Hoban Tam POV
The Reapings weren't as bad as some people thought. There were so many people in Eleven that the chances were barely there. There was a chance I'd get hit by lightning while I was working the fields, but I didn't spend my whole life scared. As Ventrix and I walked to the Reaping, I was already thinking of what we'd do afterwards. I thought we could go through the orchards and sneak a few apples for our parents, since they spent the whole day worried sick about us.
It was nice to see Snapdragon was still there. I could only assume she was too dumb to earn Snow's suspicion. Honestly, she was so clueless I couldn't really be mad at her for participating in the Reapings. She probably thought the dead Tributes got better and went home.
"This time, I'm going to do the girls first!" Snapdragon said, as though she'd come up with an idea so novel it would be the talk of the Reapings. She picked out a slip.
"Ventrix Webb!"
Ventrix and I had the opposite reactions than expected. She walked to the stage like nothing was wrong. I was the one who started to fall apart. I felt phantom hands on my chest, drawing the muscles tight. I kept breathing, but it was like the air never got past my lungs. My vision blurred and my lips tingled like they'd gotten sunburned.
Snapdragon must have called a male Tribute, but I didn't hear her. I was thinking about what I'd do without Ventrix. We always watched for Peacekeepers when the other stole apples. She helped me in math class and I helped her in history class. I didn't even think about what came next.
"I volunteer as Tribute!"
The boy on the stage started to shake and laugh hysterically. He ran back into the crowd as I got up to stand beside Ventrix. She'd finally started to react- her skin was pale and she was panting. When Snapdragon took our hands to present us, Ventrix stepped closer and clung to me.
When I saw my parents, I knew what I'd done. I'd never seen them cry, not even when the Peacekeepers whipped my mother because they thought she stole a shovel. Something broke in me and I wept like a baby. I held on to them and wished I was just a little kid again, too little for even the Capitol to kill. Somewhere in all the mess, they gave me a string of beads for a token. My brothers weren't there. My parents must have wanted to spare them.
"Are you mad?" I squeaked. I pretty much just killed myself. I'd be mad if my son did that.
"We knew this might happen. It would be both of you or neither," my father said. Ventrix and I had been friends since I saw her all alone on the first day of school. I'd never leave her alone, not even in the Arena. If I had to die, it would be the best way possible: staying with her.
Ventrix Webb POV
It's so weird going to the Reaping. Death seems so far away, but it takes one of us every time. I always felt separated from everyone else, like I was watching the Reapings but wasn't really part of them. I was glad Hoban was with me, and I hoped he wasn't scared.
Snapdragon had the dumbest outfit I'd ever seen on that ditz. It was an evening gown made up of dozens of different furs, each dyed some tacky color. I didn't want to think about how many animals died for it, and to make things worse, it was almost a hundred degrees out. I couldn't imagine how she wasn't dying of heatstroke.
"Ventrix Webb!" she called. That was my name, but it was nothing to be worried about. She must have meant one of those other Ventrixes in Eleven. I stood by her while I waited for her to correct the mistake.
"And now for the men!" Snapdragon said. "Hejj Obedi!" A boy I didn't know joined me. He was trembling and his eyes were wild.
"Do we have-"
Oh god it's me.
It wasn't a mistake. It was me. I was going to die. I didn't think it was possible to be so afraid. It was like everything around me was trying to kill me, like I was so scared my brain was going to snap. I wanted to run off the stage and never stop running, but I was frozen. I could feel my heart flopping inside my chest and it felt like I was breathing through a straw. I felt myself slip outside of my body, but even then I was afraid.
"I volunteer!" someone yelled. Then Hoban was next to me on the stage. I grabbed on to him like a life preserver. He was the only thing I could be sure of in the world.
Back in the Justice Hall, I understood that Hoban had volunteered for me. I wished I hadn't gotten so scared, so he hadn't felt obligated. I was glad he was with me, though, and I felt guilty.
The only person who came to see me was my little brother Husan. I came from a big family, but we were always busy trying to get enough to survive. The others would still be out in the fields.
"I brought you this," Husan said. He gave me a hand-sized board book I recognized right away. It was Don't be Scared, Bear. I used to read it to him when he was littler and still afraid of the dark. It was about a little boy whose best friend was a bear who chased all the scary monsters away.
"It'll help you not be afraid," Husan said. And it did help. I felt better right away, and I was even brave enough to smile.
"Thanks. It's perfect," I said. After he was gone, I started to read it.
Don't be scared of the closet. I will chase away all the goblins and trolls. I will scare them with my big claws and my sharp teeth...
It seems the author of "Don't be Scared, Bear" didn't read his own book. It was the boy that was scared, not the bear.