Stargazer • The Hunger Games

SEVEN

CHAPTER SEVEN
❝Who Are You, Really❞

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Sleep did not come that night. I laid there awake for hours until the sun rose over the Capitol horizon. I had turned the ocean view off when I got a grip on my tears. The windows may now be black but the memories that the ocean brought up felt like a stab in the chest each time a new one came to the surface. When the sun spilled into my room, I stood up from my bed. I was exhausted but alive. I felt like hiding all day but Dolly had other ideas, it was time to train.

Breakfast greeted me when I emerged from my room. Dolly, Eric, Hunter and Seraphine were sitting at the dining table and I could hear Aiden asking one of our servants for something. Our servants. I walked past one and cocked my head at her. She looked in her twenties. Her hair fell in loose brown curls down her back and her eyes were like honey. She was standing at the entrance to the dining room holding a tray with a cold jug of water. I grabbed a glass and poured some cool water into it. "Thank you" I smiled at the girl. I did not think, I wanted to make friends so I asked her, "What's your name?"

The girl frowned in an unnatural way as if something was wrong with her mouth. "Alice!" Dolly hissed from the table, "She is an Avox, she cannot talk."

I wanted to ask questions about why she could not talk and how she got here but I stopped myself, I did not want to make the older girl feel bad. Instead, I looked up at her and smiled, "Thanks for the water." The Avox smiled back at me and nodded. With no reason to continue being near her I made my way to the table and sat next to Hunter. I could smell bacon and eggs. Eggs I had often back in the district but bacon was only something heard in stories.

"Didn't sleep last night?" Eric asked, he was sitting across from me, his plate piled sky high with all different food types.

"You didn't either." I pointed my fork towards his face. His usually unblemished skin had dark bags under his eyes. I wondered if he found the remote in his room also.

"Nothing coffee can't fix." Dolly giggled. She was enthusiastic as always. Sleep did not seem to hinder her as it did the rest of us.

"Coffee?" Eric and I said together.

"This." Dolly pushed a mug towards me. Inside was a black liquid. It did not look inviting. "Drink up!" She instructed, "It will wake you up quick smart."

I looked at Dolly wearily before lifting the mug to my mouth and taking a sip. The taste was rich, potent but it was not that bad. I swallowed and immediately felt a buzz in me that I had not felt before. I took another sip, then another. Each sip made the drink taste even better.

"Hey give me some!" Eric reached out to me from across the table and pulled the coffee out of my hands. I licked my lips clean of the taste and watched Eric try out the beverage. His face scrunched up straight away and he stuck out his tongue. "Yuck! Bitter and way too strong. I think I'll steer clear of coffee."

"More for me then!" I giggled, grabbing the cup from Eric and drinking the rest of it. He just looked at me as if he was unconvinced about my newfound drink love. I then made my way onto the buffet of food before me, stuffing my face full of crispy bacon, fluffy eggs, cooked flattened potato things, toast, beans and other strange foods. I was halfway through my second serving of scrambled eggs when Millie walked through the elevator doors and towards us.

"Do you have a plan?" Aiden asked her as soon as she walked towards the dining table. My suspicions about the two of them were answered when Aiden walked up to her and kissed Millie on the cheek. They looked cute together, both dusty blonde with sea green eyes and a nice tan. They must have found each other after the games, easing each other's nightmares by finding love in the other. I smiled at the thought of it.