104: The Games (A Hunger Games Story)

Chapter Three

After that walk in District 9, the train ride seems shorter than it should have. We had dinner with District 2 (which didn't go very well, my District hates Careers, and no doubt they hate us). Now, we are only a few minutes away from the Capitol. I can feel my heart hammering inside my chest. "Rowan?" Clo asks, coming into my room. "You're not nervous, are you?" she asks smirking. As touchy as I am, I snap, "How can you be so upbeat?" I ask her angrily. She seem hurt so I say, "I'm sorry, Clo. And yes, I am nervous. Going out there in front of all those people. Watching us and silently judging our every move." I sigh. "Wait," she says. "You aren't nervous you'll embarrass yourself in front of your girlfriend, are you?" she asked in her most innocent voice. "Shut up," I say playfully hitting her. Suddenly, we both stop smiling, "This is really happening," she says quietly. "Don't worry, I'll protect you," I reply, hugging her. Or... at least I hope I can. Our moment is interrupted by the amazing view of the Capitol. We stop hugging each other almost immediately.

I am shocked by how different the Capitol looks from the Districts. I mean, I've seen it on TV a little, but as we get closer to the city, I am astounded by the tall buildings rising up from every point in the city. The mountains surrounding it protected it from the rebels both times there were uprisings, but even though they stopped our freedom, I can't help but admire their snowcapped peaks. The people, on the other hand, are nothing compared to the land. They all look completely ridiculous. Some of the them have skin completely dyed from head to toe, and most of the women have large, poofy, hair, like Diamond. Some of the men have ties that were made up of circles, or made of silk with huge bows. Some people have so many piercings that they had more holes in their bodies than plain skin.

Then I realize, the cheering mass is cheering for us. When I look down at Clo, she is smiling and waving at the people outside. Then, I realize that I should probably be doing something like that, too. But I don't know what to do. I look outside and smile at everyone. I start waving, but not in the cute adorable way that my sister does, but in a professional kind of way, at the same time casually. We are coming into the train station and the clean, open space can't be any more different than what District 7 is like. As Clo and I step onto the platform the sound of the excited, colorful people was deafening as the peacekeepers let us pass. All the people start crowding around us, and everyone is trying to get a good look at the tributes from District 7 participating in the annual 104th Hunger Games. More importantly, everyone is trying to get a good look at the brother from District 7 who volunteered as tribute to protect his little sister.

Eventually, we make it out of the train station and get away from all the people. I hear a sudden outburst of noise from behind us and I am guessing that the tributes from District 5 and District 2 had just come out of the train. I see Ivy and Nazair walk out along with the two other tributes who belonged to District 2. I remember their names (I don't know why because I hated them). The tributes from District 2 are Marco and Harper.

And District 9 opted to take another train to the Capitol. Six tributes are far too many for one train, let alone 8. I see Ivy and Nazair walk by as the people from the Capitol are trying desperately to get pictures of us but they are being blocked by the peacekeepers. I look at Ivy as she walks by, but she doesn't take notice of me. Then the District 2 tributes walk by. The boy, Marcus, acts as if we aren't even there. The girl, Harper, shoots us a nasty look and strides right by. "Come on Rowan!" Clo calls out to me. When I turn to look at her, I see that she, along with Diamond and Johanna, are at the door of a ginormous building ahead. "Whoa," I mutter to myself as I stare up at it. They would never have anything close to this in District 7. "Rowan!" Clo cries. And I jog over to her.

As soon as I am at the foot of the building, I realize that it is bigger than I thought it was. "Come on, Rowan! We're on a very tight schedule, here. We can't be late!" Diamond exclaims. Johanna looks at me half jokingly dissapointed. And Clo and I follow them through the glass double doors into a huge, grand room. There, I see a woman standing along with a bunch of other men and women alongside her. "Rowan, Clover, this will be your makeup team," Diamond tells us. "And this is your stylist Talon." The group of people smile at us. The man in the front of the group walks up to us. "Hello, I'm Talon Spectral. It's a pleasure to be working with you two," A girl with a stripy pink dress and light pink skin says, "Hi, I'm Candy, I'm the head of the makeup team!" She says as she smiles. Talon gestures for me to follow him, and we walk together, through a small corridor, and into a washroom. In the center of the room is a large basin which is filled to the brim with a lilac colored foam. Talon leaves the room, and I gingerly get in. It had been so long since I had a proper bath. After a couple of minutes, I am feeling far cleaner, and my hair seems to be a lighter color. A small knock comes from the door. I get out of the basin, wrap a towel around myself and allow the person to come in. "Rowan, you're looking better already!" Talon exclaims. "Now, for your costume. If you don't mind, I was thinking of making your costume of leaves, kind of like a growing tree and you could have dark brown pants made of a soft and supple type of bark, with root like endings." He says as he hands me new clothes. He turns to me and says, "Your sister would wear something similar, kind of like a growing tree, but upside down so the leaves make the skirt of the dress." I put the clothes down on a small table nearby. "Wow, thanks. That sounds great." I say. He is putting a lot of effort into this, I didn't expect my stylist to be this friendly, or understanding. He leaves the room to talk with Clo's stylist, and I find a blue shirt and jeans for me. I'm not really sure what to do so I peek out the door and see Clo standing outside. I walk over to her and say, "what do we do?" "I think our stylists are going to talk to us soon." She responds, and I hear footsteps down the hall. Talon appears around the corner and motions for us to follow him, we follow him through sleek, white halls until we go into a room filled with orange furniture and an electric green rug. We sat down and Talon said, "I know that you expect me to dress you up in ridiculous tree costumes, but I have a few ideas that I've mentioned to you. You will both have outfits that resemble growing trees but upside down." He shows us a sketch and I see that mine is an outfit that does resemble an upside down tree but not in a bad way. My chest would be bare, and then I would have what I could only describe a sort of skirt that was an upside down tree. Clo's dress was bark at the top, and had one shoulder strap, and the dress faded into green around the waist and became what looked like leaves.

The next couple of hours pass in a blur, and soon I am in a surprisingly comfortable upside down tree skirt, but I thought the games were going to be the hard part. We are brought down to the bottom floor, and all around I see people in all sorts of district-themed costumes. Me and Clo are placed perfectly on the chariot by Talon, and soon we are off.