Flooding Panem: The Hunger Games

Chapter Four: Shining

When I wake up the next morning, I try to hold onto my dream, but I’ve never been able to remember them. So instead I cast my mind back to the previous evening. After the arm wrestling, Laxina pulled me back into the lounge car and questioned me to sleep- literally. I fell asleep answering a question about whether I’ve handled any weapons before.

I open the drawers and pull out at outfit almost identical to the one I wore yesterday. Again I don’t bother with make up, but I do make sure I look presentable. Even while coming into the city, how friendly you are can help determine whether you get sponsors.

The dining car is empty when I arrive, so I help myself to an apple and a mug of what I recognise as hot chocolate. It’s wildly expensive, but sometimes the baker invites us round for a meal, so I’ve had it a few times before. The artificial lighting feels cold and almost disturbing, so I go to open the window. This is when I realise that the sun has only just risen, which probably explains why I’m the only one up. I grab another apple and go to the lounge car to sit in a window seat.

Could it only have been yesterday that I was lying under the waves at home? Looking out of the window, I can see sloping hills that look almost like they belong in a desert, and beyond them, the mountains. Once called the Rockies, the Capitol lies at the centre. I've never seen mountains before, only pictures. The peaks of some seem to pierce the clouds, rising above even the sky in their splendor. 

I always forget how close the main town of District Four is to the Capitol; when we watch it on the screens, it looks like it belongs on a separate continent, so pristine and glistening, and the lake around it looks too smooth for anything to live there. But we’ve only been moving for twelve hours, and even thought the trains sent to collect tributes from the more central districts are slower, we must be almost through District Three.

Dawn light makes the world look distorted, and for the first time since the Reaping I can let my mind wander and it doesn’t go back to the Hunger Games. For a moment, I can almost imagine myself under the waves again. I’m calm until I hear Errid’s squeaky tone calling my name. Blinking myself back into the real world, I see that the sky has become much bluer; when I stand up I find that I can’t feel my foot. Evidently, the escort is worrying about my whereabouts. Not bothered about sending me into an enclosed space with 23 people out to kill me, but terrified about losing me in a train barely half a kilometre long. I’m still thinking of the sheer stupidity of it when I enter the dining carriage and see Marvel spearing his fork into chunks of fruit. He smiles at me as I enter, and I get a sneaking suspicion that he’s known where I’ve been since Errid started squeaking. I tell myself that he’s not a stalker, but a small voice in the back of my mind reminds me that he knows about my swimming routine.

“Always so concerned about our safety, aren’t they?” he says, smiling ruefully. I return his smile and grab another mug of hot chocolate. As I’m sitting down, Errid bursts into the room, his hair partially clapped in foil. 

“Gracious, Lilia, where were you? You mortalorried me!” His words (and appearance) are greeted with my own blank expression. My pupils dart around, and when they land on Marvel, I see him repressing a smile focused at the table. He catches my eye and we both burst out laughing. Errid is now the one looking confused, as Marvel tries not to spray bits of fruit everywhere. Neither of us have any clue what this word means.

“It’s the Capitol slang, Errid.” I hear Hercule’s voice from the doorway. “Although you two might want to try and learn some over the next couple days, it helps during the interviews.” He enters and sits down next to Marvel, as Laxina takes her seat next to me.

“It means you worried him to death,” she explains, helping herself to a mug of coffee and simultaneously ignoring Errid’s spluttering attempts at protests. “It’s supposed to be a combination of mortal and worried or something…” Errid looks quite offended at this explanation for some reason and walks out of the room in a huff.