will survive this.
".... but this year, two victors are allowed! Capitol or District!" That is all I catch from President Snow.
Then, we are back to the stylist's hands to remove the makeup and clothing. Before long, I start crying again, begging for home and find Lily's strawberry in my white dress's pocket. I gobble it up quickly to be comforted by home before I see Katniss walking up to me.
"Don't cry. Cameras are all around. I know how you feel. Here, take this. I believe this year, District 12 will have 2 more victors." Katniss says, while giving me another strawberry.
I munch it slowly while remembering that day.
It was a cold December and we barely scraped by. Mum was busy at the apothecary and Clarissa was 19 that year. Crystal and I were only 16 that time and that year, we lost Clifford. He was beheaded by the District 7 before Lexi, his alliance member killed off District 7. That's how she won the games. After the games, Mum didn't dare to even think about her children and only cared about working. We were left to fend for ourselves.
I remember when I slipped into the woods. It was the break if dawn and we had barely got any meat. Just a few rabbits. This was when I saw a figure come near me. I nearly shot it with my bow and arrows before I saw a hand. It had a strawberry. Strawberries were not in season now so there were expensive.
The light hit the owner of the strawberries and I realized it was Crystal. But those strawberries were only assessable to Lily. Lily was Mayor Madge Undersee's daughter and loved strawberries.
"Where did you get these strawberries?" I ask her.
"I was walking in the square. Then, I saw Madge Undersee. She gave me these and told me to give it to you. She knows you like strawberries. I ran back to the woods to get you these." She explains.
I grab the berries and give one to Crystal. We bite into them and allow the sweetness flow through our mouth. It was the only sweet thing we had for the whole month.
Seeing that I had a berry left, I ran back with Crystal and left the berry on my mother's side table. I also left the meat from the rabbits on the table and went back to sleeping.
The next day, the strawberry was missing and Mum was cooking a large pot of stew. For us. That strawberry changed our lives.
"Thanks, Katniss. But I think I should take a bath now." I tell her.
"Good! Now I better check on Crystal. I think she should be okay." Katniss replies while stepping out of my room.
As I strip naked for my bath, I see that the water can be adjusted from hot to cold. We never had hot water coming straight from the tap. There was also different shower settings but I just chose to soak in the tub in a relatively warm setting. I also add I a few bath salts that perfume the water with its sweet scent.
Later, I step onto something that blow dries my hair and dries my body. I change into a simple navy top and just plain jeans. I go to the hall to watch the recaps of the opening ceremony. The cameras are quick when shooting the other districts in their costumes but attention is definitely on Crystal and I. The Capitol boys are also capturing attention with their bright colors that possibly be in season now. From their huge chariot, I spot out Lux Trinket that looks actually normal without any actual alterations on his body.
After the recaps, I peel myself off the couch and walk back to my room. But Crystal stops me.
"Stay at my room for a little while, okay?"
"Okay, Crystal."
So I scamper into her room and we start talking about the games. This time, neither of us are crying.
"This year, District 12 will win two more victors. Peeta and Katniss have faith in us. But Lexi is kinda reluctant to help us. Like she's betting on others to win." Crystal tells me.
"We are her ex-alliance member Clifford Lart's sisters! She don't want to remember the games. Nor does Katniss! Or Peeta!" I tell her.
"So since we already aced the opening ceremonies and attracted the sponsors' attention, next we have to ace the training scores! It's 10,11,12 or nothing!" Crystal enthusiastically replies.
"So, do you know what to do? We're from District 12. The Gamemakers are bound to be bored with normal!" I tell her.
"Good point. But tomorrow's training. We better get our rest. Goodnight." Crystal says.
"Goodnight." I say as I walk towards my room.
As I reach my room, I lie right down on the bed. It feels so soft and comfortable. Crystal and I never would get a bed like this if we weren't in the Hunger Games. I guess this was like a last gift before we left the world.
Before going to bed, I ask a server to get me some strawberries and warm milk. In a few minutes, a warm cup of milk and a bowl of strawberries arrive at my desk. I thank him and he walks out of my room.
I drink my warm milk and eat only a few strawberries before going to bed. The strawberries left would be a good reminder of home. Hopefully, my Mum and sister would be full and well.
With these thoughts in my head, I fall into a deep slumber.