The house is getting cold, so my mother sends me away to get wood. Normally I'd just go out back and get some of the crappy stuff that burns too fast and doesn't keep us very warm. But today I'm going to the Hob, mainly because I know a guy there who sells wood straight from the forest (my friend Karis told me about him). However, I want to go also because I'm curious about it. I have my own money, having won a bet with one of my friends a few days earlier. I've heard stories about it from my friends who've siblings have been; it's a bustling marketplace with toys and games and other stuff we're not supposed to have. My mother doesn't want me to go to the Hob –she says it's too dangerous- but I don't think that's very fair because she lets my older brother go there all the time and he's only fourteen.
So I take the back way, careful to stay in places I know my family won't be. The ground is covered with a layer of crunchy, colorful leaves, and I make a game out of squishing them. I feel my few meager winnings bouncing against my upper thigh, and smile at the thought of sitting around the fireplace, all warm and cozy.
I stop playing when I reach the Hob. It's a lot bigger and louder than I thought it'd be, and is encased in an old coal storehouse. A cold autumn breeze blows through me, and I shiver a bit. I'm scared suddenly, and I consider turning around and going home.
But now I can't. I'm already so close, and my pocket is feeling heavier the longer I stand there. Swallowing whatever fear I have, I use all my strength to open the huge metal door separating me from the Hob. It's very heavy, and it hurts my hands, but I get inside all the same.
The dark storehouse has several stands selling a variety of items. I don't know what most of them are, but the idea that they shouldn't be there makes me want them. I can't buy anything though, not until I find the guy Karis was talking about.
I pass by a lot of stands before I see the guy I think I'm looking for. He's all the way in the back corner, with a big pile of firewood and a collection of wood-based things that look like they'd be fun to play with. It takes him a while to spot me, but he raises an eyebrow in confusion when he does.
"You lost there, little guy?" He has a deep, throaty voice and the same dark grey eyes everyone in my family has. Now that I think about it, everyone in the Seam has those eyes.
"No." I say bluntly, because I don't think I like him very much. Sure, I'm not very big compared to my brother and some of the other older people I know, but I'm certainly not a "little guy". "And I'm the tallest in my class." That's not entirely true -there's this one girl a little taller than me- but he doesn't need to know that.
"I see…" The Hob guy says simply, smiling a bit. "Say, aren't you Gale Hawthorne's brother?" This guy's irritating me. Everywhere I go, I'm "Gale Hawthorne's brother". It's true, but I'm so sick of hearing it that I snap at him.
"No, I'm Rory." I tell him, and he just laughs a bit.
"Well, alright. Any way I can help, Rory-who-isn't-Gale-Hawthorne's-brother?" He's leaning on the counter, looking down at me with those dark Seam eyes.
I take the coins out of my pocket and spill them on the counter. "How much firewood can this get me?"
He laughs again, and now I know I don't like him. "Two logs, maximum."
At first I'm angry. He has to be scamming me! All those coins worth just two logs? He must be able to tell I'm angry, because he's laughing even more and shaking his head slowly. It wasn't fair. Though I admit I'm not really sure how money works, I figured that had to be at least a few days worth of wood. And all I wanted was to be warm…
But then I realize it's unlikely I'd be able to carry that much wood home anyway, so it's probably better it's not worth much. I sigh heavily and tell him I'll take whatever it's worth. He hands me the two logs, and I stumble backward before regaining my balance.
"Have a nice day, Rory-who-isn't-Gale-Hawthorne's-brother." He tells me as I walk away. I stick my tongue out at him, but he just laughs some more.
It's late afternoon by the time I get home, and it's gotten even colder over the course of the day. I walk inside and put the wood down by the fireplace, proud that, even though it was a very small amount, it was mine and I paid for it.
I'm rearranging the fuel that's already there when I hear yelling outside. I can make out most of what they're saying, but at the moment I'm too cold to care.
So I get the fire going steadily, and I get as close to it as I can without running the risk of being burned. The front door slams behind me, and I turn around to see my older brother storm inside, not bothering to wipe his feet off on the mat. He heads straight to his room, and slams that door as well. I know better than to ask him what happened; he'll just ignore me or tell me to leave.
My mother walks in a few minutes later, shaking her head in anger. She wipes her feet off and walks over to the sink to start getting dinner ready. She doesn't acknowledge me for a while, during which time I figure she doesn't know I'm there.
But a few minutes later I hear her shut the water off. "Rory," She says flatly, and I turn around quickly to see her. When she's got something on her mind she gets this weird blank stare and doesn't talk much. I know not to ask too many questions when she's like this, so I just let her tell me what she needs to.
"Do you know the Reaping is tomorrow?" Her voice is low, but she's talking to me like a kindergarten teacher. I nod anyway, hoping this conversation will be over soon.
I've always hated the Reaping, though I can't imagine anyone that doesn't. It's always such a long ceremony, and there's never anywhere to sit. The past few years have been especially bad, because coupled with the general discomfort my family's extra nervous because Gale could get chosen. I can't imagine a life without my older brother; he's always been there, making things better for us. Without him, our family would be done for.
"Do you know what tesserae are?" She's still quiet, but her voice has a new hardness to it that makes me feel uncomfortable. I shake my head and shift my position so I can give her my full attention.
She pauses for a long time before she answers. "It's something to help keep us all alive. You know we don't have a lot of money, but tesserae give us some food and oil every year. Unfortunately, the only way to get it is for Gale to enter the Reaping more than he needs to…."
I can't really understand where she's going with all this, but I keep my mouth shut and listen up anyway. I can tell pretty easily that whatever point she's trying to make is important to her.
"He's been taking it since he was twelve but…from now his chances will just get higher and higher." She sighs heavily, looking past me into the fire. "I almost wish he wouldn't… but then I remember how important it is that he does. We need it. But we need him just as much."
She waits for a while, just standing there staring past me, before she leaves for the next room. It's not until she's gone that I begin to grasp what she told me.
Tomorrow's Reaping, and every Reaping after that, will be more than just a long, uncomfortable ceremony. It'll be painful, stressful, and potentially life-changing.
We'll never escape it, either. Four years from now my time will come too. Though I don't want to think about it, I know I'll be taking tesserae. At the very least I know I'll have Gale, I'll have someone else who understands what it's like. If either of us has to go into the Games, at least our family will have someone to support them.
I gulp, wanting to push the thoughts away, but I can't. I'd thought before that without Gale our family would be hopeless. But it's now that I realize without him, there's still me.
Sure, I'm not as smart, fast, or strong as him, but I think I can learn to be. And if he's gone someday, I'll have to be.