The 55th Hunger Games

Part 2 - Chapter 11

        We ride the elevator back up to our floor. Seamus and Liza both seem satisfied with my performance, but I don't hear either of them offer anything to Samantha. Perhaps they thought the same things as I did when I watched her interview, or perhaps Samantha has simply severed the bonds between them. Who can tell for sure?

        The smell of dinner beckons us the minute we all step out of the elevator. Dinner passes as usual. Marigold is still dishing for more praise on my outfit, and so is Teal on Samantha's. And what our stylists want, our stylists get, even though tomorrow Samantha and I will be dumped into an arena full of who knows what? Hopefully there will be trees. If not, I will be in trouble.

        When everyone finishes their cheesecake we retire to the lounge to watch the replay of the interviews. This time around, I am intent on learning all I can about each of the tributes, deciding who will be the killers and the first killed. Deciding who I might be able to trust and who I certainly will not. Deciding who will be good with weapons and who will be good at survival.

        Also deciding which districts will have a crowd of eager sponsors behind them and which districts won't.

        Unfortunately District 9 does not rank very high up that list, and who can tell where ours will rank.

        No one really has anything new to say about mine and Samantha's interviews when we watch them, but Liza comments that we did a nice job.

        When the District 9 girl comes on I am once again entranced by her differences, but also by her tinkling voice and shiny appearance. She indeed is very strange, and my hunches seem to have proven correct- she actually is not worried in the slightest about the Hunger Games, and she does not expect to win either, which sets her apart from the Careers. I am not sure how she can possibly be so calm about this, and I find myself wishing that I could be her right now, because of course I don't plan on winning either.

        Maybe it is too late to formally request alliances but that does not really matter. Just as I did not want to leave the District 5 girl, Mahamari, alone, I do not want to leave this girl alone to get killed either. And her district partner seems alright too. I don't think he would betray me or her. I am already forming plans in my head of how I can make this alliance happen, when Marigold says something I simply cannot let slide.

        "What a strange little girl she is on stage. I couldn't help but laugh all the way through her interview. I do hope she is soon to go tomorrow. What a silly excuse for a tribute!"

        I look at her, and try to conceal a little of the fury in my eyes.

        "Yes, she is different, but so what? I want her to win."

        "Don't be silly Taslim," Marigold says, as though she truly is my superior. "We cannot have a complete loony as our Victor. She is clearly mad!"

        Before I even realise it I am on my feet. I hear Seamus's warning cough, but ignore it. "She is no madder than the rest of you Capitol people. You know what? You all make me sick. Only a mad race would think to create the Hunger Games, and you're part of it! You are interested only in personal gain. You are consumed only in yourself and your own desires. You must have no empathy, for if your kind did, then the Hunger Games would never have come into existence in the first place!"

        Then, ignoring Marigold's choked voice and Krissy's tutting, as it seems I had unintentionally insulted her too as well as Teal, I leave the room, open my bedroom door, slam it shut and bury my head in my pillow.