Glimmer's Story

The Train Ride

Right away, I was rushed into the train that would take us to the Capitol. When we got there, Cordelia showed me my room. It was huge! It had a really high ceiling, and the walls were all red. My bed was three times the size of my bed at home. I opened the closet, and it was filled with clothes of every size, color, and style. I decided to change into a comfy shirt with some sweat pants. When I was done, I heard a knock on the door.

"Come in!" I shouted. I was expecting to see Cordelia come in, but instead, it was Marvel. I ran over to him and buried my head into his shirt. He just stood there, and held me in his arms. I couldn't stand to think that we would be trying to kill each other in weeks.

A tear slipped down my cheek, but he wiped it away. "Shhh, don't cry..." he whispered.

"Marvel... I can't do this. I can't kill innocent people!" I cried.

"I know. I don't want to either," he said.

"I'm going to die the first day," I said.

"No, you're not. I won't let that happen to you. I promised Clara I would protect you," he said, calmly. He tilted my chin up so that he could see my face. "You look so much like your sister..."

"I get that a lot," I laughed. "Everyone says that our eyes look exactly alike."

"As blue as the ocean," he said. "You're as beautiful as her, too."

"Thank you," I said.

"Dinner's ready!" Cordelia exclaimed.

Marvel and I walked together to the dinner table. Cordelia, Cashmere, and Gloss were already at the table. Cashmere and Gloss were our mentors, and they would give us advice on how to win the Hunger Games.

This was the first time I got to meet them in person. Cashmere and Gloss were siblings. They were both victors of the Hunger Games in consecutive years around 10 years ago. Cashmere had long, wavy hair that was a mixture of light brown and blonde. I think she had blonde highlights, but it looked so natural, I couldn't tell. Her bright green eyes were what stood out, though. Gloss didn't look much different from her. The only difference was that he had bright, blonde hair that was completely straight and kind of short. I was surprised that they looked as normal as they did. Although, they both have that look to them that screams, "Don't even try to mess with me." They looked like they could kill someone just by snapping their neck. I was definitely not going to make them angry...

"Well, look who we have here!" Gloss said. "What is it again? Glitter and Marble?"

"It's Glimmer and Marvel," I said, fuming.

"Close enough," he said, obviously not caring about what our names were.

"Why don't you take a seat?" Cashmere said while smiling sweetly.

I sat by Cashmere, and Marvel sat next to me. It was clear that neither of us liked Gloss too much.

"Don't worry," Cashmere whispered. "Gloss has just had a little too much to drink. He's usually not like this."

I looked at all the delicacies laid out on the table. There was enough food to feed my family for a year! I tried small amounts of everything until I couldn't eat another bite. Everything was so delicious! It was a little strange that they were letting us live a luxurious life before we got thrown into an arena to kill one another.

After dinner, we all gathered around the television to watch the recap of the reaping. One by one, they showed each tribute. After they showed Marvel and I getting picked, they went to District 2. A huge boy named Cato lunged forward to volunteer and a vicious looking girl named Clove got chosen. District Four's tributes looked pretty weak. A fourteen year old named Blaine got chosen and a small thirteen year old named Lavena got chosen as well. I don't think they will be with the careers this year. The rest of the people went by in a blur until I saw a huge boy from District 11 get chosen, named Thresh. Maybe he would be in the career pack this year. The other tribute from 11 was named Rue. She was so young! She was only twelve, and she looked adorable. In District Twelve, a girl named Katniss volunteered to take her sister's place. Everyone was shocked. District twelve never had volunteers! The other tribute from District Twelve was a strong looking boy named Peeta.

After the recap of the reapings, Cordelia rushed me and Marvel to our rooms.

"Come on now, get some sleep! Tomorrow is going to be a big day!" she exclaimed. How is that woman always so happy!?

I went to my room and decided to take a shower. I walked in the bathroom and saw hundreds of buttons. I pressed what looked like the on button, and then pressed the hot water button... wait no, that's not the hot water button. It's this one! I ended up pressing four buttons that I thought looked like a hot water button, and then got in the shower. The water was hot, but then all of a sudden, all types of products were poured onto me. When I got out of the shower, I smelled like lavender. I put on some pajamas and climbed into bed. I then realized that my hair wasn't only dry, but it was completely straight, and it was smooth and shiny. What the heck did those products do to my hair!? Oh well, it actually looked pretty. Before I knew it, my eyes were shut, and I was deep in sleep.

"DAMIEN!" I screamed as the knife reached my brother's heart. I turned around to see who threw it. It was Marvel. Only this wasn't Marvel. This was a vicious, heartless, killing machine. I grabbed a sword and plunged it into Marvel's heart, but now it wasn't Marvel. It was Clara.

"Clara!" I screamed as she fell to the ground. I caught her and held her in my arms as she said her last words.

"Don't trust the enemy," she said. The cannon fired, but I didn't let her go. I held onto her and cried, begging her to come back to life. I turned around and saw my brother in his own pool of blood. His cannon went off, too. When I looked back at Clara, she was gone. President Snow was standing in the same exact place she had died.

"YOU DID THIS!" I screamed. "YOU killed her! And him! And everyone who has died in these games! It was YOU!" President opened his mouth to speak, but instead it was Marvel's voice that came out of him.

"Glimmer! Glim! Wake up!" yelled Marvel.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed. I opened my eyes and saw that Marvel's was holding me. I was on the train in my bed. "What just happened?"

"You were screaming, so I ran in here to see if you were okay. Guess it was just a dream," he said.

"Not a dream. A nightmare. It was... so real..." I sobbed. "Clara... she..."

"Shhhhh, it's okay. Everything is going to be fine," he said soothingly. After about five minutes, he started to get up.

"Please..." I said while grabbing his hand. "Stay here."

"Okay," he said. He got back into the bed and wrapped his arms around me. I don't know why, but when he was around, I felt so much safer. Soon, I was already drifting into sleep.

I woke up to the sound of someone tapping on the door.

"Wake up! Today's a very exciting day!" Cordelia exclaimed in her Capitol accent.

I looked beside me, and Marvel was still there. It looked like he didn't get much sleep. He went back to his room to get changed, so I decided to change, too. I put on a navy blue shirt with matching pants. My hair still looked straight and smooth, so I left it alone. When I got to the table, Marvel was already there. I sat down and was served tons of things like eggs, waffles, sausage, bacon, toast, fruit, and a variety of other things I didn't know the name of. When I was full, I sat back in the chair and took small sips of orange juice.

Minutes later, we arrived at the Capitol. I went to look out the window and saw thousands of people that looked bizarre. Some people had their skin dyed different colors. Some had whiskers attached to their faces. I even saw one woman that had her skin covered with jewels. Creepy much? After everyone was done with breakfast, Cordelia rushed us into the Capitol to meet our stylists.