I glanced over to Martha, who was being pulled into a tight hug by the older sister Marcella. She was shacking her head at me, looking like she could rip me apart.
I turned my attention away from the two of them, wondering how my mother and the other two at home would react. Mama must've known I was going to do this; why else would I have told her not to let the two of them watch?
I headed towards the steps, my head held high. I gave nutmeg a small nod, which was greeted by an evil glare.
"And who would you be?" Asked the Capitol envoy, his electric blue hair almost blinding me.
"Denzel Atten," I said, nodding awkwarly.
"District Four's tributes; Nutmeg Calder and Denzel Atten!" he said, his eyes darting around the crowd like haywire.
After an awkward pause we were led into the justice building. I was ready to be screamed at by my sister, but the first person who greeted me wasn't her, but was instead Annie Cresta.
"Why did you do that?" she whispered, two peacekeepers pushing us into a room as we spoke.
"I've been training for this my entire life, Annie," I told her, knowing she wasn't buying any of it.
"There's other ways to get glory that doesn't involve getting yourself killed!" she said, on the verge of tears, knowing that she hated the games more than the next person.
"You don't understand..." I replied, looking into her eyes, trying to tell her without using words.
"I do," she mouthed, her voice cracking slightly. "I may not know the full story of what's going on with you and Aubrey but I've got a pretty clear image."
"I don't like her like that!" I insisted, desperate to win Annie over.
"Let's talk about this when you get home," she stuttered as I pulled her into a hug, feeling her hand grabbing my hair and her breath on my neck.
"Out," said one of the peacekeepers, pulling Annie out of the room.
"Goodby-" she began as the door slammed shut.
I heard shouts from outside the room, before all four of my siblings and my mother came tumbling through the door, my mama looking as blank as ever.
I smiled, glad they'd all come to see me off, but almost instantley it was wipped off my face as my sisters hand made contact with my face, sending ripples of pain along m cheek.
"What the heck Marcella!" I screamed, taking my hand to my check, seeing her face crinkle, her eyes wider than anything I'd seen before, her expression clearly mad with rage, reflecting what she was feeling internally.
"Why woud you leave us?" she began, tears streaking down her face. "I'm only fifteen, I can't support them on my own! Mama won't be able to work within the next few years, and we'll need all the help we can get!"
"When I win-" I began, trying to calm her as Dylan began to ball his eyes out as Martha picked him up and brought him tightly into her arms, making him cry more.
"There's no guarantee of that," Marcella said, clapping her spare hand to her face. I couldn't watch her be like this, so I pulled her into a hug, kissing her on the forehead and hushing her quietly, Dylans cries muffled onto my chest.
"The dome will give you your allowence like they always have," I began in a quiet voice. "You can claim money on mother's behalf, just don't let on that she's ill or they'll take you away from her.."
"Finish up," boomed a peacekeeper from behind the door forcing me to quickly wrap everyone in a hug, wishing them a last goodbye.
After they left, I felt empty. For the first time I regretted what I'd done. Maybe the games wouldn't be as easy as I always thought they would be. Besides, I couldn't let myself think that now.
I was led by the same two peacekeepers who were guarding the door to the back of the justice building to what I recognised to be a tribute train. I was pushed through the doors, the peacekeeper turning their backs on me and standing centry at the door, probably baring my escape.
I swallowed before wandering towards a door with a small window in it. Everything was so posh in this train, it almost felt out of place in four, as everything here was simple. We never used anything we didn't need.
"He didn't know what he was doing Aubrey, calm down!" shouted the voice of Finnick Odair from behind the door, making me feel more nervous. I knew by 'him' they meant me.
"He did, he did!" she repeated in reply, her voice frantic like I'd never heard her before. "I've warned him at least a thousand times!"
"Don't try anything stupid," Joride said, his arms folded, watching Aubrey punch the wall repeatidly.
For some stupid reason, I thought it's be a good time to enter the room as Coral was prying Aubrey away from the glasses as she began to throw them against the wall which she'd just been punching. The rooms attention flew over to me, including that of Aubrey's, who unfortunetly had quick reflexs, which I found out to my disadvantage as the glass came flying towards my head.
"Forget the arena..." she growled as she darted towards me, tackling me to the ground, sending the world spinning around me as she began to punch me in the skul.
"My tribute! My glasses!" Screamed the Captiol escort, crouching beside the ruins of his cups.
Between Joride, Finnick and Troy, they managed to pry Aubrey off me. She was squirming and kicking and didn't stop till mags grabbed her hand, whispered something to Finnick. She did some sort of thing were she squeezed her shoulder, making Aubrey appear almost dead.
I suddenly became very alert, dashing the few feet that lay between me and the now unconcious Aubrey.
"I don't think that's a good idea, do you?" said the hoarse voice of Troy who now had my best friend layed across his shoulders like a dead duck.
"Just get her out of here before she wakes up," Coral said, beconing towards Aubrey, forcing Troy to turn around and carry her out of the room, banging her head on the door, making Finnick follow apprehensively.
"What about the mentor reaping?" the Capitol escort said, sticking his bottom lip out as he entered the room followed by a very confused looking Nutmeg.
"We can still do it without them Gus," Coral said smiling, putting her hand ontop of his to comfort him like he was a replacement of baby Albert to her while they were in the Capitol.
"What?" Nutmeg said, lower her eyebrows, her tone so sharp she almost cut Augustus.
"Well every year-" Augustus began.
"Shut up," Jordie windged, narrowing his eyes at him, leaving Augustus and Coral looking very taken aback. "Let's just get this journey over with," he groaned, giving a weak smile to Mags who looked deeply concerned. "It's going to be a long one for sure."
