Chapter 7: The Tributes go into the Arena
Peeta awakes to Haymitch shaking him. He tells Peeta to get cleaned up for breakfast. After his shower, he throws on some khaki shorts and a black t-shirt. He slips on a pair of sock and running shoes before heading to the dining room. He loads his plate with eggs, bacon, waffles, toast, and strawberries. While they’re all eating, Haymitch reminds them that they need to find water. He tells them that he knows that they’ll be fine, to remember all their training. When the six teens finish eating, Haymitch and Effie take them to the roof to the hovercraft. The six tributes from District 11 are already on board. A woman dressed in white injects their trackers in their arms. Peeta winces when he received his. They’re in the air for about an hour when they reach their destination. They unload one at a time, in two minute intervals, led by two peacekeepers.
Peeta is led to a door labeled District 12 male – C. When the door opens, he sees Portia waiting for him. He walks over to her and she wraps her arms around him. She then leads him over to a small couch so they can talk.
“Peeta, I was at the interviews last night. I saw you. You looked out of it. What was going on?”
He looks at her, “Do you remember the pocket watch you gave me when I was getting ready?” She nods. “It was from my dad. I had forgotten he gave it to me the day of the reaping. I had just shoved it in my pocket, not really thinking about it. I finally opened it before the interviews.” He looks down at his folded hands in his lap. Portia leans forward and puts her hand on his, encouraging him to continue. He takes a deep breath. “Inside the watch was a picture of two babies, twins. Me and what would have been my twin sister.”
Portia’s eyes widen. “How do you know that?”
“My dad left me a note.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the watch and a scrap of paper. He hands the paper to Portia to read.
Peeta-
This is you and your twin sister Michetta. She died two days after you were born. We never told anyone about her. I should have done more to protect you.
Dad
Portia looks back to Peeta, who shows her the picture. “You had a twin that you didn’t know about? Does Rie know?”
Peeta shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t honestly know.” His voice is quiet.
“Peeta, one more question. What did your dad mean when he said he should’ve done more to protect you?”
Peeta shakes his head. “I don’t want to talk about that.”
Portia puts an arm around Peeta. “Hey, I understand you don’t want to talk about it. But you are so sidetracked right now and you need to have your mind on what your about to go into. Being this distracted will get you killed. I have faith in you. I think you can win.” She gets up and goes to get his outfit. His voice is so quiet she almost didn’t hear him.
“My mother used to hit me, beat me. When I was 11, she hurt me bad and kicked me out, disowned me. The rest of the family wasn’t allowed to talk to me. Rie finally stood up to her and we’ve been working on mending our relationship.”
Portia drops the clothes and turns to Peeta. She sees the tears flowing down his face. She rushes over to him and wraps her arms around him. “Shh, it’s okay Peeta. Just let it out.” She holds him and lets him cry himself out. When he’s done, she leads him to the sink to wash his face. She brings the outfit over for him to put on. He puts on the navy boxer brief underwear, followed by navy cotton shorts and t-shirt. The last piece is a black and gold full body neoprene body suit. On his feet, socks and neoprene boot-like shoes with deep treads on the bottom. She puts the watch with the note inside in a waterproof pouch around Peeta’s neck, tucking it under the suit.
