Months later, the day finally comes that Paul usually pretends doesn't exist. When the announcement comes for the date of the next Reaping, Bill, Charlotte and Ted gather around the television at his house, with Alice, Pete, Richie and Ruth in the room next door.
Alice and Pete know what this day does to their father and older brother respectively; they keep to themselves, separated but still nearby their family, hanging out with their friends from the town. Richie and Ruth are stragglers, orphans at the local home for children, that Pete met at school when he was small.
At 14, Pete is tall for his age and smart too. So are Ruth and Richie, although nobody takes them seriously - if even their parents didn't want them, why should anybody else? Alice balances them out, bless her heart - she's sweet and kind and she loves them all, even on bad days when they get in a mood and pout at her because 'she wouldn't understand'.
Today, they are quiet.
"What do you think your dad is doing right now?" Richie whispers tactlessly to Alice.
"He's probably worrying like he always does." The teen kicks her legs back and forth where she perches on top of a rogue dressing table. The guest bedroom they often populate hasn't been used in years, save for their hijinks, and she watches the dust she has disturbed float across the room with vague interest.
"Ha! That's all your folks do, worry. They're Victors, they're safe!" Richie laughs awkwardly, tapping the fingers of one hand against the elbow of his other arm.
"Wow, imagine having a dad to worry about you." Ruth sighs wistfully.
"Well it's sure better than a brother who doesn't give a shit." Pete shrugs.
"Don't say that!" Alice exclaims, horrified. "Ted cares about you!"
Ruth hums. "He has a funny way of showing it."
"So what do you think it'll be this year? For the quarter quell?" Pete changes the subject at he is wont to do when it strays to the topic of his brother.
"Maybe it'll be all girls." Alice says, eyes wide.
"Hm, I don't think so." Ruth shakes her head. "I heard its going to be only little kids, like younger than even the twelve year olds."
"They can't do that!" Alice objects.
"They can do whatever they want, Alice." Richie rolls his eyes. "They're in charge of all of Panem, remember? And we already know they aren't above killing children."
Pete shushes them abruptly. "Did you hear that?" He whispers. They all listen.
"No." Richie whispers back.
"It sounds like crying."
Another pause.
"I hear it." Ruth murmurs eventually. "It sounds like Charlotte."
There's a ragged gasping sound coming from the other room, and the teens are so quiet listening to it that when a loud crash rings out, they all flinch back.
"Oh my god!" Richie exclaims, hand on his chest.
The door bangs open and Ruth cries out in alarm, but its only Ted.
"We're going." He beckons Pete.
"What?" Pete stands up. "What's happened?"
Ted's eyes are red rimmed but angry. Charlotte appears over his shoulder, her cheeks wet. "Come on Ruth, Richie." She sniffles, holding out a hand. Ruth springs up and takes it immediately, Richie following more reluctantly behind. "Let's get you home."
Alice slips past them into the corridor, calling for her dad. Pete barely has time to wave goodbye to his best friends before Charlotte has whisked them away.
"What's going on, Ted?" He demands, standing his ground.
"For God's sake, Pete, would ya just listen to me for once?" He snaps.
"I'm fourteen years old, Ted! I'm not a little kid."
Ted's shoulders sag, and in the palpable silence Pete hears Alice crying out.
"What?" He mutters at the sound of her sobbing.
"It's blood relatives of the Victors this year, Pete." He says tonelessly. "One boy and one girl, same as usual."
Pete runs through the math in his head, the world spinning slightly as he does so. Paul's family are dead, Charlotte doesn't have any children, Bill has just one daughter, Solomon Lauter has a girl too - but he's the only boy.
Pete is the only boy.
"Ted?" His voice wavers, and he can't push any more words out anymore.
"We're going home." Ted insists again, face blank.