Author's Game Entries

Task 1: Goodbyes

Sammy sat silently in one of the multitude of rooms in the Justice Building, his eyes downcast. Of all the names that could have been pulled from that bowl it had to be his. His mind still felt numb from the shock.

He had seen the female tribute being led to another room in the building, she was the pretty, younger-looking girl with the blue streaks in her hair. While he didn't really know her personally, he recognized her name. Eloisa Flux. She seems like someone who would do anything to survive, Sammy thinks morbidly, like someone who wouldn't care about killing me...

He barely hears when the door opens with a quiet creak, and Sammy is too numb to feel grateful for the reprieve from his demoralizing thoughts. Looking up, he sees his family ushered into the room by the white clad Peacekeepers, and he didn't even have time to react before his sister had jumped on him.

"Sammy!" Julia sobs, her small arms wrapped tightly around him. Sammy looks down at the eight year old and he feels tears pricking in his own eyes. He did not know what to say to her, so instead he drops to his knees and hugs her tightly against him. He wasn't much taller than the short girl in the first place, so now his head was just at her shoulder.

"Why d-did it have to be you..?" Julia continues to sob, her tears running down her face and dripping onto Sam's shoulder.

"I..." Sammy chokes, struggling for the right words. He is glad when their mother suddenly cuts in.

"Because it wasn't anyone else. It had to be someone..." The woman says softly, and it is obvious that she is trying to hold back tears of her own. Sammy looks up at his mother, his bangs hanging over his eyes again, and she gives him a small smile, kneeling down to brush the hair away.

"You're going to be okay, Sammy." She says, her voice cracking when she said his name.

Behind her, his father nods. "You're a smart kid, son, you can win this." The man assures his son, but he sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than Sam.

Sammy looks between them for a moment before slowly standing up and nodding, detaching himself from Julia. "I... I'll try..." He whispers, looking down at the ground and allowing his hair to fall in his eyes again. "I can win... I will." He says again, this time with a little more confidence.

Looking up at him, Julia smiles, her eyes and nose still red from crying and her cheeks still damp. "I... I brought you this, Sam..." She says quietly and pulls a long tan elastic band from her pocket, one that Sammy instantly recognized as the one from his broken sling shot. He feels his throat constrict and he felt like he was going to start crying again, though he manages to hold back.

"Thank you..." He whispers hoarsely as he takes the band from the young girl and holds it against his chest. He was about to say something more when the door is suddenly thrown open again, and two Peacekeepers enter the room. Sammy's parents don't put up a fight, and with one last tearful glance at their son, they allow themselves to be escorted from the room.

Julia was halfway out the door before she abruptly breaks away from the officers and throws herself at her brother, giving him one last hug before the Peacekeepers pull her off him and out of the room. As the door is shut, Sammy suddenly feels like his heart had been dragged out of the room along with his family. It was a horrible, empty feeling.

He feels his face contort, and this time he couldn't hold back the tears. Holding the elastic band tighter in his hand, Sammy falls to his knees again. "I'm going to win..." He whispers in a choked voice, "I have to."