Part 2- Saying Goodbye

I'm in the justice building when the door opens and my family rushes in. One of the two peacekeepers tell us we have 3 minutes, but who cares? All the time in the world won't be enough. Basic self defence and running is only going to get me so far and i can't use weapons. We all hold each other for about a minute, and I feel my eyes prickling. I was thinking about May, and worrying so much, I forgot about myself. How I was in the bowl too.

"Honey, you need to give it your best. Whatever happens, just try," Mother says, almost suffocating me, but I don't care,

"I will, I will try, I promise," I say

"Don't be afraid of anything, not even death, okay?" Casp tells me,

"I won't be scared of anything, i swear,"

"And don't lose yourself. Be you and don't change. You are who Panem will love, Bri," Father tells me,

"And win. Please win" May says.

"I will, May, I'll try," I say. We finally break apart, and I study each of their faces for what might be the last time. Casp has a mole above his lip. All the times we fought and made up, and he annoyed me again. All the times he made fun of my "monster feet", and I never noticed. I never noticed how May inherited Mother's little gold specks in her green-blue eyes. Little things. I never noticed them. But the best I can do is leave on a good note.

I remember the pearl I found for May, and it's in my pouch. I give it to her.

"A pearl!"

"Times up," The same peacekeeper says, dragging them out

"We love you!" Father shouts out to me as the door closes. I sit there for what feels like an hour, though the clock says it's 30 seconds. Then the door opens again and Wenda runs in

"Oh, Bri, I'm so sorry," She says,

"No, why would you be?" I respond,

"I should have volunteered, i mean, you have a huge family of people who care about you, i mean-"

"But you have your mother, and besides, we all know i can't cook," I manage to get a smile from her,

"Do you have your necklace?" I have a gold necklace from when I was a baby. It's an elaborate seashell entangled in seaweed with dolphins mid-flip. All three of us, Casp, me, and May all got one from my grandmother at birth We consider it our family symbol, and I wear it every day. It's a little piece of family always with me, so much i sometimes forget it's there, but i always miss the necklace when it's gone. Wenda and I talk for a bit, trying to act normal, like when we're lying on beds making fish nets. We go over all our old memories. How we first met, our first sleepover, and every funny story. How i was always the worst at the typical district 4 women's jobs; fishing, net-making, and cooking. And when the peacekeeper tells us time is up, we hug for what feels like forever, until the peacekeeper drags her away. There are tears in both our eyes, knowing There's a big chance we won't see each other again. I probably won't see this whole place again, unless i get extremely lucky.

Bruce and I are taken to the train by Amanda. We are surrounded by a large crowd, consisting of lots of jealous 18 year olds. When we get onto the train I hear a sharp intake of breath. I'm not entirely sure whether it was me, Bruce, or both of us. This place is amazing. It's only a train, yet it has gold chandeliers and velvet furniture, with a large theme of green, red, and mahogany wood. I thought, being from district 4, my home was fancy, but this is beyond amazing, and it's only a train. I run to my bedroom. I have a bedroom all to myself, no sharing with my siblings, and it's amazing, despite the lack of space, they clearly went all out. Again, with the red, green, and mahogany theme, there is a mahogany- framed bed with a red blanket and a green oversheet, with darker green flowers embroidered on it. The wardrobe is also mahogany, along with lots of the furniture, which compliments the deep green carpet. I dive onto the bed and it's the most comfortable mattress I have ever been on. I lay down and sleep. It's been a tiring day and I deserve it. I don't know how long later, but I get woken up for dinner.

~

I enter the dining cart. It has the same colour theme as the rest of the train; gold chandeliers, mahogany tables, green carpets and so on. There's an amazing meal on the table, i have no idea where it came from but i'm so hungry at this point i don't care. Also, this day has been so long. I'm just glad it will be over soon. Around the table are Lena, Annie, Finnick, Beaufort, Amanda and Bruce. The boys and girls seem to be on different ends. The boys are talking about who knows what, but I hear the words "trident" and "knives'' come up though. The girls side is much more silent. Amanda and Lena, a woman who looks in her 60s, but who looks like she would get very offended if you asked, are talking and Annie is holding Finnick's hand and eating, again, silently. I sit down and help myself to some fish with a loaf of bread and some basic vegetables. The type of thing we would have at home. There's so many other foods there but all I want is this, I want home. I take a bite of fish and it's very bland. It must have shown up on my face because Lena leans over and whispers to me "Try salt, it makes it taste more like home,". I take her advice and shake salt everywhere and try again. She's right, it works like a charm. I guess we have a lot of spare salt that we use in 4.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Annie starts crying. Finnick immediately jumps up and takes her into a seperate room.

"Why is she crying?" I ask,

"Annie had a very traumatic games. First she saw her district partner get beheaded then she was in a wave that wiped out everyone else but her. She's been left with all types of mental scars. She can get flashbacks, she'll start laughing or lose focus of everything around her at random times. Plus, she has the standard nightmares that come with the games," Beaufort explains. All the victors nod in agreement.

"Nightmares?" Bruce says,

"You'll understand if you win," Lila answers. As if on cue, Finnick walks in holding Annie and sits down. This all seems to get the two genders acknowledging each other, finally.

"Your little sister's Maysilee Quinn, right?" Finnick says,

"She is, yes," I answer,

"She's a nice kid. Henry likes her a lot," Henry Odair is his son and May's friend. They're both 12. May's been to his house before and she said it was amazing, along with the rest of Victors' Village, "Part of the reason you're here, actually,"

"Wait, what?" What did he mean?

"A couple years ago, 1 decided not to allow volunteers, to see what would happen, and one of them won, so to see if it was just coincidence, we wanted to try it, but only on the girls to be safe, so at least one of our tributes would be trained. Don't worry, it was just a social experiment," Hr says, but this doesn't help. So I'm just a social experiment? I don't know why i'm surprised, "Of course, if the tribute chosen was clearly going to be helpless, we'd give the signal to volunteer, which is what almost happened to you, but I remembered Henry saying how May always talked about her big brother and sister being so talented," He explains. So technically it's May's fault i'm here, but that's unfair. On the bright side, if a victor believes in me, maybe i have a chance?

"Hold on, Beaufort, aren't you related to Leonel Fallen?" Bruce says. Leonel Fallen was the first ever victor. From district 4, obviously. He won the 1st Hunger Games in 1 day, mainly because of the lack of excitement in it. They were just all thrown in an arena with a cornucopia. District 4 has a tiny unofficial celebration day every day on his birthday, Leonel Fallen day, since he was the first ever victor. Nothing closes, but at 4pm a celebration happens in the square. The peacekeepers allow it, and they remove the curfew and allow everything to end at 3:20pm latest. They understand how much it means to us since they're mostly from 2, who have the most victors. We basically all just party and drink and sing. It's the best night of the year.

"So what can you guys do? I'm mainly speaking to you, Brianna," Beaufort says,

"I mean, my father taught me self defence and how to climb stuff, and my mother taught me edible foods. I'm also pretty good in water, but that won't come in handy. I don't use weapons and i'm gonna kill as little people as possible," I say

"Self defence. We can work with that." Lila tells the rest of them. I can tell they prefer Bruce over me, but who cares.

"Mind showing us?" Beaufort stands up. I guess we're doing this now, but i'm fine with it, until he picks up a knife from the table.

"No fighting before the games!" Amanda snaps.

"We're mentoring her," He says. I'm completely unprepared when he raises his hand and brings the knife down on me. Instinctively, I grab his wrist and somehow pin his hand behind his back. I have no idea how I got here but I did. Beaufort nudges me and whispers "Knife,". Interpreting this the best I can, I take the knife and press it against his neck as lightly as possible, trying not to hurt him. I assume I won, because he relaxes and I let him go.

"Did I do good?" I ask them all,

"I think we have something to work with," Finnick says, smiling.