After all of the other chariots have left the room, the chariot for District Twelve is next. I am still holding Dan's hand, and the roaring crowd of Capitol citizens pierces my ears. I see the screens down the avenue, and my dress sparkles under the city lights. I look to the right of the screen and I actually pay attention to his outfit. He is wearing a shirt made out of the same material that my dress is, and he is wearing plain black pants. We do look spectacular. Except, I see that the District 4 tributes have better outifts. They're gaining sponsors every second that they're in this Parade. They wear elaborate, shiny blue costumes, and they look as if they are wearing a wave. As we reach the end of the avenue, the chariots stop in front of the new president. He is very young, and his name is President Snow.
"Welcome," his voice booms throughout the avenue.
"Yeah, welcome to your death," I whisper to Dan. I see him smile out of the corner of my eye, because he knows I'm right.
"Tributes, we welcome you. And we wish you a happy Hunger Games! May the odds be ever in your favor," the president closes his short speech. Then, all of the chariots file out of the City Circle. As soon as the District 12 chariot stops in the chariot room, I drop Dan's hand and hop off of the chariot. I really want to get out of this dress now. I planned on going in the elevator alone, but the girl from District Two stops the door and gets inside the elevator with me. Dan tries to get in as well, but the girl from Two just slightly pushes him away as she closes the elevator door. Oh, shit.
"Hey!" Dan exclaims as the door shuts in front of him. As soon as the door closes, the girl turns on me and pushes me up against the glass so hard that I lose my breath and I feel blood on the back of my head.
"I'm going to kill you, and I'm going to kill you now," she snarls in my face.
"Why not wait until the Arena?" I choke out.
"Because you're a threat. The way you can throw those knives. How the hell do you know how to do that?" she interrogates me.
"I swear I don't - " I gasp before she punches me in the face.
"Yes you do! Now I have two good reasons to kill you. You're a threat to me, and you're not going to be the Victor, I will," she continued, then throwing me to the floor, beginning to kick my stomach. She hits the button for the top floor, so she'll have more time to beat me senseless. Black spots cloud my vision, and I begin to cough up blood. She is mad; relentless. But I don't plan to die tonight. I hurl myself at her feet, and I knock her to the ground. I don't hit her, but she won't stop punching me and screaming at me. Then, she gets up, and exits the elevator, as it has now stopped. We are at District Twelve's floor, but I can't get up just yet. The next time the elevator stops, I feel myself being picked up by a pair of frail hands. I wipe my nose and look at the good samaritan. It is the boy tribute from District Eight. He has dark skin and green eyes. But he doesn't speak, for he is a mute. He just looks at me, pained, and gets off at his stop. I then hurry back up to my District's floor. My nose is still dripping blood, and I see stars in the corners of my sight.
Gladly, everyone's already asleep by the time I make it to the penthouse. I go into my room and I make it to the bathroom. I spit out the remaining blood in my mouth, and I then brush my teeth. After that, I take a quick, warm shower, which mostly involves washing the blood out of my hair and wincing every time I either touch a bruise or get soap in any wounds on my bare body. This is all too much for a fourteen-year-old girl, especially on the night before the interviews.
I then turn off the bathroom light and I put on my clothes in the darkness. I leave my hair wet, since I'm not trying to impress anyone. My whole body aches, but I'm tired. Oh, so tired.
I have yet another terrible nightmare that night, and I wake up sweating. It was that girl who tried to kill me. The mute boy then cut my tongue out so I would be silent, as he is. They both beat me to death. I threw the covers off of me and then I curled up into a ball, hugging my knees close to me as if they were a teddy bear. I am shaking violently, and I desperately want it to stop, but I can't control it. Eventually, the sun begins to rise, and I leave the cage that I call a room. I go to the table, and an Avox woman brings me toast and eggs. I give her a smile of gratitude, and she gives a ghost of a smile in return as she pours my orange juice. She then disappears, and I'm left to my own devices. I have bruises all over my face, and the lacerations from the District Two girl's nails sure don't help my look. After I'm done eating all that was given to me, I go and sit on the couch, and I mess around with locks of my hair.
I then hear a door slide open, and I hear tired footsteps. I think whoever it is will go on and eat breakfast, but they decide to come and join me. Uh-oh. Now I'll have to explain what happened last night. I brush my hair so it hangs over my face, and I dip my head down.
"Hey," Dan greets.
"Hi," I reply, "aren't you going to get breakfast?"
"I already have a biscuit and some apple juice," he informs me, since I'm not looking at him. "Is something wrong?" He sits down next to me, and I scoot away a bit. He then puts his hand on my knee, right on a bruise. I wince, and he notices.
"No, I'm fine," I shake it off, pushing his hand away.
"Charlotte, are you okay?" he coaxes. I then look straight at his face, and he drops his food. "Oh my god, who did this to you?"
"The girl from District Two. She tried to kill me last night," I answer, shying away again.
"I swear, I'll kill her if it's the last thing I - " he tries to speak, but I stop him by putting my hand on his mouth.
"It's okay, it's not like I was going to survive this anyway," I assure him.
"No. This kind of stuff isn't allowed. The gamemakers will make sure she gets killed," he tells me.
"But I don't want anybody to die, even if they hate me," I whisper simply.
"Wake up, Charlotte. She tried to kill you, for goodness sake!" he makes a ruckus, and now everyone in this whole penthouse knows about what happened.
"What's the difference between here and in the Arena? If it was in the Arena, nobody would have cared! Don't you get it? Don't you realize how sick and twisted this is? They are killing children for entertainment!" I scream. I then lift up my hands, and say, "I'm not going to deal with this right now." And then, I go back into my room. I don't ever want to come out again.
