Over and Over: The 32nd Hunger Games SYOT

Chapter 5

Adair Outridge POV

I still had thirty pages left when it was time to go. I'd read as fast as I could for the past two days, in case I didn't get a chance to finish, but it wasn't enough. I put the book down and faced the real world. Mom and Dad saw me, Oswald, and Arnold off. It seemed like they lingered longer on my brothers, and I could understand why. I was a failure in so many ways.

Oswald was eighteen, so he stopped in the last row. Arnold was thirteen, so he was one row away from the front. I was right in the middle. There was a boy next to me in the spot where Yago should have been. That was my fault too. I would never forget how I pushed him out of the way and the knife went into his chest. Bennet may have been the one who killed him, but I was the one who should have stopped him. I'd never tried to make another friend after that. I didn't want to hurt anyone else.

Ambrosia coughed into a handkerchief before she addressed us. Her voice was raspy- she must have had a cold.

"Good morning," she said in a way that made it clear it was not a good morning. "First the men. Adair Outridge."

It seemed altogether appropriate that she should call me. My name was in the bowl maybe six times, but I was the right choice. The universe wasn't going to let me get away with killing my best friend. Of all the children in the crowd, I was the one that deserved the Games. I hung my head and cried, not even moving until a Peacekeeper picked me up by the shirt and deposited me onstage. Ambrosia looked at me with what seemed like commiseration.

"Yeah, let's just get this over with," she said away from the microphone.

"For the ladies, Dannan Machuil!" a lanky girl with black hair joined me onstage. She looked about Oswald's age.

"Do we have any volunteers?" Ambrosia asked. She started to turn to us the second she was done talking.

"I volunteer as Tribute!" a girl shouted. Ambrosia rolled her eyes and turned back to glower at a girl about Dannan's height but thinner. She had blonde hair and blue eyes and she walked to the stage like she wasn't even scared. But then, she volunteered, so she probably wasn't.

"And what is your name?" Ambrosia asked much too sweetly.

"Sky Levings," she said.

"Let's hear it for Sky Levings and Adair Outridge!" Ambrosia said in one breath. Then she dropped the microphone, sneezed, and stomped offstage.

"I'm sorry I got Reaped," I said when my family came to see me. My brothers looked at me funny. Mom was crying on Dad's shoulder, and he was trying to stay brave to console her.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Dad said.

"It's the Capitol's fault," Arnold said, and Dad shushed him. Mom held out a pen.

"Is that for me? What can I do with that?" I asked. I loved drawing things, and it was the only thing I was good at, but that couldn't win the Games.

"You can create anything you want with it," Mom said. The only thing I wanted to create was a happy ending, and I didn't even know what that looked like.

Sky Levings POV

It takes a special brand of crazy to volunteer for the Games. Basically it's public suicide, and it took me a long time to get to that point. After all the years of fading away and feeling like no one saw me, I guess I just wanted a few days of visibility. A life so small and insignificant of mine wasn't a terrible thing to lose, and life in Panem was just a slower death. I wasn't completely without hope. I knew I was smart enough to have a chance, and my weapon of choice would make people notice me in more ways than one.

I glanced over some schematics and lists before I left for the Reaping. Mom and Dad both had to go to work, so I was alone as usual. Sometimes I wondered why they had a kid if they were never going to see her. I wanted to tell them about how I was on the honor roll at school and how I made my first two-stage bomb a week ago. Even my parents don't have time to notice me.

Poor Ambrosia looked sick as a dog. Her pale face and red nose looked completely incongruous with her rainbow patchwork jumpsuit. She looked like an old-fashioned clown. She reaped a boy named Adair and he stood there crying like most Tributes. When she reaped Dannan, my heart fluttered and I leaned forward in anticipation.

"Do we have any volunteers?" she said. In a moment all eyes would be on me.

"I volunteer as Tribute!" I said. I felt an enormous rush as I walked to the stage with nearly everyone staring at me like an alien. In all likelihood this was my only moment, and I savored it for all it was worth.

"Honey, are you okay?" Mom said when she and Dad rushed into the room. She hugged me so tight it was like there weren't enough Peacekeepers in the world to pull us apart. "I'm so sorry we weren't there."

"It's okay. I volunteered," I said. They would find out anyway soon enough.

Mom reared back and looked like I'd slapped her. "Why?" she asked. I'd never seen such shock and pain.

"Don't worry, you won't even notice I'm gone. I wanted to do something so big it wouldn't get covered up by other people again. You and Dad can go back to work and not worry about me," I said.

"Is that why?" Mom asked. She drew back like she was ashamed to touch me. "I'm so sorry. I miss you every day at work. We wanted to make sure you wouldn't go without anything. I'm sorry. I should have been there for you." Dad was too emotional to speak, and he and Mom looked like they'd just realized they were monsters.

They did care? I felt joy bubble up in me and wanted to burst into laughter, but it was too late. Now I knew someone had loved me all along, but I was going to the Games and I'd never get to enjoy it. I'd made a terrible mistake, and the only way to correct it was to win. I couldn't bear to cause my parents any more pain.

"I'm sorry too. I love you," I said in a squeaky, tear-strained voice. I nearly knocked them over with a huge hug, and we stayed like that until the Peacekeepers came. In all the fuss they hadn't thought to bring a token, but I had my own. My one shot at victory was to somehow make a bomb, and the necklace I wore had a few components that could help me, assuming it got past the Capitol censors. I probably threw my life away just as it became worthwhile, but I had to try. Mom and Dad loved me, and I had to get back to them.