Child's Play: The Forty-Third Hunger Games

Chapter 9

Keison Walker- 18

Granger shoved me to the floor, laughing at me as I tried to get up.

"Your parents never loved you!" he shouted. "You almost killed the only family you had left! No one could love you."

I looked around for anyone that could help, but I knew no one would. They were all watching, even though none of them had faces.

"Come on, kill me!" Granger said. "Kill me! Do it!"

My arm came up without me telling it to. I begged it to stop, but it arced toward Granger slowly, like we were all stuck in mud. The sickle blade stuck into his throat and hooked in. Granger jumped at me and grabbed my shirt. The movement forced the blade further in until it poked out the other side. He opened his mouth, and blood sprayed all over me.

"Keison! Keison! Keison!" he shouted, over and over and over.

I woke up screaming and thrashing in bed. I opened my eyes and saw my grandmother standing at the foot of the bed, carrying breakfast for me. She had a bread roll and a glass of milk. It was all she could afford and so much more than I deserved.

It was just a dream, like so many I'd had before. They got so bad my grandmother sometimes slept on the floor, even in winter. I pleaded with her to let me take the floor instead, but she wouldn't hear of it. Other times she had to tie me in place so I didn't hurt myself as I struggled.

They were only dreams, but some of it was true. My parents didn't ever love me. They didn't love me enough to stay. They tried to run, back when I was too little to remember. Some people say they got caught before the border. Others said it was just after they crossed. Either way they were dead. Having a son didn't stop them from risking their lives.

The part with the scythe was true, too. No one believed it was a freak accident. They thought it was my fault, even though I was so little. I would have gotten lynched if it wasn't for my grandmother. That's how I almost got her killed. She said it was her fault and she'd raised me wrong. She took the whipping and barely lived. Sometimes I saw the scars on her back and wished I'd died instead. I wished I'd gone with my parents and died then. That was the only escape for anyone here.

Hosanna Rayle- 17

Every monday, the trains came to take the crop away. I liked to stand on the tracks behind them and watch them go. I envied the seeds they were carrying. They got farther than any of us did. They escaped this place.

I often fantasized about hitching a ride with them. It would be so easy to slip on when no one was looking and hide between some bags. The train would start and I would feel the ground rumbling under me as I rode off to somewhere else. Anywhere else. The train would stop somewhere, that big metal door would roll open, and I'd sneak off to some District where there was food and riches and something other than rolling fields of grass.

I couldn't do it, of course. I had to stay in Nine and work so my family could eat. We couldn't afford to lose a worker. I earned more food than I ate, but Lillia and Maize didn't. Someone had to make up for it until they were old enough. I couldn't abandon my family and run away. They'd worry about me. I had to be brave and stay.

The trains were about to leave. I sat on a grassy hill above the tracks and watched the packers filling the cars with heavy sacks of wheat and grain. Then, so suddenly it made my heart skip, something moved between them. One of the men carrying the sacks dropped his inside and scooted behind it into the corner of the car. A few seconds later, a woman did the same thing. I could see where they'd crouched down in the car, behind the rough sacks. I wanted to jump up and celebrate, but I was afraid any movement would give them away. My heart pounded so hard my chest ached as I watched the rest of the workers piling the sacks. I wondered which ones didn't notice and which ones pretended not to.

They're going to do it, I thought. They're going to escape. I wished I could go with them. I ached to be with them, about to leave this all behind and go to some far-off paradise.

All the bags were in place. The workers moved back and the Captiol officiant waved them off. He started to look through the cars, like he always did. He got to the car where the couple was hidden. I wanted to speed up time and get it over with faster. I cursed him for every second he kept looking. He didn't have to look that closely. No one would try to escape.

I heard the scream when he found them. I saw him throw the woman out onto the ground by her hair. He threw the man after her. Two shots like fireworks cracked in the air. Their heads jerked back and blood sprayed out in a cone, painting the grass red. They fell across each other. Two Peacekeepers appeared and dragged them away as the officiant pulled the door shut and signaled for the train to leave.

No one ever got out of here. I dreamed about it, but I told myself I had to be brave and stay where I was needed. Sometimes, I couldn't keep lying to myself. It wasn't bravery that stopped me.

Keison is skinny with dark brown eyes curly black shoulder-length hair. He has a feminine face and lightly tanned skin. Hosanna is a tall girl with a strong farm girl build. She looks like Paula Patton.

I don't think I have any other completed pairs at the minute, so I'll be working on One Shot at Victory until I do.