The Hunger Games

Chapter Seven

Twenty hours.

Twenty more hours until I will be entering the Hunger Games. Twenty more hours of this wonderful food. Twenty more hours to live..

I fluff my pillow once again as I toss in my bed. I haven't been sleeping since last night after the interview. Caesar said I was brave. A fighter. That's good right? So why do I feel like it was so bad? Why do I feel as if I had said the worst thing in the world? Why do I feel so miserable?

I give up on fluffing the pillow, since no matter what I did to it, I could never fall asleep, and cover my face with it. Surprisingly, it feels a whole lot better. I blink my eyes over and over under the pillow and enjoy the silence. The Capital has a strict ten p.m. curfew and I would hate to be whoever wasn't in bed by ten. You don't necessarily have to be asleep, just as long as you're in bed, and have the lights off. The room stirs, and I feel the air of the cooler come on. I shiver and toss more blankets on me. I try again to fall asleep. Maybe if I get up and run around a little bit...

No. I can't take that risk. But, then again, they can't really do much to me now. There was no time to replace anyone now, so they couldn't very well kill me. But they could make sure nature destroyed me in the games, which were, again, twenty hours away. I tell myself not to move, moving will cause me to stay awake, and I had to fall asleep. I start counting sheep. I make it to one-hundred and fifty two until I fall asleep. When I wake up, I see Effie, Haymitch and Cinna hovering over me.

"Today's the day." Effie says. I motion for them to move, and crawl out of bed. In a couple of hours, I will never see this place again. Never. I ask them to leave and then hop into the shower. The warmth of the water relaxes, comforting me as I enjoy the last few moments I will ever have in the luxorious lifestyle. As soon as I'm dressed, I linger down the stairs and sit at the table to eat breakfast. Today they're serving pancakes and bacon, simple. I twitch my mouth and take a slow bite.

"This wasn't the exact going away breakfast I wanted.." I mumble to myself. Effie stares at me.

"What was that, Prim?" She asks. I shake me head and take another bite. She stares at me for a while then finally takes a bite of her food. Peeta is silent this entire time. I look to him and give him a subtle nudge.

"You ok?" I ask him. He shrugs.

"I've been better, well not really, actually. This is the wealthiest I've ever been." He states. I roll my eyes. Leave it to Peeta to state the obvious. Everyone slowly starts finishing their food, except me. One by one they leave the table, Haymitch, then Effie, then Cinna, then Portia, and lastly Peeta. But I'm here left alone. I feel as if I'm glued to the table, like I can't move anywhere. Suddenly Katniss comes in to pick up the dishes.

She acts as if I was another piece of furniture. She stacks a couple of plates, goes into the kitchen, and then comes back out for more. She picks up my half eaten plates of pancakes and heads for the door.

"I wasn't done," I whisper. She turns to me and her wrist, which probably means it was time for me to be finished anyways. I let her go into the kitchen, and then finally am able to pick myself off of the chair. Before I make it to the door, Katniss comes back out for an extra cup that was left on the now empty table.

I hesitate before running over to her and giving her one last hug. She doesn't hug me back, just lets me wrap my bony arms around her waist.

"I'm going to miss you." I say, knowing that this will be the last time we see each other. Even if I did win, I still wouldn't be able to see her. She's an Avox, which means I can have nothing to do with her. I'm not even supposed to be talking to her know. She pries my fingers off of her and leaves for the kitchen without looking back. I turn towards the stairs, and slowly head up them, saying goodbye to Katniss forever.

Hours later, I am ready to go to the Launch Room. All my waiting and anticipating is finally over. Cinna is a shower of tears as I wave my last goodbye to him. He retreats from the metal plate and whimpers out a "good luck". I nod and step on the plate.

The sound of my boots echo throughout the District 12 room and everyone is silent as the metal plate begins to rise. I look down to the people, who become smaller and smaller.

"Bye." I whisper. I reflect on everyone I have ever met; Effie, Haymitch, Cinna, Peeta. Even the people that I didn't like I will be missing. I am still thinking about the people I will miss when my plate has reached the arena and I see all the other tributes.

Glimmer turns her head to me and aims an imaginary arrow at me. I try my best not to make any eye contact with her. Save it for the game, Prim. I look the other way at Peeta, he gives me a reassuring nod and looks to the arena. I do as well. It's humongous. I don't understand where the Capitol can find such a big piece of land. They never reveal to anyone the whereabouts of the arenas, and each year it's a new place.

I take a running position as Cladius Templesmith speaks into the loud speaker.

"Ladies and Gentlemen let the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games begin!" He yells. I wait the allotted sixty seconds and then I am off.

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