Reaping III

Anne Bingham, District 8

call me friend, but keep me closer
and i'll call you when the party's over

(when the party's over — billie eilish)

•••

"This year's male tribute is . . . Gerard Hanscom!"

Anne's face contorts in surprise, and she only lets out a choked sob when he's onstage, teary-eyed behind his horn-rimmed glasses and staring at the crowd like he can't quite believe what's going on. She feels May's hand on her back, and she turns around to bury her face in her shoulder — the three of them have been best friends since they were toddlers, and she reckons May must be feeling almost as broken as her.

Almost — because, as far as she knows, May hasn't been in love with Gerard for the last two years like Anne has.

"Shh," May whispers, holding her closer. She's taller than Anne, and she wraps her arms around the girl protectively as she whispers soothing words of comfort. "It's all right. He's going to be fine."

"No," Anne croaks quietly. "He's not. He's going to die, May."

May grimaces. "Then tell him before he leaves."

Now it's Anne's turn to grimace. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. You've got to tell him how you feel before he leaves. Go see him at the Justice Building, sneak in before his parents get there . . . Hell, I don't know. Just make sure you get to tell him before he's gone."

Anne's cheeks redden in spite of the situation. The sole idea of telling Gerard how she feels about him makes the tip of her ears turn a bright pink, because she has convinced herself that he will never feel the same way about her and that she's simply being childish for harbouring feelings for someone she has known and been so close to all her life.

"I don't know, May," she muses finally, shaking her head. "I don't want to . . . "

She never gets to finish the sentence. Their District escort — a six-feet tall Asian man whose outfit looks like it cost more than Anne's entire house — flashes a smile towards the camera before addressing the District Eight town square again.

"All right!" He exclaims. "I'm sure Gerard will make us all very proud, but we still need to find out who will be the lucky girl representing District Eight in this year's Hunger Games. Let's move on to the female bowl, shall we?"

Anne and May exchange a glance, and they immediately grab each other's hands, their fingers linking quietly. They've been together through this very moment for the past four years, and one could think they've grown used to the rush of blood to the head that takes over them whenever the District escort picks a random piece of paper out of the bowl and reads the name to himself before announcing it to the crowd. But they still feel just as anxious as they did when they were twelve, and Anne has to let out a nervous sigh before closing her eyes, too distracted by what has just happened to Gerard to even process the name that has just erupted from their escort's lips.

"Anne Bingham!"

She blinks repeatedly, staring at their escort in a dumbfounded silence. May's sobs sound remote in her ears, and the way the entire crowd 'oooh's at her name seems distant and unrelated to her; it takes her a few seconds to blink back into reality and look up at the stage, where Gerard's face has been distorted by sheer dismay and the escort is smiling at the crowd, as though expecting the female tribute to walk onstage as willingly as a Career would. She just stands there, frozen and perplexed, and only reacts when their escort repeats her name.

"Anne Bingham, please."

May lets go of her hand, knowing that she will be ushered onstage as soon as the Peacekeepers find her, and she takes a deep breath before taking one first step towards the stage. She cringes when someone pats her back in a friendly manner — she has always been a shy girl, and the idea of being recognized by her classmates and peers because of this makes her feel absolutely gutted. She tries to spot her parents, but they're nowhere to be seen — her mother must be crying, she thinks, her father holding her in his arms while trying to keep himself together. She is their only daughter, and the idea of leaving them alone in this world simply mortifies her — which is why she even grimaces a little when the escort welcomes her onstage and tells her and Gerard to shake hands in front of their entire District — as far as their escort is concerned, after all, they're simply two strangers who have just been thrown into the most vicious game in their country's history. There is no way he understands the depth of the bond that links Anne to the boy standing in front of her — she has never known life without Gerard in it, and they've spent every single day together ever since they were little children. But their escort doesn't know that, and neither does the Capitol — to them they're just two teenagers from a peripheral District whose lives will probably end as soon as they step into the Arena.

She takes a look into her best friend's eyes and sees at once that he feels more worried about her reaping than his own. His grey eyes shine tearily, but he offers her a comforting smile when their hands meet, which makes everything just a little bit more bearable.

"Don't worry," he whispers as they shake hands. "I'm going to keep you safe."

Gerard's words rush through her head, and for a second she feels like she could die right there and then.

•••

Their escort takes them to the Justice Building once the ceremony is over, and tells them they're allowed to say goodbye to their family and friends before he picks them up and escorts them to the train. He seems nonchalant and even excited about it, which irritates Anne to no end, but she simply nods quietly and refuses to let go of Gerard's hand until his family arrives and she is sent to a separate room, where her parents and May are waiting for her.

"Oh, baby," her mother moans, enveloping her in a tight hug as soon as the door closes. "I . . . I'm so sorry, love, I really thought you'd be safe if we didn't take any tesserae this year."

"Those bloody bastards can take whoever they please, after all," her father grunts, his eyes bleary and his voice rasp, as though threatening to break into a choked sob sooner and later. He places an arm around Anne's shoulders and hugs his wife and daughter before adding, "Honey, don't let this break you and Gerard apart, all right? You two have to stick together and try to make it back."

"I can't believe we had to get reaped together," Anne croaks. She is well past the crying stage — she had her share of that after the Capitol journalists left, and she now simply shakes her head in sheer denial. "I could've handled being reaped on my own, but — I don't want to see him die, Pa. And I don't want to die, either."

"We know, honey," her father replies, tousling her hair quietly — not unlike he did when she was a little girl. "We know. But you two have to stick together for as long as you can — God knows the kid will never betray you."

"Your Dad's right," May sniffles, rubbing her eyes before gently taking Anne's hand in hers. "He loves you, Anne. Stay with him, please — I need at least one of you to make it back alive."

Anne gulps at the realization that, at best, May will only lose one of her two best friends during these Games — if not both, she tells herself miserably.

"I will," she promises, squeezing her friend's hand. "We'll both try to make it back, I promise."

May nods quietly and only pulls away when Anne's parents envelop her in yet another hug.

"I can't believe we let you take the tesserae last year," her mother moans, burying her face in Anne's thick black curls. "You wouldn't have gotten reaped if your name had only been in that bloody bowl once per year."

"Mum, it really isn't your fault," Anne says, caressing her mother's hair quietly. "I took the tesserae because we needed the food, not because you or Dad pushed me to do it." She remembers that day clearly — her father had only just gotten fired from the textile factory because his patron claimed that he had broken one of the machines, and they'd been struggling to make ends meet without his salary. Anne had taken the tesserae in spite of her parents' complaints, and she had never regretted it. She doesn't even regret it right now, minutes away from being shipped off to a nearly certain death — because she feels like she did the right thing back then, and she will never regret having helped her family in times of need.

The Peacekeeper that showed her inside the room knocks again, and Anne knows that their time is up. Her mother hugs her one last time and her father presses a kiss to her forehead before letting go of her, and May offers her a sad smile before clasping her best friend's hands in hers. They're both wearing the colourful bracelets that they made for each other back in the third grade — the beads still read each other's names, and Anne gently places her bracelet in May's hands.

"I want you to keep this," she says, a soft smile on her face. "Wear them together while I'm away, will you?"

May's eyes have gone teary yet again, but she nods and clasps her friend's bracelet in her hand. "All right. But aren't we supposed to give you something for you to take as a token?"

Anne shrugs. "Gerard is the best token I could possibly have."

The Peacekeeper swings the door open and raises his chin at them, telling Anne's parents and May it is time for them to leave. They all smother her with kisses and hug her tightly as they make their way to the door, and Anne can't help but feel how her insides churn as they're escorted outside the Justice Building, with some Capitol journalists and camerapeople already waiting for them to make a statement about how wrecked they feel about their only daughter being sent to the Hunger Games. She has never hated the Capitol as fiercely as she does right now — not because of her own reaping, but because of how they're making her loved ones suffer.

She recognizes a familiar hand on her shoulder, and somehow it all goes away within seconds.

"Hey." Gerard's eyes are still a little bleary from having said goodbye to his parents and siblings — he comes from a very large family, so she gathers he probably feels as though he hasn't had enough time to properly say goodbye to all seven of them. "How did that go for you?"

"You know," she shrugs, averting her eyes. She still can't believe they're both being sent to the Games together — a more morbid side of her can't help but feel like it's absolutely horrifying, but also somewhat relieving to know that she's always going to have him by her side. "It was . . . well, awful, but I'm glad we got to say goodbye."

"Yeah," he nods quietly, his arm wrapping around her shoulders as he pulls her closer. "But at least we won't be alone, right? There's no use in crying now — all we've got to do is survive."

Anne wraps her arms around his torso, and whispers against his chest, "I'm scared shitless, Gee."

"I know," he whispers against her hair. "But I'm going to bring you home, all right? You're going to be safe."

She would have normally shuddered at the way his lips quietly press against the top of her head, but she simply nods and whispers, "You too, Gee."

He hugs her tighter, and Anne can't help but feel as though Gerard is going to be her only home from now on.

well that's that! hope you enjoyed this reaping. since the previous two focused on the morning of and ended with our tributes' reapings i thought this one could focus on the visits at the justice building and what comes immediately after the reaping — what do you guys think?

also! there are ten spots left and it'd be lovely to have a full cast before the tributes get to the Capitol! i still need both tributes for Districts 3, 4, 5, and 11, and the female tribute for District 7 and the male tribute for District 10. so yeah, feel free to shoot me a PM if you're interested in one (or more!) of those spots! i don't think i mentioned it earlier but submissions via guest review are totally fine as long as you leave a name for me to address you in the footnotes if i ever need anything!

up next: xavier helmsley's reaping.

until then,

-vandenburgs.