Young Writers Society

Tally's POV

One hour. That's the time the Peacekeepers have given me to say good-bye to my loved ones.

Mother and Father come in first. Father is so proud, he tells me with a big smile on his face. He's pleased that his baby girl was chosen to represent District 2 as the female tribute in this year's Games.

Mother also congrats me, but her words sound flat and weak compared to Father's. She drifts over to the barred window and gazes out, pretending to look at everything but seeing nothing. Her focus is on us, listening as my father holds my hands in his and speaks to me in a hushed voice. He promises to send me trinkets when I require them, to help get me sponsors, and to support me as best as he can.

Seconds pass before I work up the guts to say what's been on my mind for the past few minutes. "Father? What if I die?"

A low sob comes from my mother and she's in front of me, crushing me against her chest.

"Stop that! You should be honored that Talitha was chosen," Father hisses, casting a wary glance at the door. "Pull yourself together, Camilla."

Mother ignores him, pressing her lips to my ear. "I love you so much. I'm so sorry."

The door is opened and rough hands pry my mother off of me, pushing her out of the room. My father follows, stopping just inside the door frame to say, "Make us proud."

Then he's gone, and I can hear the ghost of the words he wanted to say floating among the particles of dust that dance in the sunlight. Or else.

The door opens and closes, nameless people with faces I never recognize. They congratulate me on my success, wish me luck, talk about the styles and themes of which I'd look best in when arriving at the Capitol, and tell me how fortunate I am to be the mayor's daughter.

"Surely you'll get an abundance of sponsors!" One lady coos, turning to glance at her husband. "Aren't I right, dear?"

"You're bound to make it past the first night," he agrees.

"And it doesn't hurt to earn you some more sponsors! With that pretty face-"

"and that golden charisma-"

"Why yes, I think I'll be betting on you, Talitha," she beams, reaching out to brush my bangs out of my eyes. Her sharp red nails lightly graze my skin and I hold back a shiver.

"Time's up." The door opened for what seemed like the millionth time and two Peacekeepers came inside. One directed the couple outside while the other turned to me.

"The train is waiting," she said in a cold voice.

There wasn't much to see once I boarded the train. Just the usual District 2 stuff; tables made of mahogany, sterling silverware, meals big enough to feed many families.

At one of the booths was the other tribute, Jed, easily recognizable by the signature tousled black hair he was famous for.

He flashed me a toothy grin as I slid into the seat opposite of his. "Hey. How you feeling?"

"Good. You?' I responded, a bit flat compared to the friendly tone his voice held.

"I'm doing alright," he answered cheerfully, picking up a cookie and nibbling on it. "Did you know the mutes will bring you whatever you want, at any time? Ohh Tally, these cookies are amazing."

"Mutes?" I muttered, twisting to look behind my seat. By the automatic doors is a woman, dressed in white. If it wasn't for the blonde ponytail, she could've blended into the train's walls.

"They're called Avoxes, and they are only to be spoken to when you need something." Lisette, the District 2 escort, calls out as she enters the room, forced to crouch so her powder blue beehive doesn't get knocked off by the door frame.

Lisette sends the Avox off to get her a cup of chamomile tea, then takes the seat beside Jed. She flashes me a similar toothy grin, which I promptly return. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Jed frown.

"Alright darlings, in all my years of escorting District 2 tributes to the Captiol, I've not once had a gorgeous pair such as yourselves. You'll simply blow them away once the stylists get done with you!"

The doors open once more and in comes the Avox, followed by two more people. The Avox quickly sets the cup of tea down in front of Lisette and moves out of the way, allowing me to see that the people that have joined us are Anastasia and Creed, two of the countless victors of District 2.

Anastasia is tall and slim, beautifully statuesque. She won the 68th Games by using her good looks to gain sponsors, then used the throwing dagger set trinket to brutally hunt down her opponents. Creed used his muscular built to strangle and crush the skulls of his opponents in the 70th Games. They are two of the most admired victors of my district and I have the sneaking suspicion that my father specifically requested Anastasia as my mentor.

Once introductions have been made, Anastasia turns to me and confirms my thoughts. "Your father tells me you're good with daggers."

I'm about to respond when Lisette cuts me off. "Not now," she hisses, and Anastasia nods curtly.

"Come with me, Jed. We have much to discuss." Creed says in his gruff voice and Jed stands up, sliding out of the booth. He shoots me one last confused look before Creed's beefy hand is upon his shoulder, steering him out of the room.

"I'll leave you two to it, then." Lisette nods, flashing another smile as she follows after Creed and Jed.

The automatic doors shut and it's silent for a moment, then I turn to face Anastasia. "Why did they have to leave?"

"You do understand how this works, correct?" she responds.

"I go to the Capitol, I train, then they take me into the arena and I fight until I die."

"You fight to survive." she corrects me. Her hands rise to tighten the ponytail holding her long black hair back, and I notice a long scar that runs down the length of her arm. That's when I remember that in the final showdown in her Games, a tribute from District 5 took one of her own daggers and tried to slice her arm open in the hopes that she'll die from blood loss. Anastasia managed to throw the guy off and slit his throat open before she passed out in a puddle of their combined blood. The Capitol sent their best surgeons to work on it, but it was too big of a wound to heal entirely. The best they could do was patch it up and leave a faint scar.

Anastasia smiles when she notices what I'm staring at. "I got lucky. Could've lost it entirely, but they got me before it was too late." she explains, then lowers her arm onto the table, hiding the scar once more. "But that's neither here nor there. I'm going to ask you another question and I want you to think long and hard about it. What are you willing to do to survive?"

"Anything." I respond immediately.

"Ahhh, you didn't do as I asked," she chided.

"I don't need to think long and hard about it. I know that I'm willing to do whatever it takes to survive."

"Oh really?" Anastasia asks, then jabs a finger in the direction that Creed, Jed, and Lisette went. "And what about Jed?"

"What about him?"

"Are you willing to kill him?"

It takes a few seconds for me to process the information, then I say quietly, "I hope I'm not the one to do it."

"Talitha Celosia. I'll ask you once more. Are you willing to kill Jed?"

"Yes." I whisper.

"I'm not convinced. I'm your mentor, Tally. It's my job to keep you alive, and in order for me to do that, you need to listen to everything I tell you. Do you understand? That means if I tell you to cut off all of your hair, you will cut off all of your hair. You jump when I tell you to jump and you duck when I tell you to duck. And if I tell you to prepare to kill Jed, you prepare to kill Jed. And you need to trust me when I tell you that once you're in the arena, Jed will not hesitate to kill you. In fact, Creed is telling him the exact same thing I'm telling you right now."

Her words make me stammer, trying to find the words to tell her that she's wrong, but I can't, because she isn't wrong.

"Now you already know that once you're in the Games, you form alliances," Anastasia continues. "You'll want to pair up with Jed, District 1, and District 4. Then you'll hunt down the other districts. But you know, and I know, that once all the other districts are out of the way, your allies become your enemies. Which is why you need to stop thinking of Jed as a friend and start thinking of him as a temporary ally."

"But-" My voice comes out weaker than I expected.

"Only one person makes it out of the arena alive, Talitha." Anastasia stands and leans over to give me a pat on the back. "Why don't you go to your room and get some rest? We'll discuss more tomorrow."

The Avox girl shows me down the hall and makes a left, then a right. She attempts to make another left but suddenly stops and dips her head respectfully. When she moves, I see Jed standing there.

His dark blue eyes find mine and he studies me silently for a moment. I try to gauge his expression but it's closed off, and he brushes by me before I have a chance to speak.

That night, I dreamt of dark blue shadows that shimmered around me, and daggers that flung out of nowhere and reopened gashes that ran down the length of my wrists.