The Hunger Games: The Crankiplier Story

The Reaping

The shop was quiet today.
Really quiet in fact, almost no customers unless the usual three. Two adult men and a teenager just a few years older than me.
It's not like our store was booming everyday, it wasn't. We just didn't have this less people stop by, not even for a second.
The truth is I wasn't surprised.
Today was the day.
The day everyone in District 8 are dreading.

The annual selection for the Hunger Games,
Also known as the reaping...

Now you may be asking what I'm talking about, and what the hell is happening.
My name is Ethan Nestor, I'm 16 and work at a smithy owned by my father. I've been working as a blacksmith since I was 11. Now you might say that's insane, but there's not much you could do as a child in district 8. Well, except wait for the reaping.

Now, I know what your thinking. What the hell is the reaping?
The reaping is an annual drawing of names in each district. Two tributes between the age of 12 and 18 are selected to participate in the most cruel event in history. The Hunger Games.

A televised Survival, Battle Royal, where 24 children fight to the death, until one is last alive.

I wasn't too worried about it, there were hundreds of people in district 8, but then again you never know. Your life can change in an instant.
My sister however wasn't so calm about this.
It's only her second year in where her name is thrown in the pile. But she was still anxious. Mainly cause the girl that was chosen last year was someone who she knew fondly, not exactly a friend but someone she'd often talk to. She didn't survive the games.

My sister didn't really understand what the games really meant until I told her the day of her first drawing. You could probably guess that the day was pretty traumatizing for her.

We have to leave in about an hour to go to the reaping, but I quickly noticed that she wasn't downstairs yet. My father came down however, and walked to me.
"Where's Sadie?" I asked him.

I let out a deep sigh and shrugged his shoulders. "She locker herself in her room again."

I didn't even respond, I quickly ran past him and upstairs. Our bedrooms were on the top floor, above the shop. I quickly stopped at her door and didn't even try to open it, knowing it was locked.

I knocked three times and called out. "Sadie? Can I come in?"

She didn't respond.
But after what felt like hours, her door clicked, implying she unlocked it. I slowly opened it to find her crawling back under her bed.
I sat down besides her, In front of her bed.

"Are you okay?"

She didn't speak.
"Come on, talk to me."

I heard her sniff before she suddenly gripped my arm from under the bed, startling me a bit. She tugged my arm and cradled it.
I pulled her closer to me and hugged her tight.
"Don't worry about it. It's your second year, there not gonna pick you."

She sniffed again.
"But what if you do?" She asked quietly.
I didn't have answer to that.

She saw the fear on my face and hugged me tighter.
"As long as I'm here, you're not going anywhere."
I wiped off a tear on her face. She looked up at me with red and puffy doe eyes.

"I love you, Ethan."
She mumbled.

"I love you too."

~Time Skip~

"It's the same as last year. There just gonna prick your finger and take a little blood."
Sadie nodded.

This was it, I wasn't really expecting anything to happen, other than someone that I know getting picked. I only cared about Sadie. I didn't want her to get picked. I didn't think she would but I had a right to worry.