Sunshine - A Hunger Games Story

5| Strategy

Walking into the train cabin, the first thing I notice is the abundance of food scattered around the cabin. There is a whole cabin full of fancy food just laying around waiting to be eaten. In my awe, I stop, causing Fred to run into me.

"What seems to be the hold up?" Minnie questions from the doorway.

I mutter a 'sorry' in response and head towards the counter top holding all of the delicious treats. Seeing me drool over the food, Elouise says, "Go ahead, Hun. They're your treat from the Capital." I look back at all of the food. My family's been starving, barely getting by on the grain I get from my tesseras and the little we all get for our long hours of labor, and here they are with enough food to feed a town. Noticing my frown, Elouise starts to say something, but is cut off by Minnie.

"I know, they aren't the best. The Capital really cuts back on the tributes. I've been trying to get them to put some real treats in here for years but they simply will not listen."

Minnie walks over into the next cart as she continues her tangent of the insufficient goods in the train. Elouise sees the prolonged stunned expression still plastered on my face. She walks over to me and leans away from me.

"Don't worry about Minnie. She can be... a lot."

"There's so much food here, it makes me sick just to look at it," I criticize.

"Why'd you do it?" I look up at her trying to figure out what she's asking about. "Volunteer?"

"Oh, um... well, I guess I just felt bad. And my family's in a rough spot, I guess I thought I could help," I responded in what I could best come up with in which I shortly  thereafter concluded was a lie.
"And now you don't know?" she retorts, questioning whether I still believe I can help my family or not.

"I don't know what I'd be fighting for."

Elouise nods her head and heads off to change out of her dress. Fred comes over to me and plucks a tart off of the counter. "We had these at fancy parties. Never did like them, but they're somethin' from home, huh," he says, raising the pastry up to cheers. For someone who is being sent to his death, he is surprisingly calm.

I grab a small roll, the only thing that looks remotely familiar, and walk to the back of the train. From there I curl up on the sofa overlooking the scenery as we are hurled towards the Capital. Away from everyone else, I cry letting tears run down my face as I think of everything happening.

I'm never going to see the look on Isaak's face when I bring up possible crushes he might have when I walk him to school in the morning. I'll never hear Theo's excited rambles at learning an abstract word then proceeding to use it constantly for the next week. I'll never get annoyed at Dominic for spreading mud all over the house.

I will never play football in the street with the neighborhood kids and I will never kiss a boy. I won't get to do normal kid stuff, instead I will be forced to kill other innocent children for entertainment.

I am brought out of my thoughts by a soft knock on the door frame of the train car. Quickly I wipe away my tears before turning to face whoever it is.
It's Humphrey.

"I wanted to thank you. You saved my little girl. I owe you an unpayable debt." We lock eyes briefly before I stare down into my hands, not really knowing what to say. "Um, well then. Ellie told me you needed some advice? She suggested I come down and talk to you while she talks with Fred."

"Yeah, that would be nice," I admit.

"So, it'll take a few hours but," he sits down a few feet away from me, eyes glancing at various things around the room as he talks, "once we get there the Capital citizens get their first in person look at the tributes. Some of the other districts-" his voice wavers- "will try to put up an act to draw in more sponsors. I'm thinking we'll go for more authenticity for you. Next is your makeover."

"What happens then?" I squeak out, my voice cracking in the middle.

"Some of the Capital stylists will make you look pretty before they dress you up and parade you in front of a huge crowd of Capital people. Next is your training where you find your hidden talents and learn how to survive the games. It's also where the other tributes will size up their opponents. In just a little bit we'll watch all of the other reapings to see who you'll be up against. On the last day you show off a chosen skill to the judges to get a rating and then you have an interview with Caesar Fickerman before getting sent into the arena."

"Humphrey?"

"Yeah?"

"I think the Capital cheated out the reaping to make sure your daughter was chosen," I whisper.

"Shh, shh. Don't talk about it. Don't tell anyone or they'll hear."

"Who-"

"Nothing." After that we sat in silence for a few minutes. "Well, let's get to the others now, shall we?" Humphrey extends his arm for me to grab. It seems as soon as the Hunger Games started, he turned into a different person entirely. I slide my arm into the crook of his arm, and we make our way into one of the other cars.

Minnie, Elouise, and Fred are already seated on the large fluffy couch as we enter. The room is dark with the only light coming from the doorway and the television screen.

"Just in time. I was thinking we were going to have to start without you two," Minnie exclaims.

The both of us slide into the couch and Minnie plays whatever is on the screen.

The clip shows a well taken care of stage with the words 'District One's overlaid in the bottom right corner. From there a fancy Capital lady walks over and plucks a slip of paper from a glass bowl, similar to the ones in District 9. She quickly calls out the name of a little girl. The camera cuts to her as she stands still for a few seconds before an older girl volunteers. For the boys she calls out the name of a 13-14 year old boy and he waits for one of the older kids to volunteer.

No one does.

"District One and Two are the career districts along with district four, occasionally. It seems ls this year there will only be one career from district 1," Humphrey supplies.

The next clip is of district 2. A big burly girl with curly hair and a stocky frame volunteers. A boy also volunteers. One that is big and strong. As he walks up, he snarls at his fellow tribute suggesting there might be some sort of rivalry between the two.

"There's the other two Careers."

The two reaped in district 3 are a bigger 17 year old girl and a skinny boy with hardly any muscles.

District 4 has a 13 year old girl with platinum blonde hair and an 18 year old volunteer male with matching hair. Siblings maybe.

District 5: two sixteen year olds. The only things distinctive are the boy's bright green eyes.

District 6: a 15 year old girl and a 17 year old boy.

District 7: a short brunette girl, 17, and a crying 16 year old whose mother screams out in vain for him.

District 8: an older stern girl with very long braids tied back in a ponytail and a 12 year old whose face drained of color as soon as his name was called out. I feel bad for him.

We watched our reaping over again.

District 10, 11, and 12 had a 16, 17, 16, 18, 18, and 17 year old chosen, respectively.

I couldn't get the boy from district 8 out of my head. Too young.