A Crafted Kind of Games: A Hunger Games Fanfic

Chapter 3

I feel my whole body stiffen. It's me. Me. Out of hundreds of girls, it had to be me. Of course. I grit my teeth to keep from crying and take short steps up to the stage, Peacekeepers following closely

behind.

As I step up on the stage, I catch a glimpse of my parents. My mom is in tears, my dad holding her. He looks like he's about to cry, too.

I try, unsuccessfully, to swallow the lump that has formed in my throat. Oh, god. I'm going to cry. No. Don't cry, Skylar. I repeat. Do. Not. Cry.

By some miracle I hold in the crying. I'm still stunned by my name being called. The world is deaf to me. I can only hear the sound of my heart, beating faster by the second. I hold on to that sound, knowing that in a few weeks, I may never hear it again.

Slowly, I can hear things again.

"Lets give a big hand to District Ten's female tribute, Skylar Pather!"Julio yells into the crowd.

He receives nothing but silence. He quickly overcomes it and moves over to the glass sphere holding the boy's names.

Julio makes a big dramatic show of reaching in and selecting a slip. He crosses back over to the microphone, and I listen intently, not really sure if I'm ready to hear the name of one of the boys I might have to kill.

"Adam Dahlberg!"

Julio practically bursts my eardrums with how loud he yells into the microphone. A group of boys turn their heads to another boy in the center. He looks about my age, and moves almost like a robot towards the stage.

He has brown curly hair that looks kind of unruly, and brown eyes.

"There you are. Please give a warm round of applause to our male tribute, Adam Dahlberg!" Julio is met with more silence.

Adam is now standing on the opposite side of Julio.

"Well, go on, you two. Shake hands."

I give Julio a death glare, something I'm infamous for around here, and he backs off.

"Umm, never mind. That concludes our ceremony. Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor!"

Julio concludes, and Adam and I are practically shoved through the doors of the Justice Building by Peacekeepers. I don't dare look at Adam as they lead me to one room, and him to another. The Peacekeepers lock the doors behind me, and I wait for my parents to show up.

As I listen and watch through a crack in the door, I see a woman and a man, both in tears, going to the room across from mine. I can only assume they are Adam's parents.

I swallow the lump in my throat. I can't cry here, either. I don't want to be seen as weak.

Suddenly, my parents burst through the door. We don't say anything, just come together in a family hug. We stay that way until the Peacekeepers come to take me to the train. My mom bursts into tears again. "Try your hardest to get back here, ok?" My dad asks. "I will. I promise."

With that finale promise, I am taken out to the station. I was right not to cry. There are cameras everywhere. I steal a glance at Adam. It's obvious he's been crying, even though he's covering it up with a strong face.

Julio walks in front of us, and enters the train first. As I step into the train, I let out a gasp. The train is more luxurious then I had ever imagined. I hear the sleek doors slide shut, and a gasp close behind me. I guess that Adam has joined me on the train.

I walk into the room, feeling almost dazed. There is a large, wooden table that practically sparkles in the corner. It is partly covered by a mint green tablecloth, a pretty candelabra, and loads of plates, bowls, silverware, anything you could imagine.

In another corner, there is a white leather couch and two matching chairs to go with it. A wide, yet thin, black box is mounted on the wall.

A buffet is set up next to the doors. I have never seen so much extravagant food. We only have meat, and the vegetables we grow, so I never see things like cupcakes, cookies, pastries, amongst other things that line the long table.

As I walk through the room, my feet literally sink into the plush white carpets.

"This is..." I start, but I can't think of a word to describe it.

"Heaven." Adam finishes. We sit down on the couch, across from Julio in one of the chairs.

"Isn't it indeed! I think the being in the Capitol is one of the best things for a tribute, because even though you're here, and it's only for a short time, you get to enjoy all of this."

"Wait, we can eat the stuff on that table?" Adam asks, pointing towards the long table.

"Of course!" Julio explains. Adam's eyes practically pop out of his head. "I CALL DIBS ON THE CUPCAKES!!" He screams, and runs to the table, grabbing as many cupcakes as he can.

I stifle a laugh, and turn back to Julio. "Umm, Julio? What is that black thing?" I ask, pointing to the black box on the screen.

"Oh, that's the television." He smiled at me. He seemed strange to me. I mean, were Capitol people supposed to be this nice?

"That's the television?" Adam said, although it was hard to tell-his mouth was full of cupcakes. I understood his level of surprise. Everyone had a television in Panem, they were gifts from the Capitol so everyone could watch the games. But ours were like projectors, old and yellowing.

"Yes, that's the television. I'm off to go find Anna." Julio answered, and left the room to find our mentor.

Adam sat back down, and we sat in silence for a while. I didn't dare look at him. After a while, he broke the silence himself.

"Have you ever met her?" When I didn't respond, he tried again. "Anna?" I didn't give him a response. "Look, I understand if you don't want to talk, but I don't see anything wrong with getting help."

I turned and looked at him. Suddenly, it all came flooding back.

Flashback

I'm taking one of my nightly runs around the district. I do this occasionally. Tonight, however, it is different. I left my coat at home. My parents had been yelling at me, I needed to get away. All I know is to keep running, running, running..

I stop from exhaustion, and the little heat I had from running stops. I fall from the sudden cold, and slam my head on the gravel path. My vision turns fuzzy, and I know I'm about to black out. And if I black out, I will die from the cold, the night will swallow me up.

Just when I'm about to black out, I see a boy run up to me. He looks about my age.

I black out.

When I wake up, I'm sitting next to a small, hastily made fire. The boy is gone. I can feel a coat on my shoulders. He saved me..

I reach into the pocket of the coat, and find a slip of paper. I open it up carefully, and read what it says.

"No need to return the coat. -A."

End of Flashback

"You..." I say, trying to process the whole idea. "You saved me." It sounds too crazy. "Yeah." We sit in silence for a moment. "But, why would you save me? You didn't know me." I asked, very confused. "You needed help, anyone could see that. I wasn't about to let you die, even when I didn't know you." He explains. "Thank you." I whisper, barely audible. I receive no response. We sit in silence, and I stare out the window, thinking of the boy who saved me.