The Life of Ezero Laffan For Dummies; Chapter 3

As the backdrop for the Reaping, the Justice Building maintains a sinister appearance at all times of the year. Inside, the year's tributes sit in separate rooms and get a few last minutes with their family and friends in order to say their farewells. With Peacekeepers always present, entrance into this building means that a tribute is long past the point of being rescued.

Making an Entrance

The Justice Building has heavy doors and few windows, giving a muffled and locked-down atmosphere. The high ceilings only last for the first area before they drop to ten feet. A single hallway down the middle of the building is the only portion of the massive structure that anyone aside from Peacekeepers see and it is through here that the tributes are ushered.

I'm being dragged along by the arm, like the Peacekeeper that gripped me didn't believe that I could walk for myself. I can't help gaze wide-eyed at the enormity of the building around me. Even the school, large as it was, didn't hold this level of over-extravagance. We're guided - or more accurately herded - down a lengthy hallway. About half of the way down, we are stopped and turned to face opposite sides. The patch of wall I'm looking at is home to a firm-looking door. A Peacekeeper unlocked the door and opened it. The Peacekeeper gripping my arm nearly chucks me in and slams the door behind me. Once more, I have been cast into the dark, alone.

A Comfortable Cell

For somewhere around half an hour, each tribute resides in a well-furnished room inside of the Justice Building. Here is where their friends and family can visit them to say their goodbyes. Often the tributes see fabrics or trinkets here that they wouldn't have been allowed to touch previously. The Capitol spares no expense on these rooms, though they do spare them some attention as many of them are rather dusty.

The room - which I could finally see after finding the light switch after having to frisk the wall for a bit - wasn't exactly large but it would sit a decent-sized family comfortably. As the only person in the room at the moment, I felt small and alone. There were two chairs, a love seat, and a full-length couch. I sat on the love seat, curled into one corner of the ornate double-wide chair. Whatever glass wall I may or may not have been behind before was gone. It left me exposed and chaffed by the contrast around me. How could the Capitol lead with something so luxurious and then toss us into something so cruel. For a number of days we would be living in complete luxury and then we would be placed into the middle of a vicious climate, surrounded by others like us and some that are very different. How could I, a book worm from a lower district, hope to compete with the Careers that would be there. Yes, District eleven may have won for three years running, but not a single District eight victor could be remembered.

The satin and suede under my fingers is the lie that anyone can richness. While I had never been that hard off - both of my parents had decent jobs with competent wages, and I was paid for the work I did so I could supplement their income when needed - I wasn't the rich Career who had been training to fight since he was two. Wrapping my knuckles on the wood created a monotone, hollow sound. With my parents not here yet - they had to be coming, they had to - I had nothing to do but wait and gaze around this room. At this moment, the fear was being replaced with spite and distaste. Here we are, me and the girl who I never looked at once, about to be thrown to the hounds and the Capitol has the nerve to think putting a bow on our heads will make things better. The beasts will tear into us all the same, I just hope one chokes on the ribbon.

Momentary Reunion

While tributes do get to meet their friends and family again, if only by the choosing of the Peacekeepers - who have the ability to deny anyone they please for any reason they can come up with, the amount of time they are allowed to spend with them is quite short. For Ezero, the meeting with his parents was more important to him than the fact that he would soon be fighting other children in the name of sport.

My mother was the first of my parents to enter the room, timidly peeking in after the door was opened like she expected me to be lying dead on the floor. I stood up when I saw her and some relief rushed into her face. Don't worry, mom, I'm not dead... yet. She ran to me, embracing me ferociously so that her arms crushed my ribs and her hair filled my face. "Honey, I'm sorry. I never thought it could be you." What could either of us say, there was no way we could have predicted this. Even if we could have, there was nothing we could have done.

My father entered more slowly, his whole mannerism so much more somber than normal. I felt terrible for having cause my parents so much hardship, even just by being reaped. My mother was no longer positive and my father was no longer smiling. The things that I had clung to as my rock throughout my life had just been destroyed with the speaking of my name. I wished nothing more than to somehow take it all back. There was nothing I could do, no one had volunteered for me and I hadn't chosen to take this place. Fate likes its practical jokes. So often it is the older kids, the ones right on the edge of freedom, that get snatched by the Reaping. My father places a hand in my shoulder, unsure of what to do. "You're a smart boy, you'll know what to do." My mother is still clinging to me like a life raft in a storm and I do have the heart to pull away despite desperately wanting to show my father how much I loved him. Instead, I pulled my father into a hug that encompassed my mother as well. We stood there, holding onto each other like we were the last things in the world to exist. If we let go we'd be sucked away into the nothingness that was the rest of the world.

A Peacekeeper flung the door open, looking at us without even a flicker of emotion in his stony eyes. "Right, time's up." He started forward and put a hand on my father's shoulder. Ever a passive man, my father released his embrace and took a step away from my mother and me. "Son, whatever happens, I'm proud of you." My mother pulled a bookmark from her pocket and took my hand, draping the item over my palm. "Keep this on you, hun. Remember us." I managed to give her a quick hug before she, too, was pulled away by the Peacekeeper. Briskly, they were marched out the door, which swung shut behind them with the force of a jail cell. This was it, I was condemned. The irony was that I would have to do all of the worst things in order to be released. Good behaviour was not factored into the the Hunger Games Prison.

I looked at the bookmark in my hands. On it was a picture of Puddles, my beta fish who only this morning I had said goodbye too. With a sinking feeling in my gut I realized that I hadn't reminded my parents to take care of Puddles. Looking at the bookmark again, I realized that my mother would never forget him. He was part of the family, and he would be her reminder of me just as this bookmark was my reminder of them. Sloshing with emotions, I had to sit down before I tipped over and spilled. Too late, I caught the first tear on a finger. No, I was not a Career. If anything, I was a little boy, frightened by the monsters that surely lurked in the dark all around me. I clutched the bookmark to my chest and wept as silently as I could.

Departure

From the Justice Building, tributes are taken to the train station. There, they will catch the train that will take them to the Capitol. The walk from the visiting rooms to the train station consists of walking down the rest of the hallway and out of the rear of the building, where they are greeted by cameras to catch them on their way. They are met by the District's escort and any victors from their District who will act as their mentors. As District eight has not seen a victor in some unknown amount of years, Ezero is only greeted by the very escort who had pulled his name and sent him down this path.

We were dragged from our rooms, neither of us putting up a fight because we were so emotionally exhausted. I was the first of the two of us, though there were at least three Peacekeepers in front of me. Gripping my arm like a vice was the same Peacekeeper as before, the one who had also interrupted my parents and me. I was really beginning to hate him.

The walk down the hallway was silent, but the short space between the rear of the building and the train was filled with a surprising amount of noise. Cameras were shoved at us from multiple angles and I was glad for the time I took to wipe away the tears and try to hide the fact that I had cried. While I wasn't exactly tough, and I wasn't trying for a tough image, I also didn't want to be marked as an easy target. Middle of the road, that was me. I could play the middle of the road and that would give me the most amount of wiggle room. Like my father said, I'm smart, I have to be able to figure out what to do. I was grateful that neither of my parents had made me promise to come home again. We all knew I would, one way or another, and most likely I would have to be carried. I just had to remember them, as if I could ever forget.

I looked dead into one of the cameras, raising a cautious hand in a hesitant wave. Hopefully my parents would see this and know that I was doing this for them. I love you. When we got to the train I couldn't even look at the escort. My gaze was trained on the inside of the car, seen through the open door. I didn't want to talk, I didn't want to get to know anyone. For now, I just wanted to get away from the damn paparazzi.