I feel someone shaking my shoulder in order to wake me up, but I continue fighting to keep my eyes closed, knowing too well that once I open them, the reality of the situation will be too big to face. Today, at exactly ten o'clock, I will be standing on a platform in the middle of hell with twenty-three people that want me killed. Less than ten minutes afterward, someone might have succeeded and I might be dead, who knows. My parents might watch me die today, they might lose their son. They say that losing a child is the worst kind of pain someone can feel and they might have to go through that for the second and last time. I wonder if it will be worse if they lose me. When my brother died, they still had something to hold on to; they still had to take care of me. If I die, they won't have anyone. No, that's not true; they'll have each other.

I growl as if it was going to make the person who's disturbing my sleep go away.

"Finnick, wake up. You need to eat something before you leave."

I recognize Mags' voice, but I ignore her. I stretch out my arm and find nothing but an empty and cold spot. Viviana already left. We didn't even have the chance to say goodbye.

"Come on Finnick, get up."

I open my eyes, my back still turned on my mentor. I hear her grab something and the window goes back to its normal state, the sea is replaced with the Capitol. The sun is shining through it, blinding me.

"I don't want to go."

"I know, trust me."

I let go of the sheets I was tightly holding onto without even realizing it and sit on my bed. I wait a little until after Mags have left the room to actually get up. I walk to the window where Viviana and I were standing just a few hours ago. I whisper a small goodbye and step back from the window, trying to forget about the calming sound of the waves and the thought of the home I left. I look at my room for the last time before closing the door behind me. Everything I will do this morning will feel like a last time.

In the kitchen, Mags is talking with Ateia while one of the servants is clearing up the table before another one brings two new plates. They immediately stop talking at my sight. I sit at the end of the table in a useless attempt to avoid any kind of conversation. Of course, Ateia doesn't catch on and starts telling me all about yesterday's interview and how much the public loved me. I order a plate of breakfast I know I will never finish. When the boy brings me my plate, I see a big scar going from the base of his hair descending along his neck and his back. It's clear that he tried to hide it with the collar of his bright crimson robe. Judging by its size, it must have been pretty deep, but the Capitol could have repaired it easily or at least do something to hide it better. Actually, it's pretty weird they didn't, since they consider that kind of thing to be horrible imperfections.

"What happened to your neck?" I ask, ignoring my stylist's shocked expression.

He looks at me and then at my mentor in complete fear. He almost drops the glass he was holding, before pulling himself back together and hurrying out of the room without a word. I guess I hit a sensible chord and I feel pretty bad about it. I've always been proud of my curiosity, but since the day I started talking, my parents told me that even though it's a great quality, it can also be a really unpleasant flaw for the people around me and at this instant, I know I should have listened to them more often. I can hurt people by asking too many questions and I just did.

"I should say sorry when he comes back."

"Say sorry? What for?" asks Ateia as if I had said something silly.

"Well, I'm pretty sure my question hurt him."

"Oh darling, he's just an Avox. Don't even worry about hurting his feelings" she replies, almost laughing.

"A what?"

"An Avox. That means that he's a criminal dear. If he wanted to be respected, maybe he should have thought about it before committing a crime."

"He's still human and deserves at least some kind of decency!"

Ateia doesn't say anything, probably offended by my attitude. She frowns and adopts a defensive attitude as she realizes I was serious.

"What were you expecting him to do anyway? Answer you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"He's an Avox Finnick. The Capitol cuts their tongues off so that they can never speak again."

I turn around, now facing Mags who had stayed silent until now. I wait for her to say something else, for her to say that she wasn't serious, but she doesn't. The Capitol cuts their tongues off so that they can never speak again. What a horrible thing to do. I've always known that the Capitol's officials weren't exactly the nicest people on earth, but I never expected them to act like this towards their own kind. I try to imagine a lifetime without the ability to talk, alone with your thoughts, but it only makes me feel horribly helpless. I wonder what kind of crime he committed to deserve such treatment. I then realize that everyone that has been serving us and all the other tributes since we arrived are Avoxes too. Judging by Ateia's attitude towards him, I'm almost certain that the number of Avoxes is awfully high. That's a lot of people walking around imprisoned by their crushing silence. The whipping or even the death penalty inflicted to the prisoners back at home seems like a more pleasant end than becoming an Avox.

***Would you guys be interested in a "cast" part?***