the way things go [s. plinth]

v

"Marcus, I'm bored," said Ophelia.

"Ophelia, you have less than a week to live. How are you bored?" asked Marcus.

"Because we're stuck in this stupid cage," she explained. "Come on, let's play a game."

"Fine," grumbled Marcus. "If that will get you to shut up."

"You haven't seen me at my worst," said Ophelia, grinning at him.

Ophelia grabbed a twig and drew lines in the sand for her figure to hang from. She thought of a word and wrote out two groups, each with five blanks. Hangman. A simple, slightly morbid game, one that had been popular at school when she, Marcus, and Sejanus were classmates.

"Now guess a letter," she demanded.

"E," said Marcus.

There was only one 'e' in the phrase Ophelia chose. Marcus continued to guess letters. Every time he got one correct, Ophelia would write the letter in the correct blank. If he guessed wrong, a new body part would be added to the drawing.

"What the fuck is a lalla aster?" asked Marcus, pronouncing the words slowly.

"My favorite flower," said Ophelia.

"I was never going to guess that."

"That sounds like a problem for you to solve. It's your turn," she said cheerfully.

Marcus took the stick from Ophelia's hand as she cleared the ground to start over.

Marcus wrote four words in the sand, all of varying lengths.

"O," said Ophelia. She had always used the first letter of her name to begin a round. Marcus drew the head of the man. Ophelia silently cursed herself.

"A."

_ _ a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ a _ _

"I."

I _ a _ _ _ _ i _ _ a _ _

"E."

I _ a _ e _ _ i _ _ a _ e

"R."

The hangman was given a torso.

"T."

I _ a t e t _ i _ _ a _ e

"M."

I _ a t e t _ i _ _ a m e

"I hate this game?" guessed Ophelia.

Marcus sighed. "You're good at this."

"You picked a dumb sentence," said Ophelia. "My turn."

She plucked the stick out of Marcus's hand, tapping it against her chin as she thought of a new phrase.

"Ophelia!" called a familiar voice from their left.

The girl turned to see Sejanus, approaching the bars, a bag of food slung over one shoulder.

"Sejanus!" she cried, scrambling over to the bars, leaving Marcus behind. She could hear him sigh with something, probably relief that she wouldn't bother him anymore.

"How are you?" asked Sejanus. "You seem chipper."

"I'm doing well," said Ophelia. "I've found that if I don't think about the Games, I'm just fine."

Sejanus smiled down at her. "Well, that makes one of us."

Ophelia's face fell. "I'm sorry, Sej. How have you been dealing with this? I know it's hard for me, but surely it's difficult for you too."