Tank ✗ Arrival ✗OS
I’m used to being around people but the crowd waiting at the train station in the Capitol was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced, not so much because of their numbers but because of their enthusiasm for our arrival. A sea of colored faces with plastic smiles screaming out for AJ and I, reaching to grab our hands, or try and strike up a conversation as if we were some hot-shot celebrities and not about to fight for our lives for their entertainment. The entire scene made me roll my eyes but Jacinta gave neither of us little choice in the matter.
“This is your chance to make a good first impression.” She whispered before leading us off the train and into the crowd. Her demeanor changed entirely if that was even possible; she was more energetic, sprightly, probably from being back on her home turf.
The crowd was a little overwhelming at first, more or less screaming in our faces from the moment we walked off the train. I didn’t doubt Jacinta purposely decided to take lead in order to keep us at a slow, leisurely pace. I had no other option but to give my attention to whoever grabbed it, sometimes literally. My nerves were buzzing by the time Jacinta appeared at the end of the walkway standing in front of a pair of glass, double doors belonging to a building that looked like it touched the clouds.
She beamed a smile and waved, “Come, come! One last photo!” She pulled AJ and I beside her and mirrored the conclusion of the Reaping, lifting each of our hands into the air as the cameras flashed in front of us before shuffling us inside towards one of the open elevator cars. It was only when the steel doors slid shut that I let the forced smile I wore the entire walk fall and took a deep breath of relief.
“Wasn’t that fun?!” She bounced in place and clapped her hands together, “Bit of a culture shock, I know, but you’ll get used to it after a while. Overall, I’m impressed but there is a lot of work that still needs to be done. I’m not that worried, you’ll both be naturals by the time I’m through with you.”
The elevator stopped at the fourth floor and let us out into an apartment that was just as elaborately decorated as both the Justice Building and the train car, the only difference being the majority of the outermost wall was replaced with a window that overlooked the entire skyline of the city.
“Beautiful, no? The Capitol provides only the best for its tributes.” Jacinta gave a quick tour of the place before showing us each to our own rooms.
“Here you are! Oh, and I phoned ahead and had a little something extra included for you. I know you’ll love it!”
As she swung open the door to the bedroom I was assigned my eyes immediately fell to the brightly lit fish tank situated on a counter beside my bed. A school of technicolored fish swam above a bed of neon colored pebbles and shells, the stillness of the room was broken by the sound of the tank’s filter bubbling. I bent down to get a better look at the sea life contained within, almost instinctively beginning to identify the tetras from the bettas, the guppies from the algae eaters. I turned back to Jacinta who was standing in the doorway with an expectant smirk on her face.
“Thanks, I mean it.” I chuckled.
“You work with me, I work with you. See? I’m not all bad.” Her grin sprawled with satisfaction, “Now, the prep period begins at 7am sharp tomorrow morning, which means I need you up, ready and dressed by 6am. Sleep well!”
I stood where she had left me staring at the inside of the door before I moved to the bed and let myself fall flat on my back and closed my eyes, the mattress molding around me the way fine sand does on the beaches back home. I didn’t doubt this was Jacinta’s way of presenting a peace offering, or, “trying to be more accommodating,”as she put it after she and I sat down one-on-one together before the train rolled into the Capitol. But I’d be lying if I said this didn’t invoke a pang of homesickness as much as it did comfort. It took away the artificial and stale nature of the Capitol’s provisions and for a brief moment I felt like I was going to open my eyes and find the sun bearing down on me and tides racing up on shore before retreating back into the ocean.
And all I saw was the Capitol’s skyline bearing down on me on the opposite side of the window stretched across the outermost wall of the room. I sighed and sat up, the tank immediately coming into view, “I know the feeling.” I said sarcastically.
As I went to close the curtain I paused and took a minute to soak in the city beneath me: the crowds that continued to pack the street into the late evening-early morning and the images that continuously flashed on the television screens that stretched across the exterior of entire buildings. It was mostly propaganda reels and recaps from both this mornings Reapings and last years Games, as if I needed to be reminded of my purpose for being here. I didn’t, and nothing that’s happened over the last few hours has deterred me otherwise. It was only then my last conversation I had with Ula came to mind.
“You have to promise me one thing, Aquarius.”
“Anything.”
“Promise me that the only person you’re going to help from this day forward, is yourself.”
“I promise. I wouldn’t lie to you about that.”
And, I wasn’t lying. I had been willing to stick my neck out to help her and so many others in the past but at right now I knew that type of generosity would only prevent me from getting back to her, back home and picking up where I left off. There was no place for that side of myself in the Arena-
For any part of myself.
“Piece of advice, kid, whatever happened in here just before - air in the wind.”
I hadn’t thought about my parents and what happened in the Justice Building since this morning. I knew it was inevitable Jacinta was going to ask about them when she and I spoke on the train and I was sure to keep it brief, telling her exactly what she wanted to hear: that we were a perfect, happy family and I had a “bright future” ahead of me beside them should I make it back-
“Uh, uh. When, you make it back.” Jacinta had corrected me with an arrogant smile.
Even if I did make it back, what sort of life would be waiting for me; with them, with everything that would have changed since I left? Would I have to play dumb and maintain the image of an ideal family I was painting for the Capitol in order to keep myself safe from my father’s implications, or would there be a warrant waiting for my arrest to keep me quiet, or-
“Piece of advice, kid, whatever happened in here just before - air in the wind.”
I pulled the curtain shut and went into the bathroom to clean myself up after all day. If there’s something my parents were certain of, it’s that I wasn’t stupid. I knew there was next to nothing I could do at this point regarding what I confronted them about, and in the same breath it would be just as damning if I went through the motions of the next few days with the weight of what transpired between us bearing down on me. I promised Ula that I would look after myself and only myself. There was no room for my parents and their bullshit in that equation, and if I make it back to Four I’ll deal with it then.
But for now, it was best to leave all of that floating off into the wind.
