Alyssa of Nine (Reimagining the Hunger Games)

Chapter Eight: Training and Scores

Song for this Chapter: Glory and Gore by Lorde

Later on that night, I try to get some sleep, but I end up having a dream.

I am standing in a vast wheat field, and the sky above is clear and blue. At first it seems like I am alone. But then I hear a strangely familiar voice calling my name. "Alyssa! Come here sweetie, it's us!" And I see them.

"Mom! Dad!" And I run to them. "Mom, I missed you so much, I missed both of you. They took you away to the Capitol..."

"We're not in the Capitol anymore. We are no longer prisoners of Snow. We're home to stay, and that's all that matters." And just before I can follow them, I suddenly can't move, and the sky and landscape turns gray. And for some reason, an old, white-haired old man is looking at me with sadistic amusement, and he is wearing a white rose on his lapel. President Snow.

"Miss Whitestone, I may have decided to let your parents go free, but they have had to make me a bargain, that I should take you away instead. From this day forth, you belong to me. Just as much as the other tributes did until you decided to kill them. You see, the odds are never really in anyone's favor, except for the Capitol, and mine. If you still refuse to believe me, just look at your hands and your dress..." And to my horror, my hands and my dress are all stained with blood.

"Look around you!" The President taunts, and I see the bodies, not just of Jeremy, the Careers, and the other tributes, but of Mace, Nathan, Cassandra, Natasha, Athena, my makeup crew, Noah Linwood, and even my parents. All bloody, all mutilated, all dead, it seemed, at my hand. No. No!

I wake up gasping, drenched with sweat, almost screaming. It was a grizzly nightmare, though nothing compared to what I know I will have to face in reality. I put on a shimmering and floaty robe and I decide to step out onto the balcony. I can still hear hundreds and hundreds of Capitolites cheering down there. It turns out that I am not the only one on the balcony either.

I see Noah, obviously deep in contemplation, and I decide to sit in the chair next to him. "Hi." I say, to get his attention. He looks at me and says, Hey, you have another big day ahead of you tommorow. You should be in bed."

"Yeah well, I guess that's not going to happen for either of us right now." I say. "We both got a pretty rotten deal, huh? Still, you have to survive this. And I have a very good idea that you will." Noah says.

"How can you? Before the reaping I was just another unimportant girl with no family in District Nine. Now everywhere I turn out there they shout, "It's Alyssa of Nine!" It's always that way now. They don't know me and they certainly don't own me. As far as I know, some of them were responsible for my parent's deaths. And they certainly were for what happened to my Aunt.

When Snow looked down on us at the Tribute Parade, he looked at me, as though to tell me that he and his precious Capitol made me, and they could break me or even end my life without hesitating like they did to my parents. I really hate him for that."

Noah suddenly looked over his shoulder to make sure nobody else came around to listen in on us, before turning to me with a stern expression.
"Alyssa, I would suggest that you hold your tongue and avoid speaking about such things in the future. Even high on this balcony, we aren't a hundred percent safe. That's just the way it is, and there's nothing anyone can do about it." So, I decide not to say anything more about what I really think about President Snow or the Capitol or anything that is wrong with Panem.

"I guess that I really should try to get some sleep. I'll---I'll see you tomorrow." And just as I turn to go back into our living quarters, back to my room, Noah says, the hard expression now gone from his face, "Alyssa, make sure to show them what you're made of in the training. It's going to be okay."