I woke up to the sun shining in through my window. I must have forgotten to close the blinds.
I showered again, savouring the warm water for the last time for who knows how long?
I tied my hair up in a ponytail, packing on extra elastic bands in case I needed them later. I knew I could use them in the arena.
I opened the wardrobe the Capitol provided. It was filled to the brim with warm clothing. I wondered if this gave any hint about the arena.
I picked some simple cotton pants, a neutral grey- coloured sherpa- lined hoodie, and some light leather hiking boots. I laced on the shoes as tightly as I could. Under the hoodie, I wore a simple cotton t-shirt. Over this I put on a heavy, weather resistant jacket.
I also found a pair of woollen gloves that I slipped into my pocket.
An attendant knocked on the door. I prayed she wouldn't burst in and grab me in my dream. I waited. The attendant stayed outside the door.
I let out my breath and Opened the door. To my relief, the attendant was actually quite tall and thin, with electric blue hair.
I followed her wordlessly down the bright-red-carpeted hall. We descended down in the elevator. The attendant drummed her fingers on the shiny gold hand rail. I tapped my foot impatiently.
Finally, we made it down to the ground floor. We walked out of the elevator and were met by a flash of cameras.
"Answer nothing." the attendant ordered in my ear.
I nodded with consent and pushed my way through the colourful crowd of reporters. Camera flashes nearly blinded me, and I was peppered with a cannon-fire of questions, but I just pressed my lips together and said nothing.
The rest of the walk was across a cement surface to a connected building. The hallway beyond was cold, and concrete the whole way down to another door. i assumed this would take me to the room before the arena.
I followed the attendant down the corridor, our footsteps echoing.
The attendant stopped at the heavy door and motioned for me to go in. I opened it to find none other than Elsie Batsworthy sitting on the cold metal table inside.
Her eyes were swollen, her nose red and puffy. It looked like she'd been crying. As soon as I closed the door behind me, Elsie ran up to me and enveloped me in a hug.
"Um...?!" I said in surprise. I'd never thought of Elsie as a hugger.
Elsie burst in to a fresh bout if tears. "Oh, Dylan! I'm so sorry!" she sobbed into my shoulder.
"Um... It's ok?" I was truly bewildered now.
"No it's not!" Elsie bawled.
"Why?" I asked.
"It's all my fault you're here!" she sobbed, leaning heavily on me. "I broke the reaping ball on purpose so I could find your name, to get you reaped! It's all my fault, all my fault..." her thin body was wracked with sobs.
I shuffled over to the table, setting Elsie down. She collapsed forward and sobbed into her hands. I patted her back awkwardly, unsure of what to do.
"It's okay. We're in this together now. What's gone is gone."
"But it's not gone!" Elsie cried. "You're in grave danger now all because of me!"
"Hey, someone was going to be here no matter what. It just happened to be me."
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Just a short little break, lovelies. No need to worreh! If you wanna take a break from this story,go read some of my other stuff. It would be good for chu.
Cuz if u don't I'll SLAP CHU WIT A BUTTER SOCK!
Is that a sock? You say.
Filled with butter? You say.
Oh, yes, daaaaahling, it eeeez.
I'm cray cray. Y'all know that by now.
xx Amanda
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Once Elsie had calmed her tears into small hiccups, I stepped on to the platform that would take me up into the arena. A glass tube slid down over me and Elsie ran up, pressing her hands against the glass.
"I promise I'll do everything I can to get you out of there!" were her frantic words. I nodded, unsure if my voice was big enough to make it through the glass. The platform jerked to life beneath my feet, and I was sent skyward.
I closed my eyes at the blinding flash of white, then opened them to survey the arena. It was coated in snow. There were mountains I touched the silver locket around my neck for good luck. This was the one token I was allowed to bring back from my district. And before you say anything, NO I DID NOT PUT A PICTURE OF A COW IN THERE.
The metallic voice rang out over the arena. "Welcome tributes, to the 56th annual Hunger Games!"
A monotonous voice boomed over the speakers.
"10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1..." My body tensed, every bit of me alive. "BUZZZZZ!"
Every tribute jumped off of thier pedestal, scattering in all different directions. Most tributes, including me, went straght for the Cornucopia.
Fights had already broken out within seconds of the buzzer. Tributes were clawing thier way to supplies and weapons. I snagged a large backpack and a bow. My heart sunk when I saw that another girl already had a sheaf of knives. This wasn't going to be pretty.
I jumped on the girl's back, throwing all of my wieght against her. She toppled forward and managed to fall on one of the knives.
She gasped, pawing at the ground for a few more seconds, probably looking for a way to throw me. I held on, and soon her body went limp. I grabbed the knives and shoved them tightly into my backpack.
I ran as hard as I could towards the nearest tree cover. I noticed with relief that they were refular oaks, not pine or anything like that. Pines were virtually impossible to climb, let alone hide in.
I raced through the forest, but the snowy ground made it hard to move. I tripped and fell over a concealed log, landing head first. I dragged myself up again, looking for a good place to hide.
After what felt like hours of running, I found a tree that was dense enough to conceal me.
I scaled the branches as I had the rope, nestling myself in a spot tha was shaped almost like a bowl make of branches. I had almost drifted off when a cannon shot woke me with a start.
Panem's national anthem played in the arena, and pictures of all the dead tributes flashed in the sky. The girl from 9. The boy from 4. The boy from 12, the girl from 6, and the girl from 7, all played out in district order. Thankfully, Karmin and Matt were still safe.
I pulled my backpack under my head like a pillow, brushed the snow off of the branches around me, and fell into a light and dreamless sleep, waiting for the day to end.
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I hope chu read that far. Or chu might just be slapped. WITH A BUTTER SOCK.
Anyway. 66 READS AW CHU GUYS! I'm so happy! It may not seem like a lot to some people but my other stories have, like, 9 reads :/
REMEDY THAT!
:D I just wanna say I shall not set an upload schedule. I publish this as I write it and honsetly, I'm as impatient as you guys to see the results of my upload! I write every dya of the week and sometimes on weekends so THAT'S GOODY FOR YHUUUUUUU!
Thanks Lovelies,
xx Amanda
