That night, I couldn't sleep.  I drank a lot of milk and took a long, hot shower.  I still couldn't go to sleep.  Every single time I tried, images of Cato lunging at me brandishing a knife make me sit up in my bed, wide awake again.  Finally I gave up and sit in a small rocking chair in the corner of my room, rocking to the rhythm of the train.  I thought about home.  I thought about Thresh and Katniss.  I thought and thought, and somehow rocked myself to sleep.

When I woke up the next morning it was before dawn, and Kirsti led me to the roof and then left.  A hovercraft appeared from out of nowhere and a ladder dropped down.  I placed my hands on the ladder then my feet.  They froze immediately on contact.  The ladder withdrew.  I was still frozen when a lady in a white lab coat came up to me with a syringe.  She said that it's only my tracker so they can know where I am in the games.

She entered it into my upper arm and I screamed in anguish inside my head.  Finally, the ladder released me and Kirsti came over.  I wondered how he got into the hovercraft.  A small Avox girl directed me to where breakfast was, avoiding eye contact.  I wondered what she could have done against the Capitol, looking only five or six years old.  I eat in silence, stuffing my face with as much food as possible.

Half an hour later, the windows black out, meaning we must be near the arena.  I lost my appetite.  Finally the hovercraft lands and I went back down the ladder with Kirsti.  We entered the Launch Room, where I'm supposed to do my hair, brush my teeth, and take a shower.  I brushed my teeth quickly, but take my time on the shower.  Kirsti just brushes through my hair and leaves it like that.  

Soon the clothes arrived.  I knew that they were the same as everyone else entering the arena, and I despised putting them on.  First the undergarments, then tawny pants, green blouse, and a hooded jacket that looked like it should reflect body heat.  Then really tight socks and soft leather boots that I actually kind-of appreciated because they were sturdy and good to run in.  My life depended on running.

I hid my token, my mother's grass necklace, under my blouse and zipped up my jacket.  Then I sat there and thought about how to survive in the next few weeks and then a voice asked me to prepare for launch.  I start to hyperventilate, so Kirsti clasped my hands in his and whispered in my ear, "The first thing you want to do is run into some woods nearby or something that will hide you.  If you can't find any water, follow somebody that looks promising.  I guarantee you'll find some."  He let go of me and said loudly, "I wish you the best of luck, Rue."

I limp over and stand on the circular plate and glass is lowered around me and for fifteen seconds, I saw nothing.  Then bright sunlight as I was suddenly in the arena.  I longed to be back under with Kirsti, but I might not ever see him again.  I look around.  There was a lake nearby, but that wasn't an option because it was right out in the open like that.  There were some woods, but I couldn't help but try to get some supplies first.  

I see a pair of socks by me and I decided that would be the thing I grab before I head to the forest.  Not the lake, not the fields, the forest.  Although the fields looked promising because I could recognize most of the plants that grew there.  But the forest had trees, and I was good around trees.  The sixty seconds the tributes had were almost up.

Finally I heard the gong and I grab the socks, then change my mind and get some water skin too.  Then I ran as fast as I can without looking back, adrenaline pumping through my legs.  I felt a knife whiz past me and I ran even faster than I thought I even could.  Eventually I got to the forest and crash through the bushes.   

When I turn around and peer out of a bush, no one was pursuing me, so I climbed up a tree.