𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐍 | 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀

FOUR

Everyone crowds around us the minute we get off the train, Peacekeepers helping to maintain order as one by one, we slowly walk out of the doors. I follow Stella's instructions and try my best to copy what Finnick and the other victors are doing. I force my sweetest smile which I hoped looked as genuine as Gill's and wave to the citizens. I'm guessing our arrival is a big deal considering the crowd of people that have shown up. The cheers and shouts are starting to get overwhelming as I hear a few shouting my name from behind, I turn my head and give whoever is chanting my name a wave as I continue walking. Gill is next to me and seems to be getting an equal amount of attention.

Thankfully, we quickly arrive at the car and clammer in, shutting the door behind as I sink into the soft leather seats the minute I'm sure we're out of the public eye and heave a sigh of relief. I hear a couple of chuckles coming from those around me but I couldn't care less, instead, I close my eyes and lean my head against the window. "It's over now, right?"

"Yeah," I hear Finnick's voice and I nod with a hum. "We're just going to the Training Centre right now, it shouldn't be that long of a car ride." I nod again and I hear the engine of the car revving. I lift my head up and look outside the windows, the vibrant lights shine harshly as the streets are teeming with people in their weird and funky outfits.

I watch as we drive by street after street, the colourful dazzling lights are captivating and the big screens placed on buildings with advertisements of the Hunger Games. The capitol is bustling with life as loud music and voices from outside leak into the car in words I couldn't quite decipher.

After a while, we finally arrive at the Training Centre. The Training Centre would be where we live and train for the time before the actual games– this will be my home until then. There's a tower designed exclusively for the tributes and their teams and each district has an entire floor to themselves. It's easy to remember– your district number, your floor. We split up as we get into the lifts but I stay close to Finnick and Coral. I've only been in lifts a couple of times but this elevator has to be more glamorous than other ones; the walls are made out of crystal so you can watch as the people on the ground floor shrink into microscopic creatures as you make your way up.

Stella's duties don't conclude at the station like how I thought it would. She will continue overseeing us alongside the rest of the victors into the arena. Stella smiles as she shows us the floor we'd be taking over and it's nothing short of grand. The floors are grey and polished with fine lines of deeper and lighter shades running through them, they look like cracks but they aren't. The walls are white and a chandelier hangs from the ceiling over what I guessed was the dining table. There are a significant amount of chairs and couches in the living room, probably to cater towards the amount of people we have and the kitchen is huge. I barely have any time to take it all in before Stella is showing me to my room and wishing me good night.

The door shuts behind me and I'm left alone. The curtains are drawn up and so I get a good view of the city. The room is significantly larger than the one I have at home and it's lavish just like the train car, just with more gadgets and buttons. The shower has at least a dozen buttons on a panel to adjust all sorts of settings from the water temperature to the type of soap to use. Heaters that blow-dry your body come on when you step onto a mat, so there's barely any need for towels. I also don't have to spend time combing through my tangled hair as there is a box that I can place my hand on that sends a current through my scalp which untangles, parts and dries my hair almost instantly.

I'm in awe as I continue to explore the room. I approach the closet, my hand freezing upon the panel of buttons before I play around with them and program the closet to my taste, as well as to get something to wear to sleep. The whole room feels surreal to me. You're able to see any part of the city through the windows on command and you can receive food in less than a minute if you were to whisper a type of food from a huge menu into a mouthpiece. I scan the menu, there's almost every dish possible on it.