Not Just A Game

Chapter 28

The next day passes the same as the last. Slowly and quietly.

I wake on the day of our first day back at training, shaking and crying silently from my latest nightmare. I place my feet on the floor and walk to the kitchen to get a drink of water.

After a few minutes, the tears recede and I'm standing silently, feeling alone. The quiet surrounds me like a thin blanket. Everything in the kitchen is dim, and hollow looking.

It's kind of lonely.

The sun shines it's white morning beams through the white curtains hanging in the living room window, struggling to reach across the the empty kitchen.

I walk into the living room and plop down on a couch to feel the warm rays on my face. I calms me.

The white leather is cool on my legs, contrasting against the hot sun beams. It's really a weird feeling.

Eventually, though, the cold sofa will give way to the heat of the sun.

My mind is blank. I'm barely thinking about anything. It happens when I'm nervous, or anxious. My brain picks up random things it would never notice if my mind would whir away about something important.

I'm almost glad to go back to training because it'll put my brain to work. But it also means we're getting closer to the games. Day by day.

I head back to my bedroom and get dressed in my training outfit.

I pull my hair into a new ponytail. My hair has gotten so much longer since the reapings. It used to reach a few inches past my shoulders.

As I look in my mirror, it flows down even in a ponytail past my mid back.

My tan skin has gotten pale from being in the Capitol. It doesn't see the light of day. We don't really have a lot of chances to go outside.

I run my toothbrush under the cold water from the tap, and loosen up the stiff bristles. Squirting paste from the full tube, I run the toothbrush under the faucet once more, before plunging it into my mouth.

After I finish, I rub the crust of sleep from my eyes. I'm finally wide awake, and ready for the day.

•••

I head straight to the throwing knife station the minute we're released to train.

Picking up a handful, the instructor corrects me on small techniques that need work. I hit every target, but sometimes my throwing is just a tad but off center.

He helps me fix that by simply having me stand still while I throw. Turns out, I would twist my torso towards the ground, which caused the slight aim malfunction.

Now I hit the bullseye, spot on every time.

After knife throwing, I decide to just watch the others and make notes of what they do.

I climb the rock coarse and stay at the top to get a decent view of everyone.

Bliss is at the spear station alone. For a career, it's weird to not be with your alliance.

I notice that her aim is great. Her spear hits the bullseye every time, but bounces off the target and clatters to the floor.

She looks frustrated at this, but collects her spear and tries again, repeating this process about five more times.

This tells me a little more than I knew earlier about her. She's obviously not very strong, or that spear would've stuck in the target a long time ago.

Bliss is easily frustrated at things she can't do, but she's persistant. She won't give up.

After a long time of watching her failed attempt at lodging her spear in the target, she moves onto bow and arrow practice.