Child's Play: The Forty-Third Hunger Games

Chapter 8

Brenna Segale- 17

We didn't have many pretty things in Eight. At first glance, our piano was no exception. The wood was dented and worn. Two of the keys stuck and one of the pedals didn't work. The rest of the keys were a faded yellow instead of the pure ivory white they were supposed to be. Even as old and dilapidated as it was, we'd never have been able to afford it. It used to belong to my boyfriend Jeremy. He was the one who taught me to play. After I surpassed him and he started to prefer listening to playing, he gave it to me. It gave him an excuse to come to my house.

The piano always looked lovely to me, and not just because of the music it made. It reminded me of Jeremy. Together, he and the piano turned my life around. It was hard to keep going when my father was distant and there was nothing to look forward to or to make me think things would ever be different. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be here today. If there's nothing to make life worthwhile, there's no reason to stay.

Everything was different now. At first I played to fill the hole left by my father's coldness. Somewhere along the line, he started to listen to the music, and then he started to listen to me. Working in the fields wasn't so hard and we didn't seem so poor when he was with me. Jeremy was still there too, of course. Everyone said we'd get married someday. That would be perfect. Jeremy would be as good a father as he was a boyfriend, and it would be wonderful to give my father some grandchildren. The reason he shut me out in the first place was because of my sister, the daughter he lost.

It all changed back just as quickly when Rhodius called my name. I didn't know it was possible to survive that much shock. The shock was probably all that kept me from crying while I was onstage. I wanted my father to be the last person I saw, so Jeremy came first. I didn't ask why he didn't volunteer. It was better not to know that answer. He took out a copper ring and put it on my finger.

"Marry me," he asked. I noticed how he picked his words. He didn't say "if you come back". He said it like it was a given.

"Of course," I said. I kept twisting it after he was gone. Just like before, he'd given me reason not to give up.

Weft Bobbin- 13

Even with my life on the line, it was hard to pay attention during the Reaping. The biggest distraction was Rhodius, of course. He was wearing a white unitard printed all over with cherries, and he had a crazy hat made out of fruit. He never said anything without shouting and running all over the stage. And he talked like a duck.

Besides Rhodius, there were a million other things to catch my eye. There was the boy a few feet down from me kicking pebbles around with his toe. There were the Peacekeepers poking around and acting all scary. There were more of them than usual. Three rows ahead of me, there was my best friend Flax. It stank that he was a year older and we had to stand separate. There was a really cool bird swooping in circles overhead. It looked like a raptor, maybe a red-tail hawk.

A lot of us kids were sad when Rhodius chose Brenna. She was cool for an older girl. She didn't treat us like babies. She talked to us like we were real people and she let us bang on her piano. Her boyfriend Jeremy was going to be super sad. He might even volunteer to keep her safe, but probably not. People weren't usually as brave as they thought.

I proved it when Rhodius Reaped me. I'd never taken it seriously before that. Kids my age never got Reaped. The Reaping was something older people had to worry about. I never thought it was possible for Rhodius to fish my name out of the thousands in the bowl. It was like winning the lottery, but the opposite.

I didn't handle it with much grace. I cried all the way to the stage, apologizing to the Peacekeepers for everything I'd ever done wrong and promising to be good if they let me go. I begged for Jeremy or anyone else to volunteer. They were big kids. They were the ones who were supposed to go to the Arena. I didn't do anything to deserve this.

After that, I sat still for once. I sat still in the room until my family and Flax came, and I was motionless as they said goodbye and cried and carried on. For the first time, I was really concentrating, but I was concentrating on nothing. My brain was all frozen and I couldn't focus on anything, so it focused on nothing. I hoped Brenna would ally with me. She knew what she was doing. She was a big kid.

Brenna is average in looks with thin brown hair, tanned skin and intimidating blue eyes. Weft is a short skinny towhead with brown eyes.

It's good I am not deciding this time, since it would be hard not to favor Brenna, since her last name is similar to that of my favorite actor Steven Seagal. Long may he kick butt.