At eight in the morning, I finally get out of bed and take a shower. After I'm done drying my hair, I pull it into a ponytail and I put my clothes on. The shirt I wear is tight, but surprisingly flexible. As Missy bangs on my door, telling me I have three minutes to get ready, I quickly lace up my shoes and brush my teeth. I then meet Dan at the elevator door. He's the only one who will be going with me to training.
When the door closes, Dan comments, "You look nice."
"You do, too," I smile. Be optimistic.
The elevator opens, and we find ourselves in the training room. We are the second to last people to arrive; District Six is ten minutes late. After we are told rules and all of this blah blah blah, I immediately go to the knife throwing station. The instructor teaches me how to hold the knife, and after about twelve tries, I hit the middle of the target. And again. And again.
"How did you learn that fast?" the thirteen-year-old from District Two asks. "I can't even do that!" She seems a bit envious, but oh well. She'll probably kill me in the Games anyhow. Trying to avoid making potential nemises, I learn how to treat wounds, and how to light a fire. I then try archery, which I'm okay at, but it's not really my thing. As I shoot my last arrow, the fletchings end up grazing my hand, cutting open my skin.
"OW!" I yell. I quickly grab my hand and I am ushered out of the room to get it bandaged. Great, now I'll have to wear a freaking bandage on my hand in the Arena. Just fantastic. Not to mention, how will my stylist fix this in the interviews? I have yet to meet him or her, but I hope they have something in mind to cover it. But I remind myself to be optimistic; this could portray me as strong in the interviews.
I look up from my hand as I re-enter the training room. I force myself to act normal, even if the wound is throbbing in my hand. A few of the upper district tributes look me up and down, probably because they're sizing me up. Some scoff at my bandaged hand. I choose to ignore it. Soon, I find myself learning how to fight with an instructor. I eventually get bored with evading the instructors punches and kicks, so I take a break and watch some other tributes climb atop the ropes strung to the ceiling. There is a tribute from District Two who has muscles so big he could probably snap me in half single-handedly, but he has trouble pulling all of his weight up the ropes. When his hand slips off of the black rope, he falls to the ground with a loud thud. He doesn't yelp in pain, but he does grunt and he grabs his elbow. He must've landed on that first.
I'm about to get back up and learn how to trap food, but then I see Dan start to climb up the ropes. He swiftly climbs up the ropes and on to the top of them, near the ceiling. Then, he casually sits down on the top of the ropes course.
"How did you do that?" I ask Dan from the floor.
"It's not really that hard. Come up here!" he tells me.
"Okay," I reply hesitantly. I look up at him, then down at my foot. I place it on the first hole in the rope net, and I try to ignore the height. I have always been afraid of heights. I falter slightly and the ropes twist. I grab on tight and let out a small shriek.
"You're fine," Dan laughs. I look back up at him, and roll my eyes. Then, I get the ropes to twist back, and I'm almost to the top. With one final pull, I step my foot into the last rung, and I am level with Dan. I then situate myself on the top of the ropes course. The view is pretty cool from up here - you can see the whole training center.
"What happened to your hand?" Dan asks of me, pointing to my left hand.
"Oh, that? I was doing archery over there and the arrow sliced my hand a bit," I answer.
"Sounds painful," he comments.
"It was," I mumble.
"Did you see Theo try to make it up here? He's so strong, he's not strong, you know?" Dan chuckles.
"Yeah, I saw. I didn't know his name was Theo," I say, turning towards Dan. I look at his eyes. They look so amazing. I really don't want to live to see the day when those eyes are open but unblinking. I don't want to win if it means he'll die. Yeah, I know I don't know him that well, but he's the only thing I have left of home here. And I know that he has so much more to look forward to than I do. He has a brother, a mom, a dad, cousins, etc. All I have is my dad, and give or take a few people I talk to at school now and then.
Dan blinks and looks at his hands. I might have embarassed him from staring at him so long. I look away quickly. "So, we've met before. I know who you are, I've seen you around. But what do you like to do? Who are you?" Dan inquires.
"I like to write poems. Other than that, there isn't much. Usually, I'm doing odd jobs around the district for spare money, since my dad's mediocre salary doesn't nearly provide enough money to put food on the table," I explain.
"So you just have your dad? I thought you had other family," he furrows his eyebrows.
"My mom died when I was little, when she was giving birth to my brother. He ended up dying with her, and my dad's never remarried," I reply.
"I didn't know that. Do you know why he never married another woman?" Dan asks.
"I think he was afraid to fall in love; he wouldn't want to have to go through another loss like that. Which is why I hope he finds someone after I die this week," I answer quietly.
"You're not going to die. Count on it," Dan frowns, "I wouldn't ever want to be afraid to love someone."
"Like me?" I mumble quietly, hoping he won't hear.
"Like you?" Dan seems puzzled. "You shouldn't be afraid. When you get out, you'll have all the money in the world. You could buy medicine and fancy doctors and you wouldn't ever have to deal with that again."
"But I'm gonna die this week! Don't you realize --" he stops me with a kiss. I pull back, startled. I begin to back away from him. I'm mad. Some of the tributes just saw that. I don't want to love him. I can't.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean --" he begins.
"No. Don't talk to me. I won't let you use me. I'm going to be dead in a week, and I don't want you crying about it," I say sternly. I then quickly climb down the ropes course, and I jump off when I'm a safe distance from the ground. I then travel to the knife throwing station again.
I throw about ten with all the rage I have, and I see Dan start to approach me from the corner of my eye. I then throw the last knife, directly in the dummy's head. I storm out of the training room and onto the elevator. Dan tries to make it into this car, but I close the doors before he can. I push the button for the twelfth floor and I rise to the top level of the training center. As soon as the door opens, I stomp through the apartment, and into my room.
I can't trust Dan now.
