CHAPTER SEVEN
❝Who Are You, Really❞
— • —
Sleep did not come that night. I laid there awake for hours until the sun rose over the Capitol horizon. I had turned the ocean view off when I got a grip on my tears. The windows may now be black but the memories that the ocean brought up felt like a stab in the chest each time a new one came to the surface. When the sun spilled into my room, I stood up from my bed. I was exhausted but alive. I felt like hiding all day but Dolly had other ideas, it was time to train.
Breakfast greeted me when I emerged from my room. Dolly, Eric, Hunter and Seraphine were sitting at the dining table and I could hear Aiden asking one of our servants for something. Our servants. I walked past one and cocked my head at her. She looked in her twenties. Her hair fell in loose brown curls down her back and her eyes were like honey. She was standing at the entrance to the dining room holding a tray with a cold jug of water. I grabbed a glass and poured some cool water into it. "Thank you" I smiled at the girl. I did not think, I wanted to make friends so I asked her, "What's your name?"
The girl frowned in an unnatural way as if something was wrong with her mouth. "Alice!" Dolly hissed from the table, "She is an Avox, she cannot talk."
I wanted to ask questions about why she could not talk and how she got here but I stopped myself, I did not want to make the older girl feel bad. Instead, I looked up at her and smiled, "Thanks for the water." The Avox smiled back at me and nodded. With no reason to continue being near her I made my way to the table and sat next to Hunter. I could smell bacon and eggs. Eggs I had often back in the district but bacon was only something heard in stories.
"Didn't sleep last night?" Eric asked, he was sitting across from me, his plate piled sky high with all different food types.
"You didn't either." I pointed my fork towards his face. His usually unblemished skin had dark bags under his eyes. I wondered if he found the remote in his room also.
"Nothing coffee can't fix." Dolly giggled. She was enthusiastic as always. Sleep did not seem to hinder her as it did the rest of us.
"Coffee?" Eric and I said together.
"This." Dolly pushed a mug towards me. Inside was a black liquid. It did not look inviting. "Drink up!" She instructed, "It will wake you up quick smart."
I looked at Dolly wearily before lifting the mug to my mouth and taking a sip. The taste was rich, potent but it was not that bad. I swallowed and immediately felt a buzz in me that I had not felt before. I took another sip, then another. Each sip made the drink taste even better.
"Hey give me some!" Eric reached out to me from across the table and pulled the coffee out of my hands. I licked my lips clean of the taste and watched Eric try out the beverage. His face scrunched up straight away and he stuck out his tongue. "Yuck! Bitter and way too strong. I think I'll steer clear of coffee."
"More for me then!" I giggled, grabbing the cup from Eric and drinking the rest of it. He just looked at me as if he was unconvinced about my newfound drink love. I then made my way onto the buffet of food before me, stuffing my face full of crispy bacon, fluffy eggs, cooked flattened potato things, toast, beans and other strange foods. I was halfway through my second serving of scrambled eggs when Millie walked through the elevator doors and towards us.
"Do you have a plan?" Aiden asked her as soon as she walked towards the dining table. My suspicions about the two of them were answered when Aiden walked up to her and kissed Millie on the cheek. They looked cute together, both dusty blonde with sea green eyes and a nice tan. They must have found each other after the games, easing each other's nightmares by finding love in the other. I smiled at the thought of it.
"I do actually!" Millie clapped her hands together, she was dressed and ready for the day while the rest of us (minus Dolly) were still in sleepwear. "This year's tributes are quite a mix. The careers from One and Two have most likely already talked and formed an alliance. They will be watching during the next few days to see who else is worthy to be a Career." She grabbed a piece of paper from her pocket, she must have written her observations down. "Three, Five, Nine and Twelve have very slim chances of surviving the bloodbath. Six and Eight could be the underdogs. They are young but look like they have a fight in them. Nine and Ten I'm uncertain of. They show nothing special but I guess we will see in the next few days." Millie paused, allowing her to take a breath before continuing. "Seven and Eleven will be our biggest threats besides the Careers. They also have connections. Siblings in Seven and cousins in Eleven." Millie glanced at Eric and I, "Befriend those who you think will aid to your survival and avoid those who will kill you."
Cousins. That had answered my question that I had the previous night. Right now I trusted no one but Eric. Clover might be trusted but I had only briefly talked to the forest duo, I could not come to assumptions too quickly.
"When will training start?" Eric asked Millie.
"Now actually." She smiled at him before pointing us to the lift. "The trainers have you for all of today, hurry along now."
— • —
It wasn't a surprise when the Training Centre was cool and made from silver metal. Big sliding doors opened up to the large inside that was full of many different stations each with interesting looking equipment. When Eric and I arrived most of the over tributes were already there and keeping to themselves. Careers were at the back of the group, eyeing each tribute like they were prey. Eric and I melted into the group, not paying attention to the others around us. We only had to wait a few minutes for the last district to make their way down to the Training Centre. When the doors slid shut a lady in a grey jumpsuit with grey eyes and greying hair spoke up.
"Welcome tributes. Over the next few days I will help teach you all you need to help you survive. In under a month twenty-three of you will be dead, one will remain." The lady smirked, it made me feel uneasy. "You all will have talents. These talents will best be used in the arena. These few days will be crucial to not only expand your talent but also expand your knowledge on other key survival skills. At the end of the three days you will be assessed by the Gamemakers." With that she gestured up to a rectangle in the wall where a dozen Gamemakers were sitting on velvet chair with a buffet of their own. Each had a notepad, ready to take notes. "There are four mandatory exercises that you must all do. Besides that you have free reign." The lady in grey smiled one more, "Just don't kill each other. You will have that chance soon enough."
With that the lady left us to spend the first hour doing our own thing. The careers went straight to the knives and swords section, to show off their already perfected skills. That left the rest of us to wander around.
"Where do you want to go first?" Eric asked me when several of the other tributes broke off into the archery, plants and strength sections.
"Ropes and Traps. We are both good with them, it'll keep us occupied." I smile and walk over to the rope section with Eric close behind me. The stations was grassy with a synthetic tree, it bordered the fire making station. A large selection of different ropes lay on a table in the grass. I chose a slender long rope and started to fiddle with it, making a simple knot before progressing to a harder version. Eric was next to me doing the same thing.
"Typical Four's." A man's voice chuckled from behind us. I spun around to see a man in his twenties with a rope wrapped around his own hands, "You all flock to the ropes at the first chance, only thing you can do."
"Is not." Eric defended back at who seemed to be the rope and knots instructor.
"Who are you? No really, what can you do besides ropes? ... Eric isn't it?" The man smirked, sitting down in the tall blades of grass. Behind him was a backdrop of Careers throwing knives at dummies, making us seem weak compared to our competition.
"Well I can climb, swim, and know how to throw a knife." Eric shrugged, "And Alice can swim, use knives and has had a few goes at a bow and arrow." He made us sound like people out for the kill.
"But of course your mentors want you to keep low and stick to the 'stereotypes'" The instructor rolled his eyes. I noticed a name badge on his jacket, his name was Marcus.
"Problem with that?" I raised an eyebrow at Marcus.
"Why of course not sweetheart" Marcus laughed, "You two will be the only company I get today." And with that he was correct.
After spending a full hour widening our knowledge on knots, ropes, traps and ways of killing others, Marcus sent us off back to the grey lady who I know know as Janette. She was waiting at the climbing station. It had an apparatus that had parallel bars four meters off the ground. It looked like we had to use them to climb from points A to B. We went in district order. One and Two showed off, they climbed with ease. Three had a little bit of trouble. The girl fell off a few times before finally managing to make it across the five meters between the start and finish point. Eric went next, he swiftly swung across. He had strong arms that worked in his advantage and tough hands that helped with grip. I noticed the Careers nod to each other when he set back down on the ground. It was my go then, I took longer than Eric but I made it across in one go. My hands were sore when I landed down on the ground. I noticed the Careers nod again. The rest after me were not as good. Moss was alright, coming from the Lumber district he would climb trees a lot. Clover however fell of too many times to do her district any justice. When the girl from twelve finished her attempt at climbing Janette dismissed us for lunch. The tributes followed a pathway until we came to a cafeteria, the mentors had already taken seats. Groups formed at lunch, an idea of what the alliances could be in the arena. I had just filled up my plate with pasta when I heard my Eric's and my own name being called.
"Eric and Alice! Come join us!" A girl's voice called from behind us. I spun around to see the girl from One waving to us.
I wearily looked over to Eric and whispered, "Should we?"
"Won't hurt. Today is about meeting your opponents after all." Eric shrugged and took a step towards the Careers. I looked around for Millie and Aiden, they were sitting with Bella, Clover and Moss on a table not far from me. I looked at Millie, hoping to find an answer in her eyes. She just nodded, which is what I didn't want. I sighed and followed Eric towards the Careers, the people I didn't want to mix with.
Two seats were saved for the two of us. One in between the tributes from One and the other wedged between Two. I felt safer next to the girl and boy from One so I chose that seat, leaving Eric to wedge his way between the others.
"My name's Crystal and this is Jett." Crystal, the career from One said when we were seated. Crystal was blonde and beautiful. Jett was the tall, dark and handsome type. They both looked eighteen and deadly.
"I'm Frankie" The girl from two waved, she had long black hair and green eyes, she looked quite sinister.
"The name's Justin." The boy from Two extended his hand towards me and I shook it slowly, I felt fear when near him. Justin was short with rusty brown hair and brown eyes. He was a pocket rocket. No brains or brawn but deadly none the less.
"Why did you turn down the offer of volunteers Alice?" Crystal asked me after a few moments silence.
I stuck my fork into the pasta and twirled it, thinking of an answer. "I just had a feeling."
"What are the odds of you two both getting stuck in this huh?" Justin asked with a laugh.
"The odds were not in your favour." Frankie giggled.
I didn't like being here, I wanted to leave and go sit with Millie and Aiden. I had plans on befriending Clover but it looks as if the careers had other ideas.
"So you two boyfriend and girlfriend yeah?" Justin asked again.
"Friends." Eric corrected.
"Well that's good then." Frankie smirked, "I need me some arm candy." With that she stroked Eric's arm causing him to stiffen and jerk his arm away.
"That's a bit too far Frank." Jett spoke up for the first time. His voice was quiet and quickly over run by the other three career's laughter. We all ate in silence after that. The moment with the careers had made me want to be as far away from them as possible. I would rather team up with the no hopes from twelve then face an alliance with the careers. I knew I wasn't alone with my thinking because when lunch was over Eric shared a look with me. His face told me all I needed to know. He thought that they were luring us into a trap.
— • —
The rest of the day went by so fast. I occupied myself in the painting station and I spent some timebrushing up on some much needed edible plant knowledge. When we got back to our apartment I was exhausted, the coffee from this morning had worn off long ago. Dolly and the stylists were waiting for us to return, they were situated at the dining table as if we had never left. I honestly thought that they were glued to the table.
"How was your day?" Dolly questioned when we made it inside.
"Interesting." Eric shrugged, summing the day up perfectly.
"How so?" Seraphine asked. She had green hair and enormous eyelashes but besides that she was quite pretty, a different pretty to Hunter's more natural look.
"Careers tried to claim us theirs but we turned down their offer." I smiled, remembering the rest of the day after lunch. We had ignored them when we went back to training. They wanted to shoot some arrows with is but we wanted to paint waves on the floor. It wasn't what the careers were expecting, someone turning down their offer for safe passage. We had probably become their enemies.
"So you should." Dolly huffed. "They are stuck up snobs who think they will win."
"You did the right thing." Millie smiled from behind us.
Aiden was next to her, "Try to make allies with some of the outer districts, you two are well liked among the tributes from seven to twelve."
"I'll take that into consideration." Eric said curtly before walking away from me and towards the corridors leading to his room, "I'm tired and not that hungry. If I may be excused?"
"Of course Eric." Dolly smiled and Eric walked off to his room. The rest of us sat down to eat dinner without him. I ate little but stayed up late, going into my room after I had scraped my ice-cream bowl clean.
My room was cold and uninviting, already it held memories that I didn't want to re live. I had packed up the remote in a draw, making sure that I would not find it anytime soon. After my usual bathing routine I slipped into bed, tossing and turning to try to sleep. Sleep just like last night did not come, would not come. I gave up after what seemed like forever and hopped up, slipping out of my room and through the door opposite my own. I didn't know why I went into the opposite bedroom, my feet took me there and my mind just followed. The door made a slight noise behind me and inside the bedroom it was dark, this room didn't have the view I did, it was overlooking the darker part of the Capitol, not the bustling always-bright area outside the presidents building. I didn't know who was inside this room until his voice pierced the silence.
"Couldn't sleep?"
"Hey Eric." I smiled into the darkness, taking a few steps towards the darkness where his voice came from. "Another sleepless night for Alice."
"Same here." I could hear the smile in his voice. My feet found the foot of his bed, "Come here" I could make out his body in the darkness that my eyes were growing accustom to. He motioned for me to sit next to him. I did just that.
"Are you having bad dreams?" I ask him when I sit on the bed, my shoulders touching his.
"More like thoughts of what we left behind." I rested my head on his shoulder, trying my best to comfort him.
We sat in silence for a while until my eyes started to close, sleep finally wanted to come into my life once more. "Can I stay with you tonight?" I asked quietly. We had often shared a bed to sleep when storms ravaged the boats. My boat, the Stargazer, was small and it was easily thrown around by waves and wind. Eric's family boat, the Ever Sail, was sturdy and the kids of the fleet used to hunker down in the bedrooms on the boat. I always bunked with Eric, he kept me safe and calmed me down when lightning and bone shuddering thunder raged outside.
"Of course Alice. I think it will help the both of us." With that Eric shifted his body and crept under the covers of his bed. I rolled onto the other side of the bed and dived under the covers, they were soft and silky just like my bed in the room across from here. I closed my eyes and let my breathing slow, I didn't even stir when Eric draped his arm over my waist and pulled me close to him. In a way the gesture made me feel safer than I have been in a long time.