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after dinner, blight suggests we watch the evening's replay, but i decline. i don't have the energy to relive the interviews.
so it's time for our mentors to say goodbye.
from tonight, they'll be at the games headquarters to start their work for the next few days : finding sponsors and getting them to sign checks, developing their own strategy to help us from outside.
fausta accompanies them. she thanks us for being the best tributes she ever had to escort, kisses us with a tear in her eye. i don't really believe in her sadness, but i return her last embrace. despite her incredible gift for blunders without realizing it, she was kind and sweet to us.
then it's phox and blight's turn. we exchange a handshake, and i take the opportunity to lean towards blight :
don't forget your promise, i whisper to him discreetly.
he nods as i step back, before hugging willow for a few seconds. this whole situation leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
we accompany them to the entrance of the apartment, to the elevator.
don't get off your pedestal until the countdown is over, phox says as a final tip. get out of the cornucopia. don't stay for the bloodbath, you won't survive it.
thanks for everything, willow says as they disappear into the elevators.
the doors close on the three of them. we stand there for a few more seconds, as their departure really sounded like the end.
the end of reprieve,
and the beginning of the horror.
you'd better go to bed, telly jolts us. we'll have to get up early tomorrow.
our stylists have stayed with us because they are the ones to come with us to the gates of the arena. they will be the last friendly people we will see before the games start.
willow decide to sleep with me tonight, and i don't blame her. i do not know myself how i am going to succeed in sleeping, eaten up as i am by the stress. i ask myself a thousand questions, about the arena, about the traps of the gamemakers, about the climate there, about the other tributes.
everything, in a loop.
at my side, willow turns too, unable to find sleep. yet it's crucial that we sleep. we can't afford to enter the arena tired, it could mean our death.
aren't you sleeping ? i whisper as i hear her changes her position again.
i can't, she answers in the same tone. tristan... i'm scared.
i know you are.
i grab her hand in the dark and squeeze it hard.
how are we going to kill ?
we probably won't have to, i try to reassure her. if we can hide long enough, they could all kill each other without us having to do anything.
maybe, she murmurs. you won't leave me, will you ?
no, never, i assure her. when the gong rings tomorrow, you'll have to run straight ahead, away from the cornucopia. hide in a tree, climb as high as you can, don't stay on the ground. i'll find you right after. okay ?
okay.
silence returns to the room. her hand still in mine, willow ends up falling asleep. and i just doze off until the early morning.
