And that was the thing about her, she kept on surviving. With bullet holes in her lungs and knife marks etched in her back. She never let anything get in her way, resilient. A fighter, not by choice. But a warrior at heart.
| the hunger games |
| pr...
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I stand dressed in a gold-colored dress. The front of it is short, and the back of it flows down past my feet. The sleeves of the dress stop at my shoulders, and a ribbon is wrapped around my arms, and then it flows down with the rest of the dress. At the bottom of the front half of the dress are little pieces of grain, to represent my district, and a belt is wrapped around my waist. The collar of the dress is what I hate the most, it stands straight out with little pieces of gain attached to it that dangle off of it. My hair is wrapped neatly in a bun on top of my head, and the same type of material that is the collar is what ties my hair up.
I am relieved when I see Monty show up dressed in an identical costume. His stylist, Piper, and her team accompany him, and everyone is absolutely giddy with the excitement over how good we look. We're whisked down to the bottom level of the Remake Center, which is a gigantic stable. The opening ceremonies are about to start. Pairs of tributes are being loaded into chariots pulled by teams of four horses. Ours are a light shade of brown. The animals are so well trained, no one even needs to guide their reins. Teak and Piper direct us into the chariot and carefully arrange our body positions, the drapes of our outfits, before they move to consult with each other.
The opening music begins. It's easy to hear, blessed around the Capitol. Massive doors slide open, revealing the crowd-lined streets. The ride lasts about twenty minutes and ends at the City Circle, where they will welcome us, play the anthem, and escort us into the Training Center, which will be our home until the Games beings.
The tributes from District 1 ride out in a chariot pulled by snow-white horses. They look so beautiful, spray-painted silver, in tasteful tunics glittering with jewels. District 1 makes luxury items for the Capitol. You can hear the roar of the crowd. They are always favorites.
District 2 gets into position to follow them. In no time at all, we are approaching the door, and I can see that between the overcast sky and evening hour, the light is turning gray. The tributes from District 8 are just rolling out when Teak appears wishing us luck, "Here we go then," he smiles at me as if sensing that I am nervous, "Remember, heads high. Smiles. They're going to love you!"
He shouts something up at us, but the music drowns him out. He shouts again and gestures. "What's he saying?" Monty asks.
"I think he said for us to hold hands," I tell him. He grabs my right hand in his left, and we look to Teak for confirmation. He nods his head and gives a thumbs-up, and that's the last thing I see before we enter the city.
The crowd's initial alarm at our appearance quickly changes to cheers and shouts of "District Nine!" Every head is turned our way, pulling the focus from the three chariots ahead of us. At first, I'm frozen, but then I catch sight of us on a large television screen and am floored by how breathtaking we look. In the deepening twilight, the gold of our costume seems to glow. I lift my chin a bit higher, put on my most winning smile, and wave with my free hand. I'm glad now I have Monty to clutch for balance. As I gain confidence, I actually blow a few kisses to the crowd. The people of the Capitol are going nuts, showering us with flowers, shouting our names, which they bothered to find on the program.
