The 50th Hunger Games

Chapter Two

As soon as I can blink, all of District 12 has their hands raised in the three-finger salute. Tears begin to push at my eyes, seeing at how much older my brother has become in these last few minutes. He is stronger, more confident, but grieving, all at the same time. I force the tears back again.

"Why don't the four of you shake hands!" Diamond says happily, though the rest of us are not. I turn and look at the three pale faces staring at me. The boy, Julius, is holding back tears, his eyes red, knowing he is leaving his family, probably forever. One of the girls, Cherry, is bawling. She cannot restrain her tears from falling down her cheeks. A small puddle begins to form on the stage. I glance at the other girl, Maysilee. She is the most confident out of the four of us. Her back is straight, her hair is tight, her bright blue eyes, staring towards her family. She is going to fight for them. Then I make up my mind. My strategy. I am going to use my mind, my wits, to beat out every single person in that arena. I am going to win for March Abernathy.

                                                                                          ~~~~~~

The peacekeepers take ahold of my arms again, almost dragging me. They pull me into the Justice Building and tell me a few family members and friends are welcome to visit, but only for a couple of minutes.

The first person to enter is Bran. He looks a little nervous being this close to the peacekeepers.

"I guess the odds were not in your favor today," he said quietly, "if I could change what just happened, I would." I try to smile, but the thought of how I might die was busy haunting me.

"Well, I'm glad the odds were in your favor today." I say. He nods, then looks at the peacekeepers. As soon as he looks at them, his time is up and they begin to drag him away.

The next person to enter the room was my mother and father. It hurt to see their faces, almost showing happiness that their son has been reaped. I was never the lovable kind of son anyone would want. They loved March because he took joy in everyone and everything. I am a stubborn mess. They wished me luck, but I knew they didn't mean it.

Next up, was my girlfriend, Aspen. She looked as beautiful as ever, and I was sad to see her go before I left, and possibly forever. She tried to smile when she came in, but I knew the tears would come later. She gave me a long hug, then a kiss on the cheek.

"Do this for me, too, okay?" She sniffled. I nodded, hoping this wouldn't be the last time I saw her. We hugged again, not wanting to let go. Then the peacekeepers came, taking her arms and pulling her away from me. I held her forearms as hard as I could, but a peacekeeper shoved me off. Before the doors closed, she yelled, "Haymitch, I love you!" She was crying now, tears flowing from her eyes, so fast I couldn't even count them. Then the doors closed before I could say I love you too. We had never admitted this to one another before, so I yelled it through the door so there might be a possibility she could hear me. My heart was throbbing, my mind was spinning. She actually loved me. I loved her too, with all of my heart. I had to win for her too.

The last person to enter was March. I smiled even after what had just happened, seeing that I had just said goodbye to my one true love and all. He sat down next to me and I was just happy for his presence. He gave me a hug.

He seemed to be looking for words, then said quietly so I could barely hear, "Will you win for me?"

I smiled again, knowing I had already thought through who I was winning these awful games for. Not the Capitol, nor the districts, not my friends or parents, but my brother, March.

"Of course, I'm always trying to win for you," I pause trying to gather my words together again, "Always remember that I'm your older brother. Forever and always. No matter the outcome for these stupid games."

March stared into my eyes, taking them in for one last time. Without saying a word he slipped a small golden bracelet onto my wrist.

"This is to keep you safe." March said, in a soft whisper. I stared at him in astonishment. This must have cost a fortune! He must have saved for years to buy this! I stared back into March's glittering eyes, when the big doors boomed open and the peacekeepers walked in to take my brother away. They wanked him off of the couch, and pulled him to his feet. I took hold of March's hand quickly. The peacekeepers kept pulling away and yelling for me to resist. One of them kicked me in the shin, and I had to let go. As soon as I did so, March began to sob. Louder than I have ever heard him cry before. Loud sobs, lots and lots of tears, and gasps for breath as they took him away.

Right before they closed the door, March instantly stopped crying, and he yelled probably loud enough for the Capitol to hear, "Haymitch, please, please win!" Then the doors slammed shut with a loud boom, and those were the last words I heard from my brother before I left to go and fight to the death.

                                                                                          ~~~~~~~~~

The peacekeepers, Diamond, and our weak and feeble mentor, Olive, all met us at the train station. A few people were there to watch some of the others leave, but I knew none of them.

After we had boarded the train, Diamond showed us to each of our rooms. It was much larger than I had expected. The bed was light and bouncy, the showers had lots of buttons for different soaps and shampoos, the windows were big so you could see almost all of the outside, and the room smelled faintly of the flowers that grew in the Meadow back in District 12.

After I changed into a new pair of clothes, I walked out to the dining room, examining everything I passed on the way there.

When I reached the dining room, the other three tributes, Olive, and Diamond were all seated at the table. We discussed small things like makeup and clothes, but the other three tributes and I were starving. Literally. We have never seen this much food in our whole lives. We ate so much, the plates of food on the table were almost empty by the time we were done.

When we were finished, we were all a little tired so we went to bed. When I got to my bedroom, I took out the small golden bracelet March had given me. I fingered it, missing him so much. Then I laid down, still tired. I closed my eyes, but thoughts of dying painful deaths kept me awake.

Soon I was wide awake, not even tired anymore. I decided to take a walk. I walked out to the living room, but someone was already out there. I peeked out, hoping it wasn't Diamond. It wasn't. It was Maysilee Donner.