I tried to rest in my room but I kept thinking about my family. I was wondering if Emily can handle taking care of Lance and the house all by herself. I believe in her, I know she can do it.

I got up in a middle of the night and went to the living room to stretch out my legs because I couldn't sleep.
"We aren't sleeping, are we?" I heard Amelia's voice behind me. Every time she was near me I felt nervous.
"Amelia, I-"
"Nah, don't worry. First and last night are usually the worst." She sat down next to me.
"I'm just worried about my kids." I answered.
"For now you can't do anything to help them."
"Yes I can, I have to survive the games."
"You have to save your own skin, later you'll worry about them."
"What about your family?" I asked.
"I only have my grandma." She replied.
"For now I suggest you should talk with your sister. What happened between you two anyway?"
"After my wife died, I stopped talking to her."
"This is a good place to start."
Amelia got up.
"But Dominic,"
"Yes?"
"Remember that there can be only one survivor."

...

Next day in the morning we were eating breakfast all in one table.
Me, Orion, Thor, Amelia, Patricia and Tesla.
Thor wasn't drunk but he definitely had a hangover. He didn't even remember the parade.
"Today you two will go on your first day of training you have to train hard so at the end you get good scores on your final performance." Tesla explained.
"Can you fight?" Orion asked.
"I used to train for the games when I was younger." I answered.
"I was training with an axe. It was long time ago." I added.
I remember when I was younger, those 7 years where you can get picked are the most stressful ones. I trained every day in secret, so if I get raped I can survive. My sister never did it though. She said that if I get caught I can get in serious trouble. She was right but I stopped training only because I wasn't old enough to get picked. When I was 23 there was a Quarter Quel where I could get picked but luckily, me or anyone from my family wasn't picked.
But I wasn't so lucky in this Quarter Quel.

"What about you Patricia?" Orion asked.
"I can make traps. I know how to make weapons out of things I find." She answered.
Patricia was always good and creating.
"That's also useful." Orion answered.
"Remember, don't try to kill people who you know are stronger than you. Those people you have to eliminate with your brain." Amelia said.
"She's talking about careers. Tributes from District 1 and 2." Thor said something for the first time.
"Wait with killing until not many tributes are left." He added.

...

We wore our training clothes and got on the training. We were surrounded by all other tributes.
I looked at Patricia, she looks very similar to me since we're twins. We both have blue eyes and ginger hair. Her hair is more curly than mine though. We have pale skin, she has freckles that I don't have.
The woman was explaining the rules and I looked at the crowd. I recognized those people from the parade.
I quickly found out which one were the careers. Those were: 32 year old Eric, Vance who is 30, Poppy who is 19 and Chris who is 64.
I think that most older people will die first. People under 60 don't stand a chance with people above 19.
It's time to see how much I remember from my old training.

Most of the parts I passed but some were hard. I'm not as strong as I used to be.
The last day of training was the most interesting because everyone practiced the skill they wanted.
Taking an axe to my hand after all this time was definitely something special. I tried fighting with it and I did better than I expected.
I remembered that Orion said that we should look for allies on the training. Patricia already did that because she was talking with an older woman from District 11 next to a table with paints.
I don't know if that's a good idea, you never know if someone turns their back on you.

...

I woke up a day before the final performance. My muscles hurted because of all the training.
"Muscle pain, huh?" Amelia walked into my room.
"Amelia? What are you doing here?"
I blushed, she walked in and I didn't have a shirt on.
"I just wanted to check on you." She said and sat down behind me.
"Hold still." Amelia put her warm hands on my back and started massaging me.
I was very nervous and I didn't know what to do. My heart was racing, my face was blushing. I just let her continue what she was doing. I was feeling much relief because she was making my muscle pain disappear.
"I hope I that I don't make you uncomfortable." She said.
"No, it's fine." I answered.

...

When we arrived to the breakfast, I was hoping no one has saw us.
I have a little bit of time to make up with Patricia.
"Today you'll show your skills in front of the gamemakers." Orion said.
"Don't worry if you mess it up, I had only 8 points on mine performance." He added.
"Later on the interview there will be thousands of sponsors and you need to get them." Amelia said.
"How?" Patricia asked.
"Say something different from others, something that they won't forget."

When we finished eating Patricia took me aside to talk to me alone.
"First you tell me that there's nothing between you and Amelia, and then she massages your back with no t-shirt?" She looked at me with her big blue eyes.
"You saw us?"
"Yeah, I did. Just admit that you like her."
"Why do you care so much if I like her not?"
She suddenly went calmer like my question confused her.
"I just care about you and I think it would be good for you to find someone new." She explained.
"I'm glad that you care but I can't focus about it now if I get out of the arena then I'll think about it."
"Do you think we could escape the arena together?" Patricia asked.
"I wish we could."
"But I heard that 51 years ago, on 74th Hunger Games there were two people that won." She replied.
"I heard too and their family got killed." I answered.
"How do you know?"
"Amelia told me."
"I don't want my family to die-"
"I am your family too!" She said with tears.
"But through the past two years you act like I'm not."
Patricia walked away, I hurted her and I know that but I didn't know how to fix that.
"Patricia," I tried to stop her.

"Fuck you, Dominic."