The next few minutes passed at a nearly agonizingly slow pace, Collen slowly pushed up to stand before the hundreds of District 3 residents as they looked up at him and the blonde girl whom appeared equally as terrified as him name Freya but Collen didn't care. He felt frozen as if he had been dunked into a fridged bath and every muscle in his body had turned to ice. Forced to watch as his life slowly flashed before his eyes, forced to experience a nightmare unfold. Before he even realized it, the crowd around him began to slowly walk away from the stage that he stood upon. His light blue eyes glanced over at the eccentric man to his left and the blonde girl who stood on his other side. He grinned wide as he clapped his hands and looked from Collen to the Freya as he moved to pull them close, playing a perfectly manicured hand on his shoulder as if they about to do a huttle and talk game plans.<br/><br/>"<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#99ffff">How excited you two must be! So, how this will go, you will have a few moments to speak to your family and friends before we board a train right to the capital! We're going to have an absolutely wonderful year, I can just see it in both of your faces! Come, come- little time to waste, do not worry about your things, they'll still be here when you get back!</span>" There was a silent chuckle that followed his words that almost sounded mocking but before Collen could even think about saying something a group of Peacekeepers moved forward and ushered himself into the main factory the district often used as a meeting hall. Pushing himself into one room and Freya into the next.<br/><br/>And it was there that Collen sat absolutely alone for what felt like hours. Each second dragged on for an eternity as he was forced to sit in the dark dust-filled room. An old oak desk in front of him, the only company he had were the pictures of many generations or workers that dotted the walls. Each with a tired expression that seemed to plague this pitiful district. It was somewhat ironic, that Collen had always hoped he would be able to escape this godforsaken strip of factories, and now he was. Likely, for the last time, and all he wanted now, was to go back to his leaky shack so he could lay in that dingy bed he hated so damn much.<br/><br/>And after the lengthy absence of company he was quickly pulled onto a fancy train set out for the capital. The interior was the most luxurious he had ever seen, velvet seats dotted the side of the car he was forced within. Tables filled with numerous fruit and kinds of dishes. The silverware seemed to shimmer like diamonds before him. It was if he had walked out from a post-apocalyptic world into heaven, but it left a rustic taste in his mouth, as he was pressured to eat by the handsome man whom had pulled his name from the bowl. Every piece of fruit tasted of vinegar and the plates of food tasted spoiled. His mind could not focus and as such, he felt as if was actually, slowly dissolving into madness. And as he tried to finish his last few bites of food, only then did he finally notice the others around him. Freya sat across from him, poking a plate of cut up oranges silently with a fork. Her grey blouse still dotted with bits of moisture, nose inflamed and her eyes a light tinge of red.<br/><br/>Slowly he forced his eyes away, to the second pair of figures whom he recognized from the previous games. A mad woman with short dark hair and a narrow nose, she silently rocked in her seat a bit, muttering to a darker man next to him. A pair of wired glasses upon his nose, a bit of dark-haired scruff upon his chin and cheeks about the same length as his hair. These were his mentors, Wiress and Beetee. And as the last hopes that this was a strange nightmare began to fade with the last bits of hope that Collen had internalized, the train lurched forward, speeding towards the Capital.