*I was led to the Justice Building, which was a crumbling, nasty place with mold and fungi growing everywhere, fungi even I didn't recognize.  I sat in the nicest room there, on a velvet couch with velvet furniture surrounding it. Tulip, Violet, Nalin, Lily, and my mother came in the room first.  

Violet was staring at the soft, deep carpet in wonder.  My mother was sobbing into her handkerchief.  Lily was still hugging herself and muttering.  Tulip was still in disbelief, looking like a chimpanzee with that blank look in her eyes.  Nalin tried to look brave, but I could tell his insides were breaking into little, tiny, miserable pieces.  Everyone sat on the couch next to me and softly cried.  

I didn't, because there was going to be cameras at the train station, and like I said before, I didn't want to be targeted as a weakling.  Nalin whispered to me, "You'll win, right?"  I shook my head.  "I don't know, Nalin.  I don't know."  Nalin left after that short conversation.  Tulip tagged behind him, whispering over and over again to herself, "This isn't happening."

My mother hugged me tightly.  "Take care.  Remember that I love you.  And- and I want you to keep this."  She fumbled with something hanging around her neck and took it off.  She pressed it in my hands.  "Please keep this as your token.  It's the least I can do."  I started to open my hand to see what it was, but my mother closed it again.  "Don't open it until you get on the train."  I nodded, and she got up and left with Violet.  

Lily turned to me, holding a cupcake that said "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" in green icing.  I could tell it was going to be saved for a family birthday party for me tonight, but, seeing as I wouldn't be there...

I took it and whispered thanks to Lily.  She smiled for the second time in her life and left.  I clutched the object my mother gave me in my hand tightly and watched my little sister leave.  Then a girl I knew named Rebecca came in.  

"It looks like you've gotten a lot of gifts from family," she said, eyeing the cupcake and my hand.  "I'd like to add to the pile."  She set a box in my hands.  I wanted badly to open it, but decided it wasn't polite.  She just smiled and urged me further to open it.  I did.  Inside was a small carving of a wheat stack.  I smiled wryly.  "Thank you!  But I can't take it with me as my artifact, because I already got one from my mother.  Sorry."  

She just said, "I can give it to your siblings, if you want."  I nodded and then the Peacekeepers came to get me.  I gave Rebecca the carved wheat and hugged her.  Then I was led to the wagon and driven away with Thresh and Lilia.

Soon I was there.  I waved to all the cameras with my chin up high, trying my best to look sophisticated.  Right after I got inside, the doors closed and the train started.  I knew I looked tired and miserable by the way everyone looked at me, but I didn't really care at the moment.

Lilia led me to my chambers and told me I'm free to do anything I want to do or wear anything I want to wear.  She showed me a big drawer full of clothes and a nice warm comfy bed where I'll sleep for the next night or two.  She showed me two other rooms attached to mine, one was a dressing room, the other was a bathroom.  It had both running hot and cold water and I unchanged quickly after Lilia left and soaked up in the bath until my skin started to get all wrinkly, then I stepped out.  I found a big, warm, fluffy towel outside the bathroom door, and I wrapped myself around it.  

After I felt dry and warm enough, I drained the bath and got dressed into a silky green nightgown and sat in bed, braiding my hair into tiny braids.  I counted them; there was 34.  Then I curled up into a small ball under my warm covers and started to fall asleep.  When I shifted position, I felt something hard inside my hand and I opened it.  It was my artifact.  My mother had given me a grass necklace with a wooden star on it.  A small note by it told me it was for luck.  I put it on and fell asleep.