Into Thin Air: The Forty-Second Hunger Games

Chapter 3

Gidget Ford

I had to keep it together. I couldn't cry. I had to think of Max and Connex. It was too late for me.

I couldn't believe they went through with it. I knew there was no mercy in Panem, but even Bubbles looked horrified when she saw who she'd named. I could barely get up on the stage, and it wasn't because I was scared. The Peacekeepers were gentle as they assisted me.

This had to be a first. Similar things had probably happened before, but I'd never seen a woman who looked like me in the Games. A woman who was slender everywhere except her round, bulging belly. They Reaped three from my District this year.

Connex looked broken when he came to see me. Max was holding his hand, and he kept asking his father why he was crying.

"He's crying because he'll miss me. I'm going to the Capitol for a while," I said. Connex hid his face against the wall while I distracted our son. Max jumped into what little remained of my lap.

"Why are you going?" he asked.

"They have better hospitals there. I'll have the baby there so she'll be safe," I said. Connex and I were hoping for a girl. We couldn't afford to check, of course, but we hoped saying it would make it happen. We should have said I wouldn't get Reaped.

"Did you have me in the Capitol?" Max asked.

"You were a stronger baby. I could tell," I said. Max looked disappointed that he hadn't been to the Capitol.

"Okay. Have fun and bring back presents," he said. I stood up and took Connex's hand, but he slid to the floor. I thought he was overcome with emotion, but he took something from his pocket.

"Before it's too late," he said through tears, "Marry me, Gidget." It was even worse that he had a ring in his trembling hand. He'd been planning this. It wasn't just because of what happened.

"Yes," was all I could say. Anything else and Max would be dealing with two crying parents. I took the ring and put it on.

"Yuck," Max said.

"When I come back, we'll have a big party. You can carry the ring," I said. Max didn't know what my pinched, high-pitched voice meant.

"But you're wearing it!" he said. Connex started to laugh even as he cried, and he ended up coughing. I hugged him as well as I could in my condition. Max was next. I waited until they were gone before I lost it.

Quintic "Quinn" Grice

I didn't feel so nervous around dogs. When I saw the stray terrier mutt on the way to the Reaping, I took a detour. He came over like we were old friends and I started to pet him. If I didn't get Reaped, maybe he'd follow me home. We couldn't afford to have a dog, but I could toss him scraps and he might stay around behind our house. Apex knelt beside me, and then the trouble began.

You're going to punch him in the nose.

It wasn't a voice in my head telling me to hit my twin brother. It was a warning- an accusation. I'd never once raised a hand to my brother, but I was always afraid. Even as I pet the little dog, I could see how it would happen. Snippets played over and over in my head. My fist would crush his nose, spraying blood everywhere. He'd fall on his side and I'd see the confused hurt in his eyes. I'd hit him. I'd hit him in the face.

No I will not.

I never actually did. What a sick thing to be afraid of. No matter how many times my brain thought it or how scared and guilty it made me feel, I never actually did it. Of course I didn't do it. I loved Apex. The very idea was nothing but some crossed wires in my brain. I was just glad it wasn't the wires that made me actually do it.

I looked normal. That was maybe the worst thing about it. I looked normal, and I wanted to be normal, so I worked at it. Everyone else saw me as a normal boy. They didn't know it took herculean amounts of energy to look normal. My happy-go-lucky exterior was only achieved by battling my own broken brain every second of every day. There was never any respite. As soon as I woke up, my brain was telling me about the ways I was going to hurt my family, either intentionally or by accident. It never shut up. Never once, for any second in my life, did I get true peace and quiet.

But it wasn't all bad. When I wasn't with my family, I didn't have to worry about it. When I was petting a dog, the worries were so quiet I could ignore them. My family loved me and they supported me. I'd had to give up the girl I still loved because I was afraid I'd hurt her and because she deserved better, but I was happy she could find someone else.

It was almost a relief to be at the Reaping. With such a direct threat to my survival, my brain had bigger problems to focus on that its absurd scenarios of me strangling my mother or burning the house down. I could be afraid of something different for once. And I would be toast if I got Reaped. I knew all about science, dogs, and the piano. But that wouldn't help in the Arena.

For allying purposes, I can tell everyone that Gidget will be giving birth before the Games start.