District 12's First Victor

CHAPTER 4: INTERVIEWS

All day I am helped to plan for my interview. I spend half the day with Sophia learning how I should behave. There is so much to do! Sit up tall, walk properly, there was even a certain way I had to talk! Stupid. The other half of the day I spend alone in my room, working out how to portray myself. The only thing I come up with in the whole day is shy so I just go with that.

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The next day when I wake up, the prep team are already in my room, ready to give me my makeover. This time, they curl my hair and put a pale green hairband in it, paint my nails with clear nail polish but don’t apply much makeup at all - only a tiny bit which blends in so well that it looks natural. Surprisingly soon, Lavendar comes in to show me my interview dress. It matches my shy personality. It is a pale green, comes to my knees and has sleeves down to my elbows. It is - like all my other outfits so far - beautiful.

When we get down to the interviews, we have to wait side stage then we all enter in a line and sit down. All the other interviews fly by and then suddenly it is my turn. I stand, grab my crutches and walk up to the stage. I may be shy but I am also independent.

"Everyone! Please welcome Anya from District 12!" the interviewer shouts.

"Welcome Anya. So how are you finding the Capitol so far?" he asks

"Well…" I start, shyly. "It is very bright and colourful and everyone is so confident! You have everything here for you at the touch of a button - so different to back home."

"What has been your favourite food?" He asks.

"Ummm…" I say. Why did he have to ask a question that I didn’t know the answer to! "I'm not sure! It is all so amazing!"

"Oh come on!" he says. "There must be one that you just can't get over!"

"Umm… Maybe the Hot Chocolate. I know that's a drink but it is so amazing and we never have it in District 12! If I hadn't come here, I wouldn’t have known it existed!" I say as if it is a good thing that I am here. As if! This is terrible!

"So how about your family?" he asks. "Would they be proud that you got a 10 in training? Do you miss them?"

"Yes..." I say. "They would be proud because I'm doing my best and I miss them so much!"

"We only have thirty seconds left!" he says. "Just one last question: do you have any siblings and if so can you tell us about them?"

I sigh. "Yes, I have a younger sister named Heather. She is absolutely beautiful and it always hurts me so much when she is upset. I hope she is okay!" I say sadly but I know she is not okay. Tomorrow, she will probably watch me die, or at least watch me struggle through the games until I do die!

Then I start to cry in front of the entire country.

The buzzer goes off and I stumble off the stage. Matthew smiles gently as I walk past, which is nice of him. I don't notice any of his interview because I am too absorbed in my own thoughts. When the interviews are over, I hobble as fast as I can through the crowd and hit the number 12 button in the elevator.

I don't join the others for dinner. I use the room service instead. I miss my family so much, I am almost constantly crying now. Why did the interviewer have to bring them up! I can't sleep. After a while, my thoughts drift from my family and I think of tomorrow. What sort of arena will it be? I hope there is trees and plants I know from the forest back home. The thought of the woods calms me and I somehow fall asleep.

Meanwhile, in District 12…

I can't sleep, not with Anya going into the arena tomorrow. She will be okay. She got a 10 in training so she must remember everything we learnt in the woods. I'll go there and try calm down.

I sneak quietly out of the house and slip under the fence that surrounds District 12. Being in the woods calms me and I decide to walk down to the little hut for when we used to stay out overnight. But I don't get far. I am just about to push through a blackberry bush when I see them. Peacekeepers everywhere! Then I see a shimmering wall which reaches higher than the top of the tallest trees. What could that be and what is it doing here? I think about it for a moment before I realise what it is.

This is the arena for the 2nd Annual Hunger Games.

I sprint away back to the District as fast as I can. I can't tell anyone about what I found. If I do, no one will ever be allowed in the woods again. That can't happen. The woods keep so many families like mine alive.

I get home and slip into bead but instead of calming me like I thought it would, my walk made me even more worried! I can't stop thinking about Anya now. Maybe I can somehow get her out of there so she will definitely win.