The Bloodbath

Something blared in her ears, awakening her from what little sleep she had attained. Her eyes shot open. It was a familiar sound, yet it was hard to place. Thump. Thump. The more she heard it, the more the tempo of it increased. It drummed faster and faster until it seemed like it would explode. A pang surfaced in her chest. It sounded almost like the brown leather boots she’d tried to forget. Or was she trying to forget who they belonged to? Her thoughts blurred as they always did when she had just come out of sleep. The thumping increased even more, but now, even when she dove under the covers, the noise didn’t disappear. It didn’t stop, nor did it slow down. The thump seemed to be inside her chest. Then she realized. It was her own heart.

Her own heart was what awakened her from a rather sleepless night. She hit her chest as if it might cause the noise to quiet. Why was her heart beating so hard? The warm caress of the heavy blankets draped over her motionless body reminded her of where she was. She shot up, recognizing the room at once. It was a room in the Training Center. She was in The Capitol. Today, she would go into The Hunger Games. Her heart continued to thump, even after she had told herself to calm down. Weighing her odds, she lay, still motionless, in her bed. The cushiony fabric was hard to leave, but the thought of a warm shower seemed relaxing. Her heart was already giving her chest pains and she wondered if it would beat even faster when she stood on that pedestal. The fact of the matter was she was nervous as hell. Even though she tried to keep her thoughts under control, her heart was beating far beyond her control. Every thought was as plain as day and she sorted through each of them carefully. The first thing that popped into her head was her score. She remembered gasping for breath when it had been called out. A ten. Would that gain her respect in the arena? Or would that make her a target? For the last few training days, the only people she talked to were in her alliance, and she didn’t talk all that much. So it seemed odd that she had received the highest score of the group. Her stylist had told her to be happy about it, and maybe she was right, but the young tribute was fine with fading to the back of the alliance.

More thoughts came and went. All of them were carefully sorted out. When she felt her thoughts were in perfect order, she tore herself from the bed. The shower seemed so nice. She had only taken baths in cold water, even though they could afford much more. The greedy men that ruled the house showered in warm water. She tore them from her mind, that was a distraction she couldn’t afford to have. Throwing her clothes off, she sleepily stumbled towards the bathroom. She had taken a few showers while she was here, but even so, when the water was shot at her from all sides it made her jump a little. The water ran down her body in sheets, and she worked the control panel so that shampoo was somehow put in her hair. The tribute thought it was in the water, but she may have not been getting any shampoo at all. She wished she was a Capitol person. Then, she would have time to worry about the petty things in life. Like how her hair looked, or how she smelled or dressed, it was disgusting, but she was envious anyways. The water had almost put her to sleep when she heard the thumping noise again. This time it was her pep team. They were chattering like the Capitol people do while they were setting up their things in her room. She heard the soft voice of her stylist in the room. The girl turned off the water. The prep team came in and led her out of the shower. Her thoughts started to swirl and her vision was blurring. Everything was blank. She just felt hands on her face and slipping her into clothes. Letting them control her like a robot, she felt clothing on her followed by simple blush. Her stylist did her hair in a braid that looked like a fish’s tail down her back. The stylist showed the nervous girl how to do it, but her fingers were limp. She tried to listen, but it took all she had not to faint.

The rest of the morning was a blur. She remembered being ushered around all quickly. She remembered her escort rushing them along and her stylist’s arm around her shoulder until they parted ways. She informed the tribute that she would see her before she went into the games, but this slipped her mind until she walked into the Launch room, escorts of Peacekeepers holding her by the arms until she was completely concealed in the room. The stylist in the room’s arms wrapped themselves around the now shaking tribute’s limp body. The girl wished now that she had paid attention the rest of the morning. There was probably some lifesaving advice in there somewhere and she had totally missed it. Her heart made the thumping noise again, and the pang resurfaced in her chest. It was all happening too fast for her brain to process. She was about to go into The Hunger Games. She had an alliance. She had a “lover”. She had a team. She would be okay. At least for today, she hoped. The girl hadn’t even talked to her stylist besides now, and she wasn’t even talking. Instead she was ignoring all of her more than likely helpful tips and trying to organize her thoughts again. Before she knew it, she was stepping into a glass tube and being pushed up. It was then, that time caught up with her.

Sharp light temporarily blinded her tired eyes. They automatically tried to adjust. She needed to be able to see her surroundings. Fixing the white dress that draped over her, she let the world around her become visible. Her hands began to sweat and her body shook furiously. She stopped this, but it was impossible to stop the beating of her heart. No one could see her as the nervous wreck she was. They had to see her as a threat just as much as they did the others. All of her thoughts fell out of their organization. Humidity almost smacked her in the face the moment the new air hit her skin. The temperature couldn’t have been that warm, but the humidity would make water a bigger need. Sweat would take most of their water away from them. All of her thoughts fell out of their organization. The only thing that was clear in her mind was the countdown.