The Hunger Games - Peeta P.O.V

Chapter 3.5

A/N

The first two paragraphs are taken from the book, so credit for that to Suzanne Collins :)

The speed takes my breath away. I've never been on a train, of course; travel between the districts is forbidden, except for special duty's, which for district twelve is pretty much just to transport coal. But this is no ordinary coal train. Its one of the high speed capitol models that average two hundred and fifty miles per hour. Our journey to the capitol will take less than a day.

In school, they tell us the capitol was built in a place once called the Rockies. District twelve was in a region known as Appalachia. Even hundreds of years ago, they mined coal here. Which is why our miners have to dig so deep.

Its pretty fancy; beyond my wildest dreams. Its nice to know they want our experience to be as memorable as possible, which would be a nice thing if we weren't going to be murdered at the end of it all. In fact, they're treating us as nothing more than pigs being prepared for slaughter.

Effie Trinket shows us to our chambers, one for each of us. They all have a bedroom, dressing area with draws filled with freshly cleaned clothes and a private bathroom. She tells us to do anything we want, wear anything we want, just be ready for dinner in an hour. I decide to take a shower.

I peel off my clothes, now drenched in tears, stuck to me with sweat, turn the water on and step in. Suddenly, I am overcome by the warmth of the water. At home, we are lucky and have running water, though it is only ever lukewarm. Whereas this. This is amazing! Its like stepping out into the summer rain, only hotter.

I scan around the shower for a bar of soap, anything to scrub the memories of home away, yet I find nothing. I think of Joe's sister, what was her name? Oh God. Is this what will happen to me? I'll become just another unremembered casualty in these games, lost in the cheers of the capitol, the sorrows of district 12? What will become of my family? Will they submit to the pain of watching their youngest son be killed on national TV? Will they recover and get on with their lifes? I expect the latter. Which is more than can be said for Joe's parents.

Before Joe's sister (Grace, I think her name was) was reaped, they were you typical merchant family. They owned the blacksmiths, and everyone payed there due in keeping it going. As you could guess, Grace was very strong, even for a little 13 year old. So when she was reaped, everyone had high hopes in her making in, becoming the youngest victor to win the games. if I'm being honest, I thought they were just clinging on to lost hope. A 13 year old from district 12 winning? What were the odds in that? She did okay in training, scoring a 6 out of 12, but when the time came, she was pretty damn good! As the games drew nearer and nearer to a close, I finally thought that she would have a chance! No one expected her to die how she did, murdered by her supposed ally.

Joe spent the next few days with me, siad he couldn't stand being at home. His parents argued constantly, and being there to listen just make him feel worse. Sometimes I would be woken up in the night by the sound of sobs coming from Joe's direction. He would be crying in his sleep, begging Grace to come back.

Anyway, to make matters worse, his mother killed herself a few weeks later. Left him and his father a goodbye note, saying that she was sorry, she couldn't deal with the pain, that she'd gone to protect Grace in whatever comes after death. I guess what they say is true. Grief doesn't change you. It reveals you. (A/N Sorry guys, I had to :) I saw an opportunity and I took it)

There must be something in this shower that can clean me! All I can see are these weird little button things. Might as well try them and see what they do. I press the closest one to me and find myself being attacked by sweet smelling bubbles on either side. I guess this will have to do.