city of no sleep |berserkers blitz|

we rest; a dream has power to poison sleep.
we rise; one wandering thought pollutes the day.
we feel, conceive, or reason; laugh or weep,
embrace found woe, or cast our cares away.

The Capitol is like a city that never seems to sleep. Had it not been for the clock striking 9:00, I probably never would have guessed that it was nighttime. Through the glass windows of the Training Center I see light when it should be dark. I suppose it’s just the Capitol way, never turning off their lights, for they refuse to stop their festivities until they quite literally drop.

I walk to the elevator, my thoughts drowned out by the conversations going on around me, the tons of Capitol people in their fancy outfits with their poisonous snickering and laughing. I want to scream at them, but it’s the fear of bad impressions that keeps me from it. They can dictate whether I perish or survive; quite honestly I prefer the latter.

I push into the ‘up’ button beside the elevator, staring at my feet as I wait for the pleasant ding to ring. The quicker the better cause I’d rather not have to deal with the uncomfortable silence if other people enter in with me.

Ding, I almost want to rip the elevator door open to get in and shut it, but I do the next best thing, slide in as soon as my width would permit it. I push the button labeled 4, watch it light up, and then push to close the elevator.

I sink into the corner, waiting for the peace and quiet when the absence of Capitolite laughter stops. But the laughs don’t stop, and the doors don’t shut.

It takes a moment for me to have the balls to look up and see a hand reopening the elevator door. Great, I think to myself. Awkwardness silence, here we come.