Prologue
I felt the adrenaline pumping in my veins as I threw my last knife….bullseye! The knife hit the doe square in the head and the game dropped like a rock. I felt proud of myself except for the fact that most of my knives are stuck in animal skulls and I'm way past curfew. So I haul the hundred-fifty pound bag to my house and immediately fall asleep on the couch. When I wake up I find my sister Alice watching TV on the floor. I feel groggy but its only 7:00pm. Afterwards I haul the bag a few blocks down towards Chase's house and drop it off at my dad's restaurant. His eyes immediately stare at the haul and his mouth dropped in astonishment." Where the hell did you find that!" he exclaimed. "I found it by the pond eating some grass" I replied. This was rare though, a four foot doe with enough meat to make six batches of stew. "Dear god, Adrian Newcomer this was the best haul you ever have gotten!" says dad. So after the conversation I left him as he cherished butchering the doe and I walked to Chase's house. I knocked on the door and I am greeted by Chase's younger brother named Twill and he leads me to Chase who is lazily on his bed playing video games. "What are you up to man?" I ask. "Nothing just playing Pokémon." He replies. "Hey man your birthday present on the dresser if you want to take it now but I recommend tomorrow because its actually going to be your birthday" he said. Then it hit me tomorrow is reaping day! But I thought about it, the are more children here in 11 than adults so the chances of me or my sister Rue getting picked is very low. So Chase and I finish our conversation and I'm on my way home passing by a couple arguing over a girl the guy supposedly cheated with a few days before. I go home and get a good nights rest because its probably going to be the last one I'll ever have.