So.. I'm just browsing through pictures of the cast during the premiere of the Hunger Games, and I come across this picture of Amandla and Dayo hugging each other on the red carpet. A gif, more accurately, of Amandla attacking Dayo with a giant hug. It was adorable, and I really wanted to flesh out the relationship between their characters in the book. Rue and Thresh never got a scene together- the only thing we ever really got was Thresh's fury at Clove when she said she killed Rue. So here's my attempt at painting what I thought their friendship might have been like, pre Games, during the Games, and also maybe post-Games.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
The sun is low in the sky, casting orange and red rays across the green orchards of District 11. Thresh glances at the sky, squinting as its light assaults his eyes and blinds him temporarily to the world around him. "What time is it?" he asks his brother, who is beside him picking oranges.
"Hell if I know," his brother replies grumpily and moves off.
Thresh scowls at his brother's retreating back. He is only fourteen, but he already knows that he will have to take over the orchard picking business that his father semi-owns if his brother keeps up the surly act. Thresh picks an orange from the tree above him, standing on his toes to reach it. He is only five foot four at the age of fourteen, and can just barely reach the low hanging orange trees that grow in District 11.
A sing-song voice interrupts his thoughts. "It's five fifteen."
Thresh looks up to find a small girl sitting in a tall tree, swinging a leg back and forth as she perches precariously on the tree branch. "Come again?"
"You wanted to know what time it was," the girl answers serenely. She tosses him an orange that he deftly catches. "It's five fifteen. Sixteen now, I suppose."
"And how do you know that?" Thresh goes back to reaching for another orange.
"I can see the clock in the square from here." The girl swings to the next branch, following Thresh as he moves along the line of trees. "I'm Rue. What's your name?"
"Thresh," he says shortly.
"What a nice name," she says brightly, and Thresh can't help but bark sardonically at that one. "How old are you, Thresh?"
"Fourteen." He glances at her out of the corner of her eye. She can't be more than ten, he decides. "And you?"
"Eight." She shrugs. "I know I look smaller though."
"Small isn't bad."
"I know," she says sadly, "but I wish I were bigger sometimes. People ignore me too much."
Thresh considers this statement for a bit. "I won't ignore you," he finally offers.
She immediately brightens at this statement. "Really?"
Even at fourteen years old, Thresh can hear the hopefulness in her voice. With all the wisdom and gravity that few fourteen year olds possess, he answers honestly, "Really."
..
There it is. The four note melody that Rue whistles at the end of the day. Thresh wipes his brow and scowls at the amount of sweat that comes with it. He hates harvesting in summer, because it's humid and sticky and the oranges never stay in his gloved hands because they're so wet. "You coming?" he calls irritably to his brother, but his scowl deepens even further when he notices that his brother has already gone off without him.
"Don't scowl so much, Thresh, you're already looking old," a familiar voice says, and Thresh turns to see Rue hanging upside down from a sturdy tree branch. She folds her arms, all the while looking like a bat. "Smile, Thresh. It's the end of another day!"
"Oh yes," Thresh says sarcastically. "Wonderful. We should all celebrate."
"We should!" Thresh notices with a mixture of amusement and resignation that Rue hasn't changed in three years because she's still as perky and bright as ever. "Why don't we just go back home? I hear your grandmother is making orange pie."
"Whatever for?" Thresh wants to know.
"She's your grandmother," Rue answers simply, "shouldn't you know?" She flashes him a grin as she begins to untangle herself. "Isn't it your birthday?"
Of course. Thresh wants to smack himself. "It's my birthday," he says aloud.
"Fancy forgetting your own birthday," Rue scoffs teasingly as she works on getting her right leg unhooked from the tree branch.
"Because it's so much more worth remembering," Thresh mutters. "Another year of not getting reaped by the Capitol. Fancy that, Rue. The odds have been in my favor-"
His next words are cut off because Rue's foot suddenly comes loose from the tree branch and she tumbles three feet to the ground headfirst, screaming as she plummets. Thresh drops his bucket and rushes over immediately, bellowing for help as he reaches Rue's side. "Rue!" he yells, skidding to a stop next to the little girl's side. "Rue, are you okay? Are you hurt?"
It takes the tiny little girl a moment, but she finally answers in a winded tone, "Yeah, I'm fine." She tries to sit up, eyes watering all the way, but cannot as she flops back down, her arm twisted at an awkward angle. "My arm-"
"It looks broken," Thresh says unhelpfully. He glances around- no one has heard his yells for help, so he sighs. "Rue, I'm going to get you to my grandmother. She knows how to patch up broken bones. I'm going to pick you up, but it's going to hurt, okay?"
She puts on the bravest face he's ever seen her do. "Okay."
She doesn't even scream, not when Thresh, in all his awkward seventeen year old movements, accidentally jostles her broken arm while he's cradling her against his big chest. He's left marveling at this little girl, who doesn't seem to know the meaning of pain.
..
"What'd I miss?"
Thresh scoffs. "Nothing." He sits next to Rue, her bed still littered with flowers from all the visitors earlier. "Just another Capitol victor who thinks he's better than all of us."
"Isn't he though?" Rue's eyes are wide.
"Just because he killed 23 other people?" Thresh shakes his head. "No, Rue. That doesn't make him better than us."
She is silent for a while, playing with the daisies that Thresh hands her. "Why do we have the Games?" she asks at last. "I mean, I know why we have the Games- I study it in school- but why do we still have them? Haven't we been punished enough?"
Thresh isn't quite sure how to answer that deep question from such a small, innocent little girl. "I guess not," he finally croaks.
Rue is silent again before she speaks next. "Do you remember Millie Wheatstone?"
Thresh's mouth quirks sadly. "Yeah."
Rue looks at her hands. "She used to help me in math in school."
There is a silence before Rue whispers into the room, "I miss her, Thresh."
He takes Rue's tiny hand in his and holds it tight. "We all do."
She squeezes back. "What happens if that's us next year?"
He feels a chill run down his back at the thought of innocent Rue getting speared to death like Millie. He can't imagine Rue having to survive against 23 other bloodthirsty tributes in that horrible Arena, where she has to think of herself to survive. Rue has never really been very good at taking care of herself- it has always been her family first above everything that she does- how on earth is she going to survive out there?
Thresh puts the thought out of his mind as he squeezes her hand comfortingly, like the big brother she once told him that she wished she had. "It won't be," he says as convincingly as he can- which isn't saying much, because he never really knows how these reapings work.
But Rue isn't done with the topic. "My family, Thresh. What happens if I die?"
"You won't die," Thresh says.
"But what if I do?"
"You're only twelve, Rue," Thresh says patiently. "Your name is in there how many times? Ten?"
"Six when the next Reaping comes," Rue says inaudibly.
Thresh nods. "Worse odds have happened." He sees Rue's expression tense, and he sighs and lets go of her hand. "How's that arm?"
"Better."
"I thought so." Thresh gets up to leave. "I'll see you tomorrow, Rue."
"Bye, Thresh." She seems so small, Thresh reflects, so small and vulnerable.
So he turns back impulsively on the way out. "Hey, Rue?"
She looks up from the daisies that lie on her lap. "Yeah?"
"If you get reaped," Thresh says, "I'll volunteer with you. So I can protect you. Okay?"
She laughs, and somehow that bright sound dispels the gravity of their conversation. "Okay, Thresh. But I won't get reaped. And neither will you!"
"That's the Rue I know," Thresh smiles.
..
The day of the Reaping comes a few months later, a cloudy day that begins to drizzle as the families all wake up. Thresh wakes to the sound of someone knocking shyly on the door. He hears his grandmother shuffle across their wooden floor and then the door creaks open, letting in a cool draft of air that ruffles the short hairs on the nape of his neck. Thresh pulls his legs out of bed, regretting it the moment his bare feet hit the cold wooden floor.
Someone knocks on his door, and Thresh sighs as he walks over to it and pulls it open. "Good morning, Rue."
He is alarmed to see that her eyes are red and puffy. "What's wrong?"
She begins to cry again. "I-I couldn't sleep last night."
"Because of the Reaping?" Thresh hates the word as it slides across his tongue.
She nods and Thresh sighs. "Come with me," he says, leading her to the kitchen. He begins to heat up the little water his family has in the kettle. "Don't fret about it, Rue."
"I'm not."
"Oh?" Thresh raises an eyebrow.
She takes the offered cup and takes a long, shaky drink from it. "No one will volunteer if I am called."
"Your name is only in there six times…"
"Millie's name was in there fifteen!"
"Fifteen, Rue. You have nine less than that. You will not be called." Thresh swallows his drink. "My name is in there at least a good thirty times. If anyone will be called, it'll be me…"
"How do you handle watching your friends die?" Rue asks.
Thresh considers the question. "I try not to think about it. It's easier to say that I like being alone." He shrugs his big shoulders. "It's easy for me to do. I don't really have much friends."
"I'm your friend," Rue offers.
Thresh laughs quietly. "That you are, Rue. That you are."
They spend the morning before the Reaping sipping their water in silence, the giant and the girl trying to relish the moments before their lives change forever.
What do you think? Feel free to review :)