Little Flower-The Hunger Games from Rue's Point of View

Chapter 13

The girl from Twelve- I'm pretty sure her name's Katniss, actually- Katniss looks just as nervous as I was. You can tell that she's trying to look tough and fearless for any hidden cameras that may be broadcasting footage of the tributes to the citizens of Panem at any given time, but she's playing with her hands, which seem to be sweating. I'm surprised that she's not talking to the boy from Twelve. They seemed to be really good friends from what I've seen of them. They sat together during lunch and everything. I think they were the only tributes, other than the Careers, who did. 

I wonder what Katniss is going to do for the Gamemakers. When I saw her in the training center, she seemed to be trying to be inconspicuous. I've seen her in some of the other stations- she didn't seem that bad at any of them.  But she didn't really exhibit any special skills. In fact, Katniss actually seemed to fly under the radar in almost everything. For a girl that's been the talk of the town for the past few days, she was surprisingly unremarkable in training sessions. Maybe she has a different talent that she's just choosing not to showcase. She seems pretty stealthy- it might be something she'd do. 

As I walk towards the glass elevator, I realize that there's another, smaller elevator to the right. It's made of metal and it looks sort of rickety, but, for some odd reason, I want to try out everything in this building. Maybe this elevator will go even faster than the other one. Or play better music.

The elevator is disappointingly empty when I walk into it. I was hoping to see Lokia again. She's the only tribute who has spoken to me so far. Maybe we could make an alliance. 

I've resigned myself to being a loner, when the elevator stops in its tracks. I look eagerly towards the doors, hoping that someone will emerge.

After a minute, when no one does, I scan the rows and columns of buttons, trying to decipher some of them. Maybe one will open the door, so whoever's outside of it can come in. There are the numbered buttons of course, with the numbers 1-12. Those aren't going to do anything. Then there are a few letter buttons- L, G, B, TC. I know the last one stands for Training Center. And the G probably stands for Ground. I'm not sure what the other two are for. I push each of them, and nothing happens.  I shrug and look beneath them. 

A bell, some randomly placed triangles, some more triangles, and a little phone. Those are the symbols on the last few buttons. This time I have no idea what any of them could mean. I press the bell, and a dim glow appears behind the button's surface, but it soon starts to blink at me, and it fades slowly. 

The first set of triangles light up but don't do anything. I sigh and press the second set. This time the triangles are pointed outwards. Then buttons lights up immediately when I push it, and I wait eagerly for  something to happen. The left door begins to wiggle, and then the right one. After dislodging themselves from each other, they slowly begin to creak open. 

I sigh with relief, not so much because whoever is outside will be able to come in (They've probably left by now), but because I'll finally be able to open the doors. The space is kind of small, and I have no idea if it's ventilated or not. I'm probably running out of oxygen right now. 

But when the doors open, I don't see anyone. I don't even see the clean polished floors of the building.

No. 

I'm greeted by the terrifying sight of the grey metal wall of the elevator shaft. 

The first thing I do is panic. I slam my body against the shaft over and over again, my hands stinging from the impact on the frigid metal. I actually have no idea what this is going to do. I'll never break through this wall. Even Thresh couldn't. And even if I did, what would there be? Wires? More metal? Empty space?