104: The Games (A Hunger Games Story)

Chapter Two

I blink my eyes open and stare at the blank, bare, ceiling. One day closer to the Hunger Games... wonderful. The sunlight dances through the drawn curtains. Things feel a little...still. I get up and look outside the window. We aren't moving. The train is pulled up at a station, which I am guessing is the station that we are supposed to stop at for our little visit to District 5. I don't see much, but what I did see was big, fancy homes and power mills, which is what I expected to see, District 5 being the district of power. District 5 is one of the Richer districts, which explains the fancy way of living. District 5 also produced the power for all of Panem, which explains all the power mills.

The door of my room opens and in walks, Johanna Mason, our mentor, as I am looking out the window at their Capital city, which is, in of itself, a tiny city. "Total population of District 5 is 134,000 people." she tells me. She's a little out of it, since she's nearing her 50th birthday, and she has serious PTSD. I ignore her, because she takes anything I say as a challenge. That probably comes from winning two Hunger Games and watching a bunch of children murder each other. Then I feel her loosen up next to me, and she says, "Well, now that we are here, it's almost time for you to meet the tributes from District 5. Then you can know the people you kill." Yeah, there's the PTSD kicking in. At this, I tear my eyes away from the window and look up at her. "Diamond is expecting you to be ready and in the dining car in about fifteen minutes." She says briskly. "The District 5 Tributes will be joining us for breakfast this morning, but I want you to go out and meet them," she says in a monotone as Clo comes in and listens to our mentor. "And Diamond expects you to be dressed in some of your best clothes." I was getting tired of this monotone, but she perks up again and says "I honestly couldn't care less, but Diamond says this, Diamond says that." Clo chuckles as she leaves the room, but to me, this situation is far from funny. As I shoo Johanna out of my room, she looks back at me and says "Rowan, Don't mess this up. This could be really important, and you might get a little, well distracted", she says, and with a small spark in her eye, she walks out of the room.

I look into my wardrobe of clothes to see what I could wear. I don't want to disobey Johanna, but I also don't want to dress the way Diamond does. Eventually, I decide to wear a light green button-down shirt and some fancy-looking patterned black pants. I decide to comb my messy blonde hair too, and a few minutes later, I look like a Career, a person who might, on some level, care about the capitol. I hate it. I step out of my room to see Clo coming out of hers. She is wearing a beautiful navy blue dress with shoulder straps and is decorated with coral pink flowers all over. "Wow, Clo. You look amazing!" I say. She twirls around and the dress billows around her. "Thanks!" she says. "You look...dashing," and she giggles a little.

The door of the compartment opens, to Johanna Mason, closely followed by another, younger man, who must be the District 5 mentor, and says, "There you are! The tributes are just in the other room," she says, with a general flick of her head behind her. Clo and I wait for her to pass, then go to the passenger seating area of the train, where two tributes are sitting, both around fourteen, with caramel brown skin, but the difference ends there. She is, no exaggeration, the most beautiful girl I have met. I can't stop staring at her, and my only thought is to impress her. "Well?" she says. "Im sure you didn't volunteer as a tribute to stare at someone you'll have to kill." Clo stifles a laugh, which is interrupted as she shoves through both of us and then turns around. I turn to look into her dark brown eyes, and she speaks sharply, as Johanna would. "Let's get this over with," she pauses and then speaks to the three of us. "My name is Ivy, Ivy Degray, I intend on coming home, no matter what you want, I am not going to even think of allying myself with anybody, or be the object of anyone's desire." Her gaze rests on me for a second, and then she stalks off to the dining room. The smaller boy speaks up. "For as long as I've known her, Ivy's been independent. Sorry." and then follows her to the dining room. I take Clo by the hand, and we walk together to meet the crowd.

The breakfast didn't go very well, as an awkward silence filled the room for most of the time, and we ate the rich food presented to us by the Capitol's lackeys in silence, most of the time. The same was true for the rest of the morning, and everybody on the train was glad for the chance to go out and stretch their legs in the next district we are visiting, District 9. We walk around their main city for a bit, I buy a loaf of bread for Clo and I to share, and a small donut for the boy from 5, since he has been so nice to me. I then explore their district, and I find that their main city is filled with factories, and every worker commutes in from the farms on the outside of the district, which is not very different from the way our district is set up. It makes me homesick. I soon hear a loud, booming voice coming from the town square, so I can see the reaping take place. Ajax, the District 9 escort, is yelling out the male name. "Jovani Winston!" he says. I see a boy a bit younger then me walk up to the stage, with nobody offering to take his place. I look at the crowd he came from, and I realize why. He was from a community home, like a lot of the kids in 9 and 10. I feel bad for this little kid, he shouldn't be up there. I hope he doesn't die awfully. Anyway, I shouldn't have been looking at that, so I go back to the train station and I meet Jovani, as well as Jackaline, who is an 18-year-old powerhouse who wants to kill me for making a joke at her expense. That girl is really on edge. Later, we go back onto the train, and I see Ivy again in her room, but I don't say anything, just notice a letter from District 4 on her shelf. I wonder what that's about. I guess I'll ask her. On second thought, she's strong. I won't. 

I need to go lie down. I am way too tired.